That applied to their plans, as well.
Even though the end was in sight, he wasn’t sure he could put up with it much longer.
At times, if he allowed himself to think about it, the whole thing made him sick.
What got him going each day was thoughts of a future with his true love. He’d promised her so much. Their dream life was just around the corner. They would live like a king and queen. Fuck all night and sleep all day. He would rub her feet with that special lotion made from crushed diamonds and bathe her body in the most expensive perfumes. He would wash her hair every day himself.
But a lot of people had to die before he could make good on his word.
Mostly, one man had to die.
The one man who stood in his way. The one man who stood between him and a future that most people could only dream about.
Each day, the only thing that kept him going was to imagine, vividly, the man’s murder. He couldn’t wait to see the man bleed to death, alone, looking up at him with hatred.
All in good time.
Then he could be with his true love.
There were so many obstacles in their way, but true love would conquer all.
One by one, they would die at his hands. And someone else would pay for it while he rode off into the sunset with his love. And no one would be the wiser.
It was funny; he had never realized that he had the stomach for murder. Who knew?
He was less worried about the actual killing and more worried about getting caught.
But he had a foolproof plan to get away with it.
One that was so crazy insane nobody would believe it in a million years.
Thank god he’d kept in touch with his Army buddy. And luckily his Army buddy was one of the smartest dudes alive. And luckily, he still liked getting his dick sucked.
His beautiful lover wasn’t crazy about the idea, but she knew they were both going through the motions and doing what was necessary to create the future of their dreams.
Four
When I got to the hotel, I was fat and happy.
It had been great to catch up with Tony and hear about him becoming a grandfather. He’d lost touch with his kids when they were young because he’d been in prison. It was heartwarming to hear that he’d been forgiven and given a second chance as a very involved grandfather.
He watched the grandkids during the day and drove at night. Usually.
He’d made an exception for me. I scolded him.
“Family first. Always.”
“It’s cool,” he said. “I can still drive you during the day now that I’m back. Grandma likes to have the kids to herself for a few hours. They can do girlie things—get their nails done, all that bullshit stuff I hate.”
I sighed and took another big bite of clam chowder. “Fine. But family first.”
“I get it. I get it,” he said.
Now, on the curb of the hotel, he handed the valet my suitcase, and I stood on tiptoe to give him a kiss on his grizzly cheek.
“Thanks for everything, old friend,” I said.
He mumbled something gruff and got back in the car. He got embarrassed by sentimental stuff.
I was already checked in on the mobile app, so when I stepped into the elevator, I hit the hotel suite button and let the laser scan my code. Dante had also arranged for me to have an “employee key card” on my phone to access other parts of the hotel if necessary.
It made sense. In less than a month, if all went as planned, we would be the new owners of the hotel.
The elevator opened directly into a private hallway. There were two doors. One to the rooftop Jacuzzi and one to my suite.
My suitcase was already sitting in front of the door to the suite.
I opened up the door and was greeted by golden hour sunlight. It was such a welcome change from the gloomy, shadowy streets below. Once upon a time, San Francisco’s gray skies and shadows had comforted me. Now, after living in Mexico, San Diego, and Barcelona, I craved sunshine.
Being in the hotel suite was almost like taking off from a cloudy day in an airplane and then rising above the clouds into the glorious, heavenly sunshine.
I could get used to it.
And Dante knew that.
Somehow, he’d convinced me to go in with him in buying the hotel. I was pretty sure we could get financing from the company I owned. But we had another obstacle in our way. The current owner agreed to sell to us, but had one strange condition first—exposing an employee who had betrayed him.
While I’m sure Dante loved the idea of owning a boutique hotel, the truth is, what he was most interested in was the Michelin three-star restaurant that was the true penthouse of the hotel.
It had spectacular views and world-class dining.
Dante already owned several successful restaurants, but to him, this was the crème de la crème.
“Come on, Gia,” he’d said a few days before. “You are going to be bored out of your pretty skull unless you have a project to tackle.”
“What’s so challenging about plunking down a wad of cash and buying a hotel. Boring. Snore.”
“There’s some underhanded shit going on there,” he said in a low voice.
I was instantly intrigued. Dante never swore. If he used the word “shit” that meant whatever was going on was a royal clusterfuck of massive proportions.
“Do tell?”
“Someone is embezzling from the current owner. His name is Gunther. Herr Gunther Janson. He lives in Berlin. For whatever reason, he likes me.”
“Is he gay?”
“What?” Dante said, annoyed. “What does that have to do with it? You don’t have to be gay to like me, Gia.”
“I was just wondering.”
He ignored me.
“So, you’d have to live undercover there for a while to figure out who is behind it all.”
I was starting to like the idea more and more.
“Undercover?”
“Gunther
