Treachery's Devotion by Lila Dubois & Mari Carr

Author:Lila Dubois & Mari Carr [Dubois, Lila & Carr, Mari]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Farmboy Press
Published: 2017-11-13T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Giovanni Starabba wore his age well. Though he was nearing seventy, he was fit and trim. No gray dared to mark his hair, though his beard and mustache both grew in snowy white. That was a secret only his family knew.

Giovanni had married at forty to beautiful women half his age. Maybe if she’d been born when he was younger, she would feel differently about him, but he’d been the admiral of Rome since before she was born. He wasn’t a parent she went to when she needed love. For that, she had her mothers.

She and her brother were both born to the same mother, but Sophia had always been close with their biological mother, while Antonio was closer with their other mother, who was imposing and dangerous in her own way, though also fiercely maternal. She had no memories of playing with her father.

He wouldn’t see it that way, if she ever dared voice those thoughts. He’d taught her to play chess, and on most Thursday nights between the ages of ten and eighteen, she would join him in his study for a game. That hadn’t been play. It had been a lesson, a chance to teach her strategy. A chance for her father to learn about and assess one of his most valuable assets.

She hadn’t seen her father since last month, at a birthday celebration for Sophia’s mother, who had just turned fifty. The party had been lavish and decadent, even by Italian standards, and her father had been every inch the ruler holding court, while those lesser than he danced for his amusement and vied for his favor.

And now she had to tell this intense, powerful man that the fleet admiral, the only person who had greater power than he did, had stolen one of his prized assets and given her to men of lower status in another territory.

Sophia made sure her face remained pleasant and neutral, with none of her fear about his reaction or the true source of her anger—she was his daughter, not his property or asset—showing on her face.

“Father.” She spoke Italian, knowing James and Tristan wouldn’t be able to understand, but hoping they could follow along based on their reactions. “I have just returned from the Isle of Man.”

Giovanni frowned. “Why were you there? You should not have gone without speaking to me.”

Sophia knew Antonio would have informed him. He just wanted to reprimand her.

“Our investigation—”

“Your investigation? Your brother is investigating. You are involved because he insisted you needed to look at the art.”

Sophia raised her chin. “I am a member of the Carabinieri—”

He waved that away. “Why were you on the Isle of Man? Who did you speak to? What did you say?”

She needed to try another approach. Gesturing to her right, where James stood, she said, “This is James Rathmann, a coin expert from London. He helped us understand the message the killer left on the coins.”

“The church,” Giovanni growled. “An old enemy I am more than ready to face.

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