Page 70 of Twisted Embrace

“You sure about this, boss?” Anthony asked as he flanked my side, immediately scanning the area in front of the SUV.

I waited until she was safely nestled in the back and the door closed before answering. “We need to be seen in order to move this situation forward.”

“If you keep playing with fire, eventually you will get burned.”

“You’ve spent far too much time with the Americans, my friend.”

“Someone has to watch out for you since you won’t do it for yourself.”

He grinned yet I sensed there was something else he needed to tell me. “What is it, Anthony?”

“The DNA tests came back.”

“Do you have them with you?” As he glanced toward the SUV, I moved closer. “Hand them over.”

“I do. I thought you’d want to know as soon as I received it. Are you certain you want to learn the truth?” He knew better than to dare open it.

“Haven’t you ever heard the expression the truth will set you free?”

“Who’s spent more time with the Americans?” he grumbled as he pulled an envelope from his pocket. I glared at it before shoving it into mine, uncertain how I wanted to handle telling her. I’d wanted tonight to be as special as a man like me was capable of. As if I was a romantic in the least.

He walked with me to the other side, opening the door for me.

As I slipped inside, I weighed the options of what we’d find once entering the quaint town. It had been a long time since I’d been in Pozzuoli, the invisible borders between the Lazarro and the DeLuca regimes preventing me from feeling comfortable doing so.

Now I was flaunting our expanded empire, something up to this point D’Artagnan hadn’t been comfortable doing. While he was a showman, just as likely to rub his succession to the throne as I was to take out a handful of enemies on a whim, his relationship with Lucia had made him more cautious as of late.

I wondered if my arranged marriage to Joy would do the same.

“Have you found out anything else about my birth parents?” she asked, the light of the estate illuminating the sly look on her face.

“Hmm… It would seem my bride to be has been snooping.”

She gave me a sly look as Federico started the engine. “I’m a reporter. I require information no matter the cost.”

“Just remember you could find information you don’t want to learn about.”

“From what? Asking you questions you think I don’t want answers to?”

“Exactly. The answer is not yet but I will find the truth.”

“What did my parents tell one of your… men while you snatched their DNA? I know you had them grilled. I will keep asking and searching for answers myself until you tell me what I need to know.” Joy twisted in her seat, studying me intently.

I hadn’t wanted to add salt to a wound, but I knew she was right in that she’d continue to dig until she found the wrong person to ask questions to. That could easily get her killed. “A baby was dropped off on their doorstep by a brutal man with a Russian accent. They were threatened and told they’d be watched.”

“So they just took a baby that didn’t belong to them and raised it as their own. I find that extremely difficult to believe.”

“As I figured you would. That’s the reason for the DNA test. In my experience, they owed your father a favor.”

She lifted her pretty little head, darting her eyes back and forth. “You know for certain. Don’t you?”

Sighing, I pulled the envelope from my pocket, handing it to her. “It’s yet to be opened. I will leave it up to you as to whether you want to do so now or later. But we will need to learn the truth.”

“We,” she whispered and crumpled her fist around the slender envelope, taking a deep breath then turning her gaze toward the window. “It’s not every day you learn that all you believed in your life could have been nothing more than a huge lie. I’d rather have a drink first if you don’t mind.”

“Not in the least.”

If my gut was accurate, the truth wouldn’t necessarily set her free. Whatever the case, I would be there to pick up the pieces.

---