章 11: | Discovery

𝐉𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐒

Roman stared at me for what felt like a million years. He looked apprehensive as if he was trying to gauge how the formation was going to affect me. After a few more seconds, I couldn't take it again. "Roman!" I grunted, sending him a scowl.

Roman rolled his eyes and nodded his head. "Okay, okay, chill. Now answer me this, when did the Morello's move into town, Gunner?"

"Five years ago," I replied. And then I clicked. I suddenly understood where he was going with this. "But it doesn't fit into the timeframe of all the child disappearances," I reasoned. If what Roman Anderson was trying to tell me was true, then he would have to make it all fit in my head. If not, It was going to be pretty difficult for me to believe him. It wasn't my fault. That was just how detectives were wired.

Roman lifted a brow, the corner of his mouth twitching. "If you're as smart as you think you are, you'll know it was about five years ago that drugs started to flow into these streets." He slanted his head. "Do you think that's a coincidence, Gunner?"

"This morning, I arrested a guy and found cocaine on him. He said he was dealing for the Bologna's."

"And you believed him?" Roman asked.

I shrugged. "Why shouldn't I?"

"Because there is no fucking way anyone with half a brain would give up the name of their dealer," he growled, snapping his fingers as if to wake me up or something. "Open your eyes, Gunner, you are supposed to be smarter than this."

"You don't know Rio, Roman. He's one stupid individual," I said, trying to defend my line of reasoning.

"I'm not kidding, Gunner. If he was dealing for a family like the Bologna, there's no way in hell he'd snitch on them. He'd be good as dead."

I leaned back on the couch. "So, you think he's lying?"

"Oh, I know he's lying."

"It's a setup, then?"

"Maybe. Probably." Roman stood up from the couch and moved to stand by the window. Looking out, he grunted, "If the Bologna are behind all the drugs and the child kidnappings, why did it only start to get out of hand two years ago? They've been around for fifty years so why start now?"

"Who knows? Maybe the fuckers got greedy."

He snorted again. God, I hated when he did that. It was only cool when I did it.

"Dante Bologna is guilty of a lot of things, Gunner. But kidnapping children isn't one of them, and neither is selling drugs."

He sounded so damn sure about this fact that it made me wonder exactly what had him so convinced of Bologna's innocence. Sure, it was a bit suspicious that Rio gave up the name so easily, but then again, Rio wasn't exactly what you'd call street smart.

I got up from the couch and stood next to him. "Do I want to know why you sound so fucking sure about all this?"

He placed his hand on my shoulder. "I've been around for a long time, rookie. Trust me when I say it's the Morello's you want."

I peered down at his hand on my shoulder before looking up at him. "This still doesn't mean we're partners."

"Of course, it doesn't." He removed his hand and walked to the front door. He paused as he reached for the doorknob. "Besides, your ass is suspended, remember?"

Ah, fuck. I forgot about that for a second, and it felt so good until this asshole ruined it.

And then it occurred to me. "If you know I'm suspended, why did you just tell me all this?"

He was already halfway out the door when he stopped and glanced my way. "I don't know what you're talking about. I just did my duty as your partner to check how you were doing after getting suspended." A wicked half grin curved up the corner of his mouth, and then he closed the door behind him.

This time it was my turn to snort. What an asshole—albeit an asshole who just scored some major points.

It pained me to admit it, but maybe he was right. Maybe I'd been concentrating too much on the wrong damn family. The heat had been on the Bologna's for so long, that the Morellos movements went almost completely unnoticed.

I needed to spend some time investigating the Morello's to see what I could come up with. I still wasn't convinced I was wrong about the Bologna's being behind this town turning into a criminal dumpster. But if—and that was a big fucking if—Roman was right, I needed to start paying closer attention to the other Italian family in town.

I grabbed my phone, scrolling to Vanessa's Instagram page before I sat on the couch, wondering why I felt the need to disinfect the La-Z-Boy before I made use of it again. Probably because of Roman's dirty ass.

There was still no status update on her page, and I was pretty sure since she now knew I was watching her profile, she wouldn't be updating it that often anymore. I was surprised she hadn't deleted and blocked my ass yet.

Staring at her profile picture, her smile almost reaching her chocolaty eyes, I couldn't help but think she didn't quite fit into the Bologna equation. Sure, she was feisty with a healthy dose of that sexy-as-hell Italian attitude, but part of a criminal family? I didn't think so.

It was easy to see her older brother Antonio was well on his way to following in their father's footsteps. Daniel had that whole Italian badass nailed to perfection. But her? I didn't know. One thing I did know was Vanessa Bologna was a puzzle I wanted to solve, and even if my spidey senses keep telling me to keep away, my dick didn't seem to listen.

I knew I needed to figure her out, so I was just going to press some buttons here and there, get the information I needed, and get the hell out of there with my cock very much unattended. Because if I wasn't careful Vanessa Bologna was going to be the end of me.

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章 12: | Family

𝐕𝐀𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐀

I stared at my phone and wondered if I should update my status and let the world know I was on my way to Daniel's birthday party at Bolivia nightclub. But that would be stupid. Plus, it would be a recipe for a stampede.

If I were honest with myself, I'd admit the only reason I would want to do something so stupid would be to see if he was still keeping an eye on my profile. And would he react? Or would he suspect it was just another ruse, a ploy at creating a little entertainment for my followers?

God, I felt so pathetic even considering it. In any case, I wouldn't want to do anything to jeopardize the little freedom my brothers and I were given.

Usually, our dad didn't condone us hanging out at bars or nightclubs, and we hardly ever did. Being Italian came with a lot of rules and family morals everyone needed to adhere to. From an early age, we were taught to wear sophistication as a second skin and never to disgrace the family. We were classy, and our actions needed to mirror that.

A few years back, Daniel went through a really tough time. Acted out, got drunk, started fights, and went around being a total asshole. One night he was out partying at a nightclub, and a fight broke out because my dear brother decided to pursue a woman who already had a man at her side. Overall, he was acting like a complete jerk, and the media was having a field day with it.

The rest of the family didn't understand, but I did. I understood. Being a woman and dealing with heartbreak was tough enough. But being an independent, strong man with an ego bigger than the Pacific, dealing with a broken heart was ten times worse. It was eating away at him. Partying and drinking was the only way he knew how to deal with it.

But Daniel was never one to follow rules, always wanting to see how far he could bend them before they finally broke. But that day at the bar, Daniel bent the rules too damn far. I'd never seen my dad as mad as I did that day. He slapped Daniel across the face so hard my brother had a handprint on his cheek for a week. The Italian that came out of my dad's mouth was something I'd never dreamt of repeating.

It was after that incident my mom managed to persuade Dad to let us have the tiniest sliver of freedom, especially whenever there was something that needed celebrating. She blamed Daniel's antics for being too cramped, too protected. If you asked me, even if we were given all the freedom in the world, Daniel would still fuck up every chance he got. That was just the way he was—the wild horse.

"Well, look at you." Daniel came sauntering down the hallway just as I stepped out of my room.

I smiled as he pulled on his black suit jacket. "Speak for yourself. You look dashing, Mr Bologna."

He glanced down at the black sleeveless mini dress I was wearing. "Antonio is going to have a heart attack."

"And why would I have a heart attack?" Antonio walked up behind Daniel.

"Because Vanessa decided to wear half a dress." Daniel crossed his arms and smirked.

I glowered at him. "It's not half a dress. It's called a cocktail dress."

"It's called a cocktail dress because you look like a tail for a lot of cocks when you're wearing it." Daniel stepped in next to me and placed his arm around my shoulder.

"Ha, ha," I scoffed. "That's not even remotely funny."

"Daniel is right, Vanessa," Antonio started. "I don't want trouble tonight."

"And you won't get in trouble just because I'm wearing a sexy dress."

Antonio scowled. "I wish it's as easy as you put it, Nessa. Since it's just a sexy dress, you won't mind changing into another one, then."

I glanced from Antonio to Daniel. They could practically have been twins with their dark hair and dark eyes. You'd have to be a special kind of stupid to not realize they were brothers.

Antonio was slightly taller than Daniel, and he carried himself with much more grace and poise. He had that same air of confidence around him, as our dad. He demanded everyone's attention simply by walking into a room. From the outside looking in, it would be easy to spot who was the heir to the Bologna throne. Antonio was always impeccably well-groomed, with never a hair out of place, and always cleanly shaven. He was every Italian designer's wet dream.

Now, Daniel? Daniel was what the world would call the bad boy. He was a little more muscular, and he wore his hair slightly longer, the tips touching his collar. Also, not nearly as high-strung as our older brother. Like now, for example. Antonio was wearing a black tie to compliment his perfectly pressed suit, while Dante had the first three buttons of his white dress shirt undone. He was much rougher around the edges…like Detective Gunner.

Dammit. I had no idea why I'd thought of him. As quickly as that thought popped into my mind, I pushed it aside and glanced at Daniel. "You just had to stir shit about the dress, didn't you?"

"I'm just looking out for my little sister." Daniel urged me to turn with him, his arm still on my shoulders. "I was only kidding, little sister. You actually look gorgeous."

I smiled and placed my arm around his waist. "Now you are talking."

Daniel glanced at Antonio. "And if we're forced to kick some poor bastard's ass for ogling hers, then we can tell Dad it was her fault."

"Oh, my God." I jabbed Daniel in the side with my elbow. "You are such an ass."

They both burst out in laughter as we walked down the hallway, and I knew I was going to feel like a damn sardine between the two of them for the entire night.

We were about to head out the front door when my father came into the foyer, his dark gaze settling on me.

"Vanessa, may I have a word?" he said like I had a choice. Dante Bologna might let it sound like he was asking, but everyone knew he never asked. He demanded.

Daniel removed his arm from my shoulder and nudged me forward. "We'll wait for you in the car."

Of course, they will. No one dared to stand up to my dad, especially his children. He demanded complete respect from us.

While Daniel and Antonio walked out the front door, I tried my best to glare holes in their heads, telepathically conveying the message that I was extremely pissed off and I would have my revenge.

Daniel winked at me as he closed the door behind him. I was pretty sure I'd never had such an overwhelming urge to beat the crap out of him as I did right at that moment.

It didn't matter what my father wanted, I just knew I wasn't going to like it. As I walked toward him, I sent a quick prayer to Santa Maria in hopes that my father wasn't aware of my visit to the station. Because that would be one hell of a question.

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