Interlude I: Forever Searching

Marcello's POV

It's been a month since Ilaria went missing. A whole fucking month.

Finding her should've been easy. In fact, it should've taken an hour maximum. Yet, here we are a month later with every single trace of Ilaria Sunshine Lombardi after May 18th scrubbed off the face of the earth. It was like she simply fell off the face of the earth after she left. It almost makes me think that she was kidnapped—or at least forced to leave in some capacity. It isn't like her to act so rash as to up and leave at a moment's notice, nor is it like her to go radio silent. There's been no posts to any of her social media pages, no new bank accounts opened in her name, no police reports filed in any capacity, nothing. It's like she's become a ghost.

Currently, I'm sitting in my office pouring over the last few seconds of footage we have of her for the fifteen-millionth time. It's probably fruitless considering we haven't still haven't gotten a single crumb of solid information from it—and certainly nothing that the piece of shit ex-guard hadn't spilled already.

As much as I hate to admit it, we're lucky that the fucker gave us the information he did before his death. In the security footage, there's a shader on the license plate, and the car is parked at an awkward angle. It honestly looks like whoever the drive is has no clue how to park, let alone drive. I hope that she was able to exit the car safely.

Suddenly, the door opens and Camden walks in. He has a piece of paper in his hands, and he looks like he's on some type of warpath.

"Cam—"

"Pull up the footage."

"What?"

"Did I stutter? Pull up the fucking footage."

I sighed, but did as he demanded. He's been… on edge since Ilaria left, to say the least. I'm not surprised considering that they're twins and had never been apart for more than a day. But, even so, this was a whole new level.

Usually I wouldn't tolerate the disrespect, but something tells me that he's on the verge of a breakthrough right now. So, I'll give him a pass. Just this once.

He sits down after I practically force him to, and he presses play on the video. I see the emotions flit through his eyes and across his face. Rage, shock, relief, sadness, more rage, determination. He looks down at the paper, and then back at the screen. It's like he's just clicked the last piece of the puzzle into place.

Camden stands up so fast that the chair knocks back, and starts pacing beside it.

"I knew it. I fucking knew it! That little bitch is gonna—"

"Cam. I'm gonna need you to elaborate here." My voice is smooth as I try to calm my brother down enough so he can explain himself, and also so he doesn't punch any of my walls.

He thrusts the piece of paper into my hands. Only it's not just a piece of paper. It's a letter, and more than that: a threat.

Stop Searching. Or else.

- MEG

"Remember that girl I sketched, and remember how I thought that the car looked familiar?" I nod, still in shock. "Remember how that Marrisa girl told us that the sketch looked a lot like some girl named Maru Gomez?" I nod again. I remember every bit of information about my sister and her disappearance. "Maru is short for Maria Eugenia, and I'm about 99% sure that that's her car in the footage."

My eyes widen. "Holy shit."

How stupid is this girl, really? She signs her initials after knowing that we know her name. Even if it we only knew her nickname, was she really stupid enough to think that we wouldn't figure her out?

"I knew that something was off," I muttered.

Whenever we asked around about this Maru girl, the only answer we got was that she left for college early. At the time, I didn't really care to ask for more than that because it made perfect sense.

Ilaria once told us that she wanted to go study creative writing at New York University, and that she wanted to leave for the city the day after graduation. The response from all of us was unanimous: Hell no.

She knew we would give her the world if we asked, but going alone that far from home was not an option. She didn't argue at the time, but I heard her sobbing later that night. When I read her diary the next day she had written pages about it.

I had felt bad, of course. I wanted to let her do what she wanted—I still do. But, the truth is that it's dangerous outside of the small bubble that we've constructed for her. Plus, it's not always good for her to live without certain parameters. As her oldest brother and as her guardian, I know what's best for her. Of course, our other brothers also are able to provide guidance. But, at the end of the day, it's me who needs to be making the important decisions.

I know how to keep my siblings safe—I know how to keep her safe. It's helpful that my brothers and I are on the same page when it comes to her: her safety is above all else, and her comfort is second. Why else would we have constructed such a safe bubble for her? Why else would we be so overprotective of her? Why else would we have orchestrated the accident? My mother was driving a wedge between us brothers and our baby sister, and my father was a complete and utter borderline-abusive dick who would've gone off the rails if I hadn't disposed of him too. So, I did what I had to do.

Plus, it wasn't like I didn't have a one hundred percent chance of gaining full guardianship over my siblings—because I did. Yes, I had only just graduated high school, and yes, I was barely 18. However, I have quite the way with words and access to the worlds best lawyers. It was easier than taking candy from a baby.

Poor Ilaria was heartbroken that our mother had died. We pretended to be upset about it as well, but in truth Elijah and Levi helped me pull everything off, and Camden knew the truth from the beginning. Yes, we were all young, but everyone knew that I was a better fit to be the Don. The mafia couldn't be run by a decrepit, deranged mad-man who was too busy getting high off his own supply to actually work. He was going to die by the hands of someone eventually, and I just made sure that it was by mine. It cemented the fact that I deserved the respect and the title of "Don," and it proved to my loyalty to my family.

This all could've been avoided if our mother and father had just agreed to willingly give the custody of my siblings to me and to leave the house. I didn't care where, as long as they were far away and never came back—as long as they never even looked in our directions, but especially Ilaria's.

She's always been so vulnerable, and wasn't—and is still not—fair to her to leave her defenseless and on her own. She needs guidance and shelter, so we gave it to her—and we'll continue giving it to her when she returns.

All this to say: We've protected her before, and we'll protect her again. All she needs to do is to come home. We're not mad, only worried. Sure, there might be extra parameters put in place for safety purposes after this, but she'll understand. She won't have a choice but to. It's for her own good, and she will be grateful for that.

"I'll call Enzo, have him track her down. With any luck he'll find Illy in the process."

"Good. I'll inform Elijah and Levi."

Before Camden is able to walk out the door, I call out to him. He turns around. "We'll find her, Cam. I swear we will."

He nods slowly, seemingly slightly more assured.

"I know."

The door slams shut behind him, and I can't help but wonder when she'll return. All I know is that it better be soon, or god help the poor souls that I find on the path to get to her.