35. The Hidden Thread
The Hidden Thread
“Right. I’m in,” Nero grumbled, his eyes fixed on his laptop screen as he sifted through codes and data that made my head hurt. He’d hacked into Callum’s phone to find the recording and anything else that might need dealing with.
Aria leaned into my chest, pressing her fingers to her lips in worry. Raya kept watching TV. A few minutes passed, and then Nero sat up straighter, indicating he’d found something. I moved to his side, not sure what I was looking at, but needing to see.
“I’ve got the recording. I can delete it, but if he’s made a copy or forwarded it to anyone, there’s nothing I can do.”
“Delete it.”
“He’ll know,” Nero added for clarification.
I sighed, knowing it would give Callum the knowledge that we were on to him. But I didn’t have any other choice. “Delete it. And I want his contact list, every text message he’s ever sent from that phone, and his call logs.”
If Callum was as corrupt as I believed him to be, the phone he used to contact Aria was probably not his main one, but it was still worth looking into.
“On it.” Nero nodded, retreating behind his laptop screen again. I moved back to Aria, leaned against the kitchen counter, and pulled her into me, wrapping my arms around her.
“What if he made a copy?” she whispered.
“Even if he did, one recording wouldn’t be enough to put me behind bars.”
“If the police come, I’ll pretend I never sent it to him. I’ll lie and say I know nothing about it.”
I smiled at her. “You’d commit a crime for me?”
“If it meant I could keep you,” she said, lifting her arms to my neck and pressing her lips to mine. I loved that she would break the law for me, but I never wanted her to become an accomplice to my crimes. As her husband, it was my duty to protect her, even from myself.
Soraya climbed off the sofa and walked into the kitchen, passing the kitchen island where Nero was working. His eyes flicked up from the screen at the sound of her bare feet on the floor, and he stilled. I narrowed my eyes.
I knew men found my sister beautiful. She was.
Her enormous hazel eyes, dainty features, and long, curly hair gave her an effortless femininity and innocence that most men found so appealing.
It didn’t help that she played up the shy, good-girl image, wearing girly dresses that showed off her figure and always styling her hair with pretty accessories. It was her weapon.
Nero was clearly falling for her charms, unable to stop staring, his lips parting slightly as she leaned up on her tiptoes to retrieve a glass from the cupboard. His eyes flicked down to her tanned lower back and legs, exposed in her pink relaxed lounge shorts and cropped hoodie.
I blew a short, sharp whistle, holding Aria’s hips tighter so I didn’t swing my fists into Nero’s face.
His attention snapped to me, his eyes wide at being caught ogling my sister, an offence punishable by death if he wasn’t one of my most valuable men.
His shoulders hunched, and he focused on what I was paying him a lot of fucking money to do.
“Soraya, put on some more clothes,” I growled as she poured herself a glass of apple juice, frowning at me.
I knew she wouldn’t speak in front of Nero.
She glanced his way, realising why my overprotective big brother act had kicked in, then relaxed against the counter, smirking at me over her glass.
“Now,” I commanded when she didn’t move.
“She’s wearing clothes,” Aria jumped to her defence. “Why are you being weird? Leave her alone.”
“I need Nero alive,” I said, prompting Nero to swallow without looking up from his laptop. “So either she needs to leave this room or put on some more clothes.”
Raya took her time drinking the apple juice while Nero practically vibrated with the effort of not paying her any more attention. When she finished, she placed the empty glass on the counter, gave me an innocent smile that was anything but, and stalked out of the room.
“You’re a caveman,” Aria scolded, shoving my chest lightly. I smirked, feeling much more relaxed now that my sister and Nero were in different rooms. “Never tell a woman what to wear.”
“I’m her big brother. And she’s under my roof. I’m just keeping the peace and saving us the hassle of redecorating if I had to put a bullet through his head.”
She scoffed. “Well, peacemaker, I’m going to check she isn’t taking a pair of scissors to all your suits, because that’s what I’d do if you ever told me to put on more clothes.”
I folded my arms across my chest, grinning as she gave me a sassy glare and strutted away, swaying those hips just to torture me.
Nero cleared his throat nervously and peered over his laptop. “Apologies, Boss. It won’t happen again.”
“Better not. Or I’ll pluck your eyeballs out with a fork. My sister is off limits. To everyone.”
“Understood.” He nodded and glanced towards the hallway, checking we were alone. “I did the deeper background check you asked for on your wife’s parents.”
I moved towards him, my heart rate picking up because I had no idea where this was going, but I hoped to God he wasn’t about to tell me Piero was hiding something I’d have to kill him for.
“Don’t tell me the mayor has connections to the Leones,” I hissed. Nero shook his head, allowing me to breathe a little easier.
“No. Piero’s clean. I can trace his life all the way back to his birth.
Born and raised in Rome in a respectable family.
Went to a good school. He was head of the debating club at university, where he studied economics and politics.
Met Arianna’s mother organically. They stayed together for a few years after she was born, then split up.
He stayed in Rome. She travelled across Europe with Arianna before returning to the UK.
Piero worked his way up in politics, with years of failed campaigns until he won the mayoralty two years ago. It all checks out.”
My forehead creased in confusion. “What is it then?”
“Her mother. Quinn Brown. There are… inconsistencies.” He pulled out a document from a file and slid it towards me.
It was a picture of her mother. Arianna shared the same nose and blue eyes, though her mother’s hair was light brown.
“It’s been difficult. I had to start from her final days and trace her back from there.
I couldn’t find anything about her until she turned nineteen, when she appeared in France as Harriet Rouln.
She moved around Europe so much that she never stayed in one place for more than a few months.
She lived in Norway for a few years, and then suddenly…
a name change. Quinn Brown. That’s who she was when she met Piero.
The longest period she stayed in one place was in Rome, when she was with him.
And then she was on the move again, with her daughter in tow.
Spain, Greece, Portugal, Germany, and then eventually back to the UK.
They stayed there until her death, but still moved between cities and towns every few years.
If I had to guess, she wasn’t just a free-spirited wanderer. She was—”
“Running,” I answered for him, staring at the picture of the woman. “But from who?”
“Both Harriet Rouln and Quinn Brown had no living family. No connections to anyone or anything. They just appeared out of thin air. False identification. I’m still searching databases for any women who ‘died or went missing’ in the UK and France around the same time Harriet Rouln appeared, matching her description, but it’s next to impossible. ”
I inhaled and blew out the breath between my lips, rubbing my forehead. Did Arianna know something about her mother’s past that she hadn’t mentioned? Was she aware of it?
“There’s more,” Nero lowered his voice, and the look in his eyes made me grind my molars together. “That fire was no accident. It was a cover-up.”
I closed my eyes. Fuck.
“Whoever she’d spent her life running from had found her.
I’ve seen the police report. It was forged.
The original police report from the first officer at the scene stated that no appliances were plugged into the walls and that the smoke alarms had been tampered with.
He suspected arson and therefore murder.
That officer mysteriously went missing days later, and the official report was that it was a terrible accident caused by hair straighteners. ”
I slammed my hands on the island and bent over, staring at the floor.
“Fuck,” I growled, my stomach twisting into knots so tight I felt sick.
I knew exactly what it felt like to have a parent murdered.
How the hell was I supposed to tell Aria this?
Was Aria a target too, or had they spared her life for a reason?
Whoever did this had solid connections with corrupt police in the UK.
I stood up as something clicked into place. “Was Callum in the UK at the time of the fire?”
Nero dragged up his files on his laptop and started scanning all the information he’d gathered on D'Ardenzi. “Si. He came to Italy a few months after the fire took place.”
I rubbed my jaw and started pacing. “How long after he arrived did Aria move to Rome to be with Piero?”
“She finished her studies in the UK but visited Italy a few times between her mother’s death and her final move, which was… a year after Callum’s.”
My fists clenched against the marble surface. I still didn’t have any concrete evidence that he had anything to do with any of this. All I had was a gut feeling.
“Is there anything else you need? I’ve put everything I’ve found on Callum, Piero, Quinn, and Aria in there,” Nero said, gesturing to the folder and noticing how agitated I was. I shook my head, staring blankly out of the window.
“No. I know Alessio wants you to help find the two men who attacked Piero last night, so you can get on with that. Grazie, Nero.”