Married to the mafia King

Using the information Roberto provided, we logged into the Swiss bank account on De Luca’s phone so he could verify there were actually two million euros sitting in there.

I gave him the password and login, along with the necessary information to pull money out of the account.

Then we proceeded to the next stage.

I didn’t want to risk another homicide cop interrupting us, so De Luca found a workstation in Robbery and booted up one of the computers. The place was deserted, so we had the room all to ourselves.

Once De Luca logged in, I said, “I’m looking for a woman named Bianca Lettieri.”

He typed in the information, then shook his head. “Nobody by that name in the system.”

SHIT

For a second, I panicked.

Had they already gotten to her?

Had I been wrong about Moretti, and he’d already turned her over?

That’s when I realized Bianca might have taken me literally when I’d shouted instructions at her:

Don’t say anything. NOTHING.

“Can you find all the women who were brought in over the last two hours?”

“Yeah, sure,” De Luca said as he typed on the keyboard.

A single name came up: Maria Rossi.

The Italian equivalent of ‘Jane Doe.’

“Is that the name she gave?” I asked, amused.

“No, they put that in for anybody who won’t give their name.”

Good girl.

“Where is she?”

“Holding cell in the women’s detention center.”

“Is that far?”

“No, it’s just down the block. A five-minute walk.”

“Can you pull her out? You have that authority?”

“If it’s for a case, sure. I’ll put in a request and tell them I’m coming to pick her up for questioning.”

“Okay, great. Now I got a question for you.”

De Luca looked at me worriedly. “…what?”

“Do you know people who work at the courthouse?”

He frowned. “Huh?”

“Yes or no do you know anybody who works at the courthouse?”

“Well, I mean, I’ve had to testify in a dozen trials, so… I guess I know a couple of judges’ names, but ”

“What about the people who actually work in the office?”

“Uh… no…?”

“Do cops ever deal with those people, the ones behind the scenes?”

“Not really, no.”

“Good.”

De Luca looked totally confused.

I didn’t bother to explain. I just said, “I want you to check for another name.”

“Okay what is it?”

“Fabrizio Lettieri.”

De Luca typed it in.

“…nope.”

I didn’t really expect to find it…

So I played my hunch from earlier.

The one I’d come up with before Moretti had barged in.

“Try Fabio Flambeur,” I said.

“Flam what?”

“Flambeur. It’s French.”

“How do you spell it?”

“Fuck if I know. Can you type in F-L-A-M and see what comes up? He would’ve been booked last night, probably around 9 PM.”

De Luca typed F-L-A-M into the box for the last name and hit ‘Enter’

And a record for ‘Fabio Flambeur’ showed up.

“YES!” I crowed.

De Luca looked at me like I was crazy, then turned back to the screen. “It says they brought him in for a drunk and disorderly last night around 8:45. No ID on him. Spat on a police officer, apparently.”

I grinned.

If my hunch was right, Bianca’s dad was just as smart as she was.

“Pull him out, too.”

“Alright,” De Luca said as he typed something in the system.

“Good now let’s go. But get the girl out first, and don’t tell her about the other guy.”

“Anything you say, boss,” De Luca said as he shut down the computer.

I stood outside the detention center, trying to keep a low profile in the dark.

De Luca was only inside for five minutes before he walked out with Bianca in tow.

She looked worried until she saw me.

Her mouth dropped open

And then she ran and jumped into my arms.

I spun her around and kissed her.

A few seconds later, though, she broke off the kiss and started talking a mile a minute.

“Oh my GOD what happened?! I was sure you were wait, what are you wearing?!”

“In a minute,” I said, then looked at De Luca. “Okay, go do the other thing.”

He nodded, then walked back into the detention center.

“Adriano, what’s going on?!” she whispered.

I told her almost everything how Moretti had tried to kill me, how I’d escaped, and how I’d found De Luca.

But I left out a few key details.

It took me about a few minutes to relate the story.

She was horrified about the part where I could have gotten shot

And she held my wounded hand like it was a baby bird.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe oh,” she whined, then kissed me tenderly.

“I’m fine. It’s nothing.”

“What happened to the cop you knocked out?”

“Hopefully he’s still hogtied in the interrogation room and nobody’s found him yet.”

“What are we going to do now?” she asked.

“Pick up your dad,” I said.

She looked at me like I was an asshole. “And how are we supposed to do that?”

I grinned. “Turn around.”

De Luca was walking out of the detention center with another man.

He was probably 45 or 50, short and stocky.

He looked rumpled, unshaven, and incredibly frightened like he was afraid he could be killed any second.

That is, until Bianca turned around.

She froze in place.

So did he, his eyes wide.

“…Daddy?” she cried out, her voice on the edge of tears.

“Paperotta,” he whispered.

Little duck.

She ran to him and he hugged her tight.

Relief and pure love washed over his face.

“I thought you were d-dead,” Bianca blubbered.

“I’m sorry, honey,” he said. “It was the only way ”

“To keep yourself alive,” I said as I walked up. “Very smart, too.”

Bianca turned around and wiped tears from her eyes.

Mr. Lettieri looked at me in fright. “Who are you?”

“This is Adriano, Papa,” Bianca said. “He saved my life.”

Lettieri frowned. “Thank you but how ?”

“All in good time,” I said, then turned back to De Luca. “Everything okay?”

He looked around nervously. “Yeah, but it might be a good idea for you to get a move on.”

“You got a car?”

“…yeah?” he said, like he didn’t like the sound of that.

“I’m gonna need it.”

He grimaced. “Don’t you have your own car?”

“Yes, but somebody may be watching it. Don’t worry, I’ll pay you extra for it. Besides, you’re not gonna need it in Thailand. What is it?”

“A 2012 Fiat.”

“How’s an extra 20 grand sound?”

The cop looked astounded. “Uhhhhh… okay…?”

“Go get it. Quick.”

The cop nodded, then started jogging down the street.

Lettieri got a sick look on his face. “There aren’t many people who would pay a policeman 20 thousand euros for his car at the drop of a hat.”

I knew he’d figured out I was Cosa Nostra.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’m on your side. Ask your daughter if you need confirmation.”Property © of NôvelDrama.Org.

Bianca nodded. “He’s okay, Dad. He is, I promise.”

Lettieri didn’t look reassured.

I couldn’t blame him, given his years of experience with the Agrellas…

But I figured he’d come around.

“We need to get my wife,” Lettieri said, a worried look on his face.

“She’s safe,” I told him.

“Where?”

“Out in the countryside, where we’re going.”

Lettieri looked even more frightened. “…where’s that?”

“My family’s place. Don’t worry, it’s going to be fine. You’re among friends now.”

“And why, exactly, are you doing all this?” he asked. “No disrespect intended.”

“None taken. To be honest, you have information I need. That my family needs. But that’s only part of it.”

“And what’s the other part?”

I looked at Bianca and my heart swelled.

After only 24 hours of knowing her, I wasn’t ready to say the words that I really wanted to…

The words I felt…

But I think the feeling carried through anyway.

“I care for your daughter a great deal,” I said. “You’re important to her… and so you’re important to me.”

The smile Bianca gave me through her tears?

All the reward I would ever need.