Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 65552 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 328(@200wpm)___ 262(@250wpm)___ 219(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65552 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 328(@200wpm)___ 262(@250wpm)___ 219(@300wpm)
Just “yes, and” everything. It’ll all be fine. Totally fine.
Unfortunately for the three men—but primarily so for Giovanni—all would actually be very, very, very far from fine.
Chapter 13
Roman Ashford
“Giovanni, hola.” Wyatt approached first, sporting a friendly smile and holding out his hand for a shake. Giovanni looked up from his phone and cocked his head, sizing up the two men. His eyes darted over Roman’s shoulders, likely wondering where his security guards were.
Roman wondered the same thing but couldn’t dwell on it. This was it, their target. Somewhere on Giovanni’s person was the page they came here looking for. The easy part of this job was over; now came the hard part.
“You are?” Giovanni asked in a heavily accented English.
“I’m Teddy, and this is my husband, Sam,” Wyatt said, using their cover names. As if to sell their story a little better, Wyatt cuddled into Roman’s side, resting his head on Roman’s shoulder for a brief moment. He was really selling this act, huh?
And were the butterflies cropping up in Roman’s chest part of the act, too?
Nah. Probably not.
“We’re Beatriz’s guncles.”
Going off Giovanni’s confused (and increasingly annoyed) expression, Wyatt explained further. “Gay uncles. We’re the ones who get to spoil her rotten and not deal with any of the consequences of that.”
“I know what ‘guncles’ are,” Giovanni said, still looking annoyed but also less confused. “I just came out here to get fresh air. I should be getting back inside.”
“Actually,” Roman said, stepping in front of Giovanni and blocking his path. He had to switch up strategies. “I’ve been hoping we’d bump into each other.”
“You have?” Giovanni’s bushy brows inched together.
“Yes, there’s a lot of talk in this family, I’m sure you know that. And there were rumors that hit a little close to home. About you and Remy and how he was mistreating you.”
Giovanni’s green eyes expanded. “Mistreating me? Absolutely not, no. Remy was my other half. He was my everything… how do you know him?”
Roman nodded, lips pursed. He wanted to strike an emotional nerve in the man, knock him off his balance. He also knew there wasn’t much time before his security guards came looking for him, which would further complicate the situation. If he had to throw a punch to grab the papers, he would have preferred to do that without any gun-toting guards present.
“He was my lover,” Roman said, sending a visible jolt up Giovanni’s spine.
“He—we did explore, but he never spoke about someone who looked like you… Lover? When?” Giovanni’s eyes darted to Wyatt, whose face gave nothing away. Roman made a mental note to compliment the freckle-faced poker player.
“A year before he passed. We met during one of his TED Talks.” It actually wasn’t a lie at all. Roman and Remy had hooked up—not exactly the best lay of Roman’s life, but definitely the most life-changing one—and that same night was when Roman was told about the two pages that would rock his entire world. Remy was drunk off three bottles of Dom and high off two lines of coke, all leading the modern-day Nostradamus down a rambling road that revealed the treasure hunt he had decided to leave behind, already knowing he didn’t have much time left on this earth.
Remy had also given Roman a key phrase that night, one that he promised would make sense when spoken to whoever held the pages. “He told me: gold always glitters under a full moon.”
Giovanni’s jaw dropped. Recognition filtered in through his shocked gaze, his hand absentmindedly floating over the chest of his navy suit, the pink rose pinned to the lapel looking fake with how perfect it was. That must be where he kept it. It took a heavy amount of willpower for Roman to keep his hands at his side. “He always said…”
“The page from the tome. We need it.” Roman took a step forward, glancing to his side. Wyatt was tense, his shoulders showing the slightest tremble in them, only recognizable because Roman knew what to look for.
“I’ve been holding on to this since he died. I promised him to keep it safe, only giving it to the person who would be meant to have it. He took such good care of me, this was the least I could do. He told me the phrase would show me who that person was.” Giovanni slipped a hand under his suit. Roman wanted to spring in the air and tap his heels together at how smoothly this had all gone. There were about a thousand different ways this leg of the job could have gone tits up, but somehow, Roman managed to avoid all of them, the finish line clear as day.
Wyatt smiled, too, likely experiencing the same relief as Roman was.
And then it all went to complete shit in a burning handbasket.
Two loud gunshots echoed from behind them, the spray of falling glass clattering against the floor filling the stunned silence, followed by the release of a room full of screams, shrill and panicked. Roman knew exactly who was behind the shots and looked to Giovanni and Wyatt as he unholstered his gun from under his suit. “Take cover,” he told both of them before looking to Wyatt, his big brown eyes blown wide with panic. “Keep him safe.”