Chapter 36

**Matteo**

Ennio and I were talking business when my phone rang. I searched underneath the papers on my desk, while I continued to speak to Ennio. When I saw it was Lily calling, I held up a finger to tell him to hold on. Why would she be calling me? I mean the last message she sent me was a ‘I’m playing hard to get’ type of message. It would kind of ruin her whole play to be calling me now.

“Lily?”, I asked, maybe it was just a butt call.

“Matteo? Can you come and get me?”, she asked. I almost didn’t hear her, she sounded so weak. She must have been crying because I heard her sniff.

“Lily? Are you okay? I’m coming!”, I asked. I needed her to answer. I grabbed my wallet and keys off the table and made my way outside. She was making me nervous by not answering.

“I’m safe now.”, she said softly. ‘I’m safe now’? What the hell was that as an answer? I ran to my car, yelling out to Nino and Luciano to follow me. Going downtown without bodyguards was a big no-go for me. Too many enemies out there.

“Lily? You’re scaring me.”, I said, while I started the car and drove off, leaving only dust behind. Lily didn’t answer me at all, but I think I heard her crying.

“Lily? I’m on my way, baby! Speak to me! I want to know you are okay!”, I asked her again, but she didn’t answer me. I needed her to tell me what was wrong. I wasn’t used to this feeling this situation gave me. This anxiety. This wanting to hold her to be sure she was okay.

I made it to the bank in record time, but because I lost Luciano and Nino on the way I still had to wait before I could go in. By the time they showed up, I was pissed. I needed to get to Lily.

“Let’s go.”, I said curtly, and walked into the bank, only to be stopped by security who wouldn’t let me go up to Lily’s floor. I was about to get angry when Luciano pulled me away gently.

“Call her.”, he said softly, with a curt nod to some guy in the lobby. ‘Bruno’, he mouthed.

I grabbed my phone and called her instead. When she finally answered, I asked her if she could come down. I think that she said she could. I kept pacing in the room until she finally showed up. I scooped her up in a hug and checked to see if she was okay. At first glance she seemed okay, so I got her into the car as fast as I could. I’ll have Chiara do a full check on Lily when she gets home.

I asked her several times during the ride what had happened, but she didn’t say anything. She just kept staring out of the side window, leaning her head against the seat.

I had lifted Lily out of the car seat, and onto a couch. I had called Chiara to come over to check Lily for any injuries. I knew that I was getting on Chiara’s nerves by looking over her shoulders at everything she did. After about five minutes she had enough and walked me out of the room.

“Stay here until I’m done. Go and do something useful.”, she said decisively, and she turned around to go back to what she was doing after she closed the door.

Luciano chuckled when he saw me being shut out by Chiara. I glared at him, and told him to get lost, while I stumped to my office. I was confused by the way I was acting. I kept telling myself that I was concerned about Lily, because she was a means to get to our goal, but if that were true, then why did I have this nagging feeling that I needed to hold her and be close to her all the time?

I poured myself a drink, hoping that this would help me to get rid of this nervous feeling that was upsetting me. It didn’t. I was about to pour a second, when Vico came bursting through the door, with Valeria on his heels.

“Boss, you want to hear this.”, Vico said. I looked up to Vico sitting down already.

“It better be good.”, I muttered, and waited until Vico shared what he wanted.

“You asked us to look into Noah and Lily’s mom?”, Vico asked. I nodded and signaled for him to continue impatiently.

“There are a few things around Noah. First, he is neck deep in gambling debts with the Brunos. We found footage of him entering the Brunos den together with some known high rollers. Noah came out of the den beaten several times. So, it is highly likely that Noah is in debt to them.”, Vico said enthusiastically.

“That makes sense. But you mentioned a few things?”, I asked him. Vico nodded.

“The other thing is that Simon is hanging with Nero and Mario a lot of times. Luciano confirmed to have spotted him with Nero and Mario when the capi had their meetings.”, Vico said. This was interesting to hear. Nero was the don of the Bruno famgilia, and Mario was his younger brother. Just the fact that Simon was invited to the meetings with those guys already meant that he was a very, very important associate.

“And you know obviously who Mario’s son is, and also sitting in on those meetings.”, Vico added calmly. I nodded.

“Tommaso. Could it be that Simon is also pushing Noah to do their bidding?”, I asked.

“You know better than I do what happens in those meetings, and how these things are managed.”, Vico said humbly. I nodded again because that was very true. In my head I also remembered what Vita told me. Could Simon be this long-lost family member?

“This is interesting. It also explains why they are using that bank. What doesn’t make sense to me now, is why we were welcomed as clients?”, I asked out loud.

“That I can tell you. They spied on our accounts.”, Valeria, who had been quiet until that point, said. I stopped asking her how she knew these things. I just hoped that she kept her hacking skills out of my personal business.

“The other thing that I found is about Lily’s mom. I had been looking for her birth certificate in the archives. I found one, but by the traces I found I can tell it has been forged.”, she said. “So, that means that Mary Brown had secrets.”

“But it doesn’t mean she isn’t from here, right?”, I asked. Valeria shook her head.

“Not at this point, but what’s on there is definitely fake. Also, I found Lily’s birth certificate, it doesn’t state a father on there. So, her mother didn’t have a good relationship with her dad at the point of her birth.”

“Did you find any marriage certificate in Italy?”, I asked, but Valeria shook her head.

“But I will keep digging. It would just really be helpful if I could get any more information.”, she said.

“Let me see how we can get you more.”, I answered. I called the person who knocked on the door to come in, while asking Vico and Valeria if they had anything more to share. They shook their heads.

“Thanks guys.”, I said, and got up when I saw Chiara entering the room. I waited to ask the question I really wanted to until Vico and Valeria had left the office.

“She has no injuries, Matteo. But she is in a state of shock.”, Chiara spoke before I could even ask. I let out the breath that I was holding.

“Did she say anything to you?”, I asked, but Chiara shook her head.

“It will come back, she is processing whatever happened. If anyone, she will talk to you.”, Chiara said, and she left. I grabbed my phone and went downstairs to see Lily.

When I came downstairs, I saw Vita sitting with Lily. They were talking about something quietly, and I saw Lily drinking some water. At least that meant something. I walked to them and sat down on the couch, keeping my distance from Lily in case that was what she needed. As soon as I sat down, she crawled into my lap.

“Thank you for coming for me.”, she said, looking up to me. I just smiled. If she knew the things, I was ready to do for her…

“Is there anything I can do for you?”, I asked her. She looked down at her hands that were fidgeting.

“Can you take me home? I need to go into the office tomorrow.”, she said softly. I found it hard to describe how I felt when she said that. I was frustrated, furious, concerned about her, and in a weird and dark part of me also proud. But the furious part was dominating.

“You are not going back there.”, I said calmly. Too calmy. I felt her squirming in my lap.

“I need to. I need to go back. I have to, you don’t understand.”, she was rambling anxiously.

“Make me understand, cara mia.”, I asked as kindly as I could with the anger swirling inside of me.

“I can’t. I don’t want to die. I need to go back.”, she rambled.

“You are not dying on my watch. Look at me, Lily.”, I said sternly. “Who is threatening you?”, I asked, while I put my finger under her chin to make her look into my eyes.

Lily pulled my hand away and looked down again. I grabbed her face and forced her to look at me. I saw her lip trembling and her eyes filling with tears. She averted her eyes from mine, and didn’t say anything.