Chapter 43

When I get home, Gio is waiting for me in his office with Marcel, each with grim looks on their faces. "Who died?" I ask before walking into the room and shutting the door behind me.

"Sit down. You might want a drink first," Gio says.

I don't bother with the alcohol and plop my ass on a chair instead. Whatever bomb is about to be dropped on me, I'd rather just brace for the blast and deal with the aftermath. "What's going on?"

"Kristen wasn't exactly a chirping bird, but what I did get out of her was enough crumbs to follow," Marcel says. "Shelli wasn't just having an affair like that journal suggests."

"What was she doing?"

"She was fucking a detective," Gio grunts.

My eyes widen as I shake my head. "No." It's one thing to realise that Shelli would cheat on Santo. But to do it with a filthy fucking pig? No, I don't fucking believe it. I can't.

"It's true. Detective Klove… that's the fucker's name. The only thing we don't know is what she told him. How much did Shelli actually know? We can't exactly go and ask Santo what secrets he spilled to her over the years." Gio sighs while raking his fingers through his hair.

"Fuck." I run a hand down over my face. All I want to do is get back in bed with my wife.

I smile. My wife. Daisy is my wife.

"What the fuck are you smiling about?" Marcel asks.

"Nothing. So where's this detective? I'll find out what he knows," I tell my brothers.

"He's an undercover. I doubt Shelli even knew he was a cop," Gio says and tosses a manilla folder onto the desk in front of him.

"Undercover?" I open the folder and skim the profile, which includes a heap of information about the son of a bitch Shelli was fucking on the side. "He's in with Mancini?" I question when I spot Alex's organisation in the mix.

"He was at the meet we did yesterday," Gio informs us.

"I remember seeing him. He was the sly-looking fucker who kept to the background." I close the folder. "You think Alex knows?"

"Alex is a lot of things. A rat ain't one of them. He doesn't know," Gio says with certainty. "We're flying up to Sydney tonight. This isn't a conversation you have over the phone."

"Tonight?" Fuck, I'm supposed to be back in that hotel suite with my wife.

"Problem? You got other plans?" Gio raises an eyebrow at me in question.

"Does it matter if I did?" I counter.

"Right now, no. I need you to come with me, Gabe. I know we've talked about you stepping back, and that's definitely still in the works. Just as soon as we sort this shit out. Whatever Shelli has fed to that pig affects all of us."

"I know." I sigh.

"Good. The jet's leaving at six. Be there," Gio says before turning to Marcel. "I want you to stick to El's side like fucking glue while I'm gone."

"Got it."

"Did I miss the memo about a family meeting?" Santo shoots us each a glare as he barges into the office.

"You see Vin here?" I ask him.

"Nope."

"Well then, it ain't no fucking family meeting." I push to my feet. "Catch y'all later," I grunt as I walk past Santo and out of the room. I'm not pissed at him. I'm confused as to how the fuck he didn't know his fiancée was having an affair… with a goddamn cop on top of it. Something just isn't adding up.

Shelli and Santo were tight. They did everything together to the point it was annoying as fuck. I don't get how he didn't know. There's not a single place Daisy goes that I don't either know about or find out about later.

I run up to my room and grab a change of clothes. On my way out, I spot El coming down the hall. "Hey, stranger, you didn't come home last night," she says.

"Sorry, Mum, didn't know I had a curfew." I smirk at her.

"Don't be an ass. Where's Daisy? You don't have her tied up anywhere, do you?" El narrows her eyes in my direction, and my smile widens.

"Right now? No. But I sure as fuck did last night."

"Ew, gross. Don't tell me shit like that, Gabe."

"Don't ask then." I shrug.

"Where is she?"

"We got a room at the Four Seasons, a staycation of sorts." I try my best to sound nonchalant when all I want to do is tell the whole world that I have a wife. "How's that house hunting going? I'm going to need a place sooner rather than later."

"I'm on it. I was actually going to call you today. I have one I'd like to show you. You got time now?"

"Not really, but let's do it. I'll follow you."

The moment I pull up to the listing, I know that I'm going to buy it. I should have had Daisy come and look at the house with me. She is going to be living in it too, after all. But something about it just feels right. Like us. Me and Daisy.

El opens the large oak door and I follow her inside. "I'll take it," I tell her before she can get a word in edgewise.

"You haven't even seen it yet. And you don't know how much they're asking." She laughs.

"Fine. Give me the quick tour, and I don't care how much they're asking. Just get me the papers to sign."

El squints her eyes at me. "Why are you in such a hurry to move out?"

"Because I want to be able to fuck my… girlfriend in every room of a house and not worry about one of my brothers walking in and seeing her buck naked." I almost tripped up and said my wife. I flick a look in El's direction. She doesn't appear to suspect that I'm lying. Or rather, not telling her the whole truth.

"Right. Sorry I asked." El walks through the foyer as she goes on about the various rooms and features the house has to offer. All shit I don't give a fuck about. I tune most of it out, choosing to imagine Daisy sprawled across the furniture in every room we walk into instead.

When we finally make it back to the front of the house, I again tell El that I'll take it and to make it happen. I wait for her to get in her car and drive off before snapping a picture of the property and sending it off to Daisy.

Me:

I bought you a wedding gift.

My Wife:

That's a house, Gabe. Not a gift.

Me:

I know.

My Wife:

WTF! You can't just buy a house and call it a wedding gift.

Me:

I just did.

A thought pops into my head and I quickly dial El. "Miss me already?" she asks.

"Always, but I need you to put that house in Daisy's name only," I tell her.

"Why?"

"Because if something were to happen to me, she'd at least have somewhere to live and wouldn't need to worry about it," I explain.

"Okay, but you should probably talk to her about it first. She's not the kind of chick who likes things just given to her like this."

"Trust me, El. She likes everything I give her." I laugh at the gagging sound my sister-in-law makes into the phone.

"I swear you say these things just to make me vomit," she says.

"Mostly, but I also speak the truth."

"Okay, I gotta go." El hangs up on me before I can go into more detail about all the ways I like to fuck her friend.

I have one more stop to make. Then I can get back to the hotel, back to my wife. I probably should have called instead of just rocking up to his office. But I'm paying him well, so the guy can deal with a little spur-of-the-moment visit.

"Gabe, didn't know we had a meeting?" Xavier Christianson, our family attorney, says when he sees me standing at the threshold of his office.

"We didn't, but I need you to do something for me real quick," I tell him.

"You in trouble? What they get you for?" he asks.

"Nothing yet, but I got married yesterday." It feels nice to say it aloud. To someone.

"Alistair is the divorce specialist. I'm the one who gets you out of life sentences of the non-marital variety," he says.

"I don't need a divorce. I need a will or something to make sure my wife is taken care of."

"Okay, I can do that." Xavier nods, his tone a little more serious now that he can see I'm not bullshitting him. "You just need to specify what you're leaving to her, and on what terms."

"Everything. In the event that I die, she gets everything. And if something happens and I get locked up, I want her to have power of attorney. She needs complete access to all of my accounts."

"You do know, if you get locked up, your accounts will likely be frozen anyway," Xavier says.

"Got a piece of paper?" I ask him.

He slides a notepad and a pen across the desk. I scrawl down three account numbers as well as the aliases associated with them. "These are all mine, under different names. If I get locked up, make sure everything is transferred to my wife."

"I'm gonna need your wife's name, address, and phone number." Xavier lifts a questioning brow.

I go to jot down her name and pause. I want to write Daisy De Bellis, but she hasn't legally changed it yet so I stick with Blake. I add her current address and phone number, with the intent of updating it as soon as the paperwork for the house goes through.

"How soon will you have this sorted?" I ask him.

"You planning on dying or getting locked up today?" Xavier counters.

"Never planning on it, but shit happens that is out of our control," I remind him before dropping the pen back down on the desk.

"It'll be done by tonight. Just try to not die beforehand. And congratulations," he says.

"Oh, and my brothers don't know about my recent nuptials, so this stays between us."

"Noted." He nods.

"Good seeing you, Xavier." I dip my head to the girl sitting outside his office as I walk out. I swear this guy goes through more secretaries than anyone I've ever known.