My birthday.
I was so worried about my wife that I forgot about my own birthday.
I scanned the room which was filled by our family and friends, until my eyes landed on her. I scanned her from head to toe and she looked perfectly fine, beautiful even, but when my eyes landed on hers, I spotted fear in them.
This whole thing had been planned, and she was afraid of how I would react.
I sent her a small smile and opened up my arms to her, which she gladly ran into. I realized then that I'd missed her even more than I'd been willing to admit. I laughed when the girls joined in our hug, and I couldn't have been happier to have my family back.
"Rafe," she whispered, looking up at me.
"I'm not mad," I told her.
"No, that's not it. I need to show you something," she said.
"What is it?" I scowled.
She didn't say anything, and instead, everyone moved apart until my eyes landed on the mirror image of myself. It's very rare that I get blindsided, and what was happening now completely threw me off, simply because I couldn't believe my eyes.
"Ralph?" I said incredulously.
"Hey bro," my brother smirked.
Still a twerp!
"How?" I asked.
"It's my birthday present to you. I'm quite touched since I know you didn't get me anything," he joked, making everyone but my wife and I laugh.
"Ralph," she said in warning.
"Alright fine! It's a really long story, so how about we let everyone else have a good time while the two of us go and talk?" he suggested.
"Three of us," I corrected.
I wasn't leaving my wife behind.
"Mi amore, you need to talk to your brother. I'll be here for you when you're done," she told me.
"Promise?" I asked. She leaned on her toes to kiss me.
"On our marriage," she smiled.
I stole one more kiss from her before following my brother. I was relieved to know that she was ok, but now I was facing a whole new whirlwind of emotions. Seeing my brother alive obviously meant that I had a million questions to ask, but Ralph knows me like no other, so I wont need to ask any questions.
"I'm proud of you Ambrosi," he said.
"What for?" I asked.
"I don't know how you made it to this point, but I'm proud of you for marrying a good woman. I am certain that you're in good hands because of her," he explained.
"I take it she's the person who you first went to?" I asked knowingly.
"How did you know?" he chuckled.
"It's the same reason why I married her. She just gives off this aura that you can trust her with absolutely everything," I smiled.
"I was initially going to her to find out if you were doing ok, but the woman is stubborn. She felt that everyone deserves to know that I'm alive, despite whatever consequences there may be," he shook his head.
"That's my wife for you. What consequences would there be though?" I asked.
"I work for the CIA now. That night when I supposedly died, I was taken by the Malone's because of your heist on them. Luckily for me, there was a CIA team that was dedicated to taking them down. They managed to do so a day after I was taken, and that's when I found out that I'd already been declared dead. You were so mad at me the last time we saw each other, I figured that you wouldn't miss me if I left, so I was recruited by them. I moved to the States for more training and I made agent a year later. A month ago, I was given a case relating to Jordan. He's apparently causing some trouble, and the CIA wants to take him down. I had to look at his activities in Italy, and that's when I landed on the TV special with you and Aretha's wedding. I'd made it my mission to not check up on you to avoid coming back, but when I saw how happy you were, I wanted to know how you truly were. I'd already been warned against contacting you again, especially because of your past connection to the cartel. However, your wife couldn't have cared less if there was a gun to my head. She refused to hide this from you. I have never met anyone who cares about you as much as I do, but she does. She told me that you have hated how our relationship ended, and that if my coming ended your pain, then that's exactly what would happen. If it weren't for her, I would've been back in the States," he replied.
Can I seriously fall in love with my wife anymore than I already am? There's honestly no one who loves me as much as she does. The fact that my brother was willing to still go back without seeing me is proof of that much. I love him, and I know he loves me too, but not as much as my wife does.
"So what now?" I asked.
"I got a response from my superiors earlier. They want to meet with me tomorrow morning. I guess I'll learn my fate then," he sighed.
"I'm sorry if we've caused any trouble," I told him. He looked at me in confusion.
"Did you just apologize to me?" he asked.
"I did, and I'm sorry for that and for everything else. I wish I had listened to you about Gabi. I'm sorry that she came between us. I should've just respected that you loved her and let it be. I'm sorry that I brought you into the cartel life. I'm sorry that you felt that you had to leave because I failed to show you that you meant more to me than that. I am sorry for being such a shit brother our whole lives," I apologized.
"Ambrosi, I was never in love with Gabi," he sighed.
"What?" I scowled.
"We all knew that she was toxic for you, so I thought that by taking her away from you, you'd be free, but you were so damn hard headed, and she took full advantage of that. Hell, she relished in the attention she was getting from us both, but it was never real on my side. I just wanted to get her away from the most important person to me," he explained.
"Why didn't you say anything at the time?" I asked.
"I did. Everyone did, but you were so wrapped up by her, you wouldn't see reason. I believe it took her death for you to open your eyes," he said.
"Everything fell onto me at once, and having to deal with everything and being a father at the same time was hell," I admitted.
"I can imagine, but I spent some time with my nieces. You did good," he smiled.
"It wasn't until recently that I became a good father. My wife came into my world and she changed everything. We wouldn't have made it without her," I said proudly.
"She's definitely a gem. Everyone loves her, and they would seemingly do anything for her. She would also seemingly do anything for you," he commented.
"What exactly are you hinting at?" I raised an eyebrow.
"She's been in communication with Jordan's wife. Are you aware of this?" he asked.
"Who the hell is Jordan's wife?" I asked. I already knew that the Jordan he was referring to is Jordan Hugo, Daniel's brother.
"Eva Hugo," he replied.
I stilled.
"Did you just say Eva?" I asked.
"So you know of her," he realized.
"I know of what she's put my wife through, together with Daniel," I replied.
"Wait, so you know that she was married to Daniel before marrying Jordan?" he asked.
"I didn't know about the Jordan part. We're currently in the middle of figuring out what the hell Eva wants from my wife, and why they want us dead," I responded.
"Wait! You mean to tell me that you're the family that's being targeted?" he frowned.
"What are you talking about?" I sighed, rubbing my temples.
"Stay here," he said before leaving the room.
My head was swimming with confusion and questions. None of this was making any sense to me, and it was instead giving me the headache of a lifetime. This is not how I would've ever thought a reunion with my brother would play out. He came back into the room, my wife behind him.
"What's going on?" she asked as we watched him set up his laptop and a projective device. The wall lit up as a document reflected onto it.
"We don't know what this Eva woman looks like, but according to the case brief I was given, she and Jordan are currently attacking a family in Italy for a reason unknown to the agency. Now that Ambrosi has shed light on that family being this one, I need your help to not only protect you guys, but to also put these people behind bars," my brother explained.
"They're after some black diamonds," my wife replied.
"What?" my brother and I asked.
"I was going to tell you on Saturday night, but then you got mad at me and you left. Eva came to see me on Friday night. Apparently you know Jordan and you all go way back. She said to me that if I found out what you did with the black diamonds, she would stop terrorizing our family, but that I would also have to leave you," she explained.
"Wait, so you also know who Eva and Jordan are?" my brother asked her. She nodded before telling him everything.
"That is so fucked up!" he said angrily.
"You're preaching to the choir bro. What I don't understand is why he wants those diamonds now. It's been ten years, and we'd already agreed that the diamonds were mine," I pointed out.
"He's broke," my brother said in realization.
"And selling the diamonds would bring him enough money to retire," my wife added.
"What does taking us out of the picture achieve though?" I asked.
"It guarantees two things. One, that they'll get the diamonds, and two, that you wont fight to get them back," my brother explained.
"And where do I fit into the picture?" my wife asked.
"Where you're concerned, it's clearly a case of some demented form of possession," my brother replied.
"So how do we get to them before they get to us?" I asked.
"We'll figure that out in just a moment. Right now I'm curious about something. Aretha, have you told my brother everything about yourself?" he asked her.
"I have," she nodded.
"Ambrosi, it's only fair that you tell her everything as well. You were after all, the most dangerous man in Italy," he turned to me.
"She's going to leave me," I told him.
"She's not going to, and deep down, you know that. You're just afraid, but I can tell you right now that you have nothing to be afraid of. She's proven over and over that she's not going anywhere, and that she loves you through everything. Trust in that and tell her everything," he advised. I looked to her and she gave me a small smile with a nod.
"Remember how you asked me about my involvement in anything illegal when we met?" I sighed. She nodded.
"They used to call me Diablo. Ralph and I met Gabi when we were sixteen, and everyone in my life who met her was either attracted to her, or they didn't like her. My siblings told me that they thought she was bad news for me, but I wouldn't listen to them. One day, she took me to meet her 'friends' and that's when I learnt that she was a part of a cartel. Her father was dying, and he needed someone to take over the cartel for him, and she thought I'd be the perfect fit. Since Ralph and I have always liked things like fighting and shooting, we already knew how to fight from our kickboxing and karate classes, and shooting from shooting at the range. We were both exceptionally good at it, but my brother was never meant for the bad world, so I tried my best to make him stay away from the cartel. A year down the line, Gabi's father was dead, and I was the leader of the most dangerous cartel in the country. Jordan joined, and I ended up making him my right hand man. He kept me level headed since we all know I have a temper on me. We were notorious for robbing people, except there were things that were being kept from me about my own cartel. There was a group of guys that were committing murder in my name, and that's when Ralph caught word of what I was really up to. He joined the cartel against my wishes, so my next task was making sure that people didn't know that I had a twin because he would obviously become a target. We succeeded for a year, and I became more and more lost to the dark world. When Ralph 'died', I became worse. With Gabi's influence only making me worse, I truly lost my way. I've kidnapped, robbed, blackmailed, dealt with and trafficked drugs, helped with human trafficking, been actively involved in the black market and injured people, but I've never murdered anyone. However, that doesn't make me innocent since the members of my cartel were guilty of worse crimes than mine. After Gabi died, I knew I had to straighten up for the girls, so I left the cartel life behind," I told her.
Silence fell onto the room as my brother and I watched my wife. She looked at me blankly, and fear settled in me. My past is something I'm not proud of, and it's definitely something I've tried to change about myself. I've paid back every family that I robbed, and apologized to everyone who I had ever brought harm to. I wont lie, having the girls made it that much easier for a lot of people to forgive me.
"This is it," she said after a while.
"What is?" my brother and I asked concurrently.
"This is the cartel getting back at you. Who did you leave the cartel to when you left?" she asked me.
"Jordan," I said in realization.
"This clearly goes deeper than we know, and our pasts' being connected is just the perfect coincidence for them. Ralph was saying that he doesn't believe that the cartel would just let go of you, and now that I know the truth, it makes no sense to me too. Why would Jordan wait nine years to reach out to you again? Hell, why would he want you dead?" she asked.
"We'd been fighting a lot when Gabi was pregnant because he felt that I wasn't being ruthless enough in anything we were doing. He's a murderer and he wanted me to join that train, something I refused to do. Having Gabi around wasn't helping either because he hated her for whatever reason," I informed.
"What about the diamonds?" my brother asked.
"We robbed a royal family, but things went south because of one mistake on his part. I saved his life, and out of gratitude, he agreed that I could keep the black diamonds, while he and the rest of the cartel members split the other normal diamonds between each other," I replied.
"Do you still have them?" my wife asked, to which I nodded.
"Bro, I know this is probably a lot to ask of you, but I need your help with this, and I don't mean your help as Raphael Maestri either," my brother pleaded.
"You can't make me go back into that world Ralph. I refuse to be sucked into it," I refused.
"But you wouldn't be because this time you have me," my wife told me confidently.
I looked at the two of them, not really believing what they were asking of me. I mean, going back into that world would potentially be dangerous for all of us, as well as toxic for me. However, my wife made an important point.
In the past, it was easy for me to get lost in that world because I didn't know any better. I didn't know of a better life, and thanks to her, I knew better, and my life right now is definitely better. She's my anchor, and if she truly believes that I can do this without getting sucked back in, then I believe in myself as well.
"I don't want to go back into that world as Diablo. I'll help you wherever you need my help, but I am not getting sucked back in," I told my brother.
"I guess I'll work with what I get," he sighed.
"And I'm helping where I can," my wife said.
"Absolutely not!" I refused.
"I wasn't asking for permission Rafe," she glared at me.
"It's too dangerous," I argued.
"And last I checked my husband used to be the most dangerous criminal in Italy. That should speak volumes," she shrugged.
Stubborn doesn't even begin to describe what this woman is.
"In that case, you can start by telling us exactly how you know Jordan," my brother told her. That's something I was curious about too.
"I met Jordan through Eva. I've always guessed that she's the reason that the brothers don't get along since she was married to Daniel first, and then she married Jordan. Jordan encouraged Eva's obsession with me, but I never interacted with him all that much. All I know is that they both hate Daniel," she explained.
"Do you think he wants Ambrosi dead?" my brother asked.
"I'm guessing so, but if you're asking if I knew about this before, I didn't. Rafe was never mentioned while I was there," she replied.
"Either way, someone wants me and my family dead, and Eva, Jordan and Daniel are high up on our suspect list," I pointed out.
"That much is true, so I guess what's left is us discussing the way forward from here," my brother said.
"We can do that another time. Tonight is about celebrating you guys for heaven sakes," my wife scolded.
"And I'm learning that there's no arguing with you, so I guess we should head on down," my brother sighed.
"We'll catch up with you," I told him, to which he nodded.
"It's really good to be back bro," he said, hugging me.
"It's good to have you back bro," I told him honestly as I hugged him back. He left the room soon after.
"He made me do it," my wife defended before I even said anything. I laughed and pulled her in for a kiss.
"I don't care cara mia. I have my brother back, and you're safe. There's no better birthday present," I smiled.
"Good, because I was so worried you'd be mad at me. Jono already told me about why you really left on Saturday, and I'm sorry that I made you doubt me, and that I took you to a dark place in your memories," she caressed my cheek.
I still can't believe she's real.
"Only you could apologize for something that wasn't your fault," I teased.
"It may not have been my fault entirely, but I had a role to play in it. I lied to you that morning, and you didn't deserve that. I was just so shaken from having met Ralph, and then he offered to help me with the bakery things to buy him time to finish telling me his story, so I let him. Had I not lied to you, you wouldn't have had any reason to suspect me in the first place," she rambled.
"Ari, you were not the only person at fault here. I should've had more faith in you, so I'm sorry for that too," I told her.
"Where did you go?" she asked curiously.
"I went to an old apartment that I used to own, but I sold it during the week," I replied.
"How come?" she frowned.
"I don't need it. I don't need to escape. I need to start talking to you more, and now that everything from both our sides has been laid out, we can move forward knowing that we have absolute trust in each other. I love you more than I could ever put into words Signora Maestri," I told her before kissing her again. She pulled away, breathless after a while.
"I love you too, but you have guests waiting for you downstairs. We can continue this when we get home since the girls want to spend time with their new favourite uncle," she smirked.
"Promises, promises Signora Maestri," I taunted.
"It's been over a week Signor Maestri. I'm yours in any way you want me," she said seductively.
"You're only making me want to leave this party earlier," I pointed out.
"If you can survive this party patiently, I'll grant you one extra wish," she bargained.
"You're extremely tempting cara mia," I narrowed my eyes at her.
"I'm just maximising the pleasure for you caro," she said innocently as she turned to leave.
"Mhmm," I replied before spanking her behind. She squeaked before giggling.
"Behave yourself Raphael," she said in mock warning.
"You said nothing about behaving Aretha," I winked.
"Touché," she giggled before we made it downstairs.
It was still very weird seeing my brother, and from how everyone else was behaving around him, I knew that they'd all seen him before I did. My wife confirmed that for me, explaining that everyone thought it would be toughest to break it to me, and I can understand where they were coming from.
The party was enjoyable for everyone in attendance, and it was obvious that my brother's presence had everything to do with it. I didn't mind that the spotlight wasn't on me, even though it was my birthday as well. I was just glad to have him alive and back.
"I always forget that giving you a hand means you take a whole arm," my wife huffed as I collapsed beside her.
"You said it yourself, it's been more than a week," I chuckled breathlessly, pulling her into my side.
"I missed you so much," she said before kissing my chest.
"I missed you too tesoro, and I'm sorry for ignoring you as long as I did," I replied.
"We know we both forgive each other, so we just need to move on from this past week. No more secrets, and no more shutting each other out," she suggested.
"That sounds good to me, but it brings me to something I'm curious about," I said.
"She was in the house," she sighed.
"Who?" I scowled.
"Eva. You want to know where I saw her on Friday night, well technically Saturday morning. You had just fallen asleep and my perfectionist side wanted to make sure that everything was fine, so I went downstairs to check, and there she was. I was initially not going to tell you about the encounter, until I later realized that its things like this that made you untrusting to begin with," she explained.
It still surprises me just how well she knows me.
"So she got through our security?" I asked, to which she nodded.
"Our security sucks to be honest. I made it out of here without being seen either," she replied.
"I know that much, which Sven wasn't pleased to know. If I'm not mistaken, he's having the latest security installed, as well as a new security team. Before you say anything, I did try to stop him, but he wouldn't listen to me," I informed her.
"Oh I know. He called me to find out where I was, and that's when we let him in on everything," she giggled.
"Very sneaky wife!" I mock glared at her.
"You love me," she shrugged.
"That I do! Did Eva say anything else?" I asked.
"Only that I would get our son back, on condition I leave you after giving her information on those black diamonds," she replied.
"I hope you told her no," I scowled. She sent me a dry look.
"I told her nothing actually. I just let her believe that I would be doing that, but I have no intentions of doing so," she said.
"Good, because I have no intentions of letting you go," I said before having my way with her again.
We spent the better part of the night and day in bed, before heading downstairs to make ourselves food. My brother had sent a text to say he was keeping the quads longer. Apparently they were really enjoying bonding.
"Who are our immediate enemies?" my wife asked as we sat in the tub together.
"Why do you ask?" I countered.
"Because I'm pretty sure it's time we take care of them. I'm sick and tired of this life we're living right now. It's time for us to make way for our happily ever after," she said strongly.
I couldn't argue with that.
"From the top of my head, I can only think of Celine, Eva, Daniel, Jordan, Shelby and Mariya," I replied.
"You might want to add Marielle to that list," she said.
"Who's Marielle?" I asked in confusion.
"Red hair, short, really annoying and totally in love with you! Ring any bells?" she asked.
"I genuinely don't have any idea who you're talking about," I admitted.
"She's one of the candidates for the competition at the Empire," she added.
Oh, OH!
"She's in love with me?" I asked.
"The fact that she'd rather see me dead than at your side should answer that," she mumbled.
"Well she'll never have me, so she can keep being creepy and admiring me from a long distance away," I replied.
"I still say she should be added onto that list," she insisted.
"Alright, we'll add her onto the list. Now what?" I asked.
"Now we figure out a plan to take out the smaller enemies, before handling the bigger ones," she replied.
We left the bath tub and headed to our office, which is where we spent the next seven hours doing research on all of our enemies and strategizing on how we would be taking them down. I don't think either of us has ever been that focused before.
We're both craving our happily ever after at this point, which I'm pretty sure was our fuel.
"It looks like a warzone in here," my twin commented from the door.
"That's because it is," my wife replied, not bothering to look his way.
"Where are the girls?" I asked him.
"They're downstairs with Lui. What are you guys doing?" he asked.
"We're planning the doom of all our enemies," I informed him.
"You have more than the three we spoke about yesterday?" he asked in surprise.
"You'd be surprised by how many people want us dead for whatever reason," my wife sighed. He looked at the different boards we'd made for each enemy.
"Seemingly Shelby, Celine and Marielle will be the easiest to deal with. However, I can give you your biggest lead on Mariya, which will make things that much easier for you," he said.
"What is it?" my wife and I asked concurrently.
"Mariya and dad aren't legally married. She's married to someone else, and you wont believe who," he informed.
"Reece Hugo," we said in shock.
"What? How could you have possibly known that?" he scowled, but I could see on my wife's face that everything was falling together in her head, as it was doing in mine.
"That explains why the evidence against Anita is at Hugo Corp," she said.
"What evidence?" my brother asked in confusion.
"Mariya framed Ma for our uncle, Marci's dad's death. She's been manipulating dad this entire time and she's hidden the evidence at Hugo Corp so that he never gets his hands on it," I explained to him.
"Fuck! I always knew that that woman was the devil!" he said angrily.
"Hence why she's on this list. We need to get that evidence so that she no longer has anything over your mum, and then we're taking the whole Hugo family down. I'm so sick and tired of them," my wife said determinedly.
Yes, it is very much a turn on seeing her like that.
"We will get rid of them once and for all mia moglie. I promise," I told her. She sent me a smile before getting back to the Shelby board.
"Someone's on a mission," my brother said quietly to me.
"I think she's just really tired of being mistreated," I said just as lowly.
"Understandably so! You have my full support now that the agency has given the go ahead," he informed.
"Really?" I asked.
"Yeah! Turns out having you guys on my side is better than you being in the dark. They weren't happy with the arrangement, but once I shared the new information I obtained, and once I told them that I was staying to fight for my family, they gave me the go ahead," he replied.
"Well, that's good news. Wouldn't want to lose you when we just got you," I pointed out.
"Don't worry bro! I'm not going anywhere," he winked.
We took a break from our diabolical planning as Ralph called it, and headed downstairs to spend some time with our daughters. We also decided then that we were tired of having to play by Eva and Jordan's rules, so the girls wouldn't be going back to the island anymore.
"Where are we spending the rest of our summer then?" they asked in confusion.
"Don't you want to be home?" my wife asked with just as much confusion.
"We love you guys, and no offence to you, but this place isn't exactly fun to be in right now. You guys are always working, so it's not like you're going to have time for us anyway," Caprice pointed out.
"What would you like to do then?" I sighed.
"We'd say spend some more time with Uncle Ralph, but we already know that he's here for something really important, so he'll be as busy as you. We'd like to go to Aunt Nina and the twins," Calinda requested.
"Who?" I frowned.
"A friend of mine in England. They met when Nina came to see me while you were away during the shutdown," my wife informed.
"Oh!" was all I could say.
"Are you sure about this?" my wife asked our children.
"Yep! We promised Ava and Eve that we'd come and see them. Plus, it will give Aunt Nina some reassurance that the twins aren't bored for the rest of the holidays," Camilla explained.
"Alright fine! I'll call Ezra and ask him to arrange everything for you guys. When would you like to leave?" my wife asked.
"The day after tomorrow, but only if we get to spend the rest of today and tomorrow with you guys," Caterina said.
"Deal!" my wife and I agreed.
We'd missed them anyway.
It sucked that we couldn't be with them as much as we'd like to, but I was confident in that we both felt the same about their safety. We'd rather have them safe and away from us, than in danger and with us. They also have a point about us not being able to spend time with them.
Things went according to plan, and as soon as we'd seen the girls off to England with their new security team, and the Barclay jet, my wife, twin brother, Luigi, Fabius, Bianca, Joel, Rhonda, Katherine, Malia, Salina, Chang and I left for Washington D.C in the Maestri jet. My parents were in charge of taking care of Gio.
"Are the three of you going to tell us why we're all headed to Washington?" my sister in law asked.
"Rafe and I have come up with a plan to take down all our enemies once and for all, and we all have a part to play in that. We're starting in Washington because it's where everything started. If all goes well, we'll be able to end this once and for all," my wife explained as we settled in the air.
"And we all have a part to play you say? What about Marci and Liam?" Salina asked.
"They're helping on another part of the plan. As we speak, they're on their way to Indonesia," I informed.
"Why on earth would you send them there?" Bianca asked.
"They're tracking Mariya's movements. We've gathered enough evidence on the Hugo family to figure out that Reece, Mariya and Jordan Hugo are broke, and they are quite desperate as well. They cut Daniel off, and he refuses to give them a cent right now, so they're resorting to torturing our family," my twin explained.
"I don't understand. By Mariya, you're referring to my mother right?" Salina asked.
"Yes Lina, we're referring to your mother. She and dad are not legally married, and she's kept him trapped in a nonexistent marriage this entire time. Meanwhile, she's actually been married to Reece Hugo, which would also explain why she has hated us for so long," I explained to her.
"Wait! Does that mean that I'm related to the Hugo's?" she asked, looking disgusted at the very thought.
"Technically, no! You're not related by blood, unless if Mariya proves to be a bigger whore than we already know of," Ralph told her.
"Thank God!" she said in relief.
"You're a Maestri all the way little sis," Fabius told her.
"Without a doubt!" Luigi, Ralph and I agreed.
We spent the rest of the flight letting everyone in on all the plans, and especially the parts that they would be playing in ensuring that everything goes according to plan. I think it's safe to say that my wife's attitude on everything was shocking to them, and I don't blame her.
I had never seen her like this before either.
I've watched her grow from the shy woman she was when we first met, to the strong woman who was giving out orders now. There was a determination in her that I recognized, because it was the same determination I had to change after the girls were born.
It was the same determination that made me do a complete one eighty on my life.
She was definitely more confident, and it was very much visible to all of us. By the time we got off the jet, she was not only the most anxious of us all, but she was also the most eager. We were all staying at the Maestri Hotel, something that we hadn't alerted them about.
It was early afternoon when we made it to the hotel, and when my wife jumped out of the car before it even stopped, I knew I had to catch this. We all followed after her as she marched straight up to Shelby. The woman actually looked terrified.
"Get out!" she told her.
"Excuse me?" Shelby asked.
"Get out of my hotel! You are not a guest, and neither can you afford to be one!" my wife said confidently.
"Who the hell do you think you are?" Shelby spat.
"My name is Aretha Ruby Maestri, wife of Ambrosi Raphael Maestri and mother to Caprice, Calinda, Caterina and Camilla Maestri. I own fifty percent of this hotel, and your time here my dear, is up," my wife stepped up to her. Shelby took a step back, visibly intimidated.
"You have no grounds to fire me," she tried to argue.
"Oh, try corporate espionage and theft," my wife replied confidently.
"You have no proof!" Shelby denied, and that's when my brother and some other men entered. The men were dressed in FBI jackets, while he had on his CIA jacket.
What on earth is going on?
"Shelby Callaway, you are under arrest for fraud, corporate espionage and theft committed against the Maestri Hotel. You have the right to remain silent and yo-" he started to say as they went to arrest her, but she started thrashing around and making a scene.
"YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME!" she screamed.
"Watch me," my wife shrugged. She and my twin seemed to be the only two who had any idea what was going on.
"What the hell just happened?" Rhonda asked me once Shelby had been carried away.
"I honestly have no idea."