Chapter 11

Aurelio~

As much as I would be happy to never see Savina Valentine ever again, I also wasn't a coward. After my meeting with Nero, I'd thought about what he'd said, and his theory hadn't been as far-fetched as I would have liked for it to be. Even though there was no love lost between us, I couldn't see her okay with her parents getting caught in a crossfire between us and the Olivers. Yeah, her parents had crucified her for her abandonment, but they were still her parents and the only blood family that Savina had in the world.

So, after giving Nero my word that I'd look into it, I had stopped by Morocco's, then had instructed him to do a full background on Savina, from the moment that she had walked out of my life to the moment when she had re-entered it. I'd also had him do a complete background check on all the Olivers. Though we'd already had the basics-considering what we did-Stewart Oliver was making his way down the path to become a senator, so we should probably update our file on him anyway.

From a business standpoint, Maryland had eight congressional districts, and we owned three of those seats. The Irish owned two of their own, and the Russians owned the other two, leaving Congressman Oliver the sold moral minority. However, up until now, he'd been Declan's headache, not ours, and so that was why our file on him had been minimal. We had enough of our own problems without inheriting more from our rivals. Of course, at this point, I wasn't even sure if Declan O'Brien was still a rival. Though none of us were stupid enough to trust the man, shit was weird.

After having agreed to speak with Savina, I had called Declan to inform him that I'd be visiting his territory soon. When he had asked me why, I'd been honest. I'd told him that Ashton Oliver's girlfriend had approached me to talk about something, and that Nero wanted to know the details. When he hadn't been convinced, I'd had to explain that Savina's father was one of our Capos, and that was when the man had finally relented.

So, even though Morocco was still gathering as much information as he could on Savina and her relationship with the Olivers, he'd been able to get me the standard stuff on her, and that included her place of work. While it wasn't ideal to ambush her with witnesses, there was no fucking way that I'd risk being photographed with her anywhere else. While she wasn't a traditional celebrity, she was close enough. The Olivers were in the news enough that people were interested in Savina's comings and goings. The lovely couple even had a social media following, and the only reason I knew that was because whenever they went viral, that shit would show up on my newsfeeds, especially since Ashton Oliver had political ties.

Nonetheless, a random stranger walking into a real estate office wasn't anything out of the norm. I'd also had Morocco hack into her office computer to give me a copy of her schedule, so that I could time my arrival. I didn't want to be in O'Brien territory longer than I had to, so it wouldn't do well to have to hunt the woman down.

Walking into Coleman Realty, I smoothed my suit jacket, and thanks to Morocco's incredible hacking skills, I knew the layout of the property, knowing exactly where Savina's office was. The building was a combination of cubicles and private offices, and I was lucky enough that Savina occupied one of those private offices. Granted, Morocco had studied the layout for safety precautions, but the extra information on Savina had helped.

Without sparing anyone else a glance, I made my way down the narrow hallway until I came upon a door with Savina's name on it. Now, while I didn't know the policy on privacy, that wasn't going to stop me from shutting the door once I made my way inside.

As soon as I entered the room, Savina raised her head from the papers that she'd been looking at, and her blue eyes widened with shock as soon as she noticed who her visitor was. Without asking for permission, I shut the door behind me, then took a seat in one of the chairs positioned in front of her desk. I was a big man, so the furniture wasn't ideal for my size, but it was better than the communal cubicles that decorated most of the office.

"Savina," I greeted, inclining my head a bit, fighting back the acidic taste of her name on my tongue after all these years.

Her pen slid out of her fingers, and that's when I noticed the expensive diamond on her left hand. A person could be deaf, blind, and dumb, and still know that it wasn't just an elegant piece of jewelry. Ashton Oliver had asked Savina to marry him, and she'd said yes. I could only conclude that this was a fairly new development since no formal announcements had been made yet. Fuck if the entire world didn't like making social media announcements for crap that no one gave a shit about.

Seriously? Who gave a fuck if a complete stranger was pregnant or getting married?

At any rate, with that ring ripping that old wound open to rub more salt into it, I could see how her visit might have had something to do with Congressman Oliver after all. Once the engagement announcement was made, those stupid cunts that like to type loudly on the internet were going to nitpick everything that there was to know about Savina, including her ties to the Sartori Crime Family. In all actuality, I was surprised that someone hadn't already uncovered that small truth. Or maybe they'd had but knew better than to irritate Nero Sartori.

"What…what are you doing here?"

"Nero thought that it'd be worth hearing you out," I told her, and I could see a flicker of pain flash in her blue orbs, though that was something that I could easily ignore.

"Nero?"

I nodded. "I told him about running into you at The Circle. He thought that your visit might have something to do with your ties to Congressman Oliver."

She looked a bit confused as she shook her head a bit. "Congressman Oliver?"

"Why else would you seek me out, Savina?" I asked. "Nero figured that you might have heard something about his fight against crime, organized and otherwise, and maybe wanted to spare your parents a complicated situation."

Savina looked back down at her desk, and I almost winced when she started pulling at her cuticles. It was a nervous habit that she'd had when we used to date, and there'd been times when she'd pull on them until they bled. Granted, looking at her hands now, it was easy to see that she got regular manicures, so there weren't any cuticles for her to shred to shit. Still, that wasn't stopping her from trying.

Looking back up at me, she said, "Congressman Oliver doesn't discuss political business in front of me. He's very aware of who my parents are."

I cocked my head as I regarded her carefully. "Then I'm surprised that he allowed his son to get into bed with the Mafia, even if it is a distant connection."

"Ash…Ashton…he has his…his own mind," she replied, each word like a razor blade to my chest. "Still, even though Congressman Oliver might not object fully, he's shrewd enough to keep his political agenda private."

"Something that should actually be made available to all the people he represents, no?" I countered.

"Well, everyone knows that politicians have two faces," she said softly.

"Not only politicians," I remarked coldly.

Savina looked like she wanted to say something to that, but she wisely kept her mouth shut. It was bothersome to realized that I still knew her so well, and though that was something that I wished weren't true, it was, and I didn't fucking like it.

Ignoring what she was doing to me, I asked, "So, if Congressman Oliver isn't the reason why you needed to speak to me, then what did you need to speak to me about? Nero's going to want to know." I added that last part, lest she believe that I cared. No matter what I still felt for her, I was mentally strong enough not to give a fuck why she had sought me out.

Her thumb was a bloody mess when she said, "I…I had a…a problem that I…I needed help with, and I…I couldn't think of anyone else that might be able to help me."

I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees as I let out a laugh that was surprisingly genuine. Out of all the things that she could have said, I'd never expected those words to leave her mouth. After what she'd done to me, how could she possibly believe that I'd ever be in line to help her with a problem? I wouldn't hold the door open for her, much less save the day for her.

"Jesus Christ, Savina," I said when I finally managed to quit laughing at her. "You're either crazy or have a bigger set of balls than I'd given you credit for." Her jaw ticked, but I was past caring about anything that had to do with her. "Either that, or you really are a spoiled, entitled, cold-hearted bitch. Which, let's face it, isn't that far of a stretch, knowing you the way that I do."

A knock on the door stopped her from responding to my thinly veiled insults, and when I turned in my seat, I saw a pretty blonde poke her head through the door, and her eyes flared appreciatively when she looked me over. Though it'd serve Savina right for me to fuck her coworker, I wasn't here for that.

"Niles Gerber is here," she said. "He's early and didn't want to disturb you, but I thought you'd want to know."

Saved by the bell.