Page 14 of Escaping the King (The Sovrano Crime Family #13)

Carlo

T en long fucking minutes later, Nick and Eve showed up at the front door. They didn't even knock. Nick just threw the door open, and it bounced wildly against the wall.

“What the fuck's going on?” I asked at their rather violent entry into Giselle's house.

The murderous expression on Nick's face was not unusual.

What was unusual was that he had that expression on his face in the presence of his wife. Eve knew about his—our—lifestyle. She had been introduced too quickly when she'd been kidnapped not once, but twice.

She didn't have time to warm up to the life. But she'd stayed. Even knowing what it entailed.

“My wife has a few things to share with the class.” Nick glared at her and pointed to one of the chairs in the living room.

Eve bit her lip and sat down without a fight.

I felt my eyebrows lower. “What's going on? Do you have information?”

Eve's eyes dropped to the floor and she let out a sigh. “I told her—” she inhaled and then quickly exhaled. “I promised Giselle that I wouldn't say anything.”

For the umpteenth time today, my blood ran cold. “What,” I enunciated my words crisply and sharply, “is going on?”

Her eyes met mine and she started talking.

Fast.

“Giselle guessed that you—that all of you—are in a crime family.” Her words flew out of her mouth as if she were vomiting them.

After another stab to my gut, I asked, “Why would she think that?” I asked, wondering what the fuck tipped her off. There was nothing on my end at least.

Her shoulders rose and fell. “I—I don't know. I'm really not sure. She just asked me one day. And I said that we should go and talk to you guys.”

I stepped closer to her. “When was this?”

She looked up at her husband and then back at me. “In Italy. Right before we went to your bed.”

My eyebrows nearly popped off my face. “You're saying Giselle asked you if we were in the mafia. And then you two came to my room and fucked me and each other for hours?”

She bit her lip again and nodded her head.

“I tried to get her to come with me. I said you guys would explain everything.

But she didn't want to ruin the trip. She said as soon as we got back home that we'd all sit down and talk about it.” She clasped her hands together in her lap.

“But then the whole Stefan-nanny thing happened. And so—” her voice trailed off, but we all knew what she was saying.

Her catching Stefan fucking the nanny had delayed her revelation.

“You should have come to one of us,” I told her gravely. This mistake—this one hesitation—could be the difference between life and death.

Certain—company—knew that Giselle was mine. And they also knew who I was. And what I was.

And anyone who wanted to hurt me could come after her.

In fact, it was now open season on my fiancée.

“I know, I know. I'm so sorry. I messed up. I wanted her to do it herself. She didn't seem scared or put off. I mean, we all had a great time together in your bed, right? She didn't look like she wanted to—” Eve stopped there. She didn't add in escape. Or run away.

“Tell him what else you told me,” Nick verbally prodded his wife and she nodded.

“Remember when you guys caught her and I—umm—you know. Making out?” Her guilty eyes came to mine and the memory of Eve making Giselle come on my couch flooded back into my brain.

“How could I ever forget that?” I asked, because it was the fucking truth. There was no way in the world I could ever erase that memory from my mind. Not that I'd want to.

Her cheeks reddened. “Well, before that, she told me some things about her childhood. Things that I promised never to tell anyone. Even you guys.”

She had my full and undivided attention. “What did she say? Anything you tell us will only help find her.”

Then Eve went on a complete dump of all the things Giselle had said. How shitty her father was to her. How Giselle had basically supported them both because her father was a drunk and a gambler.

A lousy gambler who lost to the wrong people.

Or more like the wrong person.

Her father traded her in exchange for the debt he owed.

It was at this point in her story time that I needed to take a break.

Because my brain was about to explode. “Stop! Stop!” I yelled at the top of my lungs as I shut my eyes and turned around. I had to catch my breath. My heart was ready to burst right through my chest and land on the goddamn floor.

I looked out the window while I waited for the buzzing noise in my ears to stop.

When it was down to a dull roar, I faced Eve again.

“What you're saying is—” I took in a deep breath, “Giselle's father sold her to wipe out his gambling debts?”

A sad, devastated look crossed her face as she nodded. “Yeah. And the guy who bought her was not a good guy. He hit her. Often. And he—” she suddenly quit talking.

“He what?” I spat out even though I was pretty fuckin' certain I didn't want to know the rest of what she had to say.

“He—he—forced her to have Dani.”

Every cell in my body was on high alert. I wanted to go out and hunt this motherfucker down. “So Daniella's father isn't some young guy she met and fell in love with. He's a rapist and a wife beater?”

Nick cut in at that point, “Among other things. It sounds like he might be in—the life, too.”

I rocked back on my heels and shook my head. “Son of a bitch,” I muttered and looked at the kitchen where Giselle had made hundreds of meals for her daughter.

A daughter who was forced on her.

But a daughter whom she loved more than anyone or anything on this earth.

A blanket draped over the chair that Eve sat in. Giselle had knitted it for Dani. Perfect pink and white squares.

For her daughter.

A daughter who was not her idea. A daughter she'd never wanted. A daughter who was a daily reminder of the bastard who'd bought her. And forced a baby on her.

“She loves Dani. We all know that.” Eve's voice wobbled and her eyes grew wet. “But Giselle ran away from Dani’s father. She wanted a better life for her. For them.”

I rolled my head around and heard the tension crackle as it went.

“Fucking Christ,” I mumbled before looking over at Nick. “What the hell do we do with this information?”

Nick, always cool in a bad situation, said, “We pile it together with all the other shit. And then it'll start making sense. The more we know—” he looked at me straight in the eye, “the faster we find Giselle and Daniella.”

Fuck me.

I hoped he was right.