Page 89 of Dark Truths

“Go on,” Dante orders in my direction.

“As I was saying,” I continue, purposely tossing Michael a sarcastic smirk that has Gabriella hissing, “Stop,” in my ear. “They know only that and what I’ve been able to give them about the Bratva’s business dealings with the other two families. As far as the FBI knows, the DiAngelos and O’Learys are dirty, but are very good about cleaning up their tracks.”

“I will take that as a compliment,” Enzo voices proudly, peering around the room with a beaming smile.

I figured it had to be Enzo or someone skilled like him responsible for stonewalling me every time I tried to get evidence enough for the agency. It was a simpler time back when “books” were actually paper ledgers and easy enough to be stolen. That’s not the case now with advanced technology today. It’s hard to stay one step ahead without having to break through some bureaucratic red tape rules.

“And the human trafficking?” Raphael asks, his focus latching on to the topic most close to him. “Do they know about Xiao?”

“They do and they also know that there is someone higher than him making the orders.”

“Do they have any idea who?”

From what Gabriella told me, Lily was sold to the Triads at a human auction, where she caught the eye of Xiao working in his sex dungeons that make thePlaygroundlook like kid bounce houses. For years after that, Lily was nothing more than his sex slave, who eventually had Xiao's daughter. Last month, the DiAngelos raided Xiao’s home, intending to kill the man but found Lily and her daughter, Mei. He offered them a chance at freedom in exchange for her help to lure Xiao out. It worked in the end, I’ll give them that, but it would have been nice to bring Xiao in and flip him on his boss. Instead, his body rots on the bottom of the ocean floor, useless and without purpose, leaving me once again clueless to the identity of the one really behind the auctions.

“I have my suspicions, but nothing concrete.”

“Care to share with the class?” Michael asks with dripping sarcasm.

Ignoring him, I turn my attention to Dante. “Last year, you came to Sergei when it was revealed that Michael was not sterileand accused him of being behind the lie. He told you he had nothing to do with it."

"That's right."

"He lied.”

Dante’s brows narrow. “How do you know this?”

“Because he told me the night of Gabriella’s accident,” I reveal, needing to gain their trust and share in my suspicions. “I went to him after visiting Gabriella in the hospital and tried to suggest I marry Gabriella instead of Sophia. That’s when he told me he wanted nothing to do with your family and that he was behind the fertility lie.”

“That mother fucking bastard!” Michael hollers as he shoots to his feet and kicks the rest of the coffee table into pieces. Debris flies everywhere, some of which lands on Gabriella and I’s laps. “He lied to my face! He made me think I couldn’t have kids! He nearly destroyed my life!”

“Michael, calm down,” Raphael urges his brother, slowly rising to his feet like he’s about to approach a feral animal. “Think about it. Yes, he lied and we’ll deal with it, but you never would have met Rose if he hadn’t.”

Speak of the devil. Rose rushes in, her eyes wide and her mouth dropping open when she takes in the room’s sight. “What the hell is going on in here?”

Michael spins around, his anger slightly diffusing when he sees Liam in her arms. “Sergei was the one who bribed the fertility doctor to lie.”

“Are you serious?”

“He told Dimitri the night of Gabriella’s accident.”

Rose raises both brows at the news. “Wow. That’s…but why?”

“I don’t fucking know,” Michael growls, his anger rising again.

“Calm down,” Raphael suggests to his brother.

“Yes,” Rose says, her tone as sharp as the steel straightening her back. “Calm down, Michael.”

Hearing her tone, Michael stops abruptly and looks at her with regret and sorrow. “I’m sorry,mi rosa. I’m just so angry about it all.”

Rose sighs at the sound of her nickname and the tension in her spine slips away as she steps forward. She cups his face with a hand, and he melts into her touch, his eyes closing briefly. “And I’m angry for you, but I’m also thankful. Without him, we wouldn’t be here right now, and we wouldn’t have Liam,” she repeats Raphael’s words and this time they break through the red cloud of lingering anger.

“You’re right,” Michael concedes, “but he will still answer for it.”

“Of course he will,” Rose assures him and joins him back on the couch this time with Liam nestled between them.

As much as the eldest DiAngelo annoys me, he did make a cute baby, which is promising for Gabriella and I’s twins.

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