Rubbing my left side, I winched at the slight twinge when I touched it. I damn near died protecting my family and did anyone say thank you? Nope. Instead, I was given a slap on the back and that was it. Nothing more. I wasn’t asking for high praise or a medal but would it kill them to acknowledge my contribution to that day?
“You break that frame and Illyria will kill you,” my brother Giovanni Valentinetti said, walking in. Putting the frame back where I found it, I found my seat as Gio sat behind his desk.
I hated being in this office alone with him.
It was bad enough I spent my childhood in here listening to our father yell at me for one thing or another. Now it was downright embarrassing.
It meant I was about to get my ass chewed.
I hated when he did that.
Gio wasn’t my father, just my big brother. But he was the head of the family. No matter what problems I had, I still had to show him respect. It was hard to do that when I witnessed the man piss his pants because Salvatore put a snake in his bed.
God, that was a fun night.
“Well?”
Looking up at my big brother, I simply said. “I didn’t do it.”
Gio sighed, leaned forward and replied, “I know you didn’t do it, Lorenzo. I want to know why Penelope Stevens was killed in your apartment. And why you didn’t call me directly? Instead, you got Paolo mixed up in all of this. Marko is livid not to mention the rest of them. What were you thinking?”
I groaned. “I wasn’t okay. I was drunk. I just wanted to go home and sleep it off. Imagine my surprise when I walked into my apartment to find her on my oriental rug. The one mother picked out for me. Do you know how much it’s going to cost to get that rug cleaned?”
“Enough!” Gio shouted, slapping his hand down on his desk. “This isn’t a joke, Lorenzo. The Chicago Police Department is getting ready to issue a warrant for your arrest. When they do, they will come here, handcuff you and take you back to the precinct. There you will be photographed and fingerprinted, then they will strip search you, remove all of your clothes, your watch, jewelry, everything. They will put you in an orange jumpsuit and stick your ass in jail until a judge sees you on Monday. Do you understand what I am saying, Lorenzo?”
“But it’s Saturday Morning!” I shouted, getting to my feet. What Gio said was totally unacceptable. I was innocent. I didn’t do anything and they were going to treat me like some common criminal? I don’t think so! “I can’t spend the weekend in jail. Gio, you have to do something.”
Rolling his eyes, my brother leaned back in his chair and sighed, “Now, you get the severity of the situation. Tell me, Lorenzo, what shocked you more, the strip-search or the orange jumpsuit?”
“Not funny,” I sulked, sitting back down.
“I thought it was,” Gio grinned, then sobered. “Okay. All joking aside. I need you to tell me what happened in the last twenty-four hours.”
“It was my typical Friday. I just got off a twenty-four-hour shift at the fire station. Went home, ate, showered, then slept. I woke around five when Penny let herself into my apartment. She went through the weekend run-through while I showered again and got dressed. I left the apartment around nine in the evening when Shane and Ashton showed up. From there, we headed to the club and partied all night. I headed home around three in the morning to find Penelope bleeding all over my fucking rug. I saw what time it was and instead of calling the house, I called Paolo. He met me at the apartment. I told him to stand watch until I got help. When I got to the lobby of my apartment, the police were already there, waiting for me. What happened to Paolo?”
“Oh, Paolo had the smarts to take the emergency stairs while calling Marko, who picked him up a block away. When Paolo told Marko what happened, it was Marko who called me.”
“I’m sorry Gio.”
Shaking his head, he muttered, “Lorenzo, you are my brother and I love you but I’ve heard your sorry’s before. This time, I don’t know if I will be able to help you. Are you sure there was no one else in your apartment when you arrived home? Do you have any enemies? Anyone who would want to see you behind bars?”
“My life is an open book Gio. You know that. I’m in the papers all the time. I party every weekend. I’m too busy with my social life to worry about making enemies.”
“What about Penelope?”
“She was my personal assistant. What is there to know?’
“I don’t know. How about if she has family, friends, a boyfriend? What did she do when she wasn’t catering to your every need? Where did she live? What car did she drive?”
“How the hell would I know any of that. She just worked for me.”
“She was also the one person you told everything to. All your dirty little secrets. You two had been friends since freshman year of college. Don’t sit there and tell me that you didn’t know anything about her.”
“Fine. I think Penny has a younger brother called Donnie, who still lives in North Carolina or somewhere down there. I’m not sure exactly where. Anyway, Penny’s parents died last year in a freak car accident. I’ve been helping Penny with Donnie’s college tuition and helping her investigate her parents’ death.”
“Why?”
“Because Penny didn’t like the accident report. She didn’t believe her father had lost control of his vehicle before it went down a ravine. And neither do I.”