Part One Hundred and Twelve

Part One Hundred and Twelve
“My full name is Bianca Nasato,” she whispered and Faro reared back from her as if her nearness to him could burn him. This girl was Constanza’s daughter, which made her Conrad’s daughter. He could taste the bile in his throat.
“No.” He shook his head. “We would’ve known.”
“When my mother went missing, I came here and found Eris. He was helping me look for her,” she said and wrapped her arms around herself. “Please just tell me where Eris is.”
“Eris was murdered a week ago,” Faro said.
Her knees seemed to buckle as she sank to the floor and a sob escaped her lips. She shook her head and her eyes glistened. A few tears escaped her eyes as she clenched them tightly and her shoulders shook.
Faro pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed Dominic’s number. He had the uncanny feeling that this would be just as much of a surprise to Dominic as it had been for him. “You need to get to Escape. Now.”
Faro leaned back against his desk and he was surprised when Sihana took his hand in hers and squeezed it lightly. “Do something, Faro.”
Faro had no idea what to do. A half-sister. They had a half-sister. He couldn’t believe that Conrad had never told them. A child out of wedlock was a sin, so he understood Conrad keeping quiet about his love child with his mistress.
Faro knelt next to Bianca and placed his hand on her shoulder. “What do you need, Bianca?”
She looked up at him and shook her head again. “I have to go. If Eris is dead, then I need to disappear.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” Faro said and pulled her to her feet. “Dominic’s on his way.”
Her eyes widened and she shook her head again. “No. I have to go now.”
The door to the office opened again and Dominic and his men stepped inside. Faro’s eyebrows raised and Dominic’s expression remained stoic. “We were around the corner. What’s going on, Faro?”
“This is Bianca Nasato,” Faro said. “She came looking for Eris.”
Dominic’s head snapped to hers and his eyes darkened and she shrank back. The wall was at her back and Dominic was right in front of her. “Where is your mother?”
“I … I don’t know. She never came home and I called my father the next morning. I was at his house when …” She swallowed again and closed her eyes.
“Fuck,” Dominic said. “You were there when he was killed?”
Bianca nodded her head. “I ran … I didn’t know what to do so I came here and I found Eris. He was helping me look for my mother.”
Dominic took a step backward and dragged his hand through his hair. He turned to look at Faro and shook his head. “What the fuck do we do with her?”
Bianca’s eyes snapped open and fear flashed in them. “What?”
“We take her home, Dominic. She’s a Vittori by blood. We take her home and we keep her safe,” Faro said.
“Faro’s right. She won’t survive out there alone,” Austin said.
“How old are you, Bianca?” Dominic asked her. He could see the resemblance she had to all of them. Faro’s eyes, his hair, Hunter’s mouth and Inara’s nose. She was Conrad Vittori’s child and their sister.
“Twenty,” she whispered as her eyes darted between them all.
“When Conrad died, I became the head of the Vittori family. You are now under my protection, Bianca,” Dominic said and moved closer to her again. “You are a Vittori and I am now responsible for you.”
“Eris didn’t tell you guys about me?” she asked.
“No. We don’t know where he was for two days before he died,” Faro answered.
“He was with me. He said he had a lead and that he was going to meet with someone, and that was the last time I saw him,” she said.
“You need to tell us everything you know,” Dominic said and motioned his hand towards the couch in the office.
Bianca looked afraid and she glanced at the door again. Austin moved and blocked the door from her vision. “Running won’t help you.” Austin moved and Bianca stepped backward until her knees hit the couch and she sat down.
“My father … Conrad … I was in the guest room of his house when I heard voices coming from his bedroom. I could hear he was angry. He was shouting at someone and he said, ‘Rocco, you motherfucker, you’ll never get away with it.’ I know Rocco was his brother so I went back to the guest room and hid in the closet as they killed him.”
“We already know Rocco killed Conrad,” Dominic said. “I want to know about Eris.”
“He was meeting with a man called Timo. I don’t know who he is, but Eris said he knew where my mother was, that she was being kept somewhere safe. Eris went to meet him and that’s the last I saw of him,” she said.
Dominic nodded his head and stuck his hands in his pockets. “Make a list of things you need and give it to Cooper. The rest can be ordered online once you’ve settled in at the house.”
“What?” Bianca frowned at him.
“Shampoo, soap, things like that. Clothes can be ordered online. Hunter left some things at the house and you’re roughly the same size,” Austin said and stroked his beard.
“We’ll put her in Hunter’s quarters for now,” Dominic said and nodded his head at Austin.
“I’m not part of your family and you can’t tell me what to do,” Bianca said as she stood up from the couch.
Austin was next to her in an instant and he gripped her arm in his hand. “You’re dead the moment you leave here unaccompanied. Whoever this Timo is, he killed Eris, and chances are he’s looking for you. He’ll do to you what he did to Eris.”
“Like it or not, Bianca, you are part of this family,” Dominic said.