AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A shudder worked through her, remembering Gio’s cold, emotionless expression as he executed his father’s advisor. Gio had no tolerance for mistakes. Very few had crossed him and lived to tell the tale.
At the morbid thought, Ana found her mind wandering until a thought suddenly struck her.
“There’s something I do know,” she breathed excitedly, wide brown eyes darting up to him. “I can tell you where he’s buried.”
When she’d shared the location, she hadn’t expected Gio to act quite so swiftly. Ana glanced up at the towering steel gates uneasily as their car slowed at the entrance. Sunlight was shining through the expansive grounds ahead, which tempered the eeriness of the setting.
Still, it was a cemetery. Gray headstones and somber faces were everywhere, reminding her of one thing alone–death.
“Park by the other visitors,” Gio directed Reggie. “I want us to blend in.”
“Yes, Boss.”
After settling on a spot next to four other cars, Reggie opened their doors and stood at attention as they exited and surveyed the area.
Ana smiled graciously at him, unable to squash the tiny fission of nerves even after all this time. Reggie had been utterly professional ever since he was hired. But it only made her wonder what she was missing. Was he simply better at hiding his intentions than the other guards?
Gio’s hand settled on her lower back, calmly guiding her up the steps to the main grounds. Hundreds of rows of graves surrounded them on all sides. There was a family standing at the center of the grounds and two other people at the periphery, all paying their respects.
Trying not to draw too much attention, Ana gestured to the section in the center-left. Her heart began to beat faster the closer they approached it, memories crawling back to her.
“How did you even find this place? No way Marta would’ve told you,” Gio muttered dubiously, scanning the grounds warily.
“She didn’t. After they took his body away…she pretended like it never happened.”
“Convenient.”
Ana shot him a quelling look. Gio shrugged unapologetically.
“Tony was the one who told me about this plot,” she said as they came to a halt in front of an unmarked grave. There was nothing notable about it, except that it was sixth from the left in the sixth row. She had visited it so often, nearly daily at one point, that her feet carried her here on instinct.
Gio’s hand moved soothingly as she gazed down at it, petrified. It felt like those arms were reaching out to her from beyond the grave, choking her, reminding her that he would never let g–
“Tony knew what happened?” Gio asked sharply, commanding her focus.
Breathing evenly, she dragged her eyes away and nodded. “Everyone in the house knew. It was impossible not to.” Not with the way her screams had echoed.
“After he found out, Tony used to sit in my bedroom, so I could feel safe enough to sleep.” Her lips twisted fondly in remembrance. Her cousin used to fiddle with his phone and pretend like he was there out of boredom, but she knew why he had stuck around.
“It was such a help. But whenever Tony had to leave, I would be terrified all over again. I needed something more permanent to calm me down, some type of assurance that the guard was not lurking in wait somewhere. So he somehow smooth-talked one of the guards into revealing where they’d buried him.”
Tony had known exactly what she’d needed. After weeks of restless nights, that grave had cemented it in her mind–that it was over. The guard’s death had not been a figment of her imagination. He was truly gone.
It hadn’t stopped her nightmares, but it allowed her to sleep until dawn.
“He’s a good kid,” Gio murmured.
She agreed affectionately, her eyes crinkling. “But I don’t know how much this will help you.” Ana searched the grave and its headstone. “There’s no name or birth date.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m going to have Luke and a few of his men dig it up.”
Her lips parted in shock. “His body?” she whispered urgently, watching for the other visitors.
One of the women was observing them curiously. With Gio in a blazer and slacks and her in a premium cotton blend dress, they stuck out ostensibly, reeking of wealth. Ana smoothed her expression and issued her a courteous smile. The woman got flustered and turned away.
“Getting a DNA match is going to be the best bet, instead of wasting our time on those pathetic records,” Gio scoffed. “I’ve already alerted Luke; he’s on standby. If his men can extract the body tonight, they can get it to the Jersey lab by tomorrow.”
“Jersey? Aren’t there good labs here?” she queried, still trying to digest the thought of the body being unearthed.
