Mia Figlia

Chapter 14 ✔️

PoV Riccardo

It had been several days now since Stella had stolen her daughter back. She had not come back to her apartment. No-one had seen her somewhere in the city. My men were watching all train stations and the airport since day one, but mother and daughter had disappeared completely. No money had been taken from her bank account. Someone was helping her. But who? As usual I massaged my temples. I was exhausted, had a headache and was in desperate need of some rest. This was all her fault. Taking away my daughter had resulted in maybe one or two hours sleep per night. Drinking alcohol was not an option since I could not allow myself to get drunk. Safe to say that I currently hated my life. And I hated this fucking stupid woman. How could someone this fragile pull such a stunt? And how could she fool everyone to believe that she had lost her memory? It did not make any sense. The pain in my skull became almost unbearable. For a moment I rested my head on my arms which were lying on my desk. Sleep, I needed sleep. Someone knocked at my door, then Romano walked into my office.

"Boss, you should see this. I think we found a clue." He refused to make eye contact and scratched his jaw.

"You better did," I growled, for the biggest part due to the pain, then I got up and followed him to our monitoring room. My employee pointed at the screen. I snorted. Come on, we had watched the tapes several times. There was nothing else. Still, I did him the favor and looked at the monitor.

To my surprise those were older tapes, from the day before Isabella disappeared. Stunned I looked at the recording which was taken at the entrance of the small lingerie shop. Stella got in and two hours later the hot black-haired woman walked out confidently. We had one of the missing links. This had to be the breakthrough in our search. I put my hands on my hips, waiting for more information.

"Shop owner's name is Adrian Walker. He's in a relationship with Josh Wright, the guy who gave Stella his phone number at the café." Romano snarled. I recalled that he disliked the café owner for flirting with Stella. If he and his partner had helped her, they probably knew her already before. This was getting interesting.

"You are telling me that a gay couple helped her escape?" That was a first. We never had such a case before. Usually, gay men were too timid to go against the mafia. They almost peed themselves when seeing us. Why were these two different? And what was their relationship with that brown-haired bitch? "Do we have more information about them?"

"Took us some time boss, but it looks like they know each other since a couple of years at least. Stella lived together with them when she was pregnant. We could not find any older information about her life. Looks like this was the time she started to use her fake identity. After Isabella turned one, they split, and she moved around the country with her daughter. But she got money from these men on a regular base." Lucius informed me. He looked a bit puzzled, as if he still could not understand that we overlooked this at first. Well, I could not believe it neither. This made us look like a bunch of amateurs, me included. My head pounded heavier.

"Get them." I growled. If my little girl was not with them, then they would possibly know where mother and daughter had disappeared to. They could not hide from me. I would always find them.

"Why don't you just leave Stella and the girl alone?" Mario leaned against the wall. Of course, he had to ask this. Why couldn't he just keep his mouth shut?

"You still do not like my idea of adopting Isabella, do you?" My eyes pierced him, preventing him from moving. He held my gaze without any issues. Instead, he remained calm, and the corners of his mouth went up slightly.

"The mother will do everything for her daughter, as I told you before. Everything." His words made me shiver for a second, since I knew what he was implying there. It wasn't going to happen.

"Boss, both men are not at work today. We should drive to their place. If they are not there, we will find more info maybe." Romano looked at me worried. He had been like this a lot since we lost Isabella. Everyone in this household loved my little girl. And it was about time to bring her home. Lucius hurried out of the room to get the car ready. We followed him fast. Soon, baby girl, soon.

An hour later we stood in their living room. All of them were gone, but I was certain that they were hiding my darling. Sure, there were no toys or children's clothes lying around. Likewise, no sign of things a woman would use, but I could not get rid of the nagging feeling. While my men tried to find some clues, I looked at the picture on the wall. Two men, one woman and a baby. Isabella had been beautiful even as a baby. My heart clenched. I needed my little girl back in my arms. I looked at the three adults and their posture to each other. Although Stella was smiling on the picture, there was a hint of sadness in her eyes as well. Someone must have hurt her tremendously. I studied every single bit of the photo. The guys seemed to guard her and her child, keeping both between them. They protected Stella, but they would not be able to hide her from me any longer.

"I managed to get into their laptop. Not the smartest move to use your lover's name as password." Lucius smirked then showed me the booking site one of the guys had used. I read over the info. One room at the Hampton Inn in Waukesha for tonight. They were helping her to leave Milwaukee today. But I would have Isabella back as soon as the day ended.

"Called Mario already. He is getting our stuff ready; hence we only have to collect it at the mansion and drive to Waukesha," Romano informed me smiling. Or he enjoyed it, that we had finally a clue. Or he wanted to see that woman again. Maybe both. But I could not care less. The female was of no importance.

I thought about the information and nodded. Merely four hours then I would put a bullet in that woman's skull and take my daughter back with me.

It was late in the evening when we arrived at the hotel. I laughed inwardly. They were staying at one of my family's hotels. It was easy to get a key card for her room. The female receptionist turned pale, looked at me scared, then handed me what I wanted. She would not warn my prey. We went to the fourth floor, where that puttana was hiding my girl. I told Romano and Lucius to wait outside, then I unlocked the door and walked into the room. I noticed the night light and grinned. Isabella did not use a night light before the incident at the playground, but she needed those afterwards. I only knew because I overheard a conversation between the little one and Francesca. Now it looked like my innocent angel had convinced her mother to buy one for her. They both slept peacefully in the king-size bed, cuddled up against each other on one mattress. Their deep breathing sounded calming to me and for the first time since weeks I felt relaxed. The bed looked tempting comfortable. And it was surely big enough for all three of us.

Cazzo! I muttered under my breath. Then I undressed silently. Well, not completely, I kept my boxer shorts on. Since I had not slept enough for the past days, it seemed a good idea to take a nap. Convinced that I would wake up before them, I sneaked into bed and made myself comfortable. I was not in a hurry to kill Stella. Shedding some blood in the morning sounded good enough. Right now, I was too tired to clean up the mess. I turned on my side and looked at that fragile woman next to me. She had her arm wrapped around Isabella tightly. Her facial expression was soft, she even smiled in her sleep. The affection for her daughter was evident. My anger melted like snow under the sun. This woman had been brave. Not every mother would have gone in against the mafia to get her child back. To be honest, no woman I knew would have been this stupid or brave.

A strand of hair had fallen across her cheek, and I put it behind her ear. Then I stroked her bare shoulder. My hand traveled down beneath the blanket. She was only wearing briefs. I smirked. Well, this would be embarrassing for her if she would notice. But I would make sure to wake up before she did. Without thinking about the possible consequences, I pulled mother and daughter closer to me. Her sweet smell soothed my stressed nerves within seconds, and I fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

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I really hope he wakes up first and gets out of bed before she realizes that they spent the night in the same bed. 

But what if she's up first? How would she react?