Alex and Arianna left for the hospital once Antonio retired. He had refused to see his daughter, and Arianna had no interest in arguing. They went in Alex’s car, rushing to make it in time for visiting hours.

“Does it feel weird to be arguing with your father? These are big issues.” Alex noted Arianna was very quiet.

“Hmm, in a way it does. We’ve never argued so much. But then again, I’ve almost always done what he wanted. I pushed to become better, I got into a great college, I got in on scholarship, by the way.”

“Congratulations, Arianna. I was a scholarship student too. It’s so special when the effort you put in pays off.” Alex’s eyes shone with respect.

“That was special, yes. It really mattered to me that I did something so huge all by myself. Now, in retrospect, it doesn’t seem like much. But it seemed very significant at that time. At least Papa had a lot of respect in his eyes for a while. You know? Like I finally proved that women can do well in their lives.” Arianna’s eyes misted. She quickly wiped her tears.

“I know that feeling. What do your other two sisters do? Valentina and Giovanna, right?” Alex shot her a glance before focusing on the road.

“Uh, Tina works with wildlife in Alaska. I think she used to work in Denali. I think she’s working in Anchorage now on a few projects. Vana, to be honest, I’ve never ever spoken much to Vana. We clashed every time we spoke. So once she moved out, I hardly ever spoke to her. But she was Papa’s girl. And she’s the one who hurt him the most. I think he still nurses that wound to this day.”

“What did she do to upset Antonio so much?” Alex made a left turn to enter the hospital parking. He looked out for parking spots.

“There’s a parking spot by that blue Toyota. Vana ran off with a motorcycle biker. I think she was in Milwaukee, but I’m not sure. It hurt Papa so much to see his favorite girl do something so radical.” Arianna unbuckled and got out of the car.

“I can imagine Antonio blowing up. It’s funny, that’s the only emotion I’ve seen coming from him.”

Arianna sighed and shook her head. “Let’s not talk about it. I hope Sophie is better.”

They walked up to the nursing station and asked about an update.

“Sophie Belmonte, she’s asleep right now. All reports so far are normal. We’re waiting till she gets up to find out if the concussion has any further repercussions. You can go visit her now,” a nurse replied, looking at Sophie’s chart.

Arianna breathed a sigh of relief. There would be a long road to recovery, but so far, it seemed like Sophie had come out of the whole incident relatively unscathed. She slipped her hand into Alex’s. His fingers curled around hers and squeezed. Arianna’s heart jumped.

“I’m going to sit with Sophie for a while. You coming?” she said, waiting for an answer. Say yes. Say yes and stay longer, Alex.

How can I say no to you, Arianna? But I have to check if we’re safe.

“Let me just call Buzz once, and then I’ll come in.” Arianna had the widest smile he’d ever seen. She put her arms around him and hugged him tight. Alex stood frozen. His heart started beating fast. Before he could put his arms around her and pull her even closer, she had gone inside. Alex’s arms felt her absence immediately.

I want you in my arms. I want you, Arianna.

It tore his heart to walk away from her that moment, but he wanted to find out what Buzz knew.

“Hey, any updates from the Sheriff’s office?” Alex got straight to the point.

“No niceties this time around, eh?” He cleared his throat. “Right, so we’ve got an alert for Brian, but I still can’t figure out what his motive is. I can’t find anything to tie him to the Morettis, but my guys are running a background check. It seems he became a Brian Trellis about five years back, because there’s no information about any Brian Trellis before that. In the meantime, I suggest you stay cautious. Brian could be anywhere by now. You need to make sure he doesn’t come near you. Those documents on the Belmonte family were pretty detailed; he knew what each person was doing, and he even had financials.”

Alex was grim. This was not good. “We need to crack Antonio.”

“I agree. Let’s try again tomorrow. I’ll let you know if I have more information.” He hung up. Alex groaned. Why are you doing this, Brian? What is your connection to the Belmontes?

Shaking his head, he walked towards Sophie’s room.

Arianna sat beside Sophie, stroking her hand and watching her chest heave.

“I miss you, Sophie. I miss you. If only you were not in hospital, we’d have gossiped about Alex. There’s so much I want to tell you about him. It’s crazy. My feelings for him are so strong. And I don’t have my sister for this.” She suddenly choked up.

Sophie stirred and moved her hand. Arianna’s pulse quickened, but she had fallen asleep again. Rest, Sophie. You need the rest. But please be okay soon.

The door opened and Alex walked in. Arianna quickly wiped her tears. But Alex noticed and he got worried.

“Arianna, what happened?” He quickly reached her and looked into her eyes. “Is everything alright?” She nodded and just hugged him.

“Make this better, please. Make her okay,” she sobbed. Alex sat on his knees and hugged her tight. He held her till she calmed down.

“Sophie is going to be okay. She will be,” he whispered.

“I believe you,” Arianna said. Please don’t let me go. I want to stay in your arms for a little while longer.

I don’t feel like letting her go. But will she feel weird if I don’t? I love holding her in my arms. Alex smiled.

A knock on the door broke their intimate moment. Arianna squeezed her eyes shut. Why does someone keep disturbing our time together? I wanted more.

A nurse walked in with. “Visiting hours are over, but you can visit her in the evening at 5pm.” She smiled at Arianna and Alex.

“Sure, thank you,” Arianna said, getting up. Alex followed her out of the room.

“Any update from Buzz?” she said.

“None. They’ve put out an alert for my colleague, Brian. The one we suspect is dirty. They found a lot of information on your family in his apartment. It seems like he’s been tracking you for a while.”

“Us? Why would anyone track us?” Arianna was shocked. Why would some random person from Seattle be so interested in us? OMG. Is he the son Papa was talking about? That thought surprised her so much, she sat on one of the seats, completely dazed.

“Alex, hear me out.” She pulled Alex by her side.

“There’s no reason for a random person to be interested in us. Why would he? Unless he’s related to us. And the only person I’ve heard about in these past few days is Niccolo.”

Alex was skeptical. “I don’t think that’s the reason. It could be that he’s holding out against Antonio for something Antonio did when he was young. Antonio isn’t going to divulge any details, and we can’t assume anything.”

“I still think I’m right. Ask Buzz to check up on this angle. Ask him to shake Papa down. Is this something to do with our property?”

“But, come on, what connection can Brian have with the payments your winery has been making? We’ve not been able to establish any connection to the Morettis, even though Brian is under a scanner.”

Arianna bristled. Something told her she had hit the nail right on the head. Brian was Papa’s lost son. Brian had something to do with Sophie’s attack.

“Just talk to Buzz once. Let him decide whether the lead is worth pursuing.” Arianna frowned. She crossed her arms while Alex dialed. She didn’t like disagreeing with Alex. This is the only option that makes sense. I need to go and talk to Papa. An idea formed in her mind. She would go talk to Papa alone, and once he confessed, they would be able to get Brian arrested. Her eyes gleamed.

“Buzz said he’d look into it. He said it was a good lead. Good job, Arianna. You might have cracked the case.” Alex was surprised.

“There’s no need to be so surprised about it. I am known to be smart.” She had a cocky smile on her face. She stood up, determined to finish off this whole conundrum once and for all.

“Arianna, slow down. We’re not going to get all the answers today. And don’t you dare think of some stupid idea to do everything yourself. This is dangerous.”

Arianna felt stuck. But I want to do this by myself. She knew Alex was right, and that took the fun out of everything. She pouted.

“Look, I know you want to play detective, but this is messy business. Even though Franco and Marco may seem like they’re white collar criminals, they have a huge network of henchmen doing dirty work for them. You need to promise me you won’t do anything rash.” He held her hands in his and looked in her eyes.

“Promise me.” He stared intently.

Arianna gulped. Her resolve was slipping. “Okay, I promise I won’t do anything rash.”

“Alright then.” Alex stood up and held out his hand for her. “Let’s go grab some lunch and then go meet Buzz.”

“Okay, this time, you’re treating,” Arianna said, making a face at him.

“Me? Why should I treat you?” Alex said in mock surprise.

“Maybe because I’m awesome.” She giggled. Alex laughed and put his arm around her.

“That you are. Lead the way. I’ll treat you to a burger.” There was a twinkle in Alex’s eye.

After a delicious lunch at the Bistro, Arianna dragged Alex to an ice cream cart that was stationed nearby. He picked butter pecan and she picked hazelnut. They were walking towards the community park when Arianna looked around.

“What happened?” Alex said, noting her distraction.

“I don’t know. It felt like someone was watching me, or watching us, rather. It was a little creepy,” she said, craning her neck to look in a corner.

A warning bell rang in Alex’s mind. Buzz had warned them about Brian coming for them, and with the Sheriff’s department investigating Brian’s connection to the Belmontes, he had no doubt Brian would do something rash. I hope we can catch him before he hurts anyone else.

He didn’t need to voice his suspicions. Arianna felt it too. She turned to him. “Let’s go to the Sheriff’s office. I don’t feel safe out here for some reason.” Alex nodded.

Buzz was busy on a call when Alex and Arianna walked in. He asked them to wait for him, so they moved to a bench nearby.

“I wonder if Buzz has any updates for us. I hope they find out what connection Brian has to all of us and why he is doing this,” Arianna said. “I don’t like being in police stations; it makes me feel weird, like I’ve done something even though I haven’t.” She rubbed her arms, trying to warm them up.

“It’s going to be over soon. They’re going to get to the bottom of this.” Alex put his arm around her.

“Okay, so we’ve got some problems,” Buzz said, walking up to them.

“What happened?” Alex frowned.

“One of the traffic cops thought he spotted someone who looked like Brian heading into town. He may try to make contact with one of you. We’re going to equip you with a tracking device and a mic, just in case. We’re on high alert.” Arianna’s eyes widened. This was more serious than she thought. A deputy came and fixed a tracking device to Alex’s shirt. A female deputy helped Arianna fix hers. The deputies taught them how to operate their mic and start the tracking device.

“You folks don’t worry. I’ve got my boys keeping an eye on your house, and once you leave, we’ll send a car behind you. Mr. Garner, I have sent someone over to your house as well. We’ll catch this son of a gun.” The sheriff walked up to them. Alex breathed a sigh of relief. It gave him comfort to know that Mama and Mark were protected too.

“But what happened to that lead that Arianna gave? The one about Brian being Antonio’s son?” Alex addressed the question to Buzz, but it was the Sheriff who answered.

“My boys found a birth certificate made out to Sophie and Niccolo Belmonte, but beyond that, I’ve not been able to dig anything up. There was no report filed when Niccolo went missing, so we have no documentation. Now, I’ve seen Antonio when he was young, but not many others. I’ve seen his photo, but I can’t be too certain he’s Antonio’s boy.”

Arianna’s phone started ringing at that moment and she excused herself. It was an unknown number.

“Hello? Hello?” Arianna called out, but she couldn’t hear anything. I think I need to go out so I can hear better.

She walked out of the Sheriff’s office and tried her luck again.

“Hello? Who’s this? Hello?” That’s odd, nobody’s saying anything.

That’s when a hand covered her mouth and a voice whispered in her ear.

“Walk away from here quietly, or else I’ll shoot you.” She felt something poke her in her back. Her eyes widened in shock. The mystery man pushed her in front and she felt a stab of pain where something was poking her. Is it a gun? Her breathing hiked and she tried to keep herself calm.

She walked ahead on Adam Street to a small lane where there were no cars. She gulped. Why did I pick up the phone? I feel like killing myself.

She saw a minivan a hundred meters ahead. Adrenaline rushed through her. Should I make a break for it? She turned and pushed the mystery man and ran for her life. She heard a roar behind her and a hand reached out and grabbed her tee shirt. The fabric tore, but she kept running. He caught up to her and held her in a vice like grip.

“I feel like killing you right now, but I won’t. I’m going to take my time with you. I won’t be interrupted like last time. There’s no dog here.” He growled.

Arianna tried to scream, but he shoved a cloth against her nose. What’s he doing? I can’t breathe. This smells funny. Before she could articulate further, blackness engulfed her.