Page 92 of Captured Innocence

Exhaling, I locked eyes with Sophia and there was such fire in hers that I was equally proud and furious that she was at odds with the person she’d remained closest to.

Yet she was a force to be reckoned with, refusing to give into the slight limp she had while healing from a sprained ankle. She headed for her sister, holding her head high. “Lucia. I’m sorry that you’ve believed Mattia to be responsible for all the horrors you suffered when you were led to believe that D’Artagnan was dead, but you know that he had nothing to do with the fire. I tried to tell you years ago that I was in love with this man and you begged me to stay away from him. And I did. I suffered just like you did for six years when all I could think about was him. The man who’d awakened such joy in my heart that I could barely breathe when I was in his presence. No one, including Daddy, admitted that if Mattia hadn’t saved my life on my eighteenth birthday, I wouldn’t be here today. But that was the truth. He risked his life several times to save mine. Do you understand me? You will not disparage him again. Period.”

Sophia huffed after issuing the words, blowing hair from her face then realizing the room had gone deathly quiet. She spun in a circle, locking eyes with everyone, ending with offering me a sly smile that made my cock twitch.

“That goes the same for all of you,” she continued. “He is the love of my life and is going to be my husband. We are one big happy family. We’re going to share in holidays and birthday parties. We’re going to celebrate births of children and Santa Fucking Claus. And the Easter bunny. I hear he’s big in America. And the goddamn tooth fairy. Do you understand me?”

Her voice reverberated and it was all I could to not to smile. The woman would take on a room full of vipers.

That was one of so many reasons I adored her.

“Do you?”

“I think your baby sister is all grown up, Lucia, and is perfectly capable of taking care of herself. So, we have a wedding to plan?” D’Artagnan did his best to break the ice but I could tell Lucia wasn’t convinced just yet.

She turned her head in my direction then back to Sophia. Then she wrapped her arms around her sister, pulling her in tightly. “Oh, baby sis. I just wanted you happy. I never meant to make you suffer. I’m so sorry. Will you ever forgive me?”

“It’s not about forgiveness. This family has been through a lot over the last few years, but we are a family. We need to act like one. I love you, Lucia. You’re my sister, but that man is the one I’m going to marry. And God willing, I’ll have a family with. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. In truth, I think that’s all any of us have wanted over the years. Family.”

D’Artagnan nodded. “She’s right. We work together.”

As the two girls hugged, Dar grinned like a kid. This was the closest we’d ever been. Would we ever be Hallmark card material? Fuck, no, but this would do just fine for now.

Until after we hunted down and slaughtered the person responsible for everything we’d been through.

As Sophia backed away, she glanced back in my direction. “And I know exactly how we were discovered in Zurich. It was my fault. I led the assassin right to where we were staying.”

Lucia folded her arms, staring at her sister with narrowed eyes. “How would you know that?”

I moved toward one of the chairs, sitting down and waiting for my princess to answer. Seeing the bruises on her face continued to keep me at a heightened level of anger, but now wasn’t the time to go off the deep end.

“I’m a hacker, Lucia. You knew that. You just didn’t want to hear what I had to say. I’ve worked for some of the most unscrupulous organizations in the world and I’ve also worked with a few law enforcement agencies, namely the CIA out of the United States. I know what I’m doing. I underestimated the person responsible, but every hacker has a weakness. His is arrogance. I can track him down and was in the process of doing so. The work I’ve already accomplished is waiting for my continued access. If you’ll trust me enough to continue what I started, I will find him.”

“The Ghost,” I said in passing.

Sophia turned her head. “With a tattoo. I’m going to somehow remember the damn thing then run it through Interpol and the CIA databanks.”

“You have access to those as well?” Enzo marveled.

“You might be surprised what I have access to. They don’t pay me the big bucks for nothing,” she half purred, the gleam in her eye turning me on.

I turned my full attention to D’Artagnan, who also wore an expression of amusement. At this point, we had little choice. While it would appear both our funds and our businesses were protected, almost every transaction on hold, that had placed the perpetrator on notice that we were aware of the majority of his actions. That would likely make him take other more extreme measures, which in themselves would help us track him, but that didn’t mean our world wouldn’t be severely affected in the process.

And we had too many lives to consider.

“Are the various warehouses surrounded?” Enzo asked.

“Yes,” I answered. “Including in New York.” I turned my attention toward Lucia. She’d been hesitant to place the orders ceasing business activities, something I’d done without an hour of returning. I expected her to be angry, but she seemed resigned that we needed to lock down everything until we had a handle on what was happening.

And exterminated the opposition.

“Let my sister into the systems,” Lucia directed.

“Agreed,” Enzo said, lifting his glass.

“Is it dangerous?” Joy asked.

“Everything in life worth anything is,” I said quietly.

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