Chapter 18

"Stop lying. What's going on, Claudia? I want answers and I want them now!"

"I am really Poppy. You got to believe me. The woman looks just like me, and when she came in my shop, she left her purse behind. While I was showing her clothes in the back, the guy she was with changed my business cards without me knowing. You can get those things made at the office supply store in just ten minutes. You can't kill me… Please, I'm begging you," she cried.

"Listen bitch, you better start talking and telling us what we need to know!" Roman yelled. "Whose pin was that? We found it at the crime scene. That's an Eye of the Serpent pin and I'm not stupid. Luke has deals going on with them because some of his men are now members."

Poppy sucked back tears as she questioned, "That's real? I thought it was urban legend."

"Of course, it's real. I think your little boy toy is a member, which means he's plotting something. My guess, he's trying to take over the territory and take down my family and probably every other Italian family in Chicago."

"I don't know about any of that. Luke only has told me that he did set up having your shipment screwed up. He was doing it out of spite because clearly you two hate each other. That and something about you always flirting with me... I mean Claudia. He thinks your sleeping with her."

Roman gave a chuckle, as he went to take off his tie to relax. "You got that right. We do hate each other. If it wasn't for his drugs my brother wouldn't have become an addict and we wouldn't be in this mess now."

"Please, Mr. D'Amico, don't kill me. I'll help you. Just let me live."

One of their men, Klein, had heard enough. "Boss, she's not going to tell the truth. What do you want us to do with her?"

Looking at the scared woman, Roman was almost remorseful for what he was about to do. "Take her to my basement to the room behind the wine cellar. Make her uncomfortable as possible until she's willing to talk."

"Torture?" Anton asked with surprise. It wasn't usually Roman's game unless it was a last resort.

"Nah, you know I don't do that to woman. But if we need to, it's not out of the question. I'm going to do whatever it takes to find out who killed Beau." Leaning over to her, Poppy's tears rolled down her cheeks as he added, "You better start talking, princess, or I'm going to make your life a living hell."

"Then just kill me, because I'm telling you the truth," she said, sucking back tears.

"I'm not going to kill you if you have nothing to hide."

"Then I'll starve myself and my death will be on your hands anyway. When you find out I'm telling the truth, you'll regret it! I made a mistake pretending to be her, but I won't let you have the satisfaction of seeing me break."

With a maniacal smirk, an evil grin traced across his lips. "We'll see about that, cupcake."

***

"Where is she?" Luke yelled, stomping around the boutique. "Liza, are you sure she didn't mention a trip or say anything about leaving?"

"I'm sure. We were going to work on some swimwear designs for summer and Ms. Ricci was excited to use her new fabrics. She didn't say anything about leaving but she hasn't been to work in three days."

Looking toward the doorway that led to the upstairs apartment, he asked, "Are you sure that's her apartment? Why wouldn't she tell me she moved out of the penthouse that I was leasing for her? I thought she would move to my mansion estate by the lake, if anything."

Liza shrugged, unsure what to say. She had no idea what was going on. Claudia/Poppy hadn't even mentioned the wedding that Luke had been going on about, or that she was even dating him. Liza just assumed it was because her new boss was a private person.

"We're a week away from the wedding and my bride is missing. This can't happen."

Coming from the back entrance, his security guard shook his head showing things didn't look good for them. "Mr. Gambino, I don't think this was a runaway bride situation. The back door lock was broken."

"What are you saying?" he asked with concern.

"I think she was kidnapped."

Slamming his fist down on the register desk, Luke scowled. "Roman. That mother fucker. I'll kill him!"

Feeling his phone vibrate in his pocket, he tried to keep a cool head, but this was getting on his last nerve. It was bad enough everyone believed he did have something to do with Roman's brother's death, now this.

Taking the phone from his pocket he saw his father was calling and he let out an exasperated sigh.

"Liza, you can go home now. I will pay you your wages and you can run the shop until this is figured out. Guys, help the lady out to her car. I need to get this call." As he watched the woman leave he answered his phone. "What, Dad? I'm really busy right now."

"The hell you are! Where's the money?"

Luke looked around at his people who were still left in the shop, entirely confused. "What money?"

"The money that was supposed to be here in your safe from that drug shipment. The cartels are on my ass. That's two and a half million dollars! Not to mention the missing drugs."

"What? Dad, what are you talking about?" Luke suddenly went into panic mode. "Dad, I got more trouble to worry about right now. Claudia is missing."

"The hell she is. Your men already called and told me. That bitch skipped town with our money!" the older man yelled over the phone, making Luke pull it away from his ear.

"No. It's Roman. He's behind this. He's trying to frame us for his brother's murder. He kidnapped Claudia."

"You're sure?"

"Dad, I bet my own money on it. We knew Roman had been up to something and I think this is all a set up."

"Is this about his brother? Did you kill him, Luke? The D'Amico's have been in good terms with us for years. You're going to put us in the middle of a damn family war. I should have never left you in charge!"

Gritting his teeth, Luke tried to take a deep breath to calm his anger. His breathing was labored, and it almost felt like he was on the brink of a panic attack or worse, a possible cardiac event.

This had just gone from bad to worse.