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Chapter Sixteen
It’s been three days since Neo brought us out to his house. Izzy loves it here. She’s spent her time enjoying being doted on by the mafia underboss. I swear he pays her more attention than he pays me. And he most certainly pays me a lot ofattention.
The sun creeps in through the windows as I stretch my very sore, well-used body. I expect my arm to come into contact with the muscular figure next to me. Except it doesn’t. The spot to my left is empty. Cold.
I get up and slip my feet into a pair of slippers. I’m not sure how he did it, but Neo managed to have a fully stocked wardrobe here. Waiting for me. Everything brand-new with tags on. He said he wanted us to feel at home. To makethisour home. He assures me that we are a forever fixture, but I’m still not convinced. If the last few weeks have done anything, they’ve made me more determined to get Izzy out of this lifestyle. I’m not sure what that looks like anymore, though. I honestly can’t tell if Neo was being truthful when he said he’d help… that he’d come with us.
It’s still early and the house is quiet. I don’t need to go far to find where Neo is. When I open the door, he’s sitting on the floor in the hallway, right outside Izzy’s designated bedroom.
He looks up at me. “Angel, it’s early. You should go back to bed.”
I’ve tried to tell the fool a million times that his pet name doesn’t suit me; he just won’t listen to reason on the matter. “What are you doing?” I ask, sitting on the floor in front of him.
He offers me that one shoulder shrug thing that he does so often when he wants to come across as unaffected. “Couldn’t sleep.”
“So you decided to sit in the hallway? You do know you have a whole house here. I’ve counted at least three living areas with extremely comfortable seating.”
“I’m aware. I just…” He pauses, looking into the bedroom where my daughter is sleeping peacefully. “I don’t know. It’s been three days, Angelica. Why the fuck haven’t we found anything yet?”
“I’m just as frustrated as you are. Just as eager to put this behind us. I don’t know… I’ve always been good at my job. I’ve always been able to find whoever I needed to find.” It’s bothering me that I can’t find Stephen, or the rat in my brother’s organization. These can’t be isolated incidents. They have to be connected... I just need to figure out how. I need to find that damn missing link. There must be something I’m not seeing.
I know Gio attacked my sister-in-law when everyone visited my father’s estate last month. I also know she shot him. Surely anyone sour about that would be going after Holly or T, not my eight-year-old daughter.
“What happened when you and Theo were in Italy?” I ask Neo for the hundredth time.
“We’ve been over this, Angelica. Do we really need to rehash it again?”
“Yes. There’s something I’m missing. There has to be. If not in Italy, then what happened when you got back here?”
“There was a fucking war. Between that Irish fucker and the three families coming after us, I barely had time to scratch my balls.”
“Okay, great imagery. Where did you all go first? Why weren’t you staying at T’s penthouse?”
“When we got there, the families left awelcome homegift. Two bodies staged to look like T and Holly were placed in their bed. Executed.”
“Okay, then what? What did you do next?”
“We went to one of my safe houses. You know, the place you snuck into and thought no one knew you were there?” He smirks, confirming my suspicions. He spotted me.
“How do you think they found out about that address? You had at least ten guys around that house. How did they manage to even get in, let alone tie you to a chair?” That has been bugging me. The fact that I’ve seen this man tied to a chair twice now. My life would be a lot better if I never had to see it again.
“Fuck if I know.”
Okay, think, Angelica. Think.“Who was watching the feed room? Someone had to be watching?” Someone is always watching the cameras. I know because my father has his monitored around the clock. By at least three different men.
“Soldiers: Renzo and Benny. They were exhausted, overworked, and fucking grieving. They weren’t thinkin’ clearly.”
“Well, their carelessness got plenty of your men killed. Almost got you killed. Wait… Why were they grieving?”
“Sonny. He was one of the good ones. Everyone loved him, including Holly. He died trying to protect her from Gio.”
“Why have I not heard about this Sonny guy before now?” I ask.
“It’s a sore subject. Holly was really torn up over losing him. We buried him and kind of just left it at that, I guess. It’s the life, Angelica. People die. We move on.”
“Okay. Let’s go. I need a coffee.” I pull him to his feet. He lets me. I have no doubt if he didn’t want to budge, there’d be no way I could move him.
It’s odd, staring up at him. I’m not a short girl, but Neo’s six-foot-something bulky frame has me feeling petite. Tiny. When his arms wrap around me, it’s as if everything is right in the world. The minute I leave that cocoon, reality always comes crashing back down on me. The problems I have to fix, for myself, for my brother, for my father. And most importantly, for my daughter.
