Page 4 of Capone
I loved Derek with my whole heart. His working too much didn’t warrant me leaving him. I would look like a fool to leave a good man who loved and provided for his family. Around the time he was killed, we had begun arguing more.
It had been almost a year of the same thing. I was fed up. I didn’t feel loved, and I had slowly started giving up. No matter what I said, he wouldn’t budge with his work. I started to feel like there had to be someone else. Danny didn’t travel as much as he did. He was always home with his girlfriend, Nicole. Hell, even Nicole was an agent. So, I really couldn’t understand how they were always home, and he wasn’t.
When I brought that up to him, it was the first time he had raised his voice at me. He told me to stop comparing what we had to others. He left the house that night and didn’t come back until morning. I cried myself to sleep that night. A week after that fight, Derek was killed. Despite the problems we were having, I was devastated.
A knock on Gabi’s bedroom door stirred me from my thoughts. I lifted my head from the unicorn stuffy I had been cuddling in Gabrielle’s bed just as my mom opened the door.
“Giovanna, you have to eat something, sweetheart.”
She had a plate of her famous lasagna in her hand. My stomach rumbled from the smell. I hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday morning. Most of the time I couldn’t hold anything down.
All I wanted was Gabrielle back.
“I’m not hungry,” I mumbled.
My mother watched me with sad eyes. Just as she opened her mouth to say something, the doorbell rang. I jumped out the bed and ran to the front door. I swung the door open in a rush. Danny and his boss, Mercury, were standing there with blank expressions.
Immediately, I broke down. “What happened?” I cried. I started to fall to the ground, but Danny caught me.
“Nothing, Giovanna. We’re just here to talk to you.”
He guided me into the living room. I took a seat on the couch, staring up at them through my tears. After Mercury took his seat, he cleared his throat.
“We haven’t been able to get a lead on Gabrielle’s whereabouts.”
I shook my head frantically as a cry ripped through me. “Not again!” I sobbed as my mother took a seat next to me and wrapped me up in her arms.
“We have a plan, Giovanna,” Mercury reassured me.
My cries turned into whimpers as I gave them my full attention. “What is it?”
“I’m going to ask two former agents to help us on the case. They were by far the best agents the STF has ever had. If anyone can find Gabrielle, I know Cara and Sara can.”
Their names sounded so familiar. Then it clicked. “Isn’t Cara your ex?” I asked Danny.
He nodded solemnly. “Yes, but like Mercury said, she and her sister are the best. Mercury, Nicole, and I are flying out first thing in the morning to ask them for their help.”
I stood, wiping my face with the back of my hand. “I’m coming too.”
“Giovanna, you can’t?—”
“I wasn’t asking Danny. I’m losing my mind in this house. I’m going,” I repeated with finality.
Mercury and Danny sighed in frustration. “Look, we’ll take you, but you can’t interfere, Giovanna,” Mercury said sternly.
“I won’t. I just want to be in the loop. I need my baby girl back, Mercury,” I said as fresh tears slid down my cheeks.
Danny wrapped me in his arms. “We’ll be back at seven in the morning to get you.”
“I’ll be ready.”
After they left, my mother got me to eat a little of the lasagna she prepared before I went and packed a suitcase. She was going to head back home since I wasn’t going to be here. She made sure to let me know to keep her filled in.
After my suitcase was packed, I went and lay in Gabrielle’s bed like I had been doing since she was taken. As I lay there, I sent a silent prayer that Mercury and Danny were right about Sara and Cara because without them, I didn’t know what that meant for Gabrielle.
Chapter Three
CAPONE
