Page 99 of The Billionaire's Destiny

Thud.He tumbled over his chair and down on the floor.

“Shit,” Judge Colby yelled.

“Eric…Help me. Call for help,” Luca got out between staggered wheezes.

Judge Colby took out his phone but stopped. “Give me an account number, and I will.”

Luca didn’t answer.

One minute. Two…

“Call someone. Call someone. Please,” I choked, begging the man on the screen, but it was a film. The result had already happened. Luca died the next day.

Judge Colby opened the drawer, removed the necklace and the hollowed book, and then stepped out of the screenshot.

The room went dark.

Minutes passed, and my heart pounded in panic.

The door opened, and the lights came back on. Diedre screamed. “Aiuto! Aiuto! Chiama il112.”Help! Help! Call 112.She appeared behind the desk and slammed the laptop shut.

My vision blurred, and I grasped the edge of the desk to stay upright. I looked over at Rocco. His expression was serene. “Why aren’t you freaking out? Did you show this to the police?”

He reached inside his pocket and pulled out the necklace?

He held it up for me to look at. “It’s my grandmother Aurora’s diamond collar necklace. It’s an heirloom for her family, the Espositos. Luca wanted to give this to you to wear at your wedding, but it’s been missing.”

“You have it?” I said, puzzled. “How?”

“Because I took it from Eric Colby’s body,” he said in a flat tone.

My heart hammered hard against my ribs. “Rocco…did you…” I shook my head back and forth rapidly. “What happened?”

“He hadn’t gone far after he attacked you. We found him a few yards away, trying to get the drugs that were in the dirt next to his car.”

“What did you do?”

“We took him down to the cellar, and I punched him until he couldn’t stand. Then, I gave him the drugs to use, reminding him that I’m big in Florence, and he will get arrested without bail. They’ll drop him in a hole where he’ll never see daylight again. I also told him everyone will know what he did. I’ll get the press to run it every day for years. Then, I left him, and he did as I expected. He took them all and died.”

My jaw dropped. “He’s dead?” I shook my head in confusion. “No. No way.”

Rocco took a Polaroid out of his pocket. “This is the only copy. I saved it to show you.”

The photo showed Judge Colby, lifeless, dirty, and bruised with blood and a needle in his arm.

Rocco picked up a lighter and burned the image. “The camera was shattered afterward and thrown away in the ocean.”

I shook my head. “How did you get the necklace?”

“Pawn owner was a cousin of my friend Enzo the jeweler, you met him in Siena. He sold it in Rome for practically nothing.”

Judge Colby never got much from pawning when he was strung out on drugs.

But there must be a body. The police aren’t looking for him?”

“They are, and he will be found soon. That’s more than he deserves.”

I stared at him, speechless and waiting for him to tell me it wasn’t true, but he sat there confident and defiant. He had crossed a line, just as I had when I used the folding chair in that hotel room to stop my father from hurting my mother.