CHAPTER 10 #2
Dante and Arran were waiting for us in the boardroom when we stepped off of the lift.
They had multiple laptops open before them, and the look on their faces, as they glanced to us, filled me with warning.
Whatever they had found was going to be bad.
I just hoped Rafe was ready to face it, especially if Gia was at the centre of it.
“Tell me,” Rafe commanded as he walked into the room and right over to the chairs they both sat in, leaning on the back of them so he could see the laptop screens. I took the seat beside Arran and moved in closer so I could see too.
“What do you know?” Dante asked.
“That Gia had those two kids hired to stalk Cara. Have you confirmed that story?” Rafe asked.
“Yeah. Checked Gia’s phone records and found the calls made, earlier today, to the girl who was related to the teens in the steakhouse. She set it all up with a little help,” Dante confirmed.
“What else?” Rafe pushed.
“I wanted to look further back into Gia’s call logs, just to check who else she’d been talkin’ to since Cara arrived. I just thought maybe there could be a reason for the way she‘s been behavin’ and carryin’ on,” Arran went on.
“And was there?” I asked.
“Maybe,” Dante answered. “We found these calls.”
He clicked on a tab and a page opened with six or seven calls listed.
They were all over the space of the two weeks before Cara had even called Rafe, mostly in the afternoons or evenings.
They varied in length. The longest was over thirty minutes.
The shortest just three. I looked to the numbers, noting they were all the same, but that wasn’t what stood out.
“Is that the US dialling code?” I asked.
“Yeah. The first call from this number came to Gia’s phone. After that she was calling the number back, multiple times.”
“Who was it?” I asked.
“Burner phone,” Dante shrugged. “But it was located in the Chicago area.”
“Fuck,” I uttered as I tried to make sense of it all. Gia was speaking to someone in Chicago before we even knew that’s where Cara was?
“What are we thinking here? These calls were made before Cara ever reached out to me. Gia couldn’t have know where Cara was. How would she?” Rafe demanded.
“We dinnae know, but we’re tryin’ to get into Gia’s social media accounts to look fer a link there. Maybe it’s all innocent, but it seems a hell of a coincidence to me,” Arran continued.
“What if she was speaking to Cara? Maybe they fell out and that’s why Gia’s so angry,” Rafe mused.
“How would they have reconnected, and if they did, why wouldn’t Cara just tell us that? Why would she lie? Would you really have cared that much of she’d reached out to Gia before you? Knowing how scared of you she was when we found her?” I questioned.
“Cara didn’t lie!” Dante snapped as he jumped to his feet. “She wouldn’t. She likes honesty. She tells us the truth even if it’s hard. She wouldn’t lie about this.”
“Dante, sit yer arse back down. No one’s accusing Cara of anythin’ right now. We’re just trying to work out what the fuck’s goin’ on,” Arran cut in before Dante exploded further.
Dante sat back down, but he didn’t look any less volatile as he stared daggers at Rafe and I. Lucky for him, we were used to his outbursts and didn’t take it personally.
“Okay, I’m in,” Arran said as he stopped clicking on his laptop long enough to glance up at us.
“Check the private messages first,” Dante ordered and we all leaned in as Arran moved to the messaging section of the page.
I expected to see a ton of messages from her friends about parties and clubs.
That was what Gia usually used her social media for, but this account seemed older, The messages from friends names who I recognised were further down the list and the photo of Gia on the page was from a few years ago too.
“Who’s that? That conversation is the only recent one.” Rafe asked as he pointed to the screen. Arran clicked to open the messages and several appeared before us.
Ella
Gianna. I’ve been searching for you
for so long. I am so very sorry for leaving
you my perfect girl. Please forgive me
for my mistakes
Gianna
Who is this?
Ella
Is it true that your father is gone? If he is,
then I can finally be reunited with you. I
never should have left you behind, but
your brother gave me no choice. He only
ever cared about Cara. I’m so sorry I was
so weak then.
Gianna
Mum? Yes, Dad’s been dead for years.
Where have you been? Why did you choose Cara over me?
Ella
I had no choice. Rafe threatened my life.
He forced me to take Cara and I’ve
regretted it every day since. There’s so
much you don’t know about her and Rafe.
I need your help. Please can you just call
me? I love you. This is our chance to
make things right again.
Gianna
How do I contact you?
Ella
I’ll send you a number, but you
Can’t tell anyone about this. I
don’t trust Rafe. He’ll kill me if
he finds out where I am.
The last message was just a phone number - the one listed on Gia’s call logs.
“What the fuck is going on?” I asked, shell shocked.
“This can’t have been our Mum. Cara said she was barely cognizant for months before she died. Cara was drugging her to keep her calm. How could she have reached out to Gia like this?” Rafe questioned.
“Cara was telling the truth. Whatever this is, it doesn’t involve her!” Dante growled, defending Cara without any doubt.
“I agree, Dante. I held Cara as she cried in my arms, consumed by guilt that she had drugged our Mum, and terrified that had aided Isabella’s murder.
Cara worked herself near to death to pay for those pills to sedate our Mum,” Rafe agreed easily, and I nodded my own with him.
Cara was an honest person. She couldn’t have deceived us all on such a huge scale.
“We need to speak to Cara. If anyone’s gonna know anything, it’ll be her,” Arran suggested.
“We need to speak to Gia,” I hissed. “She’s been keeping all of this from us. Who knows who she’s been speaking to, or what she’s told them? This could all be some elaborate plan to get inside information, for all we know!”
“Maybe. But if it is all some complex ruse to trick Gia into giving information over, it’s extreme, and a lot of trouble to go to.
It’s much more likely, knowing how manipulative my Mother could be, that she was playing Cara, and not as impaired as she pretended.
Some act to ensure she got a regular supply of drugs or alcohol, I’m betting,” Rafe argued.
“It definitely sounds plausible. Whoever Gia spoke to, one thing’s for sure,” I pointed out. “They filled her head with poison about Cara, and maybe about you too, Rafe. This explains Gia’s behaviour.”
“It might even explain the Armenians comin’ after Cara,” Arran said, and we all looked to him. “If Isabella wasnae as out of her mind as Cara believed, we dinnae ken what else she could’a been up to. Maybe she owed the Armenians some money after all.”
“Fuck!” Rafe raged as he turned to the wall closest to him and smashed his fist through it three times, the plaster crumbling under his ire. “I’d kill that bitch if she weren’t already dead!”
“Rafe…” I eventually spoke after giving him several minutes to calm down. “What do you want to do?”
“First thing, we head home. I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but until I do, Cara is never left without one of us closeby at home, and stuck to her hip any time she leaves.
I hate saying this, but we need to keep Gia away from her too.
We have no idea what she’s been brainwashed to believe, and I can’t risk her hurting Cara. ”
“Agreed,” I nodded. “Are you bringing Gia home early, or leaving her to finish the trip with school?”
“Leave her for now. It’s unlikely that she’ll be honest with me anyway, and it’s better for Cara if Gia’s not in the house for now. Let’s see if we can get to the bottom of this without Gia’s drama.”
“I’ll contact Joey. He’s still in Chicago. I’ll tell him to gather surveillance footage from around the apartment building that Cara and your mum lived in. If Isabella was playing games, surely we’ll be able to catch sight of her coming and going,” I mused.
“Good. Is it possible for you to access all of Gia’s social media accounts? I want you to check them all for contact from any unknowns. Bring me anything you find, even if it looks innocent. I want to see everything.”
“Nae bother. I can get Cal to help when we’re back at the house, if ye don’t mind him knowin’ everything? He’s better with breakin’ into accounts than we are,” Arran suggested.
“Fill him in, but I don’t want to bombard Cara with any of this until she has at least slept and eaten, and is looking a hell of a lot stronger than she did when I left her,” Rafe stipulated.
“What’s wrong with Cara?” Dante was on his feet again as he glared between Rafe and I.
“She had an anxiety attack. A bad one,” I told him.
“Is she okay? Why did you leave her?”
“Cal is with her, and she was fine when we left. Drained and a little shaky, but back to herself,” I hurried to add before Dante lost his shit and made everything worse.
“Maybe we should talk wi’ her about getting’ some counselling or somethin’? I think she needs some help to deal wi’ it all,” Arran suggested.
“We already discussed it. I’m going to look into a therapist, then I’ll broach the subject with her, but you’re right. She does need more help than any of us can give her,” Rafe agreed.
“Speak for yourself. I can help Cara. I can give her whatever she needs, but only if I’m contacted when she needs me!” Dante bit out.
“Dante, enough brother,” Arran cut in as he got to his feet and shoved Dante back from Rafe.
“Listen to him, Dante. I put up with a lot of shit from you because not only do I respect the way you work, but you’re family too.
Regardless of any of that though, when it comes to my sister, you’d be wise to tread very fucking carefully,” Rafe threatened in the deadly cold and calm voice he rarely used.
“Come on. Let’s get home. Like you said, we’ll all feel better when we’re there with Cara,” I interjected, once again trying to avoid shit breaking out. The last thing Cara needed was us all walking in bloody. Rafe’s fist was already messed up from him hitting the wall.
I decided to take the fact that Rafe hadn’t killed Dante on the spot, for almost claiming Cara out loud, as a good sign. There had still been a threat of course, but maybe there was hope for me to be with Cara. I was going to cling to it, anyway,