Page 125 of The Hitman's Secret Baby
It was methodical, and it was final.
The Gottis vanished.
Some said they were dead.
Others whispered they had gone underground.
But for years, nothing stirred.
Until now, when the contents of what appears to be a letter stares me in the face.
Gio,
Progress is as expected on this end. Cesare is very pleased with your last delivery. The Lombardi girl's return was a stroke of fortune. If she keeps the lion preoccupied, let her. Use her. Just keep his eyes off the fractures in the walls.
It's time we move to the next tier of access. I need intel delivered by week's end. Start logging what the lion does when he's alone. Where he sleeps. When he eats. Who walks him from room to room. I want every Salvatore habit noted, down to the hour. No guesswork.
You mentioned a new maid near the study. Use her. And the east corridor—the Wolf still favors it? Make sure someone is waiting when it matters. We only need one hour of darkness inside that house to change everything.
Don't wait for the cracks to widen. Push. The dynasty is hollow. A soft tap in the right place and the whole façade will fall.
I blink at the page, and then it slowly dawns on me.
Giovanni is not trying to undermine Luca from outside.
He is doing it from within.
Slowly.
Surgically.
He is not acting alone.
He is writing to Cesare Gotti.
The same Gotti whose name was meant to be buried under a sea of closed files and cold graves.
But Cesare is alive.
And he wants Nuova Speranza.
He is using Giovanni to get it.
A whisper of dread coils up my spine.
I look again at the notes.
They are careful.
Nothing overt this time.
I analyze them carefully.
The more I read, the better I understand.
Giovanni has been passing information to Cesare.
Shipping access, political ties, financial irregularities, all fed slowly from inside Salvatore walls.
