Fire Bound (Sea Haven Sisters)(75)

Luigi halted his car the moment he saw the building in flames. He sat there staring and then abruptly backed down the road again. For one moment, Casimir wanted to chase him down and do the same thing to him, burn him alive, make him suffer for all the suffering he caused. Instead, he gripped the steering wheel hard and made himself breathe the need away.

He had to follow the plan. He knew better than to deviate. Casimir knew he didn’t have a lot of time. He had to get to the hotel where Lissa Piner would be meeting with the owners the next day, hopefully tamper with the security tapes and meet with the head of security as Tomasso. He also needed to return the rental car. He drove without lights until he was back on the main street.



Casimir hadn’t come to her. Lissa paced back and forth in her room, her belly tied in hard knots of fear and her chest hurting from the terrible pressure there. She knew he was back. He was safe. He hadn’t come to her. She yanked her fingers through her hair in sheer agitation, unsure of herself. She wasn’t a woman to be uncertain. She made split-second, life-or-death decisions with confidence – but this was different. She wished she could call one of her sisters and ask advice.

Why wouldn’t he come to her? That was what she had to figure out and then she would know what to do. He could be injured. She paced more, rubbing her hand up and down her thigh. Her palm itched. Her heart hurt. She hated indecision. What if he was injured and couldn’t come to her? She pressed her palm harder against her bare thigh. He would call her, using the mark on her palm. He had told her that was possible.



The need to go to him was strong. She blew out her breath and made up her mind. Whatever was wrong – and something was – she needed to be with him. To share whatever was wrong with him. Instinctively, she knew he would be there for her no matter what. Having made up her mind, she didn’t hesitate. She yanked open her door and nearly ran right into her uncle. He was reaching for the doorknob.

“Tio Luigi, what is it?” she asked. She’d never seen him look the way he did in that moment. Visibly upset. Agitated. It was no act. He was pale beneath his olive skin, and there were lines carved deep into his face. He’d never looked older. She caught his arms and held on tight. “You look…” Terrible. Rattled.



“Come with me. The only man not accounted for is Tomasso.”



“Tomasso?” she echoed. “Tell me what’s wrong? Has that horrid man done something to you?” She turned toward the stairs. “I’ll kill him myself.”



“No, no, Giacinta,” Luigi protested, catching her to him. His distress was very real. He actually clung to her. “I want to make certain he’s in that room. Then I need to find out where he’s been and what time he got back.”



She detested him calling her Giacinta. Her real name. The name her father and mother had given her, but now wasn’t the time to protest. She had to act out the charade perfectly, no matter what she felt inside.



“He went to the hotel this evening to check with their head of security and make arrangements for my arrival tomorrow. You gave him those instructions yourself. He told me he was going to go while I was in my meeting with you.” She frowned at him. “We discussed it, remember? Tio, you need to tell me what’s wrong. What happened to upset you this way?”



“I think Arturo’s dead.” He spat the words at her and then sagged, his weight nearly knocking her over.



She staggered, her arms going around his waist to help him sit on the bottom stair. She crouched down in front of him. “You think? But you don’t know? Why do you think he might be dead? And what does Tomasso have to do with his death? Tomasso likes Arturo. Everyone likes Arturo. Tomasso talked about him all the time.”



Luigi shook his head. “No. No, Gia.” He lapsed into Italian, talking rapidly, rocking himself back and forth, telling her the police had come to tell him about the burned building. There was a body inside. A man. He’d burned to death. He’d been locked into cuffs, a sex game of some kind. The police believed it was a sex game gone wrong and the woman he’d been playing the game with had been Cosmos’s widow.



“What?” Lissa widened her eyes in feigned shock. “Were they having an affair? You know Arturo better than anyone. He’s been on vacation. Did he run off with her? Was he into kinky sex games? Bondage? You have to tell me, Tio. I don’t care what he was into. It won’t make me think less of him. If I’m going to help you figure out what happened, you have to tell me the truth.”