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Gianluca shakes his head. "See for yourself."
After flipping his computer screen around, Gianluca taps the picture on the display. I take a deep breath and try to stay calm.
There's a very young boy on the screen who doesn't look over twelve years old. He has bright, blue eyes, a tuft of blond hair, and a pointy nose.
He holds a caterpillar stuffy in his left hand and he stares at the camera shyly, as if he'd rather be anywhere but there. His T-shirt readsBirthday Boy!and behind him, a giant cake with twelve candles rests on a table.
I read the caption.
Twelve-year-old Wesley Bettencourt was taken from his home late Saturday afternoon. He was celebrating his birthday and disappeared at 4 PM. Police have issued an amber alert. If you see him, contact the authorities.
I take a sip of my coffee. "Holy fuck. He looks identical to our John Doe.”
Gianluca nods. "You can say that again."
Constantine furrows his brow. "Who's the Bettencourt boy?"
Gianluca turns to Constantine. "You really don't know?"
Constantine shakes his head. "I was in Italy when he disappeared. I saw it on the news but I didn't pay attention."
"The Bettencourt boy's disappearance was enormous." I give my brother the rundown. "He was everywhere in the media and it received national coverage."
Gianluca nods in agreement. "CNN interviewed the family and begged people with knowledge of his disappearance to come forward. The Bettencourts offered a one hundred-thousand-dollar reward."
The Bettencourts were a rich, well-to-do family in upstate New York. They had three children in total and the older two siblings both attended Ivy League schools. Wesley was the youngest and he was on track to do as well as his brothers. He was already making incredible grades and was a star on his private school's tennis team.
Gianluca pours himself a fresh cup of coffee. "The disappearance shocked everyone. Fox News and MSNBC also interviewed the parents and got exclusives with the older siblings. It was the only time the news media wasn't champing at the bit to attack each other and worked in tandem to look for this boy."
"This is huge." Constantine nods at the screen. "His parents will be ecstatic we found him."
I stare at my brother in disbelief. "Are you fucking kidding me? They've been missing their son for eight years."
A wave of something I can't quite place washes over me. I glance at the screen to double-check the date of Wesley’s disappearance. Eight years ago. That makes him twenty now.
I put myself in Wesley's parents’ shoes. If I had a son who vicious human traffickers abducted eight years ago, I wouldn't know how to react. I'd oscillate between fury and gratitude that my son was back with me.
The thought of my son servicing nameless clients would give me many sleepless nights. Is it even possible to achieve any semblance of a normal life after discovering that? It's the most horrific thing in the world, and I’d probably turn into Liam Neeson fromTakento find justice. Even without my mob background, I wouldn't let those motherfuckers get away with it.
"They've already come to terms with the fact he's likely dead." My voice is tense. "This opens fresh wounds."
"And?" Constantine doesn't mince words.
"Now they'll discover a sick gang of human traffickers pimped him out to the highest bidder for nearly a decade. I couldn't fucking live with myself if I were his parents."
Gianluca exhales a breath. "We must tell the authorities. This is too big for us."
Constantine and I share a glance because we're both thinking the same thing.
Constantine grits his teeth. "If this boy is really as famous—or infamous—as the media says, we can't trust anyone."
Gianluca clenches his fist. "We must at least let his family know."
"No way in hell." I pick up Gianluca’s Pelikan pen and grip it sternly. "They'll alert the media. Or call the news stations that interviewed them eight years ago to give a happy update."
"We must keep this from them so we can proceed with our plan to infiltrate the Diavolos’ warehouse,” Constantine says. "We need to delay telling his family for at least a few weeks."
Gianluca shakes his head in disgust. "That's too long. If someone found Rusty and didn't alert me for close to a month, I'd be furious. I'd throw every legal resource I had at them and probably take matters into my own hands."
