Page 30 of Little Rabbit

“Don’t underestimate Giovanni,” Nico cautions. “He’s been fucking his brother over for years and has never been stopped yet. He’s just being more open about it now that he has no other choice. I have a feeling his sons are helping him, because that is Giovanni’s only ace in the hole.”

“Leonardo dismissed them and never so much as gave them another thought,” Dante agrees. “But that also gave them the free rein to develop their own skills and intel. There was a rumor for a while that one of the sons was a damn good hacker; that he managed to take money from another Don and do it without a trace.”

“Probably Orlando or Marcello,” Nico nods. “Both of those fuckers are quiet and methodical. Lorenzo is much like his father and thinks he’s going to run the whole thing one day and lets his ego get involved. Emilio is too young and overzealous.”

“Which is probably how that information circulated in the first place,” Dante agrees. “If memory serves, Orlando and Emilio were always at odds because Emilio can’t keep his mouth shut to save his life. It’ll get his ass killed before long, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Orlando is the one to pull the trigger.”

“How can one family be so fucked up and so fractured?” I can’t help but wonder aloud. “All it’s done is make it easier for all the other Dons in the area to swoop in and take over while they’re all fighting. That’s how you lose everything you’ve built.”

“And that’s exactly what Marco is counting on,” Dante agrees. “I’ve been thinking of what he has to gain from all of this. He wants to be powerful, right? He’s aligning himself with the Irish bitch, and he’s had years to study the fighting between his father and uncle. He wants Sienna and Gia to further his plan, but I don’t think that’s going to be the end. He wants it all, and that means he’s going to try and eliminate everyone that stands in his way. First he’ll let his father and uncle battle their shit out while trying to stay out of the crosshairs, while also working in the background at either securing an alliance with Gallo or working to take him out completely. Then, when Leonardo and Giovanni are out of the way, he’ll start on the Russians and leave us until the end.”

“One would think that he would want to go after his biggest foe first and make the rest easy pickings,” Papa remarks thoughtfully.

“Marco is impulsive, but he’s not stupid,” Nico answers. “He also knows that he will never be able to best me with the few men he has now. Gallo has been trying to encroach on my territory for years, and Marco would know that. If he can align himself with Gallo, he’ll have the men to at least attempt it.”

“Fucking hell, you Americans love to start complicated wars,” Aurelio gripes. “Whatever happened to the days where you just went in shooting and prayed you came out alive? All this backstabbing and alliances to maybe make some small advances is a waste of time and brain power.”

“Clearly the De Lucas don’t have much of either,” Zeno jokes.

“Leonardo is the only one that really concerns me,” Nico says casually. “And I use that term loosely. Leonardo is cool headed and methodical, and he was trained for his position for years until he finally killed his father to take over. It hasn’t escaped me it was Dario that got to you and Sienna and not the others, which means he’s figured out a way to get ahead of them. He’s got more connections than Giovanni and Marco. Giovanni is looking at power, and Marco is looking at the short-term to get there as well, while Leonardo knows the benefit of the long game, and knows how to play it.”

“So you think that if anyone is going to come here and attack it’s going to be Leonardo?” I ask.

“That would be my guess,” Nico nods.

“I don’t think we should discount Parisi just yet,” Urso warns, leaning forward. “Parisi is going to find out Sienna is with us, as is Gia, and considering how close his men are to us, one phone call will have them on our doorstep. He doesn’t need to be here for that. And while the De Lucas have connections here, they’re not as close as Parisi.”

“You don’t think Marco has made any connections over here?” Aurelio asks Nico and Dante.

“Marco is focused on New York, and after double-crossing you all, I would imagine he thinks trying to get involved over here is going to cause more problems,” Dante answers. “Personally, if I was him, I would be seeing if there are any other secret De Luca women out there and trying to get my hands on them before his father or uncle, leaving them to fight it out over here for Gia and Sienna.”

“How is the search for the other two women going?” Papa asks Aurelio.

“My guy is closing in and thinks we have found one of them,” Aurelio answers. “Though it’s difficult because it looks like one of the children was left at a fire station as an infant and put into foster care. The only way he’s been able to find anything is because she did a DNA test when she was eighteen for a high school project. She’s Italian, but there are no current pictures of her online.”

“Do you think she’s a daughter of Leonardo or Giovanni?” Nico asks, leaning forward.

“Timing would suggest she was born around the same time as Sienna; that would make her Giovanni’s,” Aurelio answers after looking at his phone.

“You have a name?” Lazaro asks.

“Amara Smith,” Aurelio answers. “But my guy found some paperwork that indicates she might have changed her name recently. I’m waiting on him to get back to me on that.”

“How recently?” I ask curiously.

“Six months ago. I don’t think it has anything to do with this. But the information we were able to find is that she was never adopted out and she lived in foster homes her entire childhood.” He looks around grimly. “There are reports she was sexually assaulted in some of them. Medical records show a rape kit was done when she was sixteen, and she was removed from her foster home that night and put into a group home for teenage girls.”

Anger burns inside me at the thought of what she’s suffered, but if she is a long-lost De Luca daughter, we’ll make sure she’s safe from any further pain. “If she is, then we’re going to have a hell of a time convincing her to trust us,” I say grimly.

“Let’s focus on confirming where she is and if she is a De Luca,” Papa orders. “Then we’ll figure out what to do. Right now, we need to make a battle plan.”

“Fucking finally,” Massimo cheers. “I was worried I wasn’t going to have a good fight out of all of this. That shit in New York was just a teaser.”

I chuckle. Fuck, it’s good to be home. Now to get Sienna to realize it too.

17

SIENNA

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