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“Care to elaborate?” I ask.
“Dante and Uncle Ricky found some...things on her. We weren’t sure at first, but if what you’re saying is true, then the pieces just fell into place.”
“What the hell is going on?” Enzo piped up.
We hadn’t told him the full extent of our assumptions on what went on at our shipping docks. I catch him up to speed about the attacks, our suspicion of the Violantes, and Natalie’s mysterious appearance.
“Shit,” Enzo says. He takes a drink. “So, why is she on this jet with us? It sounds like she’s the one they wanted. Are we protecting her now?”
“I’m not sure. We have more questions than answers. Need to make sure she’s not a threat,” I say.
Enzo looks at me curiously. “So, you bring her on the plane with us?”
“Uncle Ricky. Dante. Tell us what you found,” Bash ordered, ignoring Enzo, in capo mode.
“We think she’s Triad,” Uncle Ricky answered.
“I figured that much out,” I respond, rolling my eyes.
“Well, she is, but she also isn’t,” Dante replies cryptically.
“Okay, this isn’t confusing at all. So, why aretheytrying to killher? Aren’t they on her side?” I ask.
“I think I know the answer to that. I wasn’t sure, but what you said about what went down tonight pretty much confirmed it,” Dante replied.
“Go on...”
My patience is running thin.
“Did you know that Cesare Violante had a second wife?” Dante asks.
“No,” Enzo and I say simultaneously.
Uncle Ricky chimes in. “They kept it hush-hush because it wasn’t too long after his first wife died. Also, his second wife’s husband had just passed, too.”
“Jesus, guys, just spit it out,” Bash orders. He’s been less patient than me.
“Cesare’s second wife was Nina Liu. The late Peter Liu’s wife,” Dante states.
My body stills. We all do. You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. I look up from my glass, making direct eye contact with Dante, then Bash, then Uncle Ricky, and Enzo. All of us going back and forth. Peter Liu was one of the most dangerous, notorious, and infamous leaders the Triad had ever seen. A sick motherfucker. He wasthedragon head. The underworld knew him asThe Mad Dragon.It shocked everyone when he was murdered. He was found dead in his office. The killer was never caught, and he didn’t have a shortage of enemies.
When none of us respond, Uncle Ricky continues. “When Peter died, Nina’s brother ensued on a hostile takeover and assumed the role as dragon head of the Triad. Nina and Peter had a little girl, Anya Liu, making Anya Cesare’s step-daughter. After Nina died of illness, Andrew ordered a hit, and Anya Liu was reported to have been murdered at six years old. Cover-up was a car accident.”
“Okay, a child? That’s sick. But, so what?” Enzo asks.
“Okay,so...”Uncle Ricky answers, annoyed that we haven’t already connected the dots with story time. “That little girl would be twenty-five years old today. Don’t you think it’s a little weird that Dominic Violante has this nonsexual attachment tothat,” he says, pointing to the back room, “twenty-five year old woman?”
“And she just happens to be the same girl that the Triad is suddenly hunting,” Dante finishes.
Fuck me.She couldn’t be.Anya Liu?The dead Triad princess.We were all quiet for a moment. Thinking about what we had just learned, I finish my drink and pour another one before speaking up.
“That doesn’t make any sense. We saw her file. She’s not adopted. There’s a record of her mother giving birth to her,” I argue.
Dante’s face lit up like a little kid on Christmas. “I’m so glad you brought that up. It’s not a coincidence,” he says as he pours himself another drink.
“Nineteen years ago, the Yang family received a large sum of money. I’m talkin’ money you’d kill for. They then moved from Brooklyn to Manhattan—” Dante says.
“Dante was able to access some encrypted files. Turns out, the couple did have a little girl named Natalie. But she died at—you guessed it—the age of six from cancer. Her treatment and death were wiped from the system, and somehow, the little girl is stilltechnicallyalive,” Uncle Ricky says.
