Keeping My Bride by Angela Snyder
Chapter 45
Luca
I’M SITTING IN my office the next morning when there is a knock on the door. I hit a button for the door to unlock and raise my voice to tell my employee on the other side to come in.
Aldo Allaband enters. He’s tall and skinny with brown hair and brown eyes. His skin is pale because he spends most of his time indoors on a computer.
He pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he takes a seat in one of the leather chairs in front of my desk. “You wanted to see me, sir?”
“Yes, Aldo. How did your training go?”
“Very well, sir. I excelled in all of the programming and hacking tests they gave me.”
I smile. I already knew how well Aldo did, but I just wanted to hear it come out of his mouth. Aldo is one of the smartest, brightest young men I know, so I had all the faith in the world that he wouldn’t disappoint me.
I first met Aldo when he was a college student majoring in electrical engineering and computer science at MIT, struggling with paying his tuition. His mom had just died in a car accident, and his father was never part of his life. Before his mother died, she had been working three jobs to support her son’s dream of going to a good college.
When I learned of his situation, I presented him with a proposition. I wanted him to come work for me. But first, I wanted the college student to graduate and then go study with a team of underground anonymous hackers. The hackers are the best in the world, and I wanted Aldo to be part of the elite group.
I paid for the rest of Aldo’s college tuition and all of his bills and expenses, past and present. Hell, I even paid for his mother’s funeral since the kid was desperately trying to make payments on it with no end in sight.
I saw something in him when I first met him — ambition. I knew right then and there that he would be a great asset to our team. And now he’s ready for whatever I throw his way just when I need him the most.
“Constantine Carbone,” I say. And just speaking that name out loud has my blood pressure rising.
“Yes, sir.” Aldo quickly grabs his smartphone out of his pocket and begins typing in a note.
“I want you to monitor his activities. I want to know what he’s doing, where he is at all times. And if you can dig up any more dirt on him, do it.”
Aldo nods as his thumbs type frantically on the phone.
“And I want you to move here to the compound full time. Tell Benito to get you whatever you need. We will supply whatever you ask for.”
“Yes, sir,” Aldo says.
“And one other thing.”
“Sir?” he asks, looking up from his phone.
“I want to book a trip for me and my wife.”
Aldo’s brows raise over the top of his glasses. “A honeymoon, sir?”
“Yes, precisely,” I agree. “But she doesn’t like water, so it can’t be anywhere tropical,” I quickly add.
Aldo thinks for several seconds. “I can research some places and send my list of ideas to you, sir.”
“That would be great,” I tell him. “And I want somewhere private. I don’t want to have to worry about her any more than I already do now. I want us to have…fun.”
The concept is foreign on my tongue and in my mind. I don’t think I’ve had fun since I was a child, but Verona does something to me that makes me want to feel relaxed and less weighed down by life and work when I’m around her. And, more importantly, I want her to have a good time. I love the way she smiles, and her laugh makes me feel like everything is right in the world just by hearing it.
“I’ll get working on this right away, and I’ll send you what I find.” The young man stands and tucks away his phone. “I’ll move my stuff in this afternoon. I don’t have much to pack.”
“Thank you, Aldo. You’re dismissed.”
“Thank you, sir.”
I watch Aldo leave, and then I send a text to Benito about what just transpired so that he is in the loop. I want him to get whatever Aldo needs, because the boy is our greatest asset at the moment.
I promised Verona I wouldn’t go after Constantine Carbone. But I don’t see anything wrong with keeping tabs on him. That certainly wouldn’t be breaking my promise.
And if Constantine is going to attack, I will know where and when. And if he thinks he’s coming for my wife, well, he’s got another thing coming. He’ll soon find out who really rules this city.
