Mafia Secret (27 page)

"Yeah," Lessa said uneasily.

As Clarissa said it was one thing to contemplate knowing the family business in a peripheral since, but it was quite another to actually be an owner or partner or whatever the trust said. The trust documents were sitting in her townhouse in Florida. She'd have to ask Ryan for another copy and actually read the darn thing to see what she was getting herself into.

Clarissa was still frowning as she signed the documents. "I'll be back."

She rose and approached Ryan and her mother, indicating with a tilt of her head that she wanted to talk with Ryan alone. They moved off into a corner. Lessa watched as Ryan frowned and rubbed his chin while Clarissa whispered urgently and pointed at the papers she'd just signed.

He nodded after a while and walked over to Lessa. "You feel the same as Clarissa?"

"I think so. To be honest, I didn't really look over the trust so I'm not sure exactly what I'm getting myself into."

"As I told Clarissa," Ryan said. "I have all of that in my office. So, if you want to come back with me, I can explain it more fully. I can also draw up the papers to transfer your ownership to another member in the trust."

She chewed her lip in indecision.

"Lessa," Marc called from the doorway.

Everything within her relaxed at the sight of him. Until that moment, she hadn't realized just how tense she was. Marc nodded to Ryan, smiling slightly as he came in the room.

"Marco," Ryan said, "I have some documents for you to sign."

"Later." Marc brushed him off. "I need to talk with Lessa."

She stood up and tried to keep herself from rushing to him.

"Ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." She took his offered hand.

"Catch you all later." Marc led Lessa from the room.

She glanced back in time to see Ryan watching them speculatively. "What exactly am I ready to do?"

"I taped some of our men," he said as he led her up the stairs. "Got their voices for you to listen to."

"Oh." Dread gripped her. She needed to do this. She had to find out who'd abducted her if she was ever going to go back to a somewhat normal life, but she was afraid.

"You've only come in contact with a few people here. So, it shouldn't be that difficult to figure it out."

"Let's hope so. Don't you think he would have been more careful if I could identify him?"

Marc glanced down at her as they reached the third floor landing. "You said they turned on the speaker and didn't tell him."

"Well, yes. And even if he'd known, I suppose he might not have realized I could hear."

He nodded and ushered her into her room, pulling a micro-recorder out of his pocket. "Just focus on the voices and see if any of them seem like the one you heard in the warehouse. You said the voice sounded off, so he was probably disguising it in some way."

"Right." She tried to recall what exactly had been wrong about the voice.

He sat down on the couch, and Lessa slid in next to him as he pressed play and held the recorder in his hand.

"Sir," a voice said. "It's good to have you back. How's the girl?"

His voice had a slight lilt, and Lessa recognized him, but it wasn't the voice they were looking for. "No."

Marc nodded. "That was Silvio. What about this one?"

"Marc." The voice was surly. "What the hell do you want?"

"Tony," Lessa said with a smile. "And no." She dropped her smile. "I thought he was out of town."

"He still is. This was over the phone."

They continued on through ten more voices. Most of them she didn't recognize, and not a single one had called the warehouse. She sat dejectedly as Marc slipped the recorder back into his pocket.

"Don't worry," he said. "We'll figure it out. Are you sure none of them sounded like him? You said the voice was off."

"It wasn't any of them. I wish it was, but it wasn't."

He scratched his head as he thought about it. "So, someone else. Who else have you spoken to?"

"I don't even know half the people I just listened to. So, I couldn't say. You've covered most of the men I've spoken to who work for the family."

"There's got to be someone. You recognized the voice."

"I thought I did, but maybe I really didn't. Maybe it just sounded like someone else I've known and that was why it seemed familiar, but off. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it." He forced a smile. "I'll find him. It just might take a little longer. I'll call John and have him track the kidnappers' histories. He had to know of them from somewhere. That might tell us who grabbed you." He shook his head at himself. "I don't know why I didn't have him do it earlier."

"'Cause you were counting on me."

Marc suddenly gave her a real smile. "I do count on you."

He bent over her and she leaned back, glad to focus on something other than her failure as his lips pressed against hers. Several minutes passed with Marc tasting and teasing her mouth. Too soon, he pulled back and smoothed her hair with a gentleness that surprised her.

"I'd better get back to it. Jio wants a status report."

"Did you find what you needed this morning?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"On Jiovanni?"

"We're getting closer. We have someone who can ID the car and maybe the shooter if we can find him."

"You think Jiovanni's killer and my kidnapper are the same person?"

"Gut reaction. There was no reason to grab you, but someone did. It has to be connected." He stood up, took her hand and tugged her out of the room. "Be careful," he said as they descended back down to the main level.

"I will." She considered asking him if she should go to Ryan's office, but wondered what he would think of her signing away her part of the business. "I need to talk to you about something."

Marc raised his eyebrows in amusement. "We were just talking."

"I know." A blush crept up her neck. In the scheme of things, the trust was on the bottom of her concern list. She'd deal with it later. "I just forgot, until now. It can wait until later."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, go on."

He kissed her softly on the lips and winked before he headed out, dialing his cell phone as he went. As the door shut behind him, she thought of her mother's arrival and realized she'd also neglected to tell him about that.

E
veryone had pretty much cleared out of the dining room. Uncertain of where to go or what to do, Lessa stood in the doorway and looked around. She should talk with Clarissa, but had no idea where her half-sister had run off to. The family tended to spend a lot of time around the pool. Perhaps Nina was swimming with the kids.

Walking down the hallway toward the pool, Lessa didn't see a single guard, but she shrugged off the creepy feeling the house had when it was empty. Just then the children's laughter chased the eeriness away, and her tension eased.
 
She stepped into the brightly-lit game room.

"Lessa." Nina sat on the love seat, Suzannah curled in her lap holding an open picture book. "I'm glad you found us. Jay insisted on playing video games this morning"

"Me, too." And Lessa meant it. She didn't want to be alone.

Cartoon characters raced across the large screen television. Jay jumped around waving his controller fiercely. Belinda, his opponent, stood more sedately as she battled him on the screen.

"Everything okay?" Nina asked.

Lessa sat on the window seat overlooking the pool. "Marc's off again."

"He wants you safe."

"Hmm." She stopped looking at the vines surrounding the pool and turned back to Nina. "I wish I could help more."

Nina raised an eyebrow, not understanding. "With what?"

"Being able to identify who hired those men to..." She trailed off as the realization struck that the kids might not know what had happened.

"How would you do that?"

Nina didn't know she'd heard the mastermind's voice, but was it supposed to be a secret? What would it hurt to tell Nina? "I overheard the phone call between the kidnappers and the man who hired them."

Suzannah climbed down and went to watch her siblings, and Nina joined Lessa on the window seat.

She kept her voice low. "I didn't realize. You didn't know who it was?"

"I thought I recognized him, but I can't figure out who it is."

Ryan leaned in the door. "Excuse me, ladies. Lessa, can I speak with you for a moment?"

She reluctantly stood up, not wanting to go into the details of the trust at the moment, but not wanting to argue about it with him, either. When he turned to leave, she followed him out.

"We can drive to my office right now. Clarissa's getting her papers together and will meet us there."

She stopped as they emerged into the main hall. "Sorry, but I'm going to have to come in another day. I'm not supposed to leave the house today."

Ryan frowned. "What do you want me to do until then? I need to get those papers signed."

"Could you bring them here tomorrow, or when it's convenient for you?"

He gestured for her to follow him into the dining room. He opened his briefcase, which was lying on the table, and flipped through a few papers. "I could probably swing by tomorrow. What is it you need me to draw up?"

She had absolutely no idea. "Could I get another copy of the trust? Mine's back in Florida."

He looked up from the papers in front of him. "You said you didn't want your inheritance."

"I own a part of the business, right?"

"Yes, you've inherited a share."

"Well, I'm not comfortable with the idea of that." Crap, she had no idea what she'd inherited or might be signing away. "I should probably talk with Jio first before I sign anything." And her mother and probably her own attorney.

"What Jio wants you to do might not be in your best interest."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he'll be looking at it from his point of view not yours," Ryan said. "It might be better for you to come to my office so I can go over all the options with you and draw the papers up right then."

She shook her head. "I can't leave the house."

"All right. We'll go over the basics here."

Virginia came in from the kitchen with a rag and spray bottle and started cleaning up from breakfast.

Ryan nodded to the housekeeper then picked up his briefcase. "Let's go into the library." He motioned for Lessa to precede him, then shut the library door behind them. Once they were both seated in comfortable, overstuffed chairs, he stated, "The trust is structured so that each beneficiary gets an equal share of the business."

Lessa had figured as much, but it helped to have confirmation of her assumption.

"Jio, as CEO, makes all the decisions on running the business. However, since each family member is part owner, each one shares in all the profits. Make sense?"

She nodded, but didn't think it could be that simple.

"No partner may sell the business outside of the trust or to a non-family member. Jiovanni didn't consider that any of you would not want your share, but as long as you give your share back to the family, there shouldn't be a problem."

A shrill ring interrupted them. Ryan grimaced as he checked the number.
 
"Sorry. I have to take this."

"No problem." Although curious about who could be making such an urgent call, Lessa tried not to eavesdrop. A difficult task, considering Ryan's close proximity.

"Hello . . ." His voice became soothing. "Calm down. I'll be home soon…No, you're not coming to the estate. I realize you want to see the family, but that isn't possible now." He glanced at Lessa then rose from the chair and turned away, lowering his voice. "Of course not. You're not a complication in my life."

As his voice lowered his slight Scottish brogue seemed to vanish.

Lessa stopped breathing. That was the voice she'd heard on the speaker phone in the warehouse. She shook her head in denial. It couldn't be.

"You're my daughter. I love you." His voice remained pitched low, almost too quiet for her to hear. "I don't want you hurt."

Lessa jerked to her feet as if touched by an electric wire. There was no mistake. Ryan had been on the other end of the call to her abductors. She glanced around the library. He now stood between her and the door.

"I'll call you in a little bit." He hung up and turned back to Lessa with a smile. One look at her face and his smile dropped. "What's wrong?" His Scottish burr was back.

She stepped behind the chair to put something between them.

"Nothing." Her voice sounded a little high to her, not calm as she'd tried to make it. She had to get around him. There were guards somewhere in the house. Crap, she hadn't seen any this morning. "I just remembered I promised to meet Marc outside in a couple of minutes."