Page 10 of In Her Blood
Evelina watched Otto dip his chin, and with his free arm, he moved them sideways from the room. Keeping himself always between her and them, until he finally lowered his gun arm to grab hold of the door and tug it shut.
As it swung, Pyotr found the breath to yell. “Grish! What the fuck?”
Grisha’s response was lost behind the door, and Otto tucked awayhis gun.
Evelina glanced down the hall, noting more than one man gathered at the opening. She raised a brow.
They scampered off.
Otto curled an arm around her back, hand on her hip, and turned her in the direction of the staircase. “If I lay eyes on that piece of shit again in the next hour, he’s dead.”
She elbowed him in the ribs. “Remember what Grisha said. You need a reason.”
“That bruise you’re about to have is reason enough.”
Her tongue tangled and Evelina allowed him to lead her away as heat flashed through her.He’s just doing his job.She knew he took his job personally, that he took it as an insult when she so much as glimpsed danger, but when he spoke like that…. It wasn’t fair.
And she didn’t have the time, or the emotional space, to let his confusing sentiments consume her. So, as she always did, she pushed them down. “I think I’ve put off my promise to Mamma long enough.”
“What do you mean?” Otto kept his voice quiet as they ascended the stairs.
She did the same. “I mean, I’m going to lock myself in my room for the rest of the day, maybe the weekend, and do some good old-fashioned genealogy research.”
Chapter three
Questions of Trust
Evelina slammed her laptopshut in exasperation.Mamma did say Aunt Nora was married off to some mafioso, but come on!She’d put in every search she could think of and barely gotten a single worthwhile hit. The only good thing was that it meant she hadn’t found any relevant results when she’d specifically searched Eleonora’s name in combination with death dates,certificates, or announcements—so probably her aunt was still alive.
Evelina picked up her notepad again, crossing off the latest failed search prompt before reviewing what she was only partially confident she’d learned.
It was a little hard to process that she might have multiple cousins living it up less than 800 miles to the East.
The door to the suite closed with a click as Otto re-entered and stepped properly into the room. “How goes it?” he asked, though it had been all of five minutes since she’d sent him out. The crinkled bags of takeout she’d insisted on having delivered hung from his hand and the tray of drinks balanced over his opposite arm.
“I’ve learned one very important thing,” Evelina replied, swiftly turning her attention back to her notes. “I’m not cut out for PI work.”
He chuckled. “I could’ve told you that. Too impatient.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Asshole. Where’re my onion rings?”
Otto set the larger bag beside her, then popped the also-larger drink from its carrier and set that on the coffee table. “Dinner is served.” He flashed her a smirk as if to make clear he felt no remorse, then took the smaller bag and to-go coffee over to the wingback and settled in. “Learn anything at all?”
Evelina shifted the notepad aside and reached for her meal. “I’ve found records of her existence in and around Newark, New Jersey. Which lines up with Mamma’s letters.” She bit into one greasy, deep-fried onion ring and stifled a moan. Whogave a fuck if it was unhealthy? For all she knew, it was the in-house chef who’d offed her father.
Pyotr certainly wasn’t interested in replacing any of the full-time staff. He’d dismissed her concerns outright.
She swallowed down her bite and continued, “Eleonora De Salvo, formerly Eleonora Mancini, is probably the same Eleonora De Salvo of New Jersey who’s listed as the mother of this multi-billionaire CEO guy named Dante. He reportedly owns several businesses, the most notable one being some corporation called DS Industries.” She tapped the paper. “He also has two younger brothers. One is his COO at DS Industries and the other owns a full-suite security company.” Which, if they really were mafia, was hilarious to her. “So, according to all that, Aunt Nora hasat leastthree kids, all doing pretty damn well for themselves.”
Otto hummed. “Sounds like you’ve learned a lot.”
Evelina popped a smaller onion ring into her mouth. “Most of what I’ve found is about the brothers, and even that’s actually superficial.” She waved a hand at the paper. “They’re all married. Two with kids, one without. The middle brother’s oldest is from a prior relationship, but his wife legally adopted the girl a few months after they were married.” She scrunched up her face. “There are almost no photos of the family at all, even individually. The few I found looked intentional, like taken at events. I don’t know how people with that much local influence can stay off the radar so well.”
Otto kicked his feet up, his bag crinkling as he dug out his food. “Yes you do. Your aunt married mafia, Lina, not businessmen. What you’re findin’ is the front.”
Evelina frowned over at him. “Don’t talk to me like I’m stupid.”
He met her stare. “What do you think a random person would find if they searched your family name?”
