Chapter 57

*12 years ago* 

Ryan's POV: 

It was late and I was getting nowhere on this hit-and-run case. I stared up at my bulletin board my mind numb from the hours I had spent trying to get this guy. The guy was a total creep but he had enough connections it would be hard to get a conviction. I didn't like leaving this family high and dry though I'd find some dirt soon enough. 

A knock came at the office door behind me, hurried repetitive knocks, the only ones I ever got. I had tried the quiet life after retirement, but it made my skin itch seeing all the assholes get away with their dirty dealings, so I became a P.I. Sure my old comrades made fun of me, but while they protected freedom I protected the little guy. 

I walked over to the door slowly and the knocking continued all the way there. I opened up to see a fairly young woman standing there holding papers and her eyes were red. 

Her fist still raised she sniffled. "Hello my name is Vanessa Zeni," she began her voice was hard and fierce. I cocked a grin, normally I got shaky and terrified. Though I could tell she was scared shitless she was putting on a brave face. 

"I need, I need your help. My friend Annie said you helped her get her abusive husband in jail. I need something…similar," her words trailed off at the end. 

She was just scared she thought I should be scared too. She thought whatever she was about to hand over to me was impossible, it would never come true. 

"Come on in sit down," I opened the door poured some hot water, and put some tea in the cup. She was Italian, and her accent though faint was there, she'd spent a good portion of her life in the U.S. but she wasn't raised here. 

"What's the issue," I asked hands no over the cup sitting down on my desk corner. 

She chuckled for a moment playing with the tea cup. "It's my husband. My ex-husband," she corrected herself. "He's umm," she looked up at the ceiling, finding it hard to tell me. "He's a….," she bounced her leg and huffed. "He's a mob boss," she finished. 

I was surprised I'd had a few dealings with the mob but never anybody at the top. 

"He's trying to get my daughter-our daughter, our eldest back," she explained. She put down a photo of her with a young girl who looked just like her, another little girl to her left. "He already has my Guilia. I've tried everything, but he won't stop. He's doing everything he can to take my last child from me," she sobbed. "I-I-I," her voice shook and she gripped the cup tightly. "I won't let him take Arianna!" She growled. 

I liked this woman. She was afraid of him, she knew she was in over her head and she was still going to fight to the death for her child. She set a stack of papers on my desk down with her tea and she rifled through her purse pulling out some crumpled bills. 

"This is all I have. I'm getting a raise so I can pay more soon, I just need help. Please," she begged me shoving the money into my hands. 

I grabbed it and set it down on the desk. "I don't need your money," 

She covered her face as a sob escaped her. "Dammit," 

"I'll help you but I'm not taking your money," I elaborated, placing a hand on her knee. "I need you to tell me everything about your ex-husband, anything you can think of that'll give me a thread to pull at. Even stuff you find insignificant," 

We went over her story, she'd had her suspicions about her husband's success, so she'd hired a P.I. who had taken photos of him killing a business partner, along with records of under-the-table deals. It had bought her her freedom but her youngest daughter had refused to leave. Now with more power, he was pressuring her to return or hand over the eldest. 

He wasn't scared of the photos anymore, and Vanessa was desperate to get something bigger to keep her and her daughter safe. 

It took months. He was slippery, a real pro. I had tailed him for ages, spent a lot of favors, nearly losing hope. 

But then I noticed the Caribbean cigars he smoked, only one place to get those because the company didn't import them. He had to be going down there from time to time. 

There was more than cigars in the Caribbean. He'd had a bank account holding all his extra money, his endless coffers. I bided my time and eventually got information. 

He was furious when she told him what she had. I was hiding nearby with my rifle, I'd take him out if he so much as stepped toward her. He went white, when she handed over the sheet he ripped it up but she told him there were copies. 

He slammed his hands down on the table and I took the safety off my gun. But he didn't do a thing, he backed off. He went into his car and he didn't bother again. 

Of course, he knew someone had helped her. So soon enough I noticed beaters here and there. He had figured out who I was and was going to try sooner or later to intimidate me or harm me. Didn't matter. I left town and became a ghost, in the weeks I had spent following him I had seen every little thing he'd done, every misdeed. I knew what he was capable of, I wasn't gonna fight him. 

I left town telling Vanessa how to reach me and call if the bastard ever tried anything again. 

*present day* 

"Like I said I kept tabs on your mom," I told Arianna, she looked so much like her mother. "I was sure I'd be there if she ever got into trouble again, but I guess your father got a lot bigger," I groped my hands tightly. I felt as though I had failed her, every time I looked up at the young woman I could see her mom in my office tear-stained shirt, puffy eyes, but brave. 

She had that same determination in her eyes, she was going to take him down, of that I had no doubt. 

"Where's the information on the account," she sounded as though she'd found the golden ticket. 

I hated to be the bearer of bad news. "I don't know," 

Her face fell. "What!" She stood up and began pacing. "How could you not know, you were the one who found the bank account," 

I sighed. "I never kept the information for myself, I always handed it over to my clients your mom had every copy," 

She gripped her hair and the Italian model stood up coming over to her and rubbing her back. He was surprisingly gentle for the big bad wolf vibes he did his best to give off. 

"She hasn't told me where though," she explained. "I don't know where she left it or hid it. They tore apart our house, it's vanished," she cried. 

That I didn't believe. Vanessa wouldn't have kept it from her daughter, she lived for Arianna. "No she had to have left it somewhere for you to find," I argued. 

"If she did I can't find it we've gone to the house my father got there first every room torn down the studs it's gone!" She explained. 

Impossible. Vanessa had to have hidden it somewhere. 

"There's no way," I muttered. "Don't worry about this," I ordered her. "I'll find it," 

I felt all my loyalty to Vanessa go to the little girl I had watched dutifully do her homework, blissfully unaware of the deacon her mother battled for her. 

I was furious Domenico had broken that world Vanessa had given her life to protect. That woman was good and pure, one of the truly rare souls on the planet that gave a shit about others just because they were human too. 

I wasn't going to let the bastard get away with this.