Page 9 of Quiet Confessions: Part Two

Maybe his luck is running out. Tackling the boxes is dusty, thankless work, but I don’t care. Hours later, I’m sneezing, but I think I found something.

“Kian,” I call out around my sneezes.

“Damn, is the dust getting to you?” he asks with a small chuckle.

Rubbing my nose, I grumble, “I’m kind of allergic to it. It doesn’t matter. This paperwork is talking about a real estate investment outside of town, but there’s nothing out there,” I tell him.

Pulling the paperwork from me, he looks it over. “Are there any more of these?” he asks.

“I found a deed too, but didn’t think anything of it,” Nate says. “Here. Shit, I should have mentioned it.”

“No, you noticed now, so it’s fine.” Kian acknowledges, taking the deed. “Now to figure out why he was buying these. It may help us figure out what Philippe learned that led to his murder.”

“Fuck, what the hell is your family into?” I mutter.

“Your family too,” Kian says, wincing. “Everything that your dad has been teaching you about the company… Ever notice how many shady characters he works with?”

“What am I missing?” Nate asks. “I know that I was gone for school, but how was I so blind?”

“I kind of wanted you to have a normal life,” I tell him. “Dad’s an abusive bastard, and I didn’t want you to have to deal with it, so I made sure you went away to school. Honestly, I didn’t really want you to come home, but I didn’t realize you were still talking to Pay.”

“I’ve always been drawn to her. She’s always been ours, even when you told me I couldn’t talk to her anymore after her dad died. I didn’t realize her family was involved in—”

“The Mafia, Nate. Richard runs illegal contraband for the Mafia, and he’s been having me do some of his errands,” Kian says. “There’s a lot I don’t know, but I need to fully immerse myself now so we can find Rooke and Pay. Her grandfather swears that it wasn’t him, so the only thing I can think of is—"

“Dad?” Nate asks softly.

“Possibly,” I sigh. “He needs me to marry Pay, so it would be stupid of him to abduct her. There’s just too many variables.”

“Is that why you need to get close to him to see if he lets you see more of the business?” Nate asks, and I nod.

“I know you think I’ve been sitting with my thumb up my ass,” Kian begins. Damn, I feel shitty that he thinks that. “I haven’t been though. I called in a favor to the Locked Souls Society. I did some undercover work for them, but I never thought I’d have to call them. They’re going to help us find Patience. There’s just a lot of moving pieces we need to be careful of. Richard is a very dangerous man, and I’ve been doing things his way to protect his granddaughter. With her gone, the gloves are off.”

“What kind of illegal Mafia activities are we talking about?” Nate asks. I’ll do anything to get Pay and Rooke back, but I understand his curiosity. I wish I had better answers than I do.

Looking dejected, I shake my head. “Dad doesn’t let me in enough to put everything together. I get glimpses, shady deals, but it all gives me a really bad feeling, Nate.”

Kian snorts, surprising me. “What, you didn’t know you two were Mafia princes? What a legacy. Richard runs guns and drugs for the Mafia, but I haven’t been able to get a feel for what Nixen does. They’re definitely different families of the Mafia, and merging the two when Cal and Patience get married would make them unstoppable,” Ki says. “Now that Pay is gone, the game has changed, and I’m uncertain of the new rules, so we need to be careful.”

As if things weren’t weird enough, now we’re some kind of fucked up royalty.

NATE

As I continue to listen to Kian, my stomach lurches. I knew my dad wasn’t a good man; it’s why Cal has been telling me to stay away from Patience for years. I just didn’t realize what it all meant.

It’s like being inside a movie that I can’t get out of. I desperately want to hit the pause button, and maybe rewind this shit. Except I can’t. Patience is caught up in the midst of all of this, and she’s missing.

“Fuck,” I breathe, looking around me in a whole new way. There’s this fountain of possible evidence around us, and no one has thought to look down here.

“Nate, I’m sorry I kept so much from you,” Cal says, his eyes filled with guilt. I know he doesn’t like to lie to me, but I know he’d do it all again.

I’ve been so damn naïve about my life. I’ve never thought to ask how we were able to afford our lives, or school, or the fancy cars. Mafia princes, indeed.

“Kidnapping, Mafia, murder… What's next, prostitution? Trafficking?!” I yell, throwing something at the wall. I’m so damn pissed off right now… mostly at myself. There’s so much that I’ve simply taken for granted.

“Maybe?” Kian says weakly. “No one can find Patience, and Richard said he’s reached out to everyone he can think of. The man still doesn’t sound too worried, but that doesn’t mean shit. I refuse to play poker with him because he’s either emotionless or furious.”

“There’s got to be another reason, right? Human trafficking, fuck. How will we find Rooke and Pay?” I’ve been really level headed up until now. I had to be to make sure that Cal didn’t go off half-cocked. That was before, though. Pre-Mafia, before I realized how much of my life is a lie.

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