Tempted and Taken, page 22
Matt Russo.
“You’ve seen this before?” Tony asked Aunt Berta.
“No. But Renzo told me about it. I thought—I hoped—that maybe it had been forgiven.”
Tony rubbed his eyes wearily. “I don’t understand, Aunt Berta. Why would Uncle Renzo go to Matt Russo for a loan? Why would he agree to those ridiculous rates?”
Aunt Berta wrung her hands before lifting one to wipe away a tear. “I never wanted you kids to find out. You loved your uncle Renzo, and you should have. He was an amazing man. It’s just…”
“Did Uncle Renzo have a gambling problem?” Liza asked.
Aunt Berta sucked in a shaky breath. “He…yes, he did. But he got it under control long before he died.”
“Maybe you should start at the beginning, Aunt Berta. Talk us through this. Because if this debt is real…” Tony didn’t finish his thought. Probably because they could all do the math and figure out Uncle Renzo’s debt—given the weekly interest and the length of time since the loan was issued—was in the seven-figure range.
“He liked to gamble,” Aunt Berta started. “He always did. Shortly after he and Frank opened the restoration business, he started hitting the tables at one of the local casinos after work to blow off steam. I didn’t know at first. I thought he’d just been working long hours, but then one day, the bank called to tell me I’d bounced a check at the grocery store. I couldn’t understand how. When I confronted Renzo, he told me about the casino, about the string of bad luck.”
“I never knew,” Tony said. “I’m sure Dad didn’t either.”
“He was so ashamed of himself, and he promised he would stop. He did…for a while.”
“Obviously, he started back up,” Luca said, prompting Aunt Berta to continue.
“By the time I realized he was gambling again, he’d racked up a substantial debt with the casino.”
“The Russos don’t own casinos,” Liza pointed out, trying to figure out how Matt’s name ended up on this marker.
“But the Eddingtons do,” Tony said. “Isn’t Russo dating Patricia Eddington? Obviously, the Russos pulled in a favor with their country club buddies.”
Liza swallowed deeply, trying to dislodge the lump there. None of this made sense. But…maybe it did. Had Matt discovered the debt and bought it as a way to help her family?
She glanced at the document again, that too-wonderful-to-be-true dream dashed when she saw that Matt had purchased this marker fifteen years ago. He would have been twenty-two at the time.
Why would he buy something like this?
Liza scoffed at herself. She might be an idiot in love, but she wasn’t stupid.
Matt had seen the debt as a way to hurt her family.
What didn’t make sense was why he’d decided to cash it in now. The man she’d spent the last two weeks falling head over heels for wouldn’t do something like this. He just wouldn’t.
“Why didn’t you tell us we were in debt to Matt Russo after Uncle Renzo died?” Luca asked.
“I didn’t know who the debt was to. Renzo never told me. I knew he owed the casino quite a lot of money. We took out a second mortgage on the house, but—”
“When you sold the house, you told me you didn’t know why Uncle Renzo took out that second mortgage.” Tony looked as confused as Liza felt.
“I shouldn’t have lied to you, but…” Aunt Berta wiped away another tear. Liza reached over to the end table closest to her and grabbed a box of tissues. Her aunt gave her a grateful smile as she took one. “You loved your uncle, looked up to him, and I didn’t want you to think less of him. He was a good man, but he wasn’t perfect.”
“So some of the debt has been paid?” Liza wondered if perhaps this was a moot point. If the second mortgage had covered it.
“Renzo went to the casino to give them the money. It wasn’t enough to pay off the loan, but he hoped it would buy him time to figure out how to come up with the rest. He even considered selling his half of the business, but it still wouldn’t have been enough.”
“But he paid some of it off?” Luca asked, seeking clarification of exactly what they were up against.
“Renzo was gone a long time that day, and I worried he’d bypassed the cashier window and hit the tables again. When he returned, he still had the money. Said that the marker had been bought by a powerful man.”
“Matt Russo,” Tony spat the name in a way that made Liza’s chest hurt.
“Renzo refused to tell me who, but I could tell that whoever it was…it was bad.”
“Did he give Matt the money?”
Aunt Berta shrugged. “I don’t know. Renzo never talked to me about what happened that day, and while I knew that marker existed, this is the first time I’ve ever seen it. But not a day went by that Renzo didn’t think of and worry about the debt. Whenever I asked him about it, all he would say was the loan hadn’t come due yet. I didn’t understand what that meant. All I know is he lived every single day of his life waiting for that knock on the door.”
“That must have been unbearable,” Liza murmured.
“His blood pressure had always been high, and he’d taken medicine to keep it under control from the time he was in his twenties. But with the added anxiety of knowing we could lose everything in the blink of an eye, well, the doctor increased his dose shortly after.”
Liza felt sick to think her uncle had spent so many years—an entire decade and a half—waiting for a phone call that could destroy him, Aunt Berta, their family, the business. Sure, he’d dug the hole, but this debt was clearly exploited—it was obvious from the high interest rate.
When she attached Matt’s name as the person who tormented Renzo, a wave of nausea left her light-headed.
“When he died, I waited, certain I wouldn’t be able to settle his estate until the debt was cleared. But it didn’t show up anywhere in the bank records and no one came looking for the money. So I hoped that maybe it was forgiven,” Aunt Berta said, though it was apparent she didn’t believe what she was saying.
“Loans aren’t forgiven, Aunt Berta,” Tony said. “Obviously, Matt sat on this until the interest on the principal was high enough he knew we couldn’t afford to pay it.”
Aunt Berta sniffled, a soft cry escaping. “I’m so sorry!”
Liza tightened her grip around her aunt’s shoulders, tugging her closer. “It’s okay, Aunt Berta. It’s all going to be okay.” She locked gazes with Tony, whose jaw was clenched tight in anger and despair.
She suspected he had a lot more he wanted to say, but he didn’t want to upset their aunt any more than they already had.
Liza glanced at the marker again, still struggling to understand. “Where did you get that, Tony?” she asked, nodded at the paper.
“Someone delivered it to the Moretti Brothers offices about a half hour ago,” Tony replied.
“Who delivered it?” Liza asked.
“Isn’t it obvious? Russo had one of his lackeys bring it to us.”
Liza slowly shook her head, refusing to believe that. She and Matt had made love no more than seven hours earlier. It had been slow and passionate and perfect. He hadn’t been a man set on revenge. He’d been gentle and warm and…goddammit…perfect.
Luca ran his hand through his hair, anger winning as the dominant emotion. “Looks like the fruit didn’t fall far from the tree. Matt’s decided to continue the path of destruction put in place by his grandfather and father with this fucking sucker punch.”
“Come on, Luca,” Tony said, rising.
“Where are you going?” Liza asked.
“To see Russo,” Tony replied. “I’m not waiting around for the asshole’s next move.”
“No.” Liza stood as well, picking up the piece of paper. “I’ll go.”
Luca and Tony scoffed in unison. “No way.”
Liza raised her hand before they could continue. “I know Matt. We have a…working relationship.” She hoped no one noticed her pause before working. She’d almost skipped that word entirely. Now probably wasn’t the best time to mention she’d been shacking up with Matt for the past couple of weeks. She hadn’t slept alone in a bed since Hawaii.
“Liza, there’s no way—”
“I can talk to him,” she interjected. “Reason with him. Try to figure out what his end game is. If you go, it’ll be less talk, more fists. That won’t help anyone.”
“I’m not going to hit him,” Tony insisted. “At least not immediately.”
She rolled her eyes. “Please let me handle this.”
Tony sighed, then exchanged a glance with Luca, who shrugged.
“You can come with us,” Tony conceded.
“I’m doing all the talking,” she added, though she knew Tony wouldn’t be able to stop himself from stepping into the fray. Tony Moretti was an intimidating force, and when something arose that threatened his loved ones…God help them.
That marker had made Aunt Berta cry, it had caused Uncle Renzo years of stress, and it had the potential to bankrupt Moretti Brothers. At the end of the day, all of that was ultimately Uncle Renzo’s fault, but Liza wasn’t certain Tony was seeing it that way at the moment.
There was no way she’d be able to hold Tony back if it turned out Matt was indeed calling in the debt.
Blood would be shed.
“Please, Tony,” she persisted, desperate to find some way out of this mess, some way back to the pure happiness she’d felt not thirty minutes ago.
“We’ll go together.” Tony hadn’t agreed to let her do the talking, but it was as good a deal as she was going to get.
As they left Aunt Berta’s, Liza prayed the entire way to the Russo Enterprises building that this had been some big misunderstanding. That Matt, the man she’d fallen hopelessly in love with, wasn’t trying to destroy her family.
Chapter Seventeen
“You can’t go in there!”
Matt looked up as the door to his office slammed open, Henri hot on the heels of Tony and Luca Moretti.
“Sir,” Henri exclaimed, rushing into the room. “I tried to stop them. Should I call security?”
Henri’s question was justified. Tony and Luca looked ready to commit murder.
A wise man would request backup, but instead, Matt shook his head. “No. I’ve been expecting them.”
“You have?”
At the sound of her voice, Matt’s stomach clenched painfully, because that was when he realized Liza was standing in the threshold of the door, hidden behind her cousins’ large frames.
Matt stood, swallowing hard. When Patricia had issued her threat, he’d known this showdown was imminent. He’d expected her to go to Tony. After all, he was the one she’d specifically mentioned, and he’d taken a small amount of comfort in that. Tony’s anger, he could deal with. But Liza’s?
This conversation was going to be difficult enough as it was, and given his and Tony’s contentious past, Matt would be lucky if it didn’t come to blows. Tony certainly looked furious enough to throw a few punches.
If it had just been Tony and Luca, Matt could have powered through. But doing this, becoming the man he used to be, in front of Liza…
Matt took a deep breath and steeled himself for what came next. Glancing at his assistant, he said, “You can go back to your desk, Henri. There’s no need to call security. I can handle this.”
Henri’s gaze traveled from Tony to Luca, then back to Matt, and while his slight PA wasn’t more than five feet six and a hundred and fifty pounds soaking wet, he shot Matt a determined, fearless “got your back” look.
Matt was going to give the man one hell of a bonus come evaluation time.
“It’s okay,” Matt reassured him again, giving Henri an appreciative nod.
Henri walked out of the room, closing the door behind him, and Tony wasted no time, storming over to his desk and slamming the marker down on the surface. “You want to explain to me what this is?”
Matt didn’t give the marker more than a cursory glance. He knew what the paper said. Matt lifted one eyebrow and kept his eyes locked on Tony’s face. As long as he didn’t look at Liza, he could handle this. A lifetime of animosity toward Tony bubbled to the surface, allowing Matt to slide back into his role as the villain in this fucking Greek tragedy more easily than he expected. He’d tried to show this man to Liza in Hawaii, tried to make her see he wasn’t the man she thought he was. “You need me to explain the loan to you?”
Tony gritted his teeth. “No, I don’t.”
“Perhaps you need me to do the math for you. Interest can be tricky.” His words and tone hit their marks. Luca, who’d been standing slightly behind Tony, deferring the lead to his older brother, moved closer until the two were standing side by side in front of his desk. He should probably dial back the snark because there was no way this would be a fair fight. Not that that was his goal.
Whatever he got…he had coming.
“Knew the Russos’ hands were fucking dirty, but I didn’t realize just how low you sank. You sit here in your fancy office and act like a big shot, but you’re nothing more than a goddamned loan shark,” Luca snarled.
In this particular instance, that’s absolutely what Matt was. He’d chosen his victim, preyed on his weakness, then struck fast and hard, a black mamba lying in wait. The insanely high interest, charged weekly, had been put in place on purpose, since Matt’s original goal had been to inflict as much pain as possible.
Then, his mom committed suicide and life changed those goals. He’d put the marker aside, all but forgotten, until Patricia shoved it in his face this morning. The truth was he had never intended to collect on it, but now…
Now he saw a different use for it.
“This debt is fifteen years old,” Tony said. “That’s a long time to sit on a loan without collecting payment.”
“Maybe so, but if I’d called in the debt fifteen years ago, this piece of paper,” Matt tapped his finger on the marker, “would be worth a lot less.”
He heard Liza gasp at the cruel callousness in his voice, but he didn’t spare her a glance. He couldn’t.
“How did you come into possession of this?” Luca asked. “The Eddingtons own the casino that issued this marker, not Russo Enterprises.”
This…
This was the part he didn’t want to say in front of Liza. This was why he’d tried to stay away from her initially. He’d been a fool to think the past would stay dead and buried. He had too many skeletons in his closet…done too many truly terrible things.
Horrible things that wouldn’t just ensure he lost Liza’s trust and affection, but his brothers’ as well.
For fourteen years, he’d been living with an ax over his head. Maybe it was time to just let it fall, let it chop the head off this shell of a man he’d become and live the rest of his miserable life alone.
“My father and Richard Eddington were good friends. As such, he was aware of the animosity between our families. One night at the club, Richard mentioned that your uncle Renzo had built up a bit of gambling debt. Twenty thousand dollars, to be exact.”
Tony’s gaze fell to the paper. Matt knew why. The numbers didn’t add up. “I convinced Richard to extend your uncle more credit. Told him I would cover the loan, buy the marker. We agreed on a number and then Renzo dug the hole. That’s the one reliable thing about gamblers. They’re always certain they can solve their problems with just one more deal of the cards.”
Richard was as big an asshole as Matt’s dad, and he’d been all too happy to agree to Matt’s scheme, pleased to be a part of the twisted game his family liked to play with the Morettis. He could recall the way he, Dad, and Richard had all clinked their glasses of Scotch together, amused by the thought of playing God, destroying a man simply because they could.
“You made sure he got in too deep, over his head with a debt he couldn’t hope to pay.” Tony’s voice was quiet but lethal as he started connecting the dots.
Matt crossed his arms. “No one held a gun to your uncle’s head at those tables. He lost the money all on his own.”
“He shouldn’t have been able to gamble so much,” Luca said, slamming his fist on the top of the desk. “If he’d been cut off before—”
Matt interrupted the man mid-rant. “He would have gone to another casino and racked up more debt with someone else. I ensured that didn’t happen. Because this way, it all comes to me.”
Tony’s fists clenched, fury carved in every groove on his face, and Matt braced himself for the punch.
“He had a gambling problem,” Liza said softly. “We didn’t know about it until that marker showed up today.”
Apparently, her uncle Renzo had taken his secret to the grave, though Matt didn’t believe he could have hidden it from everyone. “Surely his wife knew.”
Matt had felt Liza’s eyes on him throughout the conversation, but he hadn’t glanced her direction once. He couldn’t. Not if he hoped to do what needed to be done. He ignored her comment, his attention locked on Tony and Luca.
“Aunt Berta knew,” Liza admitted.
Tony huffed out a disgusted laugh, shaking his head. “You really know how to play the long game, don’t you, Russo? Obviously, the original debt is a drop in the bucket to you. It’s why you waited. You don’t need that fucking money, so you waited until you could do the most damage.”
“My patience is endless,” Matt replied, the cold, cutting words coming easily…too easily. This was the role he was raised to play.
“All this just because you lost a stupid election in high school?” Tony asked. “Are you really that petty? Is your ego that fucking fragile?”
Matt had been twenty-two when he’d bought the marker, a cocky, selfish son of a bitch with too much money and even more pride. Hell yeah, his ego had been fragile.
He began to wonder if the reason he’d tolerated Patricia as long as he had was because he understood her. Children raised with silver spoons, never wanting for a single thing, saw the world much differently than most.
“What’s the end game?” Luca asked, calmer after his outburst. “Why send the marker now?”
Matt could come clean here, tell them he hadn’t sent the marker, but he doubted Tony and Luca would believe him…though he knew Liza would.
