“Does Morrelli know anything?” asked Cassio.
“No, he doesn’t have any useful information,” Alexei answered.
“But why the Russians?” Uncle asked. “DiLustro never had an issue with them before.”
“Who the fuck knows?” Cassio muttered. “Maybe he decided he hates them all of a sudden and wants to cause havoc. We know his papà is all about havoc.”
They all lowered their voices, and I could no longer hear what they were saying.
I flicked a glance their way and caught Alexei’s eyes on me.
Quickly averting my eyes, I felt my cheeks burn. My whole body. It was like my cells remembered that feeling while with Bas and it’d never give up on it. It was the type of addiction that stayed with you for the rest of your life.
I’d never forget him. Worst of all, I didn’t want to.
CHAPTER37
Basilio
The obsession to find Wynter grew deeper and deeper.
It wasn’t healthy. It wasn’t good for business. Yet, I couldn’t give up. The need to find her burned hot. It was Christmas Eve and I wondered if the golden haired principessa would be celebrating it in Russia or somewhere else in the world.
My phone rang and I glanced at the caller ID. Priest.
“Yeah,” I answered.
“Are you coming?” Priest, Dante, Emory, and I would spend Christmas in Philly. I had avoided fucking Philly like the plague, but it was either sit it out in New York alone and risk seeing my fucking father, or spend it with family that actually had my back. Besides, Emory deserved to have us all there.
“Yes.”
“Then stop dicking around and get your ass over here,” he grumbled. “It's Christmas weekend. Give this hunt a rest.” When I didn’t answer, he continued, “Basilio, maybe she doesn’t want to be found. Have you thought about that?”
Every goddamn day.
“Have you located Brennan?” There was no point in answering his question. He knew the answer.
“I did. He’s in Portugal with his wife and her family.”
I thought back to Davina’s background that Angelo dug up. Just like Wynter’s, there wasn’t much there.
“I thought she only had a grandfather?” At this point, I started to think everything we knew was fucking shit. Maybe Angelo fed us crap on Father’s orders.
“Fuck no, she’s connected to the Nikolaevs through her sister’s marriage.”
Yeah, Angelo fed us crap. If this wasn’t evidence enough, I didn’t know what was.
“Her friends with her?” I asked.
“You didn’t say anything about friends, so I only looked up Brennan, his wife, and Wynter. Though, everything with Wynter is a dead end. So either the girl is hiding or someone’s hiding her trail.”
“Have you hacked into my father’s and Angelo’s activity?” I wouldn’t put it past them to do it and hide the trail.
“I have, and it’s not them.” He sounded sure. “You know that there is no way she didn’t know, right?”
“Didn’t know what?” I hissed.
“About the dispute between the DiLustros and Brennans. That she happens to be a descendant of one of the most powerful Pakhans in rússkaya máfiya. That she’s a fucking Russian mafia princess.”