Chapter 3 Questions of Trust
Chapter three
Questions of Trust
Evelina slammed her laptop shut in exasperation.
Mamma did say Aunt Nora was married off to some mafioso, but come on!
She’d put in every search she could think of and barely gotten a single worthwhile hit.
The only good thing was that it meant she hadn’t found any relevant results when she’d specifically searched Eleonora’s name in combination with death dates, certificates, or announcements—so probably her aunt was still alive.
Evelina picked up her notepad again, crossing off the latest failed search prompt before reviewing what she was only partially confident she’d learned.
It was a little hard to process that she might have multiple cousins living it up less than 800 miles to the East.
The door to the suite closed with a click as Otto re-entered and stepped properly into the room.
“How goes it?” he asked, though it had been all of five minutes since she’d sent him out.
The crinkled bags of takeout she’d insisted on having delivered hung from his hand and the tray of drinks balanced over his opposite arm.
“I’ve learned one very important thing,” Evelina replied, swiftly turning her attention back to her notes. “I’m not cut out for PI work.”
He chuckled. “I could’ve told you that. Too impatient.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Asshole. Where’re my onion rings?”
Otto set the larger bag beside her, then popped the also-larger drink from its carrier and set that on the coffee table.
“Dinner is served.” He flashed her a smirk as if to make clear he felt no remorse, then took the smaller bag and to-go coffee over to the wingback and settled in. “Learn anything at all?”
Evelina shifted the notepad aside and reached for her meal.
“I’ve found records of her existence in and around Newark, New Jersey.
Which lines up with Mamma’s letters.” She bit into one greasy, deep-fried onion ring and stifled a moan.
Who gave a fuck if it was unhealthy? For all she knew, it was the in-house chef who’d offed her father.
Pyotr certainly wasn’t interested in replacing any of the full-time staff. He’d dismissed her concerns outright.
She swallowed down her bite and continued, “Eleonora De Salvo, formerly Eleonora Mancini, is probably the same Eleonora De Salvo of New Jersey who’s listed as the mother of this multi-billionaire CEO guy named Dante.
He reportedly owns several businesses, the most notable one being some corporation called DS Industries.
” She tapped the paper. “He also has two younger brothers. One is his COO at DS Industries and the other owns a full-suite security company.” Which, if they really were mafia, was hilarious to her.
“So, according to all that, Aunt Nora has at least three kids, all doing pretty damn well for themselves.”
Otto hummed. “Sounds like you’ve learned a lot.”
Evelina popped a smaller onion ring into her mouth.
“Most of what I’ve found is about the brothers, and even that’s actually superficial.
” She waved a hand at the paper. “They’re all married.
Two with kids, one without. The middle brother’s oldest is from a prior relationship, but his wife legally adopted the girl a few months after they were married.
” She scrunched up her face. “There are almost no photos of the family at all, even individually. The few I found looked intentional, like taken at events. I don’t know how people with that much local influence can stay off the radar so well. ”
Otto kicked his feet up, his bag crinkling as he dug out his food. “Yes you do. Your aunt married mafia, Lina, not businessmen. What you’re findin’ is the front.”
Evelina frowned over at him. “Don’t talk to me like I’m stupid.”
He met her stare. “What do you think a random person would find if they searched your family name?”
She opened her mouth to snap back at him, but caught herself.
Her father had dabbled in local politics for several years, but he’d left that scene around the time she started high school.
Claimed retirement. He’d owned a handful of properties, of course, including the main house where they were effectively trapped.
She licked her lips. “Otets was former city council, but never stood out, and eventually retired. He was a landowner. He was a widower, married to his second wife. Maybe they’d find record of two or three birth certificates of his children.
” Her throat swelled, but she pushed the emotion down.
“His brother died years ago, leaving behind one son, but I don’t know how much of that would come up.
” The death, probably, but Pyotr had been twenty by then so it wasn’t like her father had ever adopted him.
For which she’d never been more grateful.
Otto inclined his head.
Evelina blew out a breath. She could guess what anyone would find on her mother—less.
A birth certificate, marriage record, and a death certificate.
Her mother had never worked, barely held a license when Evelina had been younger, and while she had a medical record, those would be sealed extra tight.
At most, Annetta’s name might pop up in conjunction with Nonno’s in one or two places. Those reports would be old and vague.
Okay, so maybe I’m not finding much because someone’s buried the real answers. That did actually make sense. And, come to think of it, the youngest of her undiscovered cousins did supposedly work in a field which encompassed cybersecurity.
Her own thought reverberated back at her.
I have more cousins. Every time she thought the phrase, it caught her off-guard.
If she could ever find these people, make contact with them, and prove her lineage—to herself as well as to them—she might find she had living, breathing relatives beyond Pyotr.
Somehow, that wasn’t a concept she’d prepared herself for.
Evelina munched on another bite of slightly overcooked, deep-fried onion.
“At least she’s probably alive, wherever she is.
” As sad as it was that her own mother was gone, she also knew her mother would be happy to hear Aunt Nora was still among the living.
The one smile Evelina had seen on her mother’s face when they’d talked about her aunt had revealed as much.
The final words her mother had left her with only confirmed it.
Otto grunted. “I take it you weren’t able to find a phone number or an email?”
Evelina scoffed around her mouthful.
He lifted his coffee. “We could hire an actual PI. Those are real.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “Keep up with your snark, see what happens.” He had a valid point. She was being stubborn trying to do it on her own when she knew this wasn’t her forte.
Instead of responding to that, Otto took a gulp of his drink and asked, “What’s your plan once you find her?”
Evelina froze. Did she have a plan? She’d been so intent on the first step of the goal of even just finding her mother’s lost sister, she hadn’t really pictured what to do if or when she succeeded. “Well … obviously, I want to meet her.”
Otto hummed. “You gonna snap your fingers and materialize your new aunt out here, buy yourself a plane ticket to go to her, maybe make a phone call first, set up a video meet, or what?”
It was her turn to scowl at his far-too-logical questions.
“Fine, I don’t know, okay?” She shoved a hand into the bag and dug out her burger.
Her mind spun trying to picture his scenarios, and one obvious problem glared back at her.
“Aunt Nora would basically be mafia now—Italian mobster mafia—so I really couldn’t bring her here.
Especially not right now, with all this bullcrap going on.
” She peeled back the wrapper carefully, making sure not to let any sauce or loose food bits fall onto her clothing. “So, I guess I’d be going to her.”
“Sound logic,” Otto replied, “except you’d have the same problem.
You’re bratva, remember? Why would ‘Italian mobster mafia’ types want you traipsin’ into their home?
” He held up a hand before she could speak.
“And you can’t exactly be rushin’ off and disappearing right now.
For the exact reason you’re reluctant to bring in any questionable outsiders. The timing’s shit.”
Damn him and his sound, rudely phrased logic. Evelina frowned at him before dropping her attention back to the burger. “Well, if nothing else, we could talk over Zoom or something. I don’t know. I’m not shunning the chance to have a family. And we both know Pyotr doesn’t count.”
Otto grunted. “I’d say what he does count for, but puttin’ that into words might get me strung up.”
Her lips twitched, so she disguised her amusement by taking a large bite of her food. She couldn’t say it out loud, for so many reasons, but Otto’s presence—his unshakable support—was the only thing keeping her upright. Even his grumpiness was a comfort.
Her mind flashed back to when he’d pulled her from the shower and held her tight, as if he were holding her together while her soul was splintering.
That was probably exactly what he’d done.
And normally she might have been mortified to be naked in his arms in such a state, or depressed at his absolute lack of distraction, but it’d been what she needed.
They fell silent as they finished eating, but her mind continued to race.
She needed a way to look deeper, a way to possibly make a connection that felt currently out of reach.
A strange sense of defeat washed over her.
Maybe Otto had been onto something. Maybe she did need to hire an outside party who actually did that kind of work for a living, or was at least confident in their skills.
She’d wanted to keep it all close to her chest, like a treasured secret, but that wasn’t panning out.