Page 72 of The Hidden Heir

“Wait, do you mean to tell me he doesn’t trust you, of all people?”

A shudder runs through me as I try to keep the image of the shooter out of my head. I have a pretty good idea as to how the interrogation ended. I could tell from Luca’s promise that I’d never have to worry about that man ever again that Lanny didn’t make it, but his employer did.

And they’re still coming after us, it seems.

Victor shakes his head slowly. “In all fairness, I can’t exactly blame him. The information Lanny provided points to someone inside the Petrucci organization, someone who knows all the details of our operations.”

“But not you. You wouldn’t⁠—”

“No, I would not. Yet I understand that Luca needed a moment to assess the situation. All I can do is stay loyal and keep doing my job. He needs all hands on deck right now.”

“Mama, look!” Michael yells, commanding my attention.

He’s managed to put a cube through a square-shaped hole in one of his boxes, and he is absolutely delighted as he grabs a cylinder and slips it through the round-shaped hole next.

“You’re such a smart little boy!” I exclaim and give him a piece of a plain croissant to nibble on. “Next thing I know, he’ll be graduating Magna Cum Laude from Harvard, and I’ll be praying to God that he’ll still come home to visit on the weekends.”

Victor laughs lightly. “Are you kidding, Valentina? This boy will never leave your side. He’ll build his whole world around you if he has to. That’s the mark of a good mother.”

“I’m not sure I want him to stay so attached,” I mumble. “Though I won’t mind it, of course. I just want him to have a life of his own.”

“He will,” Victor replies. “But you’ll always be a part of it.”

From his lips to God’s ears. With tears in my eyes, I watch Michael chewing and enjoying the piece of pastry until my mind wanders back to Lanny and the events of last night. My boy’s safety is paramount, so I’m curious about what Luca intends to do to keep him safe.

As the sun rises slowly toward the noon hour, we gaze out at the garden, alive with color and life: roses and hydrangeas blooming, birds jumping from branch to branch, trilling and courting one another. But despite the tranquility of the scene, there’s a burning question I have to ask.

“Victor, what did Lanny tell Luca? Do you know?

Victor takes a deep breath and a long sip of his black coffee before he leans back into his chair. “There is a mole in our organization, that much is clear. Lanny and his crew had access to privileged information,” Victor says. “Upon searching his apartment and questioning some of his known associates the entire night⁠—”

“Questioning?” I raise an eyebrow at him.

Victor scoffs. “You know better than to request such details, Valentina.”

“Luca is ruthless, isn’t he?”

“I suppose that’s a rhetorical question?”

It is. I saw what my husband is capable of doing to protect those closest to him. I dare not imagine what lengths he will go to in order to find the person responsible for all of this. It will get infinitely worse now that he’s aware of a traitor in the Petrucci syndicate. The Camorra treats treason as a capital offense. Whoever leaked the information will die, likely at Luca’s hands.

“Are you safe?” I ask, worried.

“I have nothing to hide, and Luca knows it. In fact, I’ve gone over the information Lanny was given for his operations. The truck hijacking, the charity ball… I’ll admit, it startled me deeply.”

“Why is that?”

“It contained the kind of information only the family’s upper echelon had access to. A handful of people, at most.”

“What kind of information?” I ask, my blood running cold as I look at Victor and pray he doesn’t suffer a fate similar to Lanny’s.

“Transport routes, shipment details… even the drivers don’t get this stuff until half an hour before they show up for work,” he says. “Logistical information, financial information, security blueprints of how Luca’s men would be positioned at a formal event with more than 500 guests, as opposed to an event with less than 500 guests, and so on and so forth.

“Point is, the information Lanny got narrows down Luca’s suspect pool, for sure,” he adds with a deep frown. “There are only a handful of suspects left, and one of them is already dead.”

“Who’s already dead?”

Victor looks troubled as he glances at me. “Stefano. Stefano knew the routes in great detail because he set them up. He knew which cops and units were paid off to look the other way, which street corners had cameras and so on, and all the information was delivered to Lanny, giving him the opportunity to choose the perfect spot to hijack the truck.”