Protecting The Principessa (Complete)

~ Chapter 46 ~

Adriano wanted to kiss her and love her, wanted to comfort, not just her but the young girl. What a blow that must have been to her. Sure, a lot more shit made sense now after hearing that. She might not personally love her siblings, but he couldn't fault her for that, not when she was made, even unintentionally, to feel second best. What child ever liked that? Ever wanted that?

Though it wasn't meant to, the high regard he had for Carlo might have dropped a notch or two as well. Not that Carlo knew anything, and Adriano was certain that wasn't the point of Izzy's story, but nonetheless, it did. How could any man do that to their kid? Carlo would have known or at least picked up on the fact that she wasn't the same with him, wouldn't he have questioned it? Sadly, that was an answer he would never get, and he knew that too.

"I don't want to get into that with him," Izzy muttered against his chest, and he couldn't blame her, he really couldn't, but he also knew his boss, his boss at least deserved it. Carlo might not have been the world's greatest dad to her, but he did try. And when shit started happening again, he did what he could to protect the two ladies he loved the most, even if one of those despised him.

"Look, I know you have issues, and you have every right to them," he started, causing her to lift her head and look at him.

"But?" she picked up and he shrugged.

"Carlo is a boss, with that comes responsibilities that we don't think about or understand. You might have given him the cold shoulder, but he didn't return the favor. Silently, and always in the background, that man took care of both you and your mom. You can't deny that." She wanted to, he could see that in her eyes, but she didn't speak a word.

"I'll think about it, how's that?" He sighed, knowing he wouldn't get anything more but nodded.

"Fine." She curled back up to him and he had to marvel at her. He was expecting her to throw everything in his house and him for the lies and half-truths he uttered to her, but she hadn't. He regretted everything anyways, but the conversation they just had was amazing. He saw more of her than she let on and he felt a little tug on his heart. He rested his head on hers as he glanced at his phone again, the calculator app still open. He had to make a call to the boss, had to figure out what was going on. Without her knowing it, Ignazia gave off such a clue and it had to be examined. "What are you thinking? And don't tell me nothing. I'll give over being mad about the lies if you're more straightforward from here on out." She pulled back and he let her.

"Deal, which I am sorry for."

"I don't do this, I really can be a bitch and hold on to a grudge for a while, but I just have no means to do with it you. So, forgiven, this one fucking time. Don't do it again, Adriano." He held up his hands and smiled at her.

"Not my intention to lie to you again, Izzy." With that, he showed her the phone and she looked at it before making a face.

"What the hell is that?"

"The time from now and the time of the attack again on Carlo." She tilted her head as she looked at Adriano, not understanding what he meant.

"What do you mean again?"

"Carlo sent your mom and you away because they killed his family, you know about that right?" She nodded and he went on. "Good. After you left, and he got remarried, nothing happened, it's as if the would-be killers just stopped with him." She glanced at the numbers again and frowned.

"That's the time frame of me coming here." At that simple statement, her eyes opened wide. "Did I trigger something?"

"You didn't know you did, so don't blame yourself. However, after you left, sometime that year, I'm going to assume before May, there was another attack on Carlo. No one could figure out what the fuck was going on, or why it was happening. Why it stopped and why it started again. But I'm telling you, I don't find it to be a coincidence that things happened after you made a trip to New York."

"I didn't do it!" He chuckled and shook his head.

"No, I'm not blaming you. I'm just saying someone found out something and things started up again. I'm going to go out on a limb and say Cesare found out something." She wrinkled her brows, and he could see the thoughts twisting around. The truth was, he wasn't even certain he was right. But the gut feeling he was getting was stating that man knew more than he had ever let on, but there was no sound reason as to why. Why would he even be behind it, why even go after Carlo? They had seemed to be such good friends for so long, although Cesare was never privy to all of Carlo's secrets; there might have only ever been one person and she took them to her grave.

Adriano looked at his phone again, the dates dancing around in his head. The man knew something seemed to fit but didn't at the same time. It was a confusing notion and it really bothered Adriano. Cesare wasn't a man that he could say he knew well; that was Carlo's man, but maybe it was time to dive a little further into him.

"You're thinking." Adriano chuckled and glanced down at Izzy.

"Tomorrow, we're going to do some digging. In the meantime, we're going to bed. You've had a long day and I'm sure you're exhausted."

"I'm curious though," she said as she stood up, and he followed suit. "Why come after me? Why not my siblings?"

"Carlo loves all his kids, and though you may not feel it nor see it, you hold more of his heart than his other kids. Taking you out would bring him to his knees far faster than losing any of his others. Though, I still don't think that's the reason for the attacks on you. I do know, however, there hasn't been much on him since you stepped off that plane. It's all on you." That was another tidbit he hadn't thought of. It wasn't that he was even keeping it, or her dad, it just wasn't something they had noticed. But now that it was out there, it was rather concerning.

Someone knew about her years ago, but there was no way to find her. And now that she was back, she had a bigger danger sign on her. Her dad thought it best to bring her out here, that putting his best man to protect her would keep her out of danger, and God damn did Adriano try! But leaving her where she was might have been a better option. At least then, all the focus still would have been on Carlo.

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"What are we looking for?" Adriano glanced around at the library that was at her dad's place. He knew Carlo would be out today so he thought it best to do some digging, not that her dad would say anything. The library was open to anyone who wanted to use it. But Izzy still wasn't happy with her dad, and he just didn't want a blow-up between them. Their tempers, even if she refused to see it, were a lot alike, and getting them heated was not a good idea.

"I'm not even sure. Cesar isn't one I know a lot about. He was here well before I was and as far as I knew, was a friend of your dad's. I never really sat down and had a heart-to-heart with the man." He smiled as he knew that she rolled her eyes at that, but it was the truth. He walked around the books and looked at some of the photos, still not really able to give her a direction to go in. And maybe it was going down the wrong trail. Maybe it wasn't Cesare after all, but it was someone closer to Carlo than they thought.

And that pissed him off! He hated to think he had fucked that one up so badly. But given the oddities, he was going to say he did. Although he and Carlo had raked over everything, so it wasn't just on his shoulders, but Carlo was the boss, so he could lay the blame anywhere.

"Do you know how he knows my dad? School buddies? College dormmates?" Adriano thought about that. It was possible. They were roughly the same age if he recalled. But that would have meant that Cesare knew Carlo's family, and would have known about his brothers and father being killed.

"I don't, why do you ask?" He turned and found Izzy holding a book.

"Just asking. It's hard to know where to look when I don't know what we're looking for, you know? I get it that you don't know much about him, but I would also hate to think that someone who's known my dad for more than half his life would betray him in such a manner."

"The golden rule in this business, Ignazia, is you never trust a soul in the mafia world. Someone is always out to stab you in the back, you just have to stay one step ahead of them."

"Do you think we should tell my dad?" Adriano let out a sigh before looking at her. It was a question he had been up half the night battling in his mind while he held her, and he hated it. He wanted to, but he wasn't sure if it was smart or not, not with some kind of evidence, but how the fuck was he going to find anything to back up the claim when he didn't know where to even begin to look. Maybe it was prime time to offer up dinner with his daughter to let his daughter pry?