Chapter 11
Matteo
Little Russo: What do you think is the purpose of life?
I stare at the screen and know that something bad has happened. Something worse than her being raped. The only time people contemplate the purpose of life is when they’re questioning if they want to continue to live it.
I’m just about to type back when a guard calls out my name.
“Let’s go. You’ve made bail.” Then, he glances at Lorenzo. “And, you, come grab this.”
It’s a phone.
Shit, that means Dominick couldn’t get Lorenzo out yet.
“You have to go,” Lorenzo says. “You need to find my sister, please. I’ll be okay.”
“You have my number. I’m going to do everything I can to bribe the guards to keep you safe, but if it gets bad, you need to fight back, lash out, and get thrown into isolation.”
He swallows thickly and nods.
Lorenzo is a lot of things—a smart businessman, a loyal best friend, a romantic with a heart that’s too big for his own good—but he’s not a survivor. He’s never had to be because he’s always had me.
I glance at the gate, torn between staying and protecting my best friend or getting out to find Daniella, when the sound of my phone getting a text beeps in my ear, and I hit play.
Little Russo: If I don’t make it, can you please tell my brother that I love him and I’m sorry for bringing Henry into our lives?
And with those words, my mind is made up. I need to find Daniella and save her because there’s not a world that Lorenzo would want to live in where I chose to save him over his sister.
Me: Hang in there. I’m coming for you.
I go through the release process and change into the clothes Dominick brought me and then head out to find him waiting for me.
“What about Lorenzo?”
He shakes his head. “Our new attorney, Kevin, is working on it. You had to surrender your passport to make bail, and I had to pay a hefty fee, but at least you’re out. I can’t figure this shit out on my own. I have Peyton and the babies.”
“It’s fine,” I tell him. “I appreciate you getting me out. I’m just worried about Lorenzo. Whoever this fucker is, he’s worked overtime to pay off several inmates to go after him.”
Dominick curses under his breath. “We’ll get him out. But for now, let’s focus on finding his sister.”
We walk out of the jail and into his awaiting car. Fernando, his driver, is sitting in the front seat, and when we get in, he smiles at me.
“Good to have you back.”
“Thanks.” I ask Dominick, “So, what do we know?” getting straight to the point since time is of the essence.
“Not much,” he admits. “Henry obviously doesn’t exist, but we don’t know who he really is since he’s disappeared with Daniella and not left a single breadcrumb.
I haven’t been able to question Michael since we don’t want to risk alerting him that we know he’s been compromised.
And the list of enemies is a mile long. Any of them could have a son who’s looking for revenge. ”
He sighs. “And … while you were out, two of our shipments got hit, and four of the businesses were vandalized—I don’t know if the two are connected—and”—he swallows thickly, and I know whatever he’s about to say is going to piss me off—“Lucian’s Gym was shut down.”
“Are you fucking serious?” I bark, the inside of the car suddenly feeling really damn small.
The man might as well have saved my life, and this is the thanks he gets? His gym getting shut down because of my bullshit.
“We’re going to get this all sorted,” Dominick says.
“Really? Because from here, it feels like they’re coming at us from all angles, and we’re fighting blind. Have you locked down your house?”
The thought of anything happening to our sister or his family has me itching to tear this entire city down in search of this fucker.
“Yeah. And our mother has guards at her place. Her husband isn’t thrilled, but I told her it was that or she had to move back home because I didn’t trust him to protect her.”
It’s still weird to hear that—her husband.
After the horrible marriage she escaped, I thought she’d stay single forever—hell, I would’ve.
But five years later, she met Walter Freedman, a financial adviser in North Harbor Point.
He doesn’t seem like he’d be our mom’s type.
He plays golf, hangs out at the country club, is an upstanding citizen.
Then again, maybe that’s exactly the kind of man she was looking for after being stuck with Andrey for years.
“So, let’s think,” I say just as my phone goes off with a text from Daniella. I forgot I had texted her before I got out.
Little Russo: Hey, I can’t talk, but I wanted to let you know that Henry is working with Hillary. He hired her to seduce Lorenzo.
She ignored my message where I told her I was coming for her, but just like that, we have a lead.
“Go to Lorenzo’s place,” I tell Fernando. “We have a gold-digging bitch we need to question.”
“Going somewhere?” I ask when Dominick and I walk into Lorenzo’s condo and find Hillary’s bags packed and sitting by the door.
She freezes in her spot and glances between Dominick and me, knowing she’s fucked.
“Look, he paid me a lot of money, and I was in debt, and—”
I hold up my hand, silently telling her to shut up, and she closes her mouth.
“Answer our questions, and then you can go.”
“You’re not going to kill me?”
“Not as long as you answer them honestly and then leave without ever contacting Lorenzo again.”
He’s going to be fucking heartbroken, thanks to this bitch, but in the long run, it’s better he finds out the truth about her now before he married her trifling ass.
“Who is Henry Thomas?”
“I don’t—”
I raise a brow, and she groans.
“All I know is that his real name is Enrique Rothschild, and that’s only because it showed his name when he transferred the funds. I didn’t ask him about it. He paid me to seduce Lorenzo and get information on the company, and that’s it.
“When Lorenzo went to jail, I told Henry I was leaving, that I had done my part, and he tried to convince me that I needed to stay, but I refused, so I was planning to leave before he came after me.”
“And Michael?” Dominick asks.
“Enrique is blackmailing him to cooperate,” she says, confirming what we already figured out.
“Anyone else?” he asks.
“Not that I know of. All he asked me to do was get him info related to Russo Property Group.”
“You can go now,” I tell her.
“I still have more stuff—”
“No.” I walk over to the door. “Whatever you have here, you can take, and if I find out you took a single thing from Lorenzo, I will hunt you down and kill you.”
She nods and rushes to the door, grabbing her two pieces of luggage and hightailing it out of here.
“Rothschild,” Dominick says. “How the fuck is that possible? Anthony was his only son, and unless he somehow survived …”
“There’s one way to find out.” I pull out my phone and call our mom.
“Matteo, are you out of jail?”
“I am.”
“Oh, thank God! How are you?”
“I’m okay,” I tell her, trying to be patient while not wanting to waste time talking about how I’m doing when Daniella is in danger somewhere because of her fucking husband.
“I’m trying to figure out who has Daniella Russo.
Apparently, the guy’s name is Enrique Rothschild. Does that ring any bells?”
Our mom might’ve played the role of the compliant wife, but she wasn’t stupid, and she watched and listened to everything that went on.
“It doesn’t,” she says. “But Maria might know. She goes by Maria Baldwin now. Reverted to her maiden name, not wanting Joseph’s name to follow her.”
Anthony’s mom.
“Thanks.”
“Let’s do dinner soon. Okay? I miss you.”
“Sounds good.”
After a quick search, I find where she’s living, and we head to her place, which is just outside of Harbor Point.
When we arrive, she answers the door and grimaces. I’m sure she’s worried about why both Antonov brothers are on her doorstep when we haven’t spoken to her in years.
“We just want to talk,” Dominick explains. “Can we come in?”
She offers us a drink, to which we decline, and we have a seat in the living room.
“Does the name Enrique Rothschild mean anything to you?” I ask, not wanting to waste any time.
“No,” she says, sounding genuinely confused. “Should it?”
“We have reason to believe he has Daniella Russo,” I add. “And her life is at risk. The guy who has her said he’s avenging his parents’ deaths, and the woman he hired to seduce Lorenzo said his real name is Enrique Rothschild.”
Her brows furrow as she thinks about the info I gave her, and just when I think we’ve hit a dead end, she says, “He had an affair while we were married. Shortly after the wedding, he started disappearing. When I asked him about it, he told me straight up that he met someone and fell in love with her. That our time together was a mistake, but because of Anthony …”
“You had to stay married,” Dominick finishes.
The rules of marriage back then were absurd. Our parents’ marriage was arranged. Joseph and Maria were forced to get married so Anthony wasn’t born out of wedlock. Even Giuseppe and his wife’s marriage was arranged. Everything in our world is about power and control.
“I don’t know anything about her other than he loved her.
He lived two lives. When he died, because I was the wife on paper, I received his life insurance and what was in our joint accounts as well as the home that was in both our names, but everything else—the business, his assets—I couldn’t tell you where they went because his attorney wouldn’t give me access to his will, but I’d imagine she got a lot of it. ”
“Is there anything else you can remember?” I ask because, without a name, we’re once again at a dead end.
She sighs and thinks for several moments before her eyes light up.
“A house. There was a house that was in his name. I remembered seeing the deed, and when I asked him about it, he told me to mind my own business. Have you looked to see if there are any homes in the area in Enrique Rothschild’s name? ”
Fuck! Why didn’t we think of that?