Page 66 of Little Rabbit

I take in Nico’s murderous expression, but also note he rubs her back soothingly despite it. He’s furious about the whore comments, and rightfully so. Probably a good thing I didn’t meet this Carmen bitch, because I’d have killed her myself.

“Was there any indication that Carmen was dealing with Marco?” Dante asks her. “Your step-mother had some balls, going against your father with his own son.”

“Honestly, Carmen always struck me as the kind of woman who wanted to be on top, and if she thought Marco, or even Giovanni, was the way to do that, then she would try to get with them. Or, maybe she got bored with my father. I know he still had mistresses, and I’m pretty sure she had her own affairs, too. I always found it funny she didn’t really try to hide that, even from my father. I brushed it off as it being just a weird relationship thing, and was just glad neither of them was focused on me.”

“So you think her and Marco might have been having an affair?” I can’t help asking.

Gia looks over at me. “I mean, I don’t want to say that, but Marco clearly wants to stick it to my father, and what better way than by screwing his wife?”

“Do you think your father knew?” Alessio asks.

“There isn’t much that my father doesn’t know,” Gia admits. “So it’s possible. But considering he only married her out of obligation, in exchange for connection, he might not have cared. After all, if she was busy with my brother, she wasn’t poking her nose into his business.”

“Or she was using the affair to pump your brother for information,” Alessio suggests. “Marco’s an arrogant prick, and would probably blab it all out on his own.”

“Fuck, the De Lucas are a mess,” Dante huffs, exasperated. “Now we have to wait and see if the Valentino’s are going to retaliate against us for Carmen’s death.”

“Wouldn’t they go after Leonardo or Marco?” I question, confused.

“She was killed here, and Leonardo isn’t going to take the fall for this,” Dante explains. “Which means he’s going to send them our way.”

“We’ll keep our ears to the ground here,” Pietro insists grimly. “And we can probably get ahead of that before it gets to that point. Aldo might be a bastard, but he’s a reasonable one when it comes to knowing he cannot best us. Leave that to me.”

“Alright, then we leave that part alone. For now, we need to prepare for what’s coming our way, and also figure out how deep this collusion with Carmen has gone. Because if she went to Marco, I wouldn’t be surprised if she also was dealing with Giovanni in some way,” Nico muses. “Dante, get our men on that right away. I want to know every possible connection.”

“Done,” Dante says, pulling out his phone.

Nico turns back to look at Gia. “Topolina, is there anything else you can remember from when you were living at home that might be helpful?”

Gia is silent again as she thinks. Finally, she replies, “Honestly, there is so much I heard that I don’t know if it’s important or not. I know where the warehouses are, and the secret stash houses, but I don’t know if any of that is useful. I mean, the other stuff I heard was day to day operations, and I’m sure there were lots of things said in my father’s office I didn’t hear. I rarely ventured deep enough into the passageways to get that far, because I always figured that he would have some kind of triggering system in there, and I didn’t want him to know that I had access to them.”

“Wait, so he doesn’t know that you can access them?” Dante questions.

She shakes her head. “I discovered one in my room when I was ten, and it was only after Matteo and Dario went back through it after beating me. They thought I was out of it, but I watched as they pulled on a wall sconce and the door opened. Once I was healed, I pulled it and went exploring. It took me about five years total, but by the time I was fifteen, I knew where every exit was, and what was used to open it. The only people who used the passageways were my father, brothers, and Giovanni. I’ve never seen my cousins in there, but I’m sure they know about them too.”

“Do you think you could draw it out for us?” Dante asks. Nico gives a sound of warning, but Dante ignores him. “Normally, I wouldn’t want to involve you in this any further, but this could be something we need if we have to go against Leonardo. He’s going to use those passages to escape, and if we know where he might be going, we can stop him or anyone else with him before he does.”

“I’ll do it,” Gia offers. “I mean, you’re right, and honestly that will be the first place he goes. They’re double enforced steel inside, so you won’t hear him, and you won’t be able to break into them through the walls.”

“Thank you, topolina,” Nico murmurs, kissing her temple.

It occurs to me that, until now, I’ve only seen angry and passionate Nico when he’s with Gia. This is a whole other side to him, and any reservations I had about him melt away. He might be a Don, but he clearly loves his wife. I wonder if Alessio and I could ever get to that point?

I push those thoughts aside as Gia moves off of Nico’s lap and over to Dante’s desk, grabbing a pad of paper and a pen from Dante’s desk. She silently gets to work, and a thought occurs to me. I look up at Alessio and ask, “How did you all find out about me? I mean, that’s not just something someone possibly stumbles on, is it?”

“Aurelio’s contact found you,” Alessio explains.

“But how did he find me?” I press. “I mean, he didn’t decide that the De Lucas were hiding something, right?”

“He was already looking into Gia, so he kept on looking to see what other secrets the De Lucas were hiding I suppose,” Alessio shrugs. “See, until Gia was offered up in a marriage contracts, no one knew there was a De Luca daughter, because they hid her away. Aurelio’s contact doesn’t tell Aurelio or us about how he finds information, but he’s one of the best in the world and has been able to find information on people that they thought they buried.”

That does make sense. “But then, how did the De Lucas find out, if this was so hidden?” I feel like we’re missing something to this, but can’t put my finger on it.

“Your name was flagged on a search out of New York after we got back to Sicily,” Alessio explains, but I can see his mind working as well. “We never did narrow down who that was, though.” He steps forward. “Papa, is Aurelio with you?”

“No, but he’s on his way,” Pietro replies, but then turns and smiles. “Ah, he has excellent timing because he’s here now.”

Aurelio steps behind Pietro, and Alessio asks, “Aurelio, did your contact ever say who it was that flagged Sienna’s name? Do we know which family member found her? And how?”

---