locked it from the inside. When I’m running behind I don’t usually lock the dead bolt. The gate locks, and we have barbed wire around the property.” She pulled out her phone. “Which reminds me, I should lock the gate now.”
She clicked in the access code, turned and squinted in order to see the gate’s remote response in action. At the first sight of movement she headed up the front steps. “Let’s get to that tea.”
The faster she could down a cuppa, the faster she could hustle Luke out the door and focus on finding a solution to save her aunt. She pressed open the door and stepped inside.
The chairs in the entryway were slashed, bits of stuffing covering the marbled flooring. Why’d they need to go to such lengths? Surely they didn’t expect to find something in the cushions of the chair. Had someone destroyed everything for the fun of it?
Luke’s hand tugged on her shoulder. “I’m calling the police.”
“I don’t think so.” A man dressed all in black strode around the corner. He lifted his right arm and aimed a gun at her chest. “We need to have a little chat.”
Gabriella gasped as Luke stepped in front of her, shielding her. Another mafia member? Why was he here if they’d already searched the house?
Gabriella stared at the man’s balding head, green eyes and five o’clock shadow. The gunman shook his weapon at Luke. “Get out of the way.”
“I will not,” Luke said.
While touched by his chivalry, she knew Luke would only escalate the problem. Gabriella’s hand pressed into his back as her chin poked around his arm. “I thought I had twenty-four hours.”
Luke’s back stiffened under her fingertips. She’d let the cat out of the bag now. He knew she was keeping something from him.
Uncertainty crossed the gunman’s features, but he blinked it away. “The timeline’s been moved up,” he said.
Her gut churned. If he wasn’t on the same page as Benito, why was he here?
“Take what you want and leave,” Luke said.
He scoffed. “I don’t want your garbage.” His eyes drifted to Gabriella. “I think she knows what I want.”
So he was part of the mafia, then. Gabriella’s throat tightened. “Benito didn’t mention you.”
He sneered. “Of course not. He’s a punk with no manners. I’m Rodrigo Valenti. I worked for your uncle for years.”
“As I told Benito, I never even met this so-called uncle.”
He shrugged. “But your mama did. I heard all about it from your uncle before he passed.”
All the talk of supposed relatives made her mad enough to almost forget about the gun. Almost. “Despite whatever you may have heard, I have no idea where this supposed evidence is. There’s been a mistake. Mistaken identity. You have the wrong family.”
He acted as though he didn’t hear her. “I worked for your uncle Claudio for years, may he rest in peace, and he would’ve wanted you to give me the evidence instead of Benito.”
Luke glanced at her over his shoulder, wide-eyed. She didn’t know what to say. How had she ended up in the middle of what looked to be a mafia feud?
She pursed her lips, ready to launch into another rant about it all being a mistake and how she couldn’t care less about some mysterious, fake uncle. But after two tries, she knew it’d do no good, and if she wanted to keep Luke safe, she might as well placate them. “Why would he have wanted me to give it to you?”
He waved his gun. “So I don’t have to kill you.”
Luke looked between the gunman and Gabriella, trying to make sense out of the situation. He clenched his fists and took a small step backward, trying to push Gabriella back outside, farther away from the gunman.
She worked against him, shoving herself forward so she was next to him instead of behind him. “Listen, please,” she said. “Whoever gave you the idea my mother was involved in the mafia was way off. I...I can prove it. Let me find the deed. She inherited this land—no relation to any Mirabella family member.”
Luke did a double take at the word mafia, but Gabriella avoided his gaze. This Rodrigo guy thought her mom had been part of the Mirabella mafia? That was absurd. They lived in a state with more cattle than people. Gabriella had the spunk, the dramatic flair and the Italian beauty associated with the famous crime syndicate, but she’d attended a Christian college and exhibited too much grace and kindness to ever—
She threw her hands up in the air. “And my mom worked in the sand and gravel mining business her entire life...in Idaho. That’s the opposite of this mafia lady everyone keeps saying I look like. End of story.”
Gabriella clasped her hands together. Her eyes glistened. “I told you exactly what I told Benito. You have the wrong person. I’m a Radcliffe, my mother was a Radcliffe and this is called Radcliffe Ranch. You can take anything you want in this house. Just go. Please go.”
Rodrigo tilted his head as if considering her offer. “Twenty-four hours is too long. Forget Benito. New plan: you have twelve hours to get me the evidence.”
Rodrigo stepped closer. Luke tensed his entire body so he’d be ready to knock away the gun if he got close enough.
“I wouldn’t know where to start.” Gabriella’s voice cracked on the last syllable. “I have no idea what or where it would be.” Her voice strengthened and rose in pitch. Luke wanted to pull her into his arms. This was too much. As if she didn’t have enough grief and stress in her life, this man was trying to add more with his ridiculous mafia claim. No wonder Gabriella looked like death warmed over.
Rodrigo cackled. “Renata was a wily one, I’ll give her that. She was your uncle’s favorite until she disappeared.” Rodrigo’s cold stare moved Luke’s way. His grin twisted as he pointed the gun toward Luke’s forehead. “I don’t need you.”
The center of Luke’s stomach turned to solid ice.
Gabriella threw her arms across his torso. “He knows this property. I’ve walked the land, but he’s studied it. He’s an expert, and he’d know possible hiding places I might not think of...and vice versa.”
Rodrigo’s lips pressed together in a thin line, but his gaze never wavered. Luke wasn’t about to let him win the staring contest, even though the cavernous room with vaulted ceilings was sure to be echoing his loud heartbeat.
Rodrigo waved the gun toward the door. “I want a tour of the property. Now. But first, drop your keys and phones.”
Luke exhaled and tossed his phone on the closest bunch of ripped padding in hopes it wouldn’t break. If they could lose the creep somewhere on the property, they could get back to the house and call the police.
Gabriella was more graceful, bending down and setting the phone right in front of her feet. Surely she wasn’t
