I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen my wife so truly at peace. I watched as she slept away peacefully. I had thoroughly exhausted her, something we both enjoyed, but my mind was highly troubled, which would probably explain why I was working at four in the morning.
With my wife having easily accepted what Celine had to say, I was worried that it was her naivety leading her into this, and the last thing I want is for her to regret the decision she made. However, I would gladly admit that Celine did look distraught when she confronted us at the mall.
I'd yet to see my brother since they arrested Shelby, but he'd agreed to meet with me later. He had something important that I needed which was in regards to the Maestri crash. The information would help us get that much closer with figuring out what Daniel did to our servers.
It is no longer something I question. I'm one hundred percent sure that Daniel is behind everything that has happened with my empire, and I'm going to enjoy taking him down for it. The comeback plans we have will be enough to push him the edge.
But we need to execute them carefully.
"Caro," my wife mumbled. I turned back to see her searching for me with her eyes closed.
"I'm here cara mia," I chuckled.
"Why aren't you in bed?" she whined.
"I can't sleep," I admitted.
"Probably why I'm awake now," she sighed before opening her eyes. They dropped right back down, making me laugh.
"Go back to sleep mi amore," I told her. Instead she got out of the bed and came towards me, dressed in the sin she insists is a nightdress.
"I can't sleep when you're not there and you know this. Now what are you doing?" she asked.
"I'm looking over the company's finance records," I replied nervously.
"At four in the morning Raphael?" she scolded.
"I'm worried Ari. I know we have a plan in place, but this server thing hit us harder than I expected. I got this report last night from our finance department," I explained as I showed it to her.
"A deficit?" she asked, surprised.
"Exactly! The problem is that the numbers don't add up, which is what the finance team is trying to point out to us. There's money missing, but it's there, and then where it is meant to be, it isn't," I said, hoping I wasn't sounding crazy.
"I have no clue what that means, so I'll ask the safer question. What's our next move?" she asked.
"We're going to negotiate to get Lewis back to you," I replied.
"What? What does that have to do with this?" she asked in confusion. I pulled her onto my lap.
"Absolutely nothing, except for the fact that here you are, putting everything else first. I know you're afraid Ari, but we need to get Lewis back as soon as possible," I pointed out.
"And how do you hope to do that? It's not like Eva is just going to hand him over unless if I go to her," she reminded.
"I know, but you haven't at least given it a thought," I countered.
"You think I haven't thought about it? Raphael, it's all I can think about whenever I have a silent moment. It's driving me absolutely insane knowing that every plan I come up with is a dead end. I refuse to risk anyone's life to save my son's," she said fiercely.
"But cara mia, you've been planning alone. Of course you're going to reach dead ends. You need to involve us so that we can help you too. Do you think you can do that?" I asked her.
YOU ARE READING
The Maestri Amour (Wattys 2015) - ON HIATUS
General Fiction"Child, he doesn't know anything about his own life. You think he's a mystery to you and the world? Little do you know that he's a mystery to himself. He doesn't know of the lies that surround him. He has dark secrets Rita, dark secrets that practic...
