“Your family turned their backs on you,” I say. “My mother and brother turned their backs on my father and then he adopted you.”
His blue eyes darken. “You remembered something.”
“Yes.”
“Tell me,” he urges softly.
“The men in suits visited often. They wanted to buy the formula. My father told him they didn’t have it. One day, I was under my father’s desk when he and Gio fought. Gio wanted him to take the money. Dad told him that we had plenty of money and to reveal the formula would devalue the instrument and the legacy. He told Gio we have a responsibility to protect those things.”
“And Gio said?”
I tell him the rest of the story, everything I can remember. “My father believed the safest answer for us as a family was to tell the world that we didn’t have the formula.”
“But you believe he did?”
“Oh yes. I believe he did and we know I believe we do. Bottom line, he knew what we have figured out. Some people will kill for the formula and others for the chance to destroy it. I believe my father knew that in his death that Mom would destroy it.”
“And Gio.”
I think back to that memory of Dad and Gio fighting over cashing in the formula and all that I know of Gio’s personality. “I think Dad thought Gio would sell it.”
He tilts his head, studying me. “You don’t sound convinced.”
“I think that losing your family and seeing time passing, no, feeling it pass, begins to redefine priorities. He wanted our legacy back. He talked about it. We talked about it. I believed that to be his driving passion.”
“Then let’s talk about the men in the suits. You have brought them up several times. Angelena spoke about them taking your father. What do you remember about them?”
“Not much really, but the very fact that Angelena says they took him and he’s now dead, leads me to one conclusion: they wanted the formula to destroy it and when he wouldn’t sell it, they killed the only man who could reveal it.”
“Which would mean those people who own a Stradivarius would be the most likely suspects. Especially those in Italy at the time.” He pulls his phone from his pocket. “Like the old man who wants us to come to Italy to sell us a Stradivarius.” He punches in a rather long text message before he says, “I know Blake is looking into the seller, but I just want to be sure he’s putting together the pieces as we just did.”
I nod, a clawing sensation in my gut. “My father didn’t give the formula to them. I know he didn’t. It’s what my mother feared would happen. I know they killed him.”
Kace shoves his phone back into his pocket and then settles warm, strong hands on my shoulders. “If that’s the case, baby, they would have killed him anyway because it was in his head and his heart.”
“And now it’s in ours.”
“Yes,” he agrees, “but we have a plan.”
“Is it a good one?”
“Don’t start doubting now.” His hands come down on my shoulders. “We’ve got this, Aria. You and me. We will not let your father down.”
We.
Just the two of us.
Which is so very right and so very wrong. I’m missing one thing. I need Gio to come to his senses. I need my brother back.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Fifteen minutes later, Kace and I have taken a short, chilly, winter wonderland walk to Taco Bell. With way too much food in front of us, we sit at a table stuffing our faces and laughing. I am always laughing with this man and this new life where I share everything with Kace is more than a little surreal. We’re just finishing up when his phone buzzes with a text. “Jenny,” he says. “She wants us to come by and try a new cookie. We need to go tell her we’re headed to Germany the day after tomorrow.”
I straighten. “That soon?”
“I want you out of a city that’s become a pitstop for every asshole that wants what is yours.”
What is mine.
I toss my burrito wrapper on the tray, a bit of our conversation before we left the apartment coming back to me. “I’ve never thought of the formula like that at all.”
He tosses his paper as well. “It’s time you do. That’s one of the many things I want you to talk to the attorney about tomorrow. I want you sheltered from any liability your name represents and—”
“Liability? What liability?”
“Just looking at this through a cautious lens. If you have any inheritance, there may be those who try to get a piece of the pie.”
I blink. “Wait. What? You think I have an inheritance?”
“I have no idea, but I’d think you would. And Gio, too.”
“Surely after this long, someone would have claimed it.”
“Who would that be? Because whoever that is could be behind your father’s disappearance.”
“I don’t actually know. You think this could have been about an inheritance, not the formula?”
“Blake brought it up while you were upstairs today and I think it’s something to consider. His team is looking into it.”
His cellphone buzzes with a text on the table next to him. He punches a button and reads the message. “Jenny. She says to tell you the cookie has icing just for you.”
“I’m all in for the icing, but should we really do this right now? What if someone wants to get to you through them?”
“Believe me, I’m not oblivious to that threat and it’s just another reason to get out of the city. Blake is keeping an eye on them, but we need to say goodbye. If we don’t, they’ll know something is wrong and worry.”
“Right. Of course, they will. We were just with them and said nothing about this.” I take a big long swig of my soda for courage before I dare to broach a difficult topic. “Alexander,” I say.
Kace's expression doesn’t change, but there’s a distinct sharpening of his jaw. "What about him?"
“He lives in our building and frequents Riptide. I’m going to run into him. I need to know what to say to him or how to handle him to best defuse an explosion.”
“You won’t run into him.” Kace finishes off a taco as if he’s said nothing but “more food, please.”
On instant alert, I lean close. “What does that mean?”
He balls up the taco paper and throws it into the bag. “He left the country. An opportunity he couldn’t turn down. That said, I do want you out of his path when he returns. I think buying a place that we remodel or just plan to build out to our liking, is perfect. It will be ours, not mine.”
He wants to buy a new place with me? I blink. Stunned. Excited. Happy. Confused. “That sounds like a dream, Kace, but honestly, I love where we’re at now. I thought you didn’t want to be pushed out by Alexander.”
“We aren’t being pushed out. It’s all part of a calculated decision. When he falls, and he will fall, I don’t need you to be there to see his meltdown.”