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“Oh, I don’t think this is going to go down as smoothly as you’re thinking,” Dante interrupts. “Giovanni and Leonardo have been battling it out quietly and subtly behind the scenes for years. If Giovanni is ready to make a move, things are going to get messy. And it will no doubt spill over this way, and add in another Sicilian family here, the chances for some fights are high on the list of possibilities.”
“Oh, yeah, you have a point,” Massimo says cheerfully. “Alright, well, there’s hope for this trip after all then.” The pout is gone and I barely resist shaking my head in disbelief. Why do I have a feeling I’m going to have a giant headache before these bastards leave?
A knock on the door pauses any further conversation, and Dante turns and opens the door, admitting Sofia’s father, who has an annoyed scowl on his face. “That girl is more stubborn than her mother,” he gripes as he steps further into the room and Dante shuts the door behind him, a flash of amusement on his face before it’s gone. Gonna be interesting to see what happens when her father finds out that his daughter is sleeping with him.
The Caruso’s all chuckle. “Aurelio, we both know you’d be pissed if she was any different,” Pietro points out good-naturedly. Ah, so this Aurelio is Sofia’s father. I’ll have to find out the names of his sons as well so I can keep everyone straight. “But she’ll have to wait while we discuss the information you said you found. We didn’t have time to go over it before we landed, so you might as well just tell us all at once.”
“Ah, yes,” Aurelio says with a nod, turning to look at me. “It took a lot of digging, and my contact is one of the best, but the information is credible.” His expression is serious and I lean forward, my gut telling me based on the look on his face, whatever he’s about to tell me is going to be important. Even the Caruso men look intrigued. “It seems, your woman isn’t the only female De Luca,” he announces. “My contact found two to four other possible women that have been hidden away.”
I don’t react to that as I try to let his words penetrate. There are more De Luca women? How the hell is that possible? And if so, why was Gia the only one that was kept? “How are they related to Gia?” I ask him. And how the hell did he find out this information when my own men couldn’t? I don’t even have to look at Dante to know he’s thinking the same thing.
“My informant says at least one of them is a full sister, and he thinks the others are either half sisters or cousins,” Aurelio says.
“So, I need someone to fill me in on why the hell being a woman and a De Luca is so important,” Alessio interrupts.
“The De Lucas pride themselves on only producing boys, and up until a few weeks ago, no one knew Gia existed,” I tell him absently, my mind whirling. “And there is no way any of the boys know about those girls because if they did, they would have found every single girl and married them off as quickly as possible. How reliable is your informant?”
“Very,” Aurelio said confidently. “He’s the type that can find out anything he wants. Hell, if I wanted, I’d know every moment you took a shit in your life. You have a skeleton you want hidden, it’s not hidden from him. Fucker is like a damn dog with a bone when it comes to getting information.”
“So, if the De Lucas hid these other women, how did he find out about them?” Pietro asks him, leaning forward, a calculating look in his eye.
“He doesn’t share with me his process,” Aurelio says with a shake of his head. “But I do know he was able to piece together that their mothers hid their pregnancies, or told their husbands that they were stillborn when they weren’t there. Staff smuggled the babies out of the house and into the arms of someone who took them away and hid them. He knows for sure of two, but the other two are a bit uncertain, though it sounds like much the same circumstances.”
“So, their fathers don’t know they exist?” Zeno asks doubtfully. “And they haven’t said anything in all these years? Women talk, so I don’t think that’s possible. And staff talk too. There would have been rumors.”
I shake my head. “Not when all the women died not long after each other. Leonardo’s first wife died a few years into the marriage. Told everyone that it was cancer, but no one ever verified if that was true. They never had any children, and I do remember hearing my father say he wouldn’t be surprised if she was killed because she couldn’t produce an heir.”
Alessio shakes his head in disgust. “That’s seriously a reason people kill their wives over here? Fucking hell.”
I nod, in agreement with him completely. “It was from back in the early part of the twentieth century, and while most other families have moved past that, these ones aren’t letting it go,” I explain grimly. “It was Leonardo’s second wife, Luisa, that gave him all the children he has now. Five boys, and then I suppose Gia. Rumor is that he killed her, and he married his current wife, Carmen not long after. They don’t have any children of their own, and I don’t think that bothers Leonardo much considering he has five sons to carry on his legacy.”
“So, that would mean one of the girls was born before Gia and hidden away,” Alessio says slowly, and I can all but see the wheels turning in his head. “Which would mean that the first wife did possibly have a baby girl and got her out before she died.”
“Or maybe the second wife, Gia’s mother, couldn’t get Gia out before Leonardo saw her,” Massimo guesses. “At that point, there was no hiding her or claiming she was dead.”
“It took some digging, but Giulia’s birth was registered as a home birth,” Aurelio interjects. “Whoever they have on their team to hide that kind of information is very good at what they do, considering how deep my guy had to look, but it is there. The other girls are not. They are registered with their adoptive parents as they were listed as abandoned. Clean and no one would probably look at it twice.”
“And you said some of them are possibly cousins?” I ask him. He nods. “I only know of Giovanni having one wife, and she gave him all sons. No mention of a girl. She died just shortly after the youngest son turned two. Rumors were that she fell down some stairs and broke her neck, but nothing confirmed.”
“You think he found out about the girl baby and killed her to keep her quiet?” Massimo asks.
“I wouldn’t put it past him, but if he knew about a daughter, he’d have killed her, or he would have kept her hidden away like Leonardo did to Gia and used her to advance his attempt for his brother’s seat.”
“I think it makes more sense these women knew what would happen if the girls were found, so they worked together to get them out,” Pietro remarks. He looks at Aurelio. “Do you have a name and location for Gia’s sister?”
“He told me her name is Sienna, but he didn’t give me a last name,” Aurelio replies. “Said he needs to get more information for me before he tells me more. I know that she’s here in the United States, but where exactly is a mystery for now.”
“Did he tell you how old she is?” Dante asks him curiously.
“She’s twenty-six,” he answers.
“Which means she was born between Dario and Matteo,” Dante informs me. He looks back at Aurelio. “My question though, is that now that your guy has found her, how long will it take the De Lucas or others to find her as well?” He holds up his hand when irritation crosses Aurelio’s face. “I’m not saying your guy doesn’t hide his tracks well, but eventually, things always come to light, and if he found them, there is probably someone else like him working for the enemy side that can find them too.”
Aurelio sobers and reluctantly nods. “Which is why we need to find them first.”
On that we can agree. “I don’t think we want more people searching, because that is sure to tip someone off,” I say, looking at Aurelio, and then back to Pietro. “I propose we let your man find her and the others and then decide what to do. Once we know where they are, we’re going to need to move quickly and carefully or things are going to go to shit fast.”
Pietro nods his agreement. “Aurelio, keep Signore Armani and I both appraised of the progress on finding them.”
