Chapter 29
ADRIANO
I pace the back room of Vito's auto shop, watching the mechanic sweat as he recites what he knows about Bratva movements in his territory.
His grease-stained hands shake. Most of our associates don’t practically piss their pants, but Vito is on my shit list, so he’s right to be nervous.
Good thing for him, I believe what he’s telling.
"They've been using the back of Sokolov's restaurant for meetings," he shares. "Four, maybe five cars coming through after midnight, staying for hours."
I nod, committing the details to memory. "And the shipments?"
"Twice a month. Always Tuesdays."
“What have you heard about them coming into Dante territory?”
He swallows. “They’ve been trying to get into Cavendale’s,” he says of a gentleman’s club. “Drugs and girls.” His eyes dart to the two men flanking me. "Please, Mr. Dante, I've told you everything."
I believe him. Slipping an envelope of cash across the table, I watch relief flood his features. "You never saw us."
For the first time in awhile, I’m feeling like the stars have aligned and my life is on the right track. Not that it was off before, but it was all work. With Eva and Mirabella, I have everything I could ever want. Sure, that kernel of doubt about what she’s hiding still festers deep in my belly.
And I’m really good at getting information. If I walk into an establishment without an appointment, people quake in their boots.
I have a reputation of always extracting the information I need.
And right now, I need to find out what the Bratva is up to.
If I could walk into their world and kill them all, I would. And then my life would be fucking perfect.
I wouldn’t need to know why Ivan wanted Eva because he would be dead.
My phone vibrates in my pocket.
I silence it.
Interruptions break focus, and focus keeps us alive.
But it buzzes again immediately.
Then a third time.
Something's wrong.
I excuse myself, stepping outside into the dim alley.
Three missed calls from the compound's security chief.
My stomach tightens as I return the call. “What.”
"Sir." The man's voice is tight with tension. "There's been an attack."
My blood freezes.
“Two men down. Bratva. Ms. Santoro and the child were taken, but they left the child at the gate.”
I'm already moving toward my car, phone pressed to my ear. "How the fuck did they get into the compound?"
After the Bratva got in trying to kill Luca and Katerina nearly two years ago, security has been impenetrable… well… except when Eva escaped.
"They didn't breach the compound," he explains. "They were at a clinic on Shore Road."
What the fuck is going on? "Mirabella? Where is she?"
"The Bratva dropped her at the front gate fifteen minutes ago. She's with Sophia now, but she's terrified. Won't stop crying."
I can’t wrap my head around what he’s telling me. "What happened, exactly?"
"Ambush in the pediatrician's parking lot. Two of our men are down. Two are dead. They took Ms. Santoro but brought the child here."
My mind races through possibilities, each worse than the last. "Ivan?"
"A witness spotted him in the vehicle."
My brain is moving a million miles a minute.
They took both of them but brought Mirabella home.
Did Eva arrange that or did Ivan not want the hassle of a child?
"I want every available man looking for them. Check every known Bratva property. Call in favors, put out the word on the street. I want locations within the hour."
Anger nearly blinds me as I imagine Mirabella’s terror.
She's only three.
She shouldn't have to endure being ripped from her mother.
And Eva… What are they doing to her right now?
I break every speed limit on the drive back. The compound gates barely open in time as I screech through them. Two steps at a time, I bound up to the main house. Someone in the Bratva is going to die tonight. It had better be Ivan.
"Where is Mirabella?" I demand the moment I'm through the door.
"Upstairs with Sophia," Alessandro says, emerging from his office with a grim expression. "Adriano—"
I don't wait to hear whatever judgment he's prepared. I rush up the stairs and I follow the sound of muffled crying until I reach her.
Mirabella sits huddled against Sophia's side, her little body trembling.
When she sees me, she launches herself across the room.
"Daddy!"
I catch her, pulling her tight against my chest, breathing in her scent. Her tiny arms wrap around my neck.
"You're safe." I sit on the edge of her bed and rock her gently. "I've got you."
Her body shudders with hiccupping sobs. "The bad men took Mommy."
"I know, baby." I stroke her hair, fighting to stay strong for her. "But you're home now."
I nod to Sophia. “What happened?”
“She needed a doctor.” Sophia points to medicine on Mirabella’s nightstand. “Ear infection. The pharmacy just delivered it.”
I’m still not keeping up.
We have a doctor.
But I also know that whatever decision was made to leave the house was not made by her.
I press a kiss to Mirabella’s forehead and feel the heat from the fever. “She needs to rest.” I move to lay her down in her bed.
"No!" Mirabella clings tighter. "Don't leave me!"
"I'll be right back, Princess. Sophia will stay with you until then."
Gently, I transfer her to Sophia's arms instead of her bed.
She sniffles. "Are you going to save Mommy from the bad men?"
"Yes. I promise I will." Even as I say it, I know it could be a lie. Eva could already be dead, knowing Ivan. The Bratva doesn't take prisoners they intend to release.
I hurry back downstairs and barge into Alessandro's office, finding him already questioning the surviving men from the ambush. Their faces are ashen, blood still visible on their clothes.
"What the hell happened?" I grab Nico, the only one who could have okayed taking Eva and Mirabella off the grounds, and push him against the wall. "Why did you leave the compound? You know she wasn't to go anywhere with my daughter."
To his credit, he doesn’t try to push me off. He takes it like he knows he needs to. "The child was burning up, sir. Ms. Santoro was frantic. She insisted our doctor wasn't qualified to treat a sick child."
"Did she convince you, or did you just fail to follow orders?" My voice drops dangerously low.
"She argued that you would want the best care for your daughter."
“Let him go,” Alessandro tells me.
I do, because I can see how they’d think I’d approve anything where Mirabella’s health was concerned. But I’m still pissed. Why didn’t anyone call me, check in with me?
Nico straightens his shirt. “We brought four men. We maintained protocol, including being in the exam room with Ms. Santoro, the child, and the doctor. The doctor confirmed the child had an ear infection and fever. We arranged for medicine to be delivered."
"And the ambush?" I press.
"Professional. Waiting in the parking lot.”
I run both my hands through my hair. “How’d they know you’d be there?” I ponder out loud.
Alessandro clears his throat and I know what he’s going to say before he utters a word.
“She wouldn’t,” I say.
“You can’t discount it. The child falls ill, Eva insists on leaving the compound, and Bratva just happens to be waiting?"
“Are you saying she made Mirabella sick to get out of the compound?”
“No. I am saying that she used it as an opportunity. Somehow, she made contact.”
Nico shakes his head. “I don’t know how, sir. She was never out of my sight from the moment we left.”
“Eva made two organized crime syndicates believe she was dead. She escaped from Bratva and us. I wouldn’t underestimate her ability to contact Ivan.”
“Did you hear yourself?” I really want to hit my brother. “Why would she contact the people she’d been running from when I found her? And there’s no way she’d risk Mirabella’s life.”
“But she didn’t. They left her—”
“Except for the fucking shooting,” I yell. “Two men dead. That could have been my daughter.”
"Sir," Leo, another of my men, who likely drove them, interrupts. "The little girl was genuinely sick. And Ms. Santoro, she tried to get away, even fought. She didn’t go willingly."
Nico nods, but Alessandro remains unconvinced. "Then why return the child? Ivan isn't known for his compassion. The only explanation is that she made a deal. The child's safe return for her cooperation."
My fists clench and it’s fifty-fifty if I’m going to plant one in my brother’s face. "You've been waiting for an excuse to condemn her since she arrived."
"And you've been blinded by your feelings," he counters. "The sickness gave her the perfect opportunity."
I want to deny it, but doubt slithers through me.
Eva's constant evasion about the Bratva.
Her reluctance to explain why they're hunting her.
The text messages. Ivan knowing she was at the doctor.
What if Alessandro is right?
I signal for the men to leave us alone.
When the door closes, I round on my brother.
"I need people at every Bratva front we know about. Now." Not just my men, but his too.
Alessandro raises an eyebrow. "Why bother? They're probably taking notes on whatever Eva's telling them about our operations."
"She knows nothing!" I slam my fist against his desk. It’s not his face, but it helps channel some of my fury. "She has nothing to offer Ivan. You know it. She hasn’t seen or heard anything that goes on in our business."
He shrugs. “Maybe. Maybe not. She’s shrewd, Adriano. She's fooled you before. Think with your head, not your dick."
“You don't know her."
"Neither do you." He looks at me with pity. "That's the problem."
I turn away, unable to face the truth in his words. Because underneath my rage burns the sickening fear that he might be right.
"Ivan will kill her," I say.
"You survived the last time she died. You'll survive again."
Something inside me snaps.
My fist connects with his jaw before I realize I've moved.
Alessandro staggers back, catching himself against the desk as blood trickles from his split lip.
"Don’t you fucking dare… ”
"I deserved that." Alessandro straightens, wiping blood from his mouth. "But don't think you'll be allowed to hit me again."
Our eyes lock in confrontation. We've fought before, as brothers do, but never like this. Never enforcer against Don.
"I'm going after her," I say finally. "With or without your help."
"And if I forbid it?"
"Fuck you." I turn toward the door. "Family means everything. That's what Father taught us. Eva and Mirabella are mine."
I need to plan how I’m going to save Eva, but in the meantime, I need to check on Mirabella.
I push the door open.
Sophia sits beside the bed, dabbing Mirabella's forehead with a cool cloth.
My daughter's face is flushed with fever, her eyes red-rimmed from crying.
"How's my princess doing?" I ask, keeping my voice soft.
Mirabella's bottom lip trembles. "The bad men took Mommy."
I nod to Sophia, who quietly slips from the room. Taking her place, I brush damp hair from Mirabella's forehead. "I know, but I'm going to get her back."
Fresh tears spill down her cheeks. "They're going to hurt her like they hurt Nonno."
Her nonno? I realize that Mirabella may have information that can help me understand what Ivan wants and maybe how I can save Eva.
It feels wrong, though, to seek answers from a three-year-old.
But if anyone knows what Eva's been running from, it's the one person who's been with her these past three years.
"Your grandfather? Your mommy’s father?"
She nods, clutching her stuffed unicorn "Mommy said they made him go away forever." She curls up smaller, like she’s trying to hide from what she knows. "They were mean to him."
I try to piece this together. Eva disappeared, and not long after, her father turned up dead.
"Do you know why the bad men want your mommy?"
She shakes her head. “I don’t like them.”
“I don’t either.” I should stop. I’m probably traumatizing her. Along with a college fund, I’m going to need to save for her therapy for life.
“They make Mommy say things.”
“Say things? Like what?”
She sniffles. "About you."
Something cold settles in my stomach. Is Eva feeding information to the Bratva about me? About my family?
"Did Mommy tell them things about me?"
She shrugs. “She told them to let me go.”
I could read that in so many ways.
In the past, Eva has always kept Mirabella with her.
This time, she had them bring Mirabella home.
Did she pretend she had info to save her daughter?
Or did she arrange this beforehand like Alessandro suspects, but only if Mirabella was left out of it, knowing she’d be safer with me than Ivan?
“Mommy said ‘sunshine’.”
My brow furrows. “What does that mean?”
“It’s a special word. I have to run.”
I close my eyes as I realize the extent Eva has gone to stay away from the Bratva and us. How she’s raised Mirabella to act in dangerous situations.
“When will Mommy be home?”
I press my lips to her forehead. “Soon, Princess."
As Mirabella drifts toward sleep, the pieces start shifting in my mind, but I can’t make them fit.
One thing’s for sure.
When I bring Eva home, I won’t shy away from finding out the truth. I can’t afford to have Ivan one step ahead of me.
Or my daughter having to live by code words to stay safe.