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I set a hand to my chest and seized a lungful of air before turning to face my mother. As our eyes met, I slowly sighed out that breath, preparing for the inevitable confrontation.
Mom set her purse on the kitchen table and threaded a hand through her silver hair, eyes going back and forth between the two of us. Waiting for answers.
Well, shit. What version of the truth was I sharing? We hadn’t agreed yet, and I thought we had until tomorrow to decide.
Before I had a chance to say anything, my phone vibrated in my pocket. It was Noah. “I have to take this. I’m sorry.” I frowned and looked back at Natalia, offering her my hand. “We’ll be back.”
“Sorry,” Natalia murmured, accepting my palm and moving quickly as she kept up with me on my way to the backyard.
I shut the door and brought the phone to my ear. “Tell me you have news,” I answered, letting go of Natalia’s hand.
She walked over to the patio furniture and dropped down with an exasperated sigh.
“Hey, man. Which news do you want first? Brother or Enzo?” Noah asked.
Based on the sound of his voice, I probably should have sat down, too. How much more could I handle? And I still had to play dress-up and act like everything was just fine tonight. “My brother,” I decided.
“My guy was faster than I expected. Anthony didn’t owe any loan sharks money. At least, no one staked him in Monte Carlo. But Anthony did drop two fifty large the same day his model girlfriend reported her jewelry stolen. And he lost every cent that night.”
“Are you kidding me?” I cursed, and looked at the concrete pavers.
“My guess is he stole Bianca’s jewelry and fenced it. Then he used that cash in hopes of turning it into a profit that night. If that’s the case, let’s just hope whoever gave her such expensive jewels doesn’t find out.”
“So, how’d he wind up on house arrest in Ibiza with that guy claiming he owes nine fifty?” I looked over at Natalia. Her eyes narrowed as she glared at me. That was the first she’d learned the specific details about Ibiza and my brother’s “house arrest” situation there.
“Someone’s lying,” Noah said. “Maybe a few people, I don’t know.”
“What’s the next step?”
“I’ll try and confirm my jewelry theft theory. Then find out where and how this Canadian holding your brother hostage came into the mix. There’s a major disconnect somewhere,” he explained, and I was extremely thankful Noah hadn’t left Ibiza after all.
“Thank you.” I held the side of my head, the pain flaring up again. Wonder why? My brother was the cause, not getting whacked by that pipe. “And the other thing?”
“Right.” Noah was quiet for a moment. “Lorenzo Costa. Thirty-six. Born in Sicily but his parents moved to New York when he was a young kid. Here’s where it gets interesting. His dad was rumored to be part of some secret organization back in Italy. La Lega dei Fratelli, aka, The League of Brothers. They’re now only known as The League.”
“The what?” I dropped my hand at his words.
“Some type of do-gooder-slash-vigilante group if you can believe it,” Noah shared. “Costa left the organization when he moved to the U.S. Each of his three sons served in the military here before joining the family business. Maybe that was his way of keeping his justice-type legacy alive somehow, but uh, legally?” He paused. “Then one of his daughters was murdered. With his money and influence, it’s not a stretch to believe he started his own version of The League Stateside after that. I don’t have concrete proof, though.”
“I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around this.” I looked at Natalia. She knew about Enzo’s past, and I’d rather hear it from her. “I need to call you back,” I told Noah, abruptly ending the call.
When I shoved the phone into my pocket, Natalia slowly stood, asking tentatively, “Your brother, is he okay?”
“I don’t know what’s really going on, but I have to tell you something.” I stepped closer and reached for her hand, drawing her closer. “I asked my buddy to look into Enzo.” She opened her mouth to protest, but I shook my head as a plea to let me finish. “Your safety is important to me. I had to find out the truth. I mean, you told me he illegally killed someone, what’d you expect me to do? I’d rather hear the story from you, though, than my friend.”
She pulled free from my touch and peered at her house instead of my way. I guess I deserved that for going behind her back.
“I know who his dad is, or well, who he used to be in Italy. But then . . .” Please finish this for me.
“Enzo was planning to go to culinary school, but his dad insisted all of his sons serve at some point before they started their careers. He was deployed in Iraq when his twin was murdered. He was twenty-four at the time, and it was near the end of his contract, or whatever that’s called.” She let go of a shaky breath, and now I knew another reason why it was hard for her to share this story with me. My father died while I was serving, and I’d felt helpless.
Enzo’s sister had been murdered while he was overseas, and the thought made me physically ill.
Natalia’s eyes met mine. “I didn’t know Enzo at the time, but he told me his family barely survived her death. Enzo returned home once he was done with his service. His older brothers, Alessandro and Constantine, were already working at the family business. And well, once they were together, the three of them spent every hour of every day working to track down her killer.”
I covered my mouth, unable to imagine the picture she painted. Of course, even as big of a pain in the ass as Anthony was, it would take putting me in the ground as well to keep me from doing the same to the people who took him from me.
“They found the man responsible and gave the police a chance to handle it. When the justice system failed, they took matters into their own hands.” She blinked away tears. “After that, Enzo went down a dark path. He changed. Became someone else. Someone he realized his twin would hate him for, a fact his younger sister and mother frequently reminded him. But it took me inviting him here to work in my kitchen for him to finally start over. He’d always loved cooking. A natural. Guess he never needed culinary school to begin with. And now that he’s here, he’s trying to be the man he’d set out to become before his sister’s life was taken.”
