Chapter 58

Arianna POV: 

The whirlwind that was Ryan Blake had flung into our lives and decidedly flung out rather quickly, I honestly hadn't expected her to turn up again for months at the latest but after running out of the house the night before she strolled back in with a cup of black coffee and some pastries. 

"Okay," she mumbled, her mouth full of croissant, "I went to your mom's house there was nothing there," I could barely understand her as she spoke putting her boots up on the coffee table in the den. "You weren't kidding," she chuckled to herself. "They tore that place apart," A wicked grin spread on her face. 

I felt my heart pang when I remembered the state of the home I had grown up in. Giovanni must have seen it cross my face as he set his cappuccino down and bit out, "The home your friend built being torn to shreds amuses you?" 

Blake didn't miss a beat she took another sip of her coffee and with all seriousness explained. "Yes, the thought of Domenico going crazy looking for the file we will use to put his ass in jail does most definitely amuse me," 

Those two were like oil and water. Where Giovanni was refined European class, Blake was down-home American truth. Somehow the two now had to co-exist, while Giovanni liked his desk tidy and his day orderly following a repetitive schedule, Blake seemed to do whatever her mind focused on at the moment. 

Which made me begin to wonder about her background. She said comrades at one point, but no military veteran I'd seen had ever been this disorganized, after having cleanliness beaten into them it tended to stay. 

"What did you say you did before this?" I asked her one day staring at her pile of papers sprawled all over the floor. 

"I didn't," she threw back carefree. 

"But how do you have your name blocked off on your tax information?" I kept on pestering her my curiosity getting the better of me. 

"I know the right people," She murmured focusing on the information she was going over. "Damn!" She grunted. 

"What?" I walked over to her pile. 

"Your mom's will, nothing in her about specifics to bequeath you when she passes," She explained holding up the legal documents. 

My eyes went bug-eyed grabbing the folder from her. "How did you get my mom's will?" I asked holding onto it sure enough it was her last will and testament, nothing in there besides her wishes for a small funeral, and that everything she owned was to pass to me. 

Waving her hand and grabbing the letter my mom had left me she said "I stole it from the lawyer's office," 

Detective Mosley who was on video chat with Giovanni pipped in. "I can hear you, can you tell her I can hear her,". 

Giovanni gave him an unimpressed look, "I don't believe she'll care,". He sat at his desk staring at us, "What exactly are looking for in all of your papers?" 

Blake rolled her eyes out of Gio's view, "Vanessa was terrified of Domenico she wouldn't leave her daughter without protection she must have left a clue as to where the file was somewhere in any of this, in her will, in her belongings, in her letter," Blake rambled as she went over the letter again. 

"I agree it does seem odd that she hasn't left anything as to where this file is, perhaps she didn't place it in time," The detective suggested. 

Once again Blake rolled her eyes. "F.B.I.," she scoffed under her breath. "She had twelve years to place the file somewhere, I think she'd have found the time," 

We sat there talking about possible places my mother could have hidden it, since she'd gone for classics like underneath the floor boards, and picture frames we knew she hadn't done something overly complicated, the issue was it wasn't in anything in the house. There was no sign of it at the house or among her possessions. 

"Where's your mom's purse?" Blake asked me as we headed into the kitchen to eat for the night. 

"It was at the house, why?" 

"Damn," She growled. "I just figured maybe it was on her keys or something, but if it was in the house they'd have gone through it. 

We at dinner agreed to leave speculation of where the file was out of meal for the night in hopes of giving our brains a break. I still couldn't shut it off when I went into my room that night to grab a nightgown. It was like Blake said, reading my mom's letter confirmed how constant the fear and threat of my father was for her. With every breath she took, she hoped this information was enough to keep us safe. 

Blake had suggested she look into a new bank account and try and find us a new bit of information to get my father, disappearing into the night as she often did. I felt scared for her, worried she would end up in my father's clutches but every morning she returned. 

I crawled into bed beside Giovanni finding sanctuary in the crook of his arm, and the warmth of his chest. "We will find it," He promised me kissing me softly before turning off the light. I knew he was right that we would find it, but I still couldn't go to sleep that night, my mom's face in the photo haunting me. What was it that I was missing, I felt like it was right in front of my face, something so simple we hadn't thought of it. 

Sleep eluded me for most of the night as my mind danced with where it could possibly be. This great answer to our problems had to be somewhere and for the life of me, I couldn't imagine where my mom had put it. Her happy expression radiated in my head as I thought of her, the image of us on her vanity taunting me. 

As the sun crept into the room I shoved a pillow over my face whining at the sleepless night I had dragged myself through. The picture frame still dancing across my mind. 

I stopped breathing when it clicked. 

The picture. 

I shot out of bed I must have made a shriek or noise as Gio shot up as well. I ran into my bedroom grabbing the same photo from my nightstand and ripping open the back of the frame. It was us in the park playing twelve years ago. They hadn't found it in the house because it was the only thing of hers I had grabbed the day I left. 

I got the back off and there it was a dusty USB tapped to the back of the photo. 

Giovanni stood in the doorway panting as I reached down and grabbed the small device holding it up for him to see. 

He cursed in Italian before breaking into laughter. 

We had it, the silver bullet that would put my father behind bars for the rest of his life. Blake came strolling in that morning and I couldn't help but boast and she actually smiled for once. Mosley sent someone over right away to take a copy of it. We had him, I couldn't believe it, but we had him.