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I enter Valentino’s reception area to find a new woman manning the desk. She phones Valentino and directs me inside.
“Sleep well?” I ask.
The usual tension I’ve come to associate with Valentino has disappeared from his face.
He glances up from his desk to study me. “I could ask you the same question. When I left you this morning, I’d say you were having very nice dreams.”
“I did, then I woke up to hear you agreed to a five-year marriage. Why?”
“It was important to her. And five years will give us enough time to convince her otherwise.”
“Val—”
“I know what I’m doing. She’ll be ours forever, but first I need to remove the threat from her life.” The seriousness of his voice stops me from complaining further.
“What have you learned?” I sit before his desk and wait.
“She’s looking into the man that attacked her. Last night, she tried to hide something on her computer. I pretended not to notice, but the blurry image intrigued me.”
“She did the same with me, but that’s not conclusive. What else did you do?”
“I had Ethan hack into her laptop.”
“Fuck, Valentino! She’ll murder you for violating her privacy.”
“She’ll try. She won’t succeed once she remembers how much she loves me.”
“Well good luck ever getting her to say the words.” I scrub my face. Arguing with him won’t do any good. “Did you find a link to Giulio?”
“No, at least not yet. But the man has a tattoo. Sloane reached out to someone to enhance the photo.” Valentino twirls a pen between his fingers as his pause lingers.
“I’d rather not play dentist and pull teeth with you. I have to hurry back to Sloane,” I say, regaining his attention.
“Right.” He drops his pen and fiddles with his computer. “The enhancement remains blurry but something about the shape of the tattoo is familiar. Here.” Valentino swivels his screen to me.
“It looks familiar to me, too, but I can’t place where I’ve seen it before.” I trace the image while racking my brain for any memory that can place who this man is. “You aren’t going to like what I’m about to say—”
“Then don’t say it.”
“—but you should ask Sloane. If we work together, I bet we’ll find the answers faster than you two running around each other.”
Valentino glares at me. My steady stare causes him to glance away.
“I have no problem working with her if she asks for help. And don’t you dare breathe a word of this to her to force my hand.”
I shake my head, but Valentino’s clenching jaw tells me he will not back down. “Pinche pendejo.”
“I’m in good company.”
“Since I can’t tell her about the secret manhunt, can I inform her about the wedding?”
My change in subject serves to wipe the scowl from Valentino’s face and replaces it with a curious smile.
“Has she asked about setting a date?”
“Sorry, friend. She asked about the very conspicuous tents on the south lawn.”
Valentino shrugs and adjusts the computer screen. “She’ll find out for herself in less than three weeks.”
