Chapter 6 #2
And it really isn't, except neither of us can stop laughing. Because, Jesus.
"Your Louie isn't just in trouble, man. It is a fucking miracle he is still breathing."
I wipe my mouth. "Yeah."
"How haven't we heard of Edoardo being fucked?" Cade asks.
I frown, flicking through the recorded crimes that would get most people dismembered and body parts scattered. "I don't know. Maybe Rebecci is sitting on this. Or maybe it is just some kind of fucking miracle."
"Maybe." Cade falls silent. "I guess at some point we will find out."
"Yeah."
Because maybe Edoardo will come looking or get burned. Or maybe he is burned and is sitting and plotting revenge.
Louie can organize his own protection, and if it is bad, I can try to do something to help from the shadows. Organize a meeting. Something. But I will deal with that when it comes up.
I'm more interested in why Dom got involved.
I look at the names Louie collected information on.
"Shit."
"What?" Cade asks.
"Dom wanted info on new employees. Including Lola." I'm having trouble breathing, and I'm not sure why.
"Or he wanted info on employees, and she was in the mix. Coincidence?"
I clench my jaw. "Fucked if I know."
"Exactly."
But I'm only half listening. I scour the document in front of me. Every single employee has a lot of security shit. Lola is no different.
And her file contains everything I worked so hard to hide. It is HR stuff, so Louie wouldn't know. Private stuff. And that means it is for governmental eyes only.
That means Lola's address, date of birth, social security number, full name.
If Dom was looking for her, then he now knows Lola is Lourdes Mancini.
Everything was there. In supposed private HR files.
Fuck.
"Hey, Enzo?" Cade says softly, and I know he is looking at the same thing I am. "It doesn't mean shit. You had Lourdes last seen in Texas, why would anyone think she is here, in New York?"
"Because she went to college here. Because she has spent time here, because it is on that fucking form."
"It doesn't mean anything."
"It is more than enough. It is proof. And we both know she is in danger."
"Or she has just been searched for because Daddy sold her."
"Sometimes, that is not marriage. It is fucking sex work, it is using her body until they think a debt has been paid, or marriage once her money is free and then death. I can think of at least twenty scenarios off the top of my head. I should have been honest, sought her out, warned her—"
"And if she didn't listen, Enzo?"
"I'd make her."
"Uh huh. So, you'd tell her to do what you say, when she hasn't seen you in years?"
I fucking hate when Cade becomes the voice of reason. "I could have made her change her identity and—"
"Best case scenario, you two are super close, and she will still throw it in your face. That is a big ask for a faceless danger."
But Cade is wrong in some of that. It is not faceless. The thing is, she has been through so much that making things worse wasn't on my to-do list.
Besides, Lola probably would have told me to go to hell.
"Maybe you're right. Look, Lyndall and I will be there soon if you want to entice your wife over."
"Deal. Vi loves Lyndall."
He hangs up, and I start setting up round-the-clock security so Lola is protected and I can keep an eye on her, but I also make it clear they are to be invisible to her. She can't know she is being watched.
And then I arrange for cameras to be installed in her apartment tomorrow while she is at work. I want the door watched, and the windows, and I want sensors, too.
Someone knocks on the window, and my sister is there, grinning, her violin case in hand and her jeans and hoodie all in black. Her blonde hair is more dark honey and is a mess. Some teens wear loads of makeup and have edgy hair.
Lyndall doesn't.
I know part of it is the strict code of her hated school, but it is also her. The violin is everything, and she is a kid who cares about the music and being here with me in New York.
I shift over and throw open the door, closing my computer as I scoot over. She throws her bag onto me and hugs the violin case as she settles.
"That was awesome. So much better than at the school."
"Speaking of, you have to go back tomorrow."
"But I don't want to, Enzo. I hate it."
"The semester break is almost here, kid."
"But—"
"Don't argue." I smile at her. "Because guess who is coming to dinner?"
"Cade?"
"And?"
Her eyes widen.
Cade used to be light and joy to her, but she met Vi and ended up loving her just as much, especially as Vi is firmly on her side.
She starts to blather on about the difficulties of Mozart and how she is looking forward to some Rachmaninov, and I tune out. Mostly because I have no idea about any of it.
But my worry still eats at the pit of my stomach.
I need to figure out what Dom wanted the information on the employees for...who wants the information on Lola.
He isn't the only one who looked at them, Louie said he requested copies of those listed.
I need to figure it out, and fast, if the information was for Dom, or someone else.
And if it is someone else...
Who?