Page 70 of Unspoken Obsession

"Dani is still missing. But just recently I learned that one of the mafia bosses in the city is involved in trafficking women."

Frankie gasps, her eyes wide with horror. "Do you think your sister?" She can't say it.

"I think they took my sister to get to me. Frankie, the man I am talking about — it's your father. Antonio Musetti." Even if she hates him, I have just destroyed the humanity she saw in her father.

Frankie stares at me, dumbfounded for a moment. She takes a shaky breath and then pushes herself up into a sitting position, folding her legs in front of her beautiful naked body.

"Dante, I am so sorry - your sister - I can't imagine how that must hurt."

She sighs, closing her eyes for a moment. "I did not know my father was involved in anything that disgusting. I thought- smuggling narcotics or illegal goods. I've heard him and his men discussing difficult shipments, but I always assumed it was stuff… who ships humans?" She swallows hard, making a face as though a bitter taste has just filled her mouth.

"There is more though. I have something I need to show you."

"When?"

"Soon."

I am going to take her down to cold storage and look at her reaction to the man I have chained up there. It's the only way I can be sure she isn't involved. People can't hide their reactions to scenes like that. I will be able to read her body language and her expression.

I reach out and pull her towards me, hugging her against my chest.

"Frankie, I plan to go after your father. I have to find out what happened to my sister."

"After all these years — do you think she's still—" Alive, she doesn't finish the sentence. We both know what the odds are.

"I don't want to think about the worst-case scenario because every time I do, I can't decide whether it would be better to find out she died, or that she has been suffering for years at the hands of some madman."

"If your sister is anything like you, then she is strong." No one is that strong, we all have a breaking point.

"She is strong, but will she be the same person when I find her? And will she ever be able to recover from what she is going through?" My voice shakes. Anger and fear grip my heart thinking about Dani and what her life might be like now.

I want, more than anything, to find her alive and well.

I just don't want her to have suffered for this long.

We lie in silence for a while. Frankie is tense in my arms. Her fingers are tracing small circles against my chest, but her thoughts seem to be elsewhere.

When she shifts against me, I think she is going to tell me she needs to leave, but she wiggles up onto my chest, looks me in the eyes, and makes a promise to me.

"Dante, I don't know if there is anything I can do to help - but if there is I will do it. Whatever it is. I want to help you find out if my father took your sister."

"Frankie, I don't think it is safe for you to get involved with this. You are already worried about what your father could do to your son - and your priority, understandably, is to keep him safe." He is unstable and would take the boy to control her.

She nods. "Yes, but some things are bigger than just me and my son. If my father is trafficking women - then how many lives has he stolen? He has to be stopped."

Frankie and I talk a while longer. I watch the clock and at ten I tell her it's time to go. I have to show her something before she leaves the casino.

Reluctantly we climb out of bed. I'm tense because I am about to find out if she is playing me or being truthful. Is she working for her father? A trap set to infiltrate my life and take me down? I can't deny it is possible.

She is nervous as we climb into the industrial elevator that carries us beneath the glitz of Vegas into the pits of my underworld empire.

"What is this place?" She whispers, not wanting to draw attention to herself.

"Just follow me," I say coldly. I have to stay impartial right now. I need to be observant and watchful of her reaction. If she is his pawn, I will not be going back up with her tonight and that terrifies me.

FRANKIE

Ifollow Dante through a cold stone passage, rigged with a steel framework supporting the tunnels that spread out in all directions. We walk through a large cave-like hall, filled with people packing crates onto industrial trollies.

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