Chapter 19
Paola
Ididn't sleep.
Couldn't sleep.
I lay in the hospital bed beside Cesare, both of us staring at the ceiling whilst the city woke beyond the window. That text message played on repeat in my mind: Someone in your family helped him.
"You should sleep," Cesare murmured, voice rough with exhaustion. "The baby needs you to rest."
"Can't. Every time I close my eyes, I think about who it could be."
"So do I."
I shifted carefully, trying not to jostle his injuries. Pain flickered across his face anyway. "How many people are we talking about? Extended family?"
Cesare had been making mental lists since the text arrived—I could practically hear his mind working in the darkness. "Inner circle: Piero, Giulio, Rocco, Matteo. Matteo's already confirmed as Viktor's source."
"But the text said family. Matteo's not family."
"No. He's not." Cesare shifted, his jaw tight. "Extended family: three cousins—Marco, Luca, and Sofia Falco. My uncle Tommaso. Various nephews and nieces in the organization."
"Which ones have access to your schedule? Your plans?"
"All of them, to varying degrees. That's the problem."
My mind raced through possibilities. Family dinners I'd attended in the past month, faces I'd met. People who smiled and welcomed me whilst potentially planning betrayal.
Marco, with his easy laugh and expensive watch.
Luca, quiet and observant in the corner.
Sofia, efficient and warm, always remembering details.
Had it been one of them endangering us this whole time?
"We'll figure it out," I said, though I wasn't sure I believed it.
"We have to. Before Monday."
Dawn broke grey and cold over Manhattan. Neither of us had slept.
Dr Reeves arrived for morning rounds, checked Cesare's vitals, changed bandages with efficient precision. She took one look at us and frowned.
"You look exhausted. Both of you. Did something happen?"
"Just processing everything," I deflected.
After the doctor left, Giulio appeared with coffee and updates. He took one look at us and stopped in the doorway.
"You didn't sleep. What happened?"
Cesare and I exchanged glances. How much to tell? Giulio was inner circle—trusted for years. But the text said someone in the family helped Viktor. Could we risk it?
Cesare made a decision. "Another threat from Viktor's people. Nothing we can't handle."
Giulio studied us both, clearly not buying it. "Boss, if something's wrong—"
"It's handled." Cesare's tone made it clear the subject was closed. "What's the status on Viktor's bail hearing?"
Giulio hesitated, clearly wanting to push. But he recognized an order when he heard one. "Monday at ten a.m. Agent Munoz confirmed. She'll need you both to testify before the grand jury beforehand."
After Giulio left, I said quietly, "You didn't tell him."
"Couldn't risk it. Not until we know who the spy is."
"But Giulio's been with you for years—"
"So had Matteo. And look how that turned out." His jaw clenched. "I can't trust anyone right now. Except you and Piero."
The paranoia was settling in. Necessary, maybe. But corrosive.
"So what do we do?"
"We investigate quietly. Watch everyone. And we don't let anyone know we're looking."
"I need you to do something for me," Cesare said, pushing himself more upright despite the obvious pain.
"Pull records. Everyone in the family organization.
I want to know their movements over the past six weeks.
Where they were during key events—the wedding, the anniversary celebration, when Piero was taken. "
"You're looking for patterns."
"I'm looking for opportunities. Someone who was always in the right place at the right time to feed Viktor information."
Giulio nodded slowly. "I'll be discreet. If word gets out that we're investigating family—"
"It could spook the spy. I know. Keep it quiet. Just you and Rocco."
After Giulio left, the silence felt suffocating. I poured coffee neither of us would drink. Cesare stared at his phone like it might reveal answers.
"What if we're wrong?" I asked. "What if it's not family at all? What if the text was meant to make us paranoid, tear us apart from the inside?"
"It’s possible. But my gut says otherwise."
His gut. The instinct that had kept him alive in a world designed to kill people like him.
I trusted it more than I wanted to admit.
By mid-morning, Bianca appeared again. Escorted by a different guard this time—a stocky man with cold eyes.
I tensed. "What now?"
"I remembered something. About the people Viktor worked with in New York." Bianca looked nervous, like she wasn't sure this would be believed. "He had regular meetings with someone before I ran. I never saw them—Viktor was careful about that. But I overheard conversations. Phone calls."
Cesare sat up straighter despite the pain radiating from his chest. "What people?"
"The person spoke Italian, not Russian. Native Italian. Not someone learning the language—someone who grew up with it."
That narrowed it down significantly. Not one of Viktor's Russian crew. Someone from the Italian families.
"Did you hear a name?" I pressed.
"No. But Viktor called them 'il falco.' The falcon. I thought it was a code name, just Viktor being cryptic."
Cesare went very still beside me. "Il falco."
"Does that mean something?" Bianca asked.
My mind clicked. "The Falco cousins. Marco, Luca, and Sofia—their family name is Falco."
"Viktor was using their last name as code," Cesare said, voice tight. "Arrogant bastard. He thought he was being clever."
"When did you hear these conversations?" Cesare asked, voice tight with controlled fury.
"After I ran. When I was staying with Viktor in Europe.
" Bianca looked down at her hands. "I overheard him on the phone multiple times—he thought I was asleep or didn't care if I heard.
He mentioned il falco maybe four or five times over those weeks.
Always in Italian, always careful not to use a name. "
"But you said Viktor was planning something back before the wedding," I pointed out.
"He was. Il falco—whichever Falco cousin it is—told Viktor about the wedding alliance months ago.
That's how Viktor knew to interfere, how he knew which pressure points to use.
" Bianca met Cesare's eyes. "Your cousin has been feeding Viktor information for at least six months.
Maybe longer. Since before your marriage to Paola was even arranged. "
So the betrayal predated everything. The wedding. The switch. All of it. Viktor had someone inside the Monti family long before Bianca entered the picture.
"What else did you hear?" Cesare demanded. "What information was being passed?"
"Schedules. Security protocols. Business deals. The cousin told Viktor when you'd be vulnerable, when your attention would be divided." Bianca's voice dropped. "They told him about Piero's routine. That's how Viktor knew exactly when and where to grab him."
After Bianca left, Cesare's jaw was set like stone. "Marco, Luca, or Sofia. One of the Falco cousins is il falco."
"It has to be one of them," I agreed. "Viktor was using their family name as code."
"Arrogant bastard thought he was being clever." Cesare's expression hardened. "And the Italian language detail—whoever it is speaks fluent Italian. All three Falco cousins do."
"So we focus on all three," I said. "Wait for Giulio's data."
"And pray we're not already too late."
Giulio returned two hours later with his tablet and grim determination.
"I pulled movement records for the extended family. Based on what Bianca just told you about 'il falco, I focused on the cousins."
He displayed profiles:
Marco Falco (32, Cesare's cousin): Manages shipping operations, had access to anniversary celebration plans, was at the venue early setting up security.
Luca Falco (35, Cesare's cousin): Handles East Coast territory negotiations, knew about the Giovanni meeting timing, coordinates with outside families.
Sofia Falco (29, Cesare's cousin): Oversees legitimate business fronts, coordinates family events, has deep access to schedules and movements.
"Any of them have debts to Viktor?" I asked.
Giulio pulled up financial records. "Marco has gambling debts. Significant ones. But they're to various casinos, not to Viktor directly."
"Could Viktor have bought the debt?" Cesare suggested.
"Possibly. I'd need more time to trace it."
"What about Luca?"
"Clean financially. But five years ago, his younger brother died of an overdose. Heroin. Viktor's organization controls most of the heroin coming into New York."
A revenge motive. Or leverage. If Viktor had something to do with the brother's death—
My stomach turned. "And Sofia? There’s no chance it’s her, right? Since Viktor used ‘cugino’ and not ‘cugina’?"
Giulio hesitated. "Sofia's always been close to the family. Loyal. But three years ago, her husband left her. It was a messy divorce and she lost custody of her daughter because of... connections to organized crime. The ex-husband had evidence."
"What kind of evidence?"
"The kind that could only have come from inside the family. Someone fed him information to use against her in court."
My eyes widened. "You think Viktor helped her ex-husband?"
"Or promised to get her daughter back if she helped him. That kind of leverage—a mother separated from her child—it's powerful."
I thought of the tiny heartbeat on the ultrasound. What would I do to protect that life? What wouldn't I do?
I'd been quiet, studying the profiles on Giulio's tablet whilst my mind assembled pieces.
"Can I see the timeline again? When each incident happened and where these three were?" I wasn’t ready to rule out Sofia just yet. Her motive was just as strong as the other two.
Giulio pulled it up. I traced the pattern with my finger.
The wedding day: Marco at the venue early (could have alerted Viktor to the switch), Luca in the city (no alibi), Sofia coordinating family logistics (access to everything).