Chapter 41
FORTY-ONE
GINO
EARLY MAY
It’s been almost two weeks since everything went down and Mateo was retrieved safely. And now he’s here. Back home. Where he belongs.
I watched the car pull up in the driveway moments ago, and I’m still not prepared for the necessary conversation.
And now I’m watching Gabe, Alonso, and Mateo stride to the front door.
Immediately, I see the healing bruises along his jaw.
Alonso mentioned his hair was relatively long, which is to be expected, but it’s cut now.
And then I notice what the doctors had said: he lost almost thirty pounds whilst in captivity.
They must have fed him just enough to survive.
The doctors were more concerned about the small scarring all over his chest and abdomen. They don’t think any were deep cuts, but enough of them had them concerned about infections.
I watch him walk through the door and know I need to speak to him.
Walking out of the library, I can see his back as he enters the kitchen. I’m frozen for a moment before I walk forward.
“Gino,” he calls out.
I don’t reply, just stare at him. The best friend I’ve ever had is standing in front of me, home after months of being in captivity, and I’m still frozen.
“Gino,” he calls again, louder.
I finally move, walking forward into the kitchen. “Hey, man.”
He turns, and I pull him into a hug. He winces, clearly still stiff from everything.
“Hey,” he mutters. “Where is everyone?”
“Home, probably. Juliet is upstairs. Listen, we need to talk,” I start.
“Can I see my wife first?” He asks.
“Not before we talk,” I reply.
“What the fuck, man?” he snaps. “I spent the last year being tortured and held against my will, and I can’t even see my wife when I get home?”
“I need to talk to you about Vanessa,” I say.
“What happened?” he asks.
“Nothing bad,” I tell him. “I’ll say that much.”
I don’t know how to tell him. Hey man, after you got kidnapped, your wife found out she was pregnant, and congrats, you’re a dad to twins.
I reach into one of the drawers in the kitchen where I moved his phone to this morning. I can’t look at him right now.
I set his phone on the counter.
“Here. That’s your phone. We recovered it from your hotel room after they took you.”
Then, more quietly, I say, “Just promise me one thing. Don’t be angry with Vanessa. She didn’t know until after you left.”
I start to walk away.
“Know what, Gino?”
I pause and release a deep exhale.
“Just turn on the phone, and wait a few minutes before you run home,” I say and walk out.
I glance out the window and see him running out the door.
The next morning, Juliet and I are still in bed when I hear the front door open through the security system app on my phone. I get out of bed and walk down the hallway to the top of the stairs.
“Hey, you two,” I call out.
Mateo gives me a what the fuck look, and I think I know why.
“Hey,” Vanessa replies easily.
“Where’s Juliet?” Mateo asks.
“Uh, somewhere around here,” I say, and I can feel my face getting warm.
“She’s probably upstairs cleaning something,” Vanessa says firmly. “You really need to give her a break, Gino.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I mutter. “You tell me that every time you come over.”
Juliet walks up behind me. “Hi,” she says softly to them.
“We’ll talk in my office,” I say to Mateo.
As Mateo walks up the stairs, Juliet says something to him.
“All right. Could you at least put on a shirt?” he snickers.
I snort. “Who knew you’d become so bashful?”
“Bullshit. You know you’d never be caught dead like that.”
“A year ago, sure,” I say, glancing down the stairs where Juliet and Vanessa are still standing. “Now I’ve realized I need to chill out more.”
I run to the bedroom and grab a shirt.
We walk into my office, and I come up behind him.
“All right, let’s get to business,” I say as we walk in.
“Thanks for putting on the shirt,” he says.
“What? This is my house, you know,” I reply, mocking the sound of hurt.
“I know. You just never work in sweats and a T-shirt,” he says.
“Like I said, I need to chill out more.”
He lifts a brow. “Mmm, okay. Whatever you say.”
“Take a seat.” I gesture to the chairs. “As you can see, I have no fucking idea what I’m looking at. But since I took over all of the Russos’ shit, I need to make sure everything transfers correctly.”
“What do you mean, transferred?” He asks.
“After they took you, I decided we needed to stop playing pretend and actually act like a mafia. Do some damage.”
He stares at me.
“Relax, we didn’t kill just anyone. Only the people who were trying to kill us,” I say.
“Who did you kill?” he asks.
“Me? No one. But the guys took down Lorenzo’s operation. And they killed a few of the goons that were guarding you. It wasn’t easy. It took days to find a way in. The place was secured and secluded. Like a military base.”
“Walk me through it,” he says. When I don’t answer right away, he adds, “Please. I need to know everything.”
I sigh. “We spent months digging through every property they owned across Italy and came up empty. I leaned on some old contacts my father had, and had them scour the country for you. Nothing came of it. The first six months were nothing but dead ends. Every lead Drew found turned out to be bullshit. Anytime Lorenzo called, he was nowhere near where he was holding you. He used his father’s villa as cover. ”
I take a deep breath. “When Vanessa had the twins, I knew I couldn’t let other people handle it. They were taking too long to get me information, so I took matters into my own hands—”
He cuts me off. “Did you go over there yourself?”
“Hell no.” I laugh. “Your wife and Juliet would actually kill me if I even suggested it. I gave Drew full authority to do whatever he thought was necessary to find you. He started hacking directly into the Russos’ servers.
It took him time, but he eventually got in.
Lorenzo used his father’s computers for most of his communication, which is why we couldn’t track you.
That was the blind spot. We finally got a break about two weeks ago.
Drew cracked their accounting and banking systems. There were properties and assets tied to his mother, and Juliet dug into it. ”
“Juliet?” he asks.
“She suggested we look into the properties attached to Lorenzo’s mother.”
“What about his dad and the other brother?” he questions.
“They’re alive. They had no idea Lorenzo was holding you. They thought he scared you a bit, and you went straight home,” I tell him.
“What?”
“Yeah. That’s how I was able to take so much from them without raising alarms. This was supposed to be a clean, easy deal. Lorenzo just wanted it all for himself.”
“Jesus. Why would he do that? And how did no one see it?” He’s going to continue this until I give every last detail.
“Because he had his own guys. He wanted to run the Russo empire by himself. He built separate teams that didn’t interact with anyone else,” I say.
“What did you get from them?”
“All of their Stateside properties, which is a lot more than I expected,” I respond.
“How much?”
“Ten warehouses, two commercial buildings, four office buildings, and three apartment complexes,” I run down the list quickly.
“I didn’t know they had that much here.”
“Neither did I. But they didn’t want a war with us, so they handed it all over. And honestly, I think it’s because Lorenzo ran the Stateside business. They wanted to distance themselves from it.”
“So who’s your lawyer now?” he asks.
“What kind of question is that?” I scoff. “You are.”
“Who’s been helping you with all of this? We both know you have no clue what you’re doing when it comes to legal jargon.” He’s right; I know none of this. But I don’t trust anyone outside of this group.
“Juliet has been helping with everything. She knows a lot about contracts and that kind of stuff. She also called her dad a few days ago to help with all this real estate.”
“About Juliet, when did she stop waking up at sunrise?”
“I don’t control when she wakes up.”
“I beg to differ, considering when I walked in, both of you were still in pajamas at almost ten,” he mentions.
“So now it’s a crime to sleep in?” I ask sarcastically, lifting a brow at him.
“No. But you know what? I’m not going to pry into what you do in your free time.”
“Good, and never fucking start,” I grit out.
I need to change the topic right now, or else I’m going to answer questions I want Juliet here for.
“How did you take the news about the kids?” I ask.
“I mean… okay, I guess. But why didn’t anyone tell me before I got here? Seeing them for the first time was a shock,” he says.
“Because Vanessa was texting you every day with updates. We all knew that. I didn’t want her to stop because it helped her cope. So I didn’t say anything,” I tell him.
“Did she know you found me when you did?”
“No. I didn’t want her stressing, waiting up all night for you. It was hard on her. She came here every day like clockwork. She looked for you every day with me. Spent more time in this office than I wanted her to.”
“Who had her text me every day? Was that you?” he asks.
“No. One of her friends from the hospital suggested it,” I begin explaining.
“It helped her sanity. Trust me. The first few days after she found out she was pregnant, she’d just stand there staring at the driveway, waiting for you to pull up.
She quit her job at the hospital so she could be home as much as possible, just in case you showed up.
When she realized it wasn’t going to happen like it does in the movies, she poured herself into finding you.
She stayed focused. Dedicated. Up until two days ago, she sat in that chair you’re in right now, going over every piece of information I’d give her, trying to pull it apart. ”
“She did all that?”
“Yeah. And she made sure everything was ready for the second you got home.”
“What do you mean?” he asks.
“Your office. Food. Anything she could control. It really fucked with her, man, you being gone. Having something ready for you helped her cope, especially when I never had updates. Even after the twins were born, she spent hours doing it. Talking to them about you. Holding onto you any way she could. It messed with her head. So you need to take care of her. Make sure she’s okay.
” I don’t beg him to because I know he will.
“Did she ever tell you any of this?”
“No. Juliet and Alonso noticed what was happening at your place and told me. We didn’t confront her. We just asked around, subtly. She confirmed it,” I tell him.
I meet his gaze. “Just watch out for her.”
“You had Alonso watching her?” he questions.
“Yeah. Why not?” I reply.
“Just an interesting choice. You don’t usually let him do things on his own.”
“He’s done plenty on his own. But he was the one I knew would be a friend to her. No jokes. No bullshit. Just support,” I tell him.
“Yeah. Good choice.”
“You know I run things around here, right?” I smirk.
“Barely,” he shoots back.
I sigh. “I’m sorry,” I start. “I should have worked harder to get you back. I should have sent more people there, and should have worked harder.”
“You don’t need to apologize to me about that,” he says.
“Yes, I do. I also need to apologize for the lying and the secrets. I fucked up big time.”
“No shit, asshole. You lied to your sister, my wife, and you think it was going to help you?”
“I thought I was doing the right thing.”
“You’re joking?” he says with furrowed brows. “You lied to her. Why? To protect her? You realize you could have done more damage than good; you understand that, right?” He gets up and stands, crossing his arms.
I lean back and run a hand down my face.
We’re in a standoff. He moves to lean against the bookshelf in my office.
Getting up from my chair, I walk closer to him. He lunges at me and pushes me, pinning me against the wall. Then he swings, and he gets a direct shot at my jaw.
“That’s for lying to my wife,” he growls.
“Yeah, I deserved that,” I reply.
He lets go of my shirt and runs a hand through his hair. Then he takes another shot at my jaw.
“What was that one for?” I ask.
“For sending me to Italy.” He gives me a sly smile.
“You just wanted to punch me again,” I smirk at him.
“Of course I did. You’ve been lying to her; who fucking does that? To their sister no less.”
I push him off me. “Can we please go back to talking about business?”
“Fine, but this conversation isn’t over yet,” he replies.
“I’d expect nothing less,” I reply.