Page 53 of Sasha’s Secret

“Maybe it’s not as dead as you think.”

Though the words were her own, Sasha felt a frisson of loss as she uttered them. If Rocco was close to taking the first steps toward reconciling with Dario Equizi and returning to be with his remaining family, then she should be happy for him.

It was only then that she realized her subconscious had had taken a vague fantasy and woven it into a foolish pipe dream, of Rocco resigning his job with Spectrum and coming to work at Casa Millefiori, so they could be together and this idyll never had to end.

“Go back to sleep,” she whispered. “It’s Sunday—we can leave the real world outside for a little while longer.”

Chapter 12

After a frank one-to-one with his boss, Rocco had to admit, his mood hadn’t improved much on how he’d felt when he’d woken a few hours earlier, even though he’d spent the previous day and the whole night with Sasha.

The purpose of Nick’s call had been to warn him the police would be visiting Casa Millefiori later that day. Having worked on the accounts all weekend—which probably hadn’t gone down too well with his wife—the Spectrum CEO had uncovered incontrovertible evidence that Alilah Corday and Leah Bennett were colluding to steal thousands of dollars from their employer by passing very convincing but entirely phony invoices through the estate accounts. Nick had also informed Gerry Brookes, and only by the skin of his teeth managed to persuade Linzi’s manager that there was no need to cut short his visit to New York and head back on the red-eye that night.

The call had also prompted Rocco to share his concerns about the fitness and reliability of the security staff available to escort Linzi to the awards ceremony. Nick’s answer had almost been dismissive—he’d told Rocco to do whatever was necessary on site, and leave the rest to him. Unlike a magician with a top hat and an endless supply of rabbits, Nick couldn’t produce additional Spectrum personnel out of thin air, which likely meant only one thing—he was going to contact the mysterious friends he’d mentioned.

At the end of the conversation, Rocco couldn’t help but feel he was losing control in multiple areas of his life. His feelings towards his relationship with his father were changing and he had no idea why, his assignment wasn’t as straightforward as he’d anticipated, and then there was Sasha, who meant far more to him than was wise, given the temporary nature of his presence in her life.

The last wasn’t helped by a lack of willpower or desire on his part to turn away from her. She was too tempting and… he was too weak.

All in all, it was one massive shitshow, and he hated the resulting bedlam. Creating havoc wasn’t in his job description—he was supposed to bring chaotic situations like this under control—yet, like a wildfire, mayhem was breaking out all around him.

Like the confrontation he’d had with Brian Schofield first thing that morning. Over the last few days, if looks could kill, Rocco would have been six feet under by now, because of Brian’s habit of looking daggers at him whenever their paths crossed. Rocco had never risen to the bait, but it had all come to a head a few hours earlier, when, with no provocation whatsoever, the younger Schofield’s passive aggression had mutated into the active variety. Rocco had been on his way back to the main house when Schofield had grabbed his arm as they passed one another, spinning him around.

“Equizi, I don’t know who the hell you think you are, muscling in here, taking charge, fucking the secretary—”

With the speed of a striking cobra, Rocco had deflected the incoming blow before it could land, seized Brian’s hand, and forced the little finger back a fraction beyond its limit—enough to make him flinch and gasp, but not enough to break it.

“Schofield, I don’t care what you say or think about me, but if you disrespect Ms. Morgan one more time like that, so help me, you’ll answer for it.”

Brian had tried to tug his hand away, but Rocco had only released him after he’d applied a fraction more pressure to the tortured digit. The man was half-crazy, and way too volatile to provide effective close protection. His father hadn’t been too happy when Rocco had informed him just minutes before that he was standing Brian down from Linzi’s security detail for the music awards. The older man would still be blustering now, had Rocco not walked out of his office as soon as he delivered the news. The altercation with Brian thoroughly vindicated Rocco’s decision.

As he entered Sasha’s office, she greeted him with a smile. “Frank called me a few minutes ago. You told him the bad news, then?”

It wasn’t so much a question as a statement of fact. “I gather he’s not too happy.”

“He isn’t, but I reminded him you were brought in as a highly experienced and respected security consultant, and what you say is final. My opinion, for what it’s worth, is you made the right call.”

Rocco nodded. “I didn’t just go to the security block—I took a detour down to the main gate as well.”

“Oh?”

Rocco closed the door behind him and went to perch on the edge of Sasha’s desk. “Nick rang earlier, with an update on his investigation into the case of possible embezzlement. He found more proof over the weekend—enough to take to the police. They’re on their way here to arrest the two suspects.”

He was grateful her suddenly glacial expression wasn’t directed at him. “I see. That didn’t take long. Your boss sure works fast.”

“I’m not even going to pretend I know what he was talking about, but long story short, they were starting to get too confident and were making mistakes. The discrepancies were more difficult to trace, the further back he went, but once he identified the patterns, he found dozens of fake invoices in the last six months alone, and some of them are quite high-value.”

“I think it’s time you told me who it is.”

The woman who spoke the words wasn’t the same one he’d woken up with that morning—this was the cool-in-any-crisis CIA agent she’d once been, and at this point, keeping the truth from her served no purpose. “Alilah Corday and Leah Bennett. I’ve just come from telling the guards on the gate to direct the police up here, and also to order them not to allow Alilah or Leah to leave the property under any circumstances.”

Sasha gave a short, humorless laugh. “Those two. I should have guessed.”

“Why? You said you didn't think they’d do anything that could put their roles here at risk.”

“That was in the context of the social media attacks, and I still think that’s true. When I said I should have guessed, I meant I should have guessed there was something else going on with them. I’ve had the same squirrelly feeling about them as I’ve had about Frank Schofield. I should have considered the possibility of an alternative explanation.”

“Why? There’s no reason why you should. Don’t beat yourself up about it. It was an unknown unknown, and I only found it by accident. Even then, I wasn’t sure.”