Page 9 of Hush 3: Hidden Family

“By who?” I bellow as rage fills me.

Don Trovati is like family to me. He opened his home to me during a time when I was so angry and confused. I never met the woman he called a daughter, but if she was important to him, she’s family to me.

That makes the girl equally as important. Seeing her beaten the way she was has fueled me. However, hearing that someone ordered this causes me to see red.

Don Trovati is being targeted. That’s the only explanation for all of this. Someone has a death wish.

“It was?—”

I turn sharply as a window shatters. Swiftly, I move out of the open and draw my gun. When I look back to Christoph, where I have him chained up, his head is slumped with a hole through his skull that I didn’t place there.

I swear and grind my teeth. Clearly, this is over. I need to get back to Michael and the girl.

Making sure the coast is clear, I then grab my torture devices and begin to douse the place in lighter fuel. I torch the place with the vehicle I brought here inside.

My mind is racing with a million thoughts. Don Trovati has a bigger problem going on here. My question now is, does he already know this?

What haven’t I been told? Who wanted to silence Christoph and what didn’t they want me to find out? I need answers and I want them now.

However, getting to Michael and the girl is my first priority. I need to get them both back to London safely. Then, I’ll figure the rest out.

CHAPTER 6

Safe

Michael

I knew from my research on this assignment that Don Trovati’s granddaughter has special needs. However, I don’t know what I was expecting. Given the trauma she’s been through today, I can’t say I’m surprised that she’s behaving this way.

I’m a stranger, she’s in a strange place, and that asshole tried to violate her. Since waking up, she has bitten me, hissed at me, and kicked me in the balls. I’ve given up on trying to get too close.

Instead, I’m sitting on the floor a few feet from where she has planted herself as she rocks and hums while alternating between crossing her fingers and pressing the tips together. I remain still as I hold an ice pack in my hand with a sandwich and bottle of juice sitting at my side.

Suddenly, she quiets and tilts her head to the side and begins to study me. Her left eye is swollen and there’s a knot on the sideof her head. I want to be the one who finishes that bastard off, but I know Uri will take care of him.

“My name is Michael. You are safe here with me. We’re going to take you to your nonno. He is waiting for you,” I say gently.

“Nonno? In Italy?” she whispers through her busted lips.

“No, he’s waiting for us in London.”

“With Mommy? Did she go to see Nonno?”

I swallow hard. I don’t want to be the one who tells her what happened to her mother. This is all hard enough.

“She’s gone. You can say it. My mommy isn’t coming back.

“The bad man did something to her. I hate him. He always made Mommy cry and he called me names.

“I am not a retard. I’m just a little different from the other kids. I like different stuff from the kids at school,” she says into her lap, not lifting her gaze to me.

Though her speech comes off robotic, there is a deep intelligence to the way she speaks. Almost as if she’s put this all together and accepted her loss already, and still, there is an innocence to her at the same time.

“Are you hungry, Symphony?”

“Yes, I would like something to eat, but I don’t know if I can trust anything you give me. You might try to poison me.”

Finally, she lifts her gaze and blinks at me. Her one good eye stands out. It’s large and bright, and her lashes are extremely long. I cleaned her face and placed one of my dress shirts on her when we first arrived before she woke. She looks so small as it swallows her while she sits there.

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