Page 74 of Bianchi

Cazzo!

I exhale and crack my neck, forcing the tension out of my body. There’s still work to be done. We need to find out who doctored the information Aldo gave us and find the woman who tortured Aurora.

Daniele is typing on his phone, as he waits for me, his head lifts at the sound. And I still have to deal with him. When I turn toward the stairs, he falls into step beside me. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see the concern etched into his features. “How is she?” he asks quietly.

I sigh heavily, running a hand over the back of my neck. The lack of sleep from the night before weighs down my limbs as I push through, forcing my body to move. “In pain, angry, exhausted, the list goes on. But she’s healing, and that’s the main thing.”

Daniele stops, resting a hand on my shoulder and forcing me to turn to him. “And how are you?”

Isn’t that the million dollar question? Being honest with myself, I’m feeling all the things she is, but for an entirely different reason. “I’m fine,” is all I can tell him.

Daniele’s grip tightens. “Right, and I’m the tooth fairy. I thought we could be honest with each other, Rome.”

I shrug him off, the anger I felt only days ago returning with full force. “You mean like how you went behind my back after I explicitly told you not to?”

“And I wouldn’t change a thing because if I hadn’t, she’d be fucking dead.” Arrogance and defiance mix together.

Grabbing the collar of his shirt, I pull my fist back, connecting with his jaw. “Don’t forget who the fuck you’re talking to, Daniele,” I spit. “I’m still not sure if you’ll be digging your own grave in the States or back home.”

Releasing him, I turn and head to Massimo’s office, done with him and his clear lack of respect. I know deep down that he’s right and that the anger I’m directing toward him is just a projection of how I feel about myself for having nearly cost her her life. This burning feeling of guilt won’t ever go away. Even when she’s better and living her life, I’ll always have that seed in the pit of my stomach. I don’t think a lifetime of apologies will make up for me having left her.

Changing the past isn’t possible, but making sure we have a future is and to do that, I need to sort out everything else. There’s too much to be done, like confirming it was Aurora’s uncle behind the attacks. We’d be fools to take the situation at face value, especially in our world. It wouldn’t surprise me if there was more than one character at play.

Daniele walks into Massimo’s office shortly after me. He rubs at the red spot where I hit him, asking, “Is Leonardo joining us?”

Massimo, who is already sitting behind his desk, shakes his head, his attention on his phone. After a minute, he slides it onto the table and leans back in his chair. “No, he’s gone back upstate to take care of the housekeeper.”

My brows furrow and I look at Massimo in question. “Apparently, he didn’t get to finish up because of the raid. He’ll be back in a week or so,” he explains.

The room falls quiet, a heaviness hanging in the air as the gravity of what has happened over the last twenty-four hours blankets us. We were lucky to not have lost any men yesterday, but we aren’t really any closer to a resolution.

Scrubbing a hand over my jaw, I ask, “Has Angelo finished at the warehouse?”

Massimo cracks his neck, stifling a yawn. “Yeah, they came in around four in the morning. I did a debrief and he let me know what her uncle had told him when they were tying him up.” As if he knows I need confirmation he adds, “Leonardo has verified what was said.”

I lean forward, my curiosity piqued. “What did her uncle say, Massimo?”

He sucks in a sharp breath. “That I have a rat in my house.”

I reply, “Well, I already knew that.”

Resting an elbow on the arm of his chair, he runs his fingers through his hair. “I know. And Leonardo is taking care of that, but if what Mattia said is true, there might be another one. Someone who has been a part of this family for a very long time. So, for now at least, everything stays between the three of us and Leonardo.”

I nod in agreement, running through the names of every man who might have an inkling to do something like this.

“He also told Angelo that Elio was financing the whole operation, because he wanted us out of New York. Which is nothing new really. We’ve been dealing with his shit for years. Apparently, he set up the connections to some Russians he knew, and they weren’t Bratva, just men who wanted to have some excitement in their lives.”

I huff out a breath. “What’s the plan in terms of next steps?”

“Well, for the rat, we’ll have to set a trap, but it could take some time to weed them out. For Elio, I have a source that’s told me he’s going to be at his house in Manhattan on Friday. We could attack then. The only risk will be the NYPD and getting out of the city once alarms have been raised. I can have them delayed, but it won’t be for long.”

I smooth my hand down the front of my shirt. “And what about the woman?”

Daniele steps forward, knocking his knuckles against the desk. “I’m on it. She won’t be able to hide forever. Callum is analyzing the footage and running what we know about her through every database he can. When Aurora’s up for it, we’ll need to talk to her and see if she can shed any more light on her.”

As much as I don’t want to make Aurora relive her trauma, we need her to find this woman. And what if she refuses to help? Then I’ll do what I should have done all along, trust that she’s doing the right thing, and protect her with my entire being.

Chewing on the inside of my cheek, I consider everything else that’s been laid out on the table. These aren’t things that can be fixed quickly. It’s going to take time. And what will that mean for me and Aurora? If she wants to leave, I’ll have to let her go. But I won’t be sticking around. I’d rather put four and half thousand or so miles between us than occupy the same country and not be able to have her.

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