Married To The Mafia...?

Silence. I was beginning to get used to the sound as I sat alone and idling in it's presence inside the penthouse.

I heard the chime of the elevator and slowly lifted my head from the newspaper I had been reading, the tabloids had caught wind of Antonio's plans to sell and were claiming inner family feuds.

"I came as soon as I got your message."

I smiled and motioned for him to take a seat at the island bench, "Coffee?"

He snook his head and slowly reach down toward a brief case by his side. White papers sat neatly upon the counter top. "I'm going to guess you've heard then?"

"That there's a hopeful buyer? Yes I know." I grabbed a bottle of red vitamin water and unscrewed the cal, savoring the taste of dragon fruit.

"His name is Harry Gordon. I tried reading further into him but there's not a lot of information and my father isn't exactly being open. What with everybody's confusions to why he'd chose now to sell."

I watched as Marcus spoke softly from his seat, truly thankful that he'd come the second he could. I'd received a large amount of paperwork through the mail, it was from Antonio's lawyers and basically it highlighted the fact I was helpless as to stopping him from selling. My only sensible option was to called Marcus, the most experienced when it came to hotels of the Radev brothers.

"I've never heard of Harry Gordon." I chipped nail polish of one of my fingers and looked back up to him, "I just need you to tell me what my options are."

Marcus sighed loudly. "Basically, you have none. My dad has the right do whatever with his shares, and there's nothing you can legally do to stop him. When this Harry Gordon buys, not everything will change. You'll still be the main owner, he can't do a thing without your approval. The only thing is either can you, if there's a business matter you have to consult him on everything. My advice would be the hold a meeting the day he buys. Be there when he signs the paperwork it's a good business decision and a chance to meet."

"Can't I just buy the shares back?"

"Not for the price my father is asking." Marcus sifted through the papers until he found the one he had been searching for. "This Gordon guy, he's offering 3.4 million, my father is asking for 2.7. Either way, if you were to sign over this much for the shares you'd be sending this place almost broke. Daily your running costs are 1.9 million dollars, the hotel makes just over 2.3 million, that goes to pay roll, to hired entertainment, maintenance. You're personal profits are impressive, but nowhere what you need."

I nodded my head slowly taking in a deep breath. "I don't understand why he chose right now. Why not wait until the banks had cleared?

Since Ethan's death I had been waiting for the white tap of the banks to open his life insurance accounts, for the dazzling amount of government money to flood my bank account. They had ordered both Ethan's personal account and our joined accounts to be closed until further notice. I was sure it had something to do with the hand in the underworld, probably a police investigation that I hadn't heard about. Antonio had chosen to sell while he knew the accounts were closed.

"My father works in mysterious ways." Marcus laughed good natured and began packing the paper work back into his brief case. He left shortly after with a kiss to my hair and vanished behind the door of the elevator.

The office was quiet by the time I stepped inside, two men Samuel and Tony flicked through security screens and another  Chris filed through bills, payroll documents and latest entertainment deals. Emmanuel sat beyond the glass door of my office, his face reading over what I could only guess as the offers of sale from Antonio.

"How did your meeting go with Marcus?" He didn't look up from the paper work only continued reading as I walked in further.

"There's no options, he's selling to a Harry Gordon."

"Harry Gordon?"

"Heard of him?" I opened the drawer on the desk and pulled out the plane ticket, it had been floating around my mind for day.

"There's only one Harry Gordon I've ever heard of and for it to be him, it's impossible-" Something must have clicked in his brain because he began feverishly typing across the screen of his iPhone before suddenly changing the subject. "What are you doing with that?"

"I'm going to the travel agents."

Emmanuel refused to let me go alone, he slid into the driver's seat of the black Lexus and drove effortlessly down the Vegas strip. It made me miss the way Ethan would always hold the car door, or lean across the middle console to interwove our fingertips. I knew Antonio was right, I knew by standard he hadn't really been my husband. But it didn't change my realisation that I loved him, even if it was only clear once he was gone.

"Can I help you?" Her blonde hair was perfect, her red lipstick dazzling and highlighting her wonderfully straight white teeth.

"I'm wondering if you can tell me anything about this ticket?" I pushed the white paper toward her, the receipt feeling heavy in my hands. "It was for my husband and-"

"It's fine, I'll look into it now." Her eyes were warm and understanding and she smile sympathetically, most likely her instincts told her of a cheating marital partner. "It says here a Mr. Ethan Radev bought the ticket and boarded the plane to Italy." She continued clicked over her screen, "It also says he bought a return ticket which arrives back in Nevada in two days."

My breath stopped, it caught in my lung. There was no way Ethan could have boarded a plane, he was dead. Emmanuel saw the panicked confusion and gently placed a hand on my shoulder before he spoke to the woman. "There has to be a mistake."

The woman's brows creased as she stared at the screen. "It says the tickets were changed to somebody else's name?"

"Who?" My voice was practically screaming, my nails digging into my palms.

"They were changed to a Mr. H Gordon."