Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 66980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
“Why don’t you go to him, Emilio?” I throw out the idea that suddenly sparks in my mind. “Take Jordan, and you both go and try to talk to him. Reassure him that we won’t take things further if he obeys the laws we set out for him.”
“You want me to talk to a man who abandoned me and my mother, leaving us to struggle for years under the fucking Capos for no reason. He could have been there and stood up for his family!”
Emilio pushes to his feet, and I realise just how much this bothers him. He’s always been indifferent about his father, so this reaction is something I didn’t expect it.
“I know,” I say gently, hoping to appease his frustration and anger for a moment. “I’m just hoping he’ll finally step up and take responsibility for his family. Perhaps it will be helpful if you meet with him, face to face. Maybe he can explain his actions to you. Maybe give you answers to questions you didn’t know you had.” I sit back and look at Emilio. “It isn’t going to be easy, by any means. But, if you can look past all the bullshit, this could be a way of finding out why he abandoned you and your mother, you never know.”
“I’ll think about it,” he tells me as he glares. “I’ve no love lost for the arsehole, and if he thinks that me coming to him and asking him to reconsider his position is a show of affection, I will kill him.”
Emilio’s words have a bite of anger, and I’ve no doubt he means what he says. But there’s also an underlying concern bothering me. Emilio wants to connect with his half-sister, but Brielle is hell-bent on loving her father. I doubt she’ll ever forgive him for any wrongdoing against the old man.
Her father’s not as angelic as she seems to believe. I haven’t told her about the secrets he’s been hiding from her, because we needed her onside before I even thought about sharing those.
“There are things going on that we hadn’t even considered,” Valen says. “Savatti’s appears to be trying to get back into organisations he outed to the FBI, do you think the Bosses will stand for it?”
“No, they won’t. You know that,” I respond as I glance around the room. “Unless he’s offering them something, or someone, that’s invaluable to them. Or, he could still be working for the FBI and trying to infiltrate the families by coming back with his tail between his legs.”
“He obviously wanted Brielle to be safe before doing this,” Kai says. “Or maybe there’s more to her being here than we thought.”
“Than you both thought.” I point at Val and Kai.
When she first arrived, they both had rose-coloured glasses on.
“Fuck off,” Kai throws back. “You were just as smitten. You didn’t want to admit it, though.”
“What if my sister is in on this?” Emilio voices my concern, loud and clear.
It’s been playing on my mind. I’ve told both Val and Kai my fears, but they seemed too distracted by her beauty.
It’s my turn to nod as I say, “It’s something I’ve mentioned before.”
“I don’t want to doubt my sister, but there’s no reason for me to trust her either.” Emilio has settled down again, and I’m thankful for it. I don’t need someone running off the rails for any reason.
“I haven’t gotten any vibe off her that she’s hiding something,” Valen says.
He’s the one who’s spent the most time with Brielle and has the closest relationship with her. My thoughts begin to drift back to last night in the shower. I’m still surprised at what happened. There’s been animosity between Brielle and I since she arrived, but last night I couldn’t stop myself, I wanted her to know she’s ours.
“There’s also the little topic she’s been hiding from us.”
Her medical records are clear. I didn’t think we’d discover much from Marco, but when we searched his apartment, we came across his collection of files on Brielle. It seems he was working, alongside his father, to find Saviatti.
“You mean in the files from Marco?” Kai looks at me as he speaks.
Nodding, I respond, “Yeah, there are some interesting facts about her. Mainly the transplant surgery. I have a feeling it’s the reason Saviatti defected.”
I need to sit her down and find out just what the fuck happened. There’s no information on who the donor was, and that’s what I have my men looking into now, but in the meantime, I need to talk to Brielle.
“What are you talking about?” Emilio asks, and I realise he wasn’t around when we went through the files. I had him out running errands, and he didn’t return until late, last night.
“Marco had information on Brielle. It seems he was looking into her past. There are several folders about her life from before and after your father took her away from Italy. It seems there’s much more to her story than we originally thought.”