Chapter 23 - Maxim

“That’s the second dead end,” I snarl as we walk back to the car, away from the Napoli safe house Stefano directed me too. The first one was empty, as was this one. No one has been here for ages. There is dust to prove it.

“So we keep trying. We head to the third location,” Stefano snaps back, just as frustrated as I am.

“I have to find her,” I say, more to myself than him, as we pull the car doors open and climb inside again.

“I know, man, I know you do.” The sincerity in his voice causes me to glance in his direction. His expression matches his tone, and his eyes hold a gentleness I haven”t seen on his face before. “We are going to find her,” he says.

I nod and turn my attention back to driving. We”re headed toward the third safe house.

My stomach is in knots, my nerves are frayed, and my thoughts are all over the place. I am frantic at the idea of losing Chiara.

We drive there in silence, my mind racing.

“Turn in here,” Stefano says, pointing down a dark driveway.

“It doesn’t look like there”s anyone here, either,” I sigh.

“We still have to look.”

I park and we climb out of the car.

Stefano punches in a code on the security keypad as he did at the other houses.

The door opens.

Immediately, I catch her scent and my body goes into overdrive.

“She was here.” I bolt inside. Stefano grabs my arm.

“Go slow. We don’t know if anyone is still here.”

The house is as dark and empty as it looked outside. There is no sign of anyone currently being here. But I can smell her perfume.

We walk through the house with our handguns drawn, going from room to room.

From somewhere further into the house Stefano calls out my name. “Maxim, in here.”

I run, my heart heavy with fear.

He is standing inside a bedroom, and her smell is stronger in here.

But more than that, on the bed is a jacket.

Her jacket.

I grab it and lift it to my face, breathing her in.

My heart tugs and spins.

I quickly search the jacket for signs of blood or some hint that she might be hurt.

While I”m looking, a piece of paper floats to the ground from where it was tucked inside one of the folds.

Stefano leans down to pick it up, but I move faster and grip it tightly between my fingers.

Chiara’s handwriting is neat and feminine. I can see she wrote this but in a hurry.

I am filled with relief, at the knowledge that she is alive and unharmed, and that she managed to leave this letter for me.

My heart is still beating way too fast as I read, though, skimming through it as fast as I can, trying to understand what is going on.

The page is crammed full of writing. I begin to read out loud, and the deeper I get into the letter she left for us, the more Stefano paces in agitation.

She has written everything that her father confessed to her.

It is a dark, twisted, horrific story of murder and revenge. It paints a picture of a very dark and evil man.

At one point, I read out loud about how Angelo killed Stefano’s mother when he overheard her telling Stefano that she would always be in love with my uncle. Stefano picks up the corner of the bed and throws the entire piece of furniture onto its side. He screams as agony and understanding rips through him.

I continue reading in silence, as Stefano storms around the room, tearing curtains and swearing, furious at the years of betrayal and loss he has suffered.

“Stefano. For fuck”s sake, get a hold of yourself,” I snap. “Listen.”

Stefano stands in the middle of the room, his chest heaving as he tries to catch his breath. All I see in his eyes is hatred.

“Chiara says she has a plan. She is okay, and she has a plan.”

I read the last bit again so that Stefano can hear it.

Chiara details how she has managed to convince her father that she feels sorry for him, for everything that has happened to him, and that she wants to help him.

“He is going to kill her,” Stefano snaps.

“Chiara is a smart girl, Stefano. Don’t underestimate her. She would not have written this if she wasn”t confident that her plan would work.”

Stefano closes his eyes for a moment. “All this time—”

I can only imagine what he feeling right now, knowing that he has lived and worked with the man who took his mother’s life for so long.

“We need to trust her. We can’t take on Angelo alone. We need someone inside, and she is right there, with him.”

He nods.

I can see him doing his best to pull himself together.

I hold back on sharing my own relief, of having found out that Chiara is alive and safe, because I know that Stefano has just learned some devastating news about his mother’s death and that he”s been living under the manipulation of a psychopath.

Is she safe, though?

Her father is a master manipulator, obviously, and maybe he can see through her plot.

“We had better get going,” I say, eager to get to my brothers and tell them what”s going on.

I bite at the inside of my cheek as we walk out to the car.

Inside the car, as we drive toward my brother’s place, I ask something that has been bothering me for a while.

“Why are you always so aggressive and nasty towards Chiara?”

Stefano looks out of the window. For a long moment, he is quiet.

“After I lost my father and then my mother, a lot changed. I changed. In my grief, I became this person that sometimes I don’t even like. Often. I often don’t like myself.

”But, with Chiara, her father led me to believe that she really didn’t care about what happened to my mother, and there was no point in talking to her about it. He made me believe that she was shallow, only worried about herself and her own life.”

“I see,” I mumble, when he falls quiet again.

“I was wrong,” he sighs, rubbing his eyes with his hands. “I was wrong. I let him manipulate me. All those years, he guided everything I thought and believed about everyone around me. He made me think Chiara was a selfish person, but he did it to keep us apart, as siblings. I guess he wanted to protect her and keep me isolated. It was all a game to him. Our lives are a game to him.”

“I’m sorry, man, I can’t imagine that any of this is easy to find out.”

“I’m sorry for how I treated Chiara all those times. I was a real asshole to her. I still had the choice, you know.”

“You were really young when Angelo implanted his ideas in your mind. You can’t be hard on yourself about what happened because of him. I guess you just need to decide who you want to be in the future—from now on.”

“You”re right. But I owe her an apology. I hated her for a long time because I thought she didn’t care about my mother. I pushed her away, even when she tried to be my friend. She did try. I think she felt alone as well. Her mother was also killed. She only had her father. We both did. He made it that way, so that both of us relied on him, not each other. Fuck, it’s so disgusting, how he used everyone around him.”

“Well, now Chiara is going to manipulate him.”

“I hope she can.”

His words send a shudder of dread through me. I hope she can, too. I hope she knows how to handle him. I can’t handle the thought of her in pain. And she must be going through so much now, too. She just found out that her father murdered her mother. She just found out that her father, who I know she loved, is actually a monster.

Her heart must be shredded. But she is still with that man, playing it cool, being the supportive daughter. Alone.

She needs me, and I can’t be there for her now.

Stefano turns his face toward me. “You”re right, Maxim. She”s a smart girl. She has a good heart. You know, even though I was such an asshole to her all those times, she still did her best to be nice to me. She always has been. Fuck. I really am a dickhead. But that girl, she”s smart.”

“She is. She”s amazing,” I agree.

But my heart is still drowning in worry for her when we arrive at Paval’s house, where my brothers are waiting.

“Come on, let’s go talk to them and figure out what we can do about all of this.”

I climb out of the car and Stefano follows me into the house.

In the dining room, my brothers are seated around the table. Dinner is ready.

“Come on guys, take a seat. You must be hungry. Let’s have some food and you can update us on what is going on.”

I nod, sliding into a chair. Stefano takes a seat next to me, both of us lost in thought.

Kiril speaks. “You said Chiara is okay. Where is she?”

“With her father,” I reply.

Over dinner, we explain everything to my family, Stefano and I both adding in bits of information after we read the letter out loud to my brothers. The shock around the table is evident.

“He killed his wife?”

“Yes. And my mother,” Stefano replies.

“How do you feel about what Chiara said? She said she has a plan, but she hasn’t really told you anything.”

“I trust her,” I reply to Paval. He nods, thoughtfully.

“This is a lot to take in. I can’t believe he was behind everything. We”ve worked with him for years. I always thought he was a strong ally.”

“We all did. Don’t feel bad that he pulled the wool over your eyes in business, he tricked those of us who lived with him and were around him every day. I never knew—I mean, I never suspected any of this,” Stefano comments, pushing his food around his plate.

“Okay, well, I guess the thing is that we know now. But we have to decide what to do about it.”

“Agreed,” Kiril says, nodding at Fyodor’s words. “We could storm his house?”

“I am not risking Chiara’s life like that. We have no idea what the situation is there. And she expects me to trust her plan. That is what I am going to do.”

“We can approach it from a business side?” Paval suggests.

“I don’t feel like we should do anything big right now,” I say, shaking my head.

Fyodor turns to me. “Alright, Maxim, what do you want to do? This should be your decision. I understand what”s at stake here for you. It isn’t just business. It”s a lot more than that. We will support whatever you choose.”

I tap my knife against the edge of my plate, trying to figure out what Chiara might have planned. What would she do, in this situation? What can I do to help her with whatever she is plotting?

After a while, I run my hand over my jaw. “I want to throw another party, for our allies. We invite all of them. Including Angelo. He is under the assumption that we don’t know any of this.” I wave the letter to emphasize what I”m talking about. “We play along as though we are still trying to figure out what”s going on, and we host another party.”

“It’s a risk to have everyone together like that right now, don’t you think?”

“It’s a risk we have to take,” I reply, sticking to my decision. My main focus here is to keep Chiara safe. I have to play this fucked up game in such a way that she comes out unharmed. I have never taken the lead on a project like this. My brothers handle these types of issues when they pop up with our rivals, but this is mine to handle. This is my wife.

My brothers are in agreement, and I am about to tell everyone it”s time for me to head home, but my phone rings loudly in my pocket.

I glance at the screen, then hold it up for everyone to see. It”s Chiara.

My heart twists in my chest as I slide to answer the call, putting it on loud speaker. The entire room falls deathly quiet.

“Chiara, my love, I have been so worried. Where are you?”

“Maxim, I’m totally fine. I’m here with my dad. I am so lucky he was nearby. I went to meet with that client, and there was an explosion. My father saved me.”

My insides twist as I maintain my composure.

“Were you hurt? Thank goodness your dad was there. Should I come fetch you?”

“I wasn’t hurt, luckily. But, Maxim, I did get a big fright, and it made me realize how much I just need to spend time with my father right now. I just need to feel safe, and being here at home with him, it helps me feel safe.”

I take a quiet, deep breath.

“I-I understand, Chiara, but I do miss you. And if you change your mind, just let me know, and I will come and get you, any time. But I know your father means the world to you, so if you need to spend some time with him, I understand that.”

“Thank you, Maxim. I knew you would. My father sends his regards.”

“Please, tell him that I am so glad he was there to help you.”

There is a moment”s pause on the phone, and I can sense Chiara not wanting to say goodbye, but we both know other people are listening.

“I’ll call you soon to check in, okay?” I finally say.

“Alright. I”m safe here, and I am okay. That’s all I wanted to really let you know.”

“I appreciate that,” I say.

We say goodnight to each other, and I hang up the phone. Everyone at the dinner table is watching me closely. “Let’s plan that party. Make it soon,” I say, standing up. “I’m heading home.”