Elliot

I should have stuck to the lie … it was far better than the truth I thought I’d find.

 

Everything I’d ever believed about myself was a lie. I was Elia Rossi, yes, but the story was twisted, leaving a torn family searching for a lost child, a deadbeat kidnapper leaving a pregnant woman behind to clean up his mess, and a lifetime of pain caused by a single bullet to the head. If I’d known any of these facts before, I would have come to the Demetris much sooner and in a different manner.

Now I was left trying to understand the pieces with a woman I’d broken.

“Being family comes with benefits and obligations,” Nox said. I forced myself to pay attention. I couldn’t afford to miss a thing.

I placed my hands on my desk. “I know of La Cosa Nostra. I’ve studied it since I realized who I was.”

“How did you find out?”

“A fucking letter tucked into a dying man’s hand. My adopted father had the information from Tasmin. They’d run together, in the same group Federico controlled. Small time wanting to get big. She left me with him, thinking he’d go on with the plan and contact her at a safe point.”

“Instead, he thought he could get the cut alone,” Lennox guessed.

“And if I were pliable and controlled, he could have an in with the Rossis and Costellos.”

Lennox’s eyes narrowed, and he clenched his teeth. There was a wealth of knowledge in his gaze, and I barely nodded, acknowledging the directions his thoughts had gone. “You look familiar, come to think of it. Needed to fight your way through the anger?”

I shrugged. Lennox and I were a couple of years apart at the most. In another time, another life, we may have been friends, cousins, growing up inseparable. But the flip of a coin had changed all of that. However, it seemed we’d used the same escape to get away from our problems.

“I knew you as just Nox long before I realized who your family was,” I answered.

Nox had fought in the cages, too, beating the shit out of his opponents until someone he couldn’t beat got in the ring, someone who wouldn’t back down. I remembered the fight and the way Oren and Vinny sat next together. If I had known, I would have approached them instead of festering in my anger and plotting to take over everything they had.

What a waste of time.

“You saw me and Luca fight? You were there?”

I lifted my hands and shrugged. “Water under the bridge, as well as a missed opportunity.”

For a moment, Nox was silent, then he approached me. Up close, faced with my family, I wished things could be different. It was Ilaria’s effect on me. She made me want to be better, to let go of the rage and revenge and simply be. I’d have to tell her. Nox rested his hand on my shoulder, a heavy weight that settled me on my feet.

“Family is family, and having the Wilmington name now doesn’t change that. But if you take on the Rossi name, with your money and connections, you could find yourself asked to be a maker for the family. And take it from me, it can take everything from you. My father learned that the hard way. He and I can know who you are, deal with you accordingly and hold your secret, or you can come out publicly to the family. I leave the choice up to you.”

The choice was always up to me, and I thought, when presented the option, it would be with me standing at the top, the dust settling, and all those who’d wronged me scraping for purchase. Instead, I felt like a fucking petulant child, thrashing against authority in rebellion when I hadn’t really understood what I was angry about in the first place. I wanted to be my own man, to have my wealth around me, to obliterate my enemies, and come out swinging. Now I had to choose.

Do I give up my family?

Do I give up my freedom?

“Are my … parents still alive?” I forced out.

“Yes, and you have two younger sisters. Rose, named after an aunt, Vinny’s mother, and Alessandra. They live here in New York.”

My heart pounded in my chest. Family, real family, and all I had to say was yes. All I had to do was deal with what may be an obligation to the family name. Was it worth it?

“Before you get sentimental, they could make Ilaria pay the blood price for what her mother and father did,” Nox said.

“I said over my dead fucking body.”

Nox shrugged. “It may come to that. Vinny has calmed down, but not much. Her line stole from them, they can take back.”

“She wasn’t even born when her mother and father made up their plan. Ilaria had no awareness of me as she grew up, and I’m the one who planned a way to get her under my control so I could get my hands on the proof her mother hid. What Tasmin gave my adoptive father wasn’t enough to prove who I was. I won’t let them touch a hair on her head. She is mine, and I will vouch for her.”

Ilaria, out of anyone involved, was the most innocent. She’d lived her life under the pretense of lies her mother wove around her. Until she came into contact with me, the possibility of her actually getting to Oren Demetri was close to nil. I knew the only reason Nox arrived on my doorstep was because he looked into the woman and made a connection with Infidelity to me.

“Fine, she’s yours. I’ll put what I can behind that claim. Make sure she understands it too. Now, what’s it going to be?”

I looked at Nox. He was a force to be reckoned with. Having him in my life as we circled and got to know each other could be a financial boon, and the connection that could develop there wasn’t something I could ignore. Ilaria had helped me realize I needed more than surviving alone.

“I want to meet my parents and my sisters. It wouldn’t be fair to walk away when I know they’re out there. They deserve some sense of closure too.”

Nox nodded. “I thought you’d say that. I’ll contact my father today and have him reach out to Vinny. Things will happen fast from there. The sooner you have your woman locked the better.”

“She’s with me. What else do I need to do?”

A dry chuckle met my ears. “This is the Sicilian Mafia you’re talking about. Modern times or not, only two things are untouchable for them. Children and wives.”

“You’re shitting me.”

“Not about this.”

I clenched my fists. I’d deal with what I needed to. For now, things were in motion.

Before leaving, Nox stopped at my office door and turned around. “By the way, your secretary … Natalie?”

“Yeah?”

“She should meet mine. I have a feeling they’re cut from a very similar cloth.”

I chuckled. “We’ll have to make that happen.”

“We can start with lunch, cousin. I’ve left my contact information with Natalie. Call me and we can make plans later this week.”

Incredulous, I stare at him. “You’d already left your contact information when you came in?”

“I believe we’re cut from the same cloth, too, and I like to hedge my bets. Goodbye, Elia. Or should I say Elliot? This doesn’t have to change who you are.”

“Goodbye, Nox.”

Now I just had to get the woman upstairs to forgive the subterfuge that had brought us together.