Chapter 32

The trip to the rehearsal party didn't go so well. Poppy started getting sick again and had laid in Roman's arms the entire way, crying into his shoulder. Finally getting herself together, she managed to get inside the venue while Roman and his men hid out of sight in nearby surveillance vans.

"What's she doing?" he asked, trying to look at the monitor over Anton's shoulder.

Pushing him away, the man grumbled, "Dude, get off my back and relax. She's just going to the restroom. I'm sure she needs to clean up after getting sick. Did you call the doctor for her?"

"What do you care?" he said, pushing his friend out of the way of the screen that showed the camera that was affixed to her dress.

"I don't. I just can't stand seeing this girl barfing every hour on the hour. Maybe she's not crazy. Maybe she's dehydrated and has a bug or something."

"Whatever," Roman mumbled. "Just watch the monitor. I'm going to send Giorgio to get a better view. He's undercover as a waiter."

Remi sat smacking her gum as she rested her feet across Anton's lap. "This is boring."

Shoving her feet off, he started to get irritated at the D'Amico siblings. "Would you two stop bothering me? Do you want me to get intel or not?"

"Yeah. Do your job, fuck boy."

Tightening his jaw, Anton slowly turned his head to Remi, who was absolutely driving him crazy. "Don't you have somewhere else to be?"

"Nah, I would rather be here to annoy the shit out of you… Wait… what's that?" Remi suddenly seemed interested in what she was watching. "She's back talking to the parents."

"Yep, and there comes Luke."

***

Inside the dining hall, Luke rushed to his supposed fiancée. "Babe, you're here. I was worried you wouldn't make it. They're grounding flights all over Chicago from the storm rolling in." Looking her over, he smiled. "You look great. Maybe that brief trip did some good, yeah?"

"Yeah. I guess I needed a break," Poppy said, shifting back and forth.

"We're good thought, right? No more drama until the wedding is over, at least?"

"Well… Can we talk privately before the party gets in full swing?"

"Sure honey, Let's go take a walk outside."

Before Luke could step away, he motioned for his father to let him know they needed a moment, and his father gave him a knowing nod.

Walking her outside, Luke was rubbing his hands together nervously. He was about to marry a woman he didn't really love, all for the sake of family and money, and he wasn't too thrilled about it. "So, what is it this time? More blackmail."

"What blackmail?" Poppy asked as she turned back to him once outside the venue.

"The video. From college. The one you convinced me you would expose me with, ruining my reputation."

Inside the van, Remi stiffened up. Video. Blackmail. What did Claudia know? This couldn't be good for anyone going forward if it was the video she thought it was.

"I don't know what you mean. Anyway, I want to ask you something."

Luke nodded, looking around to see if anyone was listening. "Go ahead."

"You said you wanted a genuine relationship, right?"

Stepping back, Luke gave her a once-over. "Yeah, what's the catch?"

"I want the truth. Did you have anything to do with that murder? Did you kill Beau? And by that, I mean, did you put out a hit?"

Pushing his hands in his dress slacks, Luke's head dropped. "No. Beau was my friend. Claudia, since we are going to be married, I think I can trust you with this, but I can't tell you everything because it would put you in danger."

Here it goes. The confession. Remi waved Roman back to the van, and they were fixed to the screen, watching Luke on the mini camera.

"Claudia, I didn't kill Beau. He got word on some deals with some very bad people, doing some terrible things. Worse than any of us could imagine. He came to me a week before he was killed and bagged me to not tell Roman he was trying to infiltrate an underground organization."

"What organization?"

"I can tell you that," he said as he looked up at the streetlight, just wanting to try for once to catch his breath. His anxiety was through the roof talking about this, and he just wanted to get the conversation over. "Claudia, just know what I'm doing is not only to help my family. It's helping Roman too. He may hate me, but Beau begged me to keep him and the five families safe. No one trusts me, and that's okay. But I'll go to my deathbed to stop what's happening."

"Luke," Poppy stepped forward, taking his hand. "Are you in some sort of trouble?"

Nodding, he pulled Poppy's hand to his heart. "Just know I'll protect you and all those affected by this. But I promise I had nothing to do with Beau's death. He was trying to help save our families, nothing more. I wish I could have saved him, but I was too late that night. By the time I go there, she was already dead and Roman was on the way. I had to get out fast before they pinned me for this."

"You were there?"

"Uh-huh," he mumbled. "The Eye of the Serpent pin you told me about. It wasn't there when I left."

"So whoever killed him was still there when you arrived?"

Luke nodded, tugging at his tie. "They set me up, and I think I have a mole in the Gambino syndicate. I don't know the details, but I will find out who did this. I'll kill whoever tried to set me up."

Poppy smiled, almost excited at the idea. "Then you can talk to Roman. You can work together to fix this."

"Are you fucking crazy? Why? So, you can keep blackmailing me, too. You can get close to his family ties so you can release that video and get your man back? Not a fucking chance. Just get that crazy idea out of your head and go inside. In two days, we are getting married, just like you wanted. I don't want you getting involved with Roman. I'll deal with this my own way."

"Luke, you need to tell him the truth."

"I told you. Mind your own damn business and let me take care of this. There's no other way.

***

In the van, all three heads of the Chicago D'Amico family sat in shock.

Turning to her bother, Remi asked, "Do you think he's telling the truth?"

"I don't know. But if he is, we need to know if that video is involved in all this."

Remi shook her head. "No! It's not."

Looking at his sister with a little suspicion he asked, "How do you know?"

"I think that's just about him, and Claudia is all. Probably personal. We need to find out who was at the house that night. Then we find who killed Beau."