Page 37 of Family Secrets

Chapter Fifteen

Gino’s leg bounced under the table as his friend and business partner read over the single sheet of paper in his hands.

“Why didn’t she tell me?”

“My guess is she didn’t know.” Gino offered, covertly checking his phone for any missed calls from Elizabeth.

“All this time, Gino. I would have…” Emilio trailed off, emotion clogging his throat, cutting off his words.

“You should know, I spoke with my mother who denied being asked to keep any news such as this from you before Nicole disappeared.”

A far-off look took over Emilio’s eyes. “You were too young to remember, my Nicole and your mother were the best of friends, comforting one another when the news of Sully’s birth came about. Nicole traveled back to Sicily to be with your mother when Johnathan confessed to her family of his relationship with Barbara. When she returned, she made me swear to always remain faithful and never put her through what your father did to your mother.”

Gino stared at the man twice his age, the one who, according to his father and uncle, had taken Nicole right out from under them, forcing Jonathon to seek his mother’s hand.

“I’m willing to sit on this as long as you need me to.”

“No, Gino, she needs to be told. I just worry…”

“About?” Gino prodded, the hairs on the back of his neck rising in concern.

“I’m guessing your father and mother were too busy trying to kill one another to share with you what happened after my Nicole returned.”

Folding the page in half, Emilio stuck it in his jacket pocket, leaning back in the aluminum chair.

“We began to receive threats. Nothing noteworthy at first, but soon they included photographs of Nicole going about her day.” Ignoring the vibrating phone inside his pocket, nothing in this world short of his death was more important than this conversation.

“No demands, no nothing, just photos and a note saying whoever was sending them was watching. Months went by and the photos increased to the point I had my most trusted man take Nicole to a house we rented under a fictitious name in the middle of nowhere. Suddenly the photos stopped, but I kept her hidden for several more months in case it was a trap. Once I felt certain everything was okay, I jumped on my jet and went to retrieve her.”

Emilio could still hear his Nicole beg him not to send her away, the tears streaking down her face nearly causing him to cave.

“When I walked into the house it was as if they got up from the breakfast table and stepped outside. Food was plated, the coffee in the pot still warm. There was no evidence of forced entry, they’d simply disappeared into thin air.”

Not a day had gone by Emilio didn’t punish himself for not listening to his wife, his act of protection causing more harm than good.

“Tell me, Gino, what made you test her DNA?”

Leaning back in his chair, Gino crossed his arms over his chest. “When Sully arranged her flight, he fucked up and forgot about a meeting he had in Upstate New York, so he called Niko and asked him to pick Elizabeth up from the airport and take her to the Waldorf. Of course, Niko called me, bitching about how he wasn’t under Sully’s payroll, but agreed to go at my request. I’ll be honest, Emilio, I didn’t like the sound of this girl when Sully told me about her, so I had Niko dig up her background. Funny how all the records he pulled didn’t provide as much as when he laid eyes on her. He swore to me, after he dropped her off, she was Nicole Vittorio’s doppelgänger.”

“Do you have a picture, Gino?”

Nodding, Gino reached into his pocket, retrieving his phone. He scrolled through his photos until he landed on the one he’d snapped of her walking toward him in the hotel last night.

“Ah madon, it’s my Nicole.” Emilio cried the resemblance unmistakable this was his daughter.

“Last night, I took her to Sandino’s, where she showed me a ring with your family crest on it,” Gino paused, unsure how much more Emilio could take before demanding to see her. “There was an inscription on the inside, I am my—"

“Beloved and my beloved is mine.” Emilio finished, having given the ring to his wife on their wedding night.

Gino nodded in agreeance, “Elizabeth said she found the ring along with a box of baby pictures in her Nona’s things. She assumed the woman found it in a garage sale and put it away.”

“But you and I both know DNA doesn’t lie, Gino.”

“Which is why I intentionally got her drunk before calling in an associate who worked for a hospital. He took a swab of her cheek and ran the test.”

“And where is she now, still at the Waldorf?”

Gino lowered his head, his eyes dropping to the laces of his Italian shoes. “I um,” he stammered, unsure of how to admit what he’d done. “I moved her to one of the apartments I own in the building, as my girlfriend.”

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