Chapter 31
Almost two months later
“Are you sure about this?” I ask Abaddon as soon as I read the report he’s just handed me.
“Yes, I am. The investigation has already begun. Check today’s Washington Post. There’s a full-page piece. The FBI is determined to dig deep this time. They have no alternative. We made public the various pieces of evidence of crimes committed inside the compound.”
He doesn’t explain who “we” is, and I don’t want to know.
“How did you pull that off?”
“We gathered proof and spread it anonymously on Twitter. It reached a point where it went viral, and they couldn’t ignore the armchair detectives anymore, nor the American public pressuring them.”
“And about her brother?”
“Amos Cooper-Hayes. Nothing wrong with the man. On the contrary. He’s a retired Green Beret, currently the owner of the biggest security company in the world, although. . .”
“What?”
“I suspect his company takes on some off-the-books work.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. Both he and his partner, Ethan Wright, keep their secrets well guarded, but I suspect they don’t just provide security for the world’s elite. I think there’s a side of their business a lot like mine.”
“Mercenaries?”
“More or less. My contracts are for ‘cleaning up’ individuals. This Amos. . .I think he handles bigger operations, like, for example, the elimination of a totalitarian leader in Africa a few years ago. I found rumors linking his company to that job.”
“How could he have survived? From what we learned, boys were killed at ten, but according to that preliminary report you gave me, he was put up for adoption when he was still a baby.”
“I think the mother must have realized what was going to happen. Maybe her husband didn’t react well to the birth of a son.
We’ll never know for sure. The fact is she gave him up a few days after he was born.
He was left at an orphanage with nothing but a note and the name his mother called him by. ”
“I want you to keep investigating him. I need to be sure who he is before they meet. I won’t allow him to hurt Elodie.”
“Are you staying with her?”
“I already am. Elodie is my girlfriend.”
He shakes his head, smiling. “Life really is a fucking box of chocolates, isn’t it? Maybe you’d like to know, then, that the other buyer, the man who almost acquired her at the auction, turned up dead.”
I look at him with a silent question, and without my having to speak, I know he’s guessing what I’m thinking.
He shrugs and starts to walk away. “What can I say? Planet Earth is a dangerous place, Gianni, especially for my enemies.” He pauses before getting into the car. “Or for the enemies of my friends.”
“Is that what we are?”
“Don’t get sentimental, but I sort of see you as an older brother. Consider the scumbag’s disappearance an early Christmas present.”
“And Angelo?”
“He’s in hiding. I suspect his uncle has already figured out what he did and, if you want my take, I think the worm’s days are numbered.”
“That’s not what I want.”
“We don’t always get what we want, but if you’ll take a piece of advice, focus on the result. Either way, he’ll be dead, and your mission accomplished.”
“Your mother is very understanding to accept that I’m not ready to meet your family yet.”
“She doesn’t mind making the trip out here to have lunch with you once a week.”
“Yes, it’s kind of a girls’ secret,” Elodie says with a mischievous smile.
I hold out my hand for her to come into my arms. “Why don’t you want to meet them?”
She shakes her head no but doesn’t answer.
“No what?”
“I’d rather this thing between us. . . I want to be sure we’re for real before I start spending time with your family.”
I kiss her forehead, then head for my office.
I’ve just gotten back to the villa and had planned to take her out to dinner, but I’ve lost my appetite.
“Gianni. . .”
I stop with my back to her, waiting for her to speak.
“You’re angry.”
I turn to face her. “It’s not because my brothers haven’t seen you yet that they don’t know we’re together.
This is Italy, Elodie, and beyond that, Tuscany.
My family is known, and we’re not exactly discreet in our public appearances.
Believe me when I say even the cobblestones probably know you’re my girlfriend. ”
“I feel insecure.”
“About what?”
“I don’t belong in your world. What if your brothers judge me?”
“My brothers are no different from me. They’ll judge your character, not your bank account.”
She bites her lip, and I can see her fighting an internal battle before she finally says, “Schedule a lunch at your mother’s house when we get back from Paris. I want to meet them.”
“Not like that. You’ve been forced enough in your life. With me, you’ll always have the power to choose.”
“But I’ve decided. I swear.”
She comes to me and wraps her arms around my waist.
“I’m ready to go public with you, Italian.”
“Isn’t that my line? Aren’t women usually the ones asking for commitment?”
“Not this one. You’ve got a rare gem in your hands.”
I hold her face and kiss her mouth. “No doubt about that. There’s something I need to show you. I almost forgot.”
I take my phone from my blazer pocket and, after pulling up what I need, hand it to her.
I know what she’s about to read in the headline.
A fundamentalist cult, newly discovered in rural Texas, is being investigated by local authorities and the FBI after suspicions of abuse against underage girls.
“Oh my God! You did it!”
“Yes. I hope they finally take action. Read the whole article. I’m disgusted. They refer to your former community as ‘newly discovered.’ They’re trying to protect themselves from any accusation of negligence if the atrocities that happened there are confirmed.”
“At least now they’ll be forced to face that there’s something wrong with life on that compound. I have hope they can save them.”
I don’t answer because I don’t know what to say.
Unfortunately, I don’t believe any of those girls can truly be saved, at least the ones who were made into wives.
Their bodies may be freed from the mistreatment they’ve suffered, possibly. Their minds, however, may never find freedom again.