Page 44 of The Mafia King's Lost Son
Toward her.
I tell myself it’s business. That I need to question her about that night, and to extract whatever information she’s been holding for six years. Need to figure out if she actually knows something or if she’s just another dead end.
But part of me knows that’s bullshit. Part of me just needs to see her again.
I find her in the library on the second floor. She’s standing by the window, arms wrapped around herself, staring out at the darkened grounds. The moonlight catches her profile and for a second I’m transported back six years to that club.
She must hear me approach because she stiffens but doesn’t turn around.
“Is Luca asleep?” I ask.
“Finally.” Her voice is tight. “He cried for an hour. Kept saying he wanted to go home. That the scary man was going to hurt us.”
The words hit harder than they should. “I’m not going to hurt him.”
“He’s five years old, Dante. He just watched armed men attack this house. Watched you covered in blood. What did you expect?”
“I expected his mother to prepare him better for the reality of my world.”
Now she turns, and her eyes are blazing hot. “I didn’t want him in your world at all. That’s the whole point.”
“Well, he’s in it now. And he needs to learn that his father isn’t the monster his mother made him out to be.”
“Aren’t you?” She takes a step closer. “You just tortured and executed a man in front of security cameras. You broke his fingers. Shot him in the head. That’s exactly what a monster does.”
“That monster just saved your life and our son’s life. That monster is the only thing standing between you and the people who want you dead.”
She looks away, and I can see her struggling with the truth of that statement.
“We need to talk,” I say, changing the topic. “About that night, and about what you remember.”
“No.” She shakes her head. “I’ve spent six years trying to forget that night.”
“I don’t care. You need to remember now. Every detail. Everything Antonio said. Everything you saw. Everything that happened before I showed up and after.”
“Why? What difference does it make?”
I move closer until we’re only a few feet apart. “Because you might know where the ledger is. And if you don’t help me find it, those attacks won’t stop. They’ll keep coming until they kill you or until they’re satisfied you don’t know anything. Which means Luca will never be safe.”
That gets through to her quicker than I expected. I can see it in the way her shoulders tense.
“I don’t know anything about any ledger.”
“Maybe not consciously. But your brain probably saw things that night. Heard things. Processed details you might not even realize you remember. Trauma does that—locks memories away. But they’re still there.”
She’s quiet for a long moment, then she walks to one of the leather chairs and lowers herself into it. “What do you want to know?”
I pull up a chair across from her and lean forward, resting my elbows on my knees. “Start from the beginning. When did Antonio grab you?”
Her hands twist in her lap. “I was returning home from my shift at the hospital when a van stopped and someone grabbed me and covered my mouth with a cloth. That was all I remembered until I woke up in a room with girls.”
“Go on…”
“There were six of us in total. All girls around my age. He kept us locked in the room. I heard from the girls that we were being prepared for buyers.”
Rage flows through me, but I keep my voice neutral. “And the night I showed up?”
“I was just there a few hours before you arrived, and Antonio came for me specifically. He took me to his bedroom. Started touching me. I fought back and then…” She swallows hard. “Then you kicked in the door.”
