I closed my eyes, terrified for my brother, for my family.
A hand on my shoulder shook me out of my reverie and my eyes shot open. Dante towered over me, his blond brows pulled together in obvious worry. “Are you all right?”
“Mom made us French toast!” Anna said brightly. Dante stroked her hair but his eyes remained on me.
Leonas raised his arms and after a moment Dante bent down and picked him up. For a second, I allowed myself to enjoy the heartwarming scene of Dante holding our son carefully in his arms. I hadn’t eaten a bit of my French toast, not feeling hungry. “Do you want some?” I motioned at my plate.
Dante shook his head. “Have you heard something from your brother?”
My eyes widened. I stood slowly. “Why?”
Dante became tense, worry settling on his face. “Because he didn’t show up to a meeting with your dad this morning. I thought you might know what’s going on and it seems I was right.”
“He just called. A few minutes ago.”
“And?” Dante asked carefully as he put Leonas down on the floor before he came over to me. He touched my shoulders, searching my eyes. “What did he want?”
I had a feeling Dante knew something was horribly wrong. What was Orazio doing? I glanced at our children, not sure if I wanted to have this conversation in front of them. I picked up my plate and went over to the sink. Dante followed me.
“We did a video-chat and he told me he had to leave… because he was going to marry a girl named Lucy,” I whispered.
“Goddamnit,” Dante growled, his face flashing with fury.
“Dante?” Cold fear spread in my body.
The way he looked at me made me worried about what he had to say. “It’s a Chinese girl?”
I shrugged. I wasn’t sure of the girl’s nationality but that Dante knew made me wonder how long he’d known about this. “You knew?”
Dante shook his head but his thoughts seemed miles away. “Before we married, your father mentioned his problems with Orazio to me. It was about that girl. Orazio refused to give her up for a long time until your father finally convinced him.”
“How?”
“I don’t know. I wasn’t Capo back then and even if I had been, I wouldn’t have gotten involved as you know.”
“So they’ve been together for years? That makes sense.”
“Does it?” Dante asked angrily. “Your brother is bound by his vow. By betraying the Outfit he risks the life of fellow Made Men.”
“He only wants to be with the woman he loves. How does it hurt his fellow Made Men if he goes into hiding to be with her?”
Dante’s fingers on my shoulders tightened. “Because you know I suspect that there’s a spy among my soldiers. Maybe it wasn’t Fabiano…”
I exhaled sharply. “You think it could be Orazio?”
Dante sighed and pressed our foreheads together. I wrapped my arms around his waist, trembling. “Tell me he wouldn’t do it.”
I wanted to say it but I’d seen the look that had passed between Orazio and Lucy, and I didn’t want to lie to Dante. “I can’t,” I whispered thickly, my eyes prickling.
“Val,” Dante said quietly, sounding tortured. “If Orazio has been helping the Famiglia…”
I didn’t want to imagine it. I couldn’t.
“Do you know where he might be right now?”
I shook my head. “No. But he was in his car.”
Dante cupped my head and closed his eyes for a moment.
“Please don’t kill him.”
Dante took a deep breath. “I’d do almost anything for you, Val. I’ve chosen you over the Outfit before and part of me wants to do it again, but if Orazio betrayed the Outfit by working with the Famiglia, I have to punish him accordingly.”
“Mamma will be devastated… and Papa. God, I can’t even think about it. Maybe it’s not as we think.” I swallowed, trying hard not to cry, not to lose it before I knew all the details.
Anna headed our way with her empty plate. I blinked hastily and swallowed, then forced a smile. “Do you want Mommy’s toast?”
Anna shook her head. “I’m full.” She glanced between us as if she could sense that something was going on. I’d noticed it before. Anna was perceptive, especially when it came to gauging people’s emotions. It was a beautiful talent but also worrying because I wanted to protect her from so many things in our world and her empathy would make it harder for me to succeed.
PART SIX
Dante
Word about Orazio’s disappearance spread like wildfire in the Outfit. Pietro had tried to exert damage control but the men who’d worked with Orazio had obviously spread speculations. Rubbing my temples, I stared down at a report about an attack on a storage facility and lab near Cleveland.
“When’s my father going to be here?” Valentina asked, carrying Leonas against her chest as she stepped in. He was only in diapers and a shirt, and already twisting on her arm to get back down and undress more. She looked tired, which wasn’t surprising because her worry over her brother had kept her up at night and during the day Anna and Leonas kept Val busy so she couldn’t try to catch up on sleep then. With the escalation of the Famiglia situation and Orazio’s defection, my workload had doubled and even as I tried, I wasn’t much of a help. I stood and walked over to her. “Do you want me to take care of him for a bit so you can take a hot shower and have a coffee in peace?”
Val raised her eyebrows, looking down at herself. “Do I look that bad?”
I touched her hip, my thumb slipping under her cashmere sweater to feel the smooth skin beneath then I leaned down to give her a lingering kiss. “You are beautiful as always, Val.”
She pursed her lips. “I don’t feel it right now. I feel like a mess.”
“This is difficult,” I said quietly and took Leonas from her. His eyes snapped up to me and he grinned. “Daddy, play in garden!”
“So when’s my father going to be here? I know you’re going to discuss the Orazio situation with him again.” This was another reason for Val’s sleepless nights.
“In ten minutes. Your brother isn’t our only topic. The war with the Famiglia is taking up many of our resources.”
Val nodded slowly. “You don’t have any hints where he could be.”
“Not yet.” Val regarded me as if she wasn’t sure I was telling the truth. She had every reason to be wary. While I didn’t have a trace to Orazio’s whereabouts yet, I wouldn’t have told her even if I had. When I caught Orazio, I wouldn’t tell Val. Giovanni and I had agreed on that.
Leonas squirmed in my arms. “Please down!”
I set him down and he stumbled toward my desk chair, trying to climb on it.
“Okay,” she said. “I’ll grab a shower now.” With a last glance at Leonas and me, she slipped out of my office. I glanced down at my son, remembering Giovanni’s shaken expression when he’d found out Orazio had run off. Giovanni didn’t know it yet, but I wouldn’t tell him if I ever caught his son either. Maybe Orazio was clever enough to go into hiding somewhere we didn’t have contacts, Scandinavia or Asia would be good options. The desk chair was spinning around itself, making it impossible Leonas to climb up. I walked over to him and held the chair by its backrest. Leonas finally managed to pull himself up then throned on my chair with a proud grin. His blond hair was all over the place, definitely in need of a cut. So far it hadn’t darkened much, but when I had been his age my hair had been lighter too.