Alessandro POV

As I watched my step-niece dance in the rain I replayed her last words to me. I am not a good man, if I were I wouldn't be the head of an organization such as our family business. I was raised that way and I don't think I could help it now. Maybe before... I had ideals once, but that all died when Sofia was taken from us. She was the love of my life and the mother of my child and those monsters took her because they were jealous of the status we held as a family. I had to become just like them to punish them and I didn't care what that took.

I would have given anything for her, so tainting my soul black was the least I could do to avenge her. I became who I needed to be to make sure no one would come after my family again. A family that now includes this pure girl. I could tell right away that she had seen no evil. Growing up in a cult had its perks for one's soul I guess. Now that she was in the real world though, she would see that not everything is black and white. I still had hope that she would remain innocent, but nowadays I doubt it will last long. 

I saw my sister's eyes when she came into the room. The ruthless Isabella Cesari King, who is never afraid of anything looked just like any other soccer mom caught bad-mouthing another parent. She was also afraid. Something I haven't seen often on my little sister's face since she stopped wearing Barbie-themed pajamas. Our father always taught us to be strong and Isabella was always the better student. She is like a statue, you could never tell what she was truly thinking. But when she cares for someone, she lets them in. And she obviously wants Aurora to like her, which is why she is acting so unsure. 

Slowly the whole family came outside and the kids went to the yard together. They will be good brothers to her. My son asked his cousin "Why aren't you running around in the rain bonding with your sister Mateo?" He huffed "Because I am not a child." Antonio was quick to make a joke to lighten the situation because he knew his cousin didn't like being in the spotlight "It's not as believable if you have to point it out, cousin." Everyone laughed at that and my sister said "Well, you will always be my child, so you are wrong about it anyway!"

My mother came out with towels after a while. She said, "Let's get them inside, we can at least try to reign in the symptoms, but I think tomorrow we will have three sick babies on our hands." James got the kids inside and they went upstairs. We sat around the living room, while my mother and sister were whispering something in the kitchen. I received a preliminary e-mail from my main investigator. "Shit." My father asked me first. "What is it?"

"There is nothing on the birth certificate, it's like this woman doesn't exist. There is only a first name listed as the mother, which I don't get how it was allowed to be filed like that in the first place. I will keep searching for something. There has to be a way to track them down."

Mateo spoke after "I will have Ash and Wes ask her casually about where she lived or something else we could search for." Antonio looked at his cousin with concern. "Aren't you planning on talking to her? Why only the boys?" Mateo looked sad but resolute "She is closer in age to them, bonding would be faster and thus they will get the information faster."

My father mentioned, "You should be looking for someone who might have changed their name or a fake identity." I rolled my eyes at that "I wasn't born yesterday, dad!" He continued "Just saying, if they are running they could have changed their names. It would have to be an old cover, too. Ariel's the name that woman gave James all those years ago." He thought on it some more "Or she liked that name and created her alias later because she already used it with James." He had a point there.

We all talked for a while and after some time Mateo said "If you'll excuse me, I have some work to finish." He walked out of the room and went upstairs. James passed him in the doorway and bumped his shoulder. James shouted after him "Mateo, you should be looking where you are going. It's not polite to run into people." But the kid ignored him and continued out. I heard my brother-in-law mumble "Unbelievable." He sat down and put his head in his hands.

My sister came almost as soon as he did it. It was like she had a radar for when he needed her. I suppose that is what decades of being together amounted to. Being so in tune with your other half that you just know things like that. I was often jealous I never got to develop that kind of relationship with Sofia, she was taken away from me too quickly and we didn't nearly have enough time.

"Amore, what is it? Please tell me it isn't work-related. You should take a few days off for things to settle and to try and bond with Aurora. You two deserve this time together." James looked up and told the room. "I just went to check on her and found her already asleep. You would think that is good, but she was still fresh from the shower wearing only her dress, and her hair was still wet. She was sleeping next to the open window on the ledge. I tucked her in and cranked up the heating on the second floor."

My mother said from the opposite sofa "Well, if she wasn't sick before, she definitely is now." Maybe it rained a lot where she lived and she missed it. It was worth looking into. I sent a quick e-mail to my investigator.

The next day I used my sister's office to make some phone calls and check on things back home. I also made some plans because I didn't think I would be home in the next few weeks or until things started to settle here. My sister wanted to surround Aurora with her new family, so she could settle faster and accept us. It was smart, but I am not sure it was the best approach with her. She seemed like the kind of teenager, who was resolute in their thinking and didn't often change their mind. If anyone could get through to her and make her connect with us, it was my sister. She is a very determined person.

My investigator had the actual birth certificate examined to see how old the ink on the paper was. The social worker didn't know anything else and she didn't have any interaction with Ariel, so that was a dead end. We didn't even get good fingerprints from the letter she left to explain herself. The paper was high quality, but I couldn't tell you more about it. Isabella was still angry and I understand why. She would give anything for her children and she didn't understand how Ariel could do this. Isa again tried to bond with Aurora in the morning while we were in James' upstairs office to strategize about our next move. We skipped breakfast and now it was lunchtime. 

There was a knock on the door and I heard it was Aurora. We went downstairs for lunch, which was uneventful. I couldn't help but notice Aurora left her room without her bandages. I couldn't exactly make out the tattoos, but they looked the same. I was sure everyone noticed, but they didn't mention anything out loud. They didn't want to put her on the spot in front of everyone but I was sure James planned to talk to her about it in private. He was a good father and would want her to be comfortable. It was funny because I was sure if he wanted to know something like that from Weston, Asher, or Mateo, he wouldn't care about a possible embarrassment and would call them out right here. It was different though, maybe they would have had that sort of relationship if she had grown up with them.

The afternoon continued the same way as the morning with a lot of work, but no real leads. We were making phone calls left and right, but without a family name, address, or something else we couldn't really get information on Ariel or where they lived. At this point, we had a lot of guesses based on the little things we knew. We thought they grew up in a cult that was religious and away from crowds, so they must have private land somewhere. Asher sent Mateo a text and told him Aurora mentioned growing up somewhere in the mountains. At least it was something, we could rule out in many places.

When it was getting late, we decided to stop for now and try again tomorrow. We were all in the living room around the fireplace when one of the security guards I had stationed around the property informed me that James and Isabella had guests. My sister was surprised but decided to let them in any way. A tall woman with dark hair and chocolate skin came in and behind her trailed an even taller man in a suit. While I didn't know them in person I recognized who they were. They were the parents of one of Weston's classmates. Tasha and Mark Faraday were a rich family, but they didn't work for their money, rather they inherited it from Mark's father. Their son Seth was the same, but very entitled. I knew Mark was trying to get James to invest in his new project, but my brother-in-law didn't want to do it and was looking for a nice way to say that, so they wouldn't get offended. 

"Tasha, I thought we were meeting next month before the PTA meeting to discuss our ideas?" The woman looked at her husband and smiled. She answered "Yes, well we decided to go to the Maldives on a family vacation and we don't know when we will be back. I thought I could give you my presentation and explain the key points, so you can speak on my behalf. We are leaving tonight on the private jet. I hope you don't mind us coming without notice."

My sister didn't show it, but I knew her well enough to know she was frustrated. I also knew she never liked the Faradeys. Isa smiled and said "Well, typically I wouldn't mind, but we have something to take care of as a family, so... She didn't get to finish before Mark rudely interrupted her "James, we can head to the office and discuss an investment opportunity, while we let our wives talk about school stuff, I am sure it won't take long." The woman was quick to continue "Yes, I just need to explain the key points of my presentation, I am sure you can handle it! Plus, while we are busy Seth can visit Weston.

I hadn't even noticed their brat standing near the doorway. If his parents were entitled, he passed entitled when he was still in kindergarten and went straight into jackass territory. "Weston and Asher are sick now, you probably don't want to risk it before your vacation." My sister suggested, but the kid from hell was quick to escape his parents "I will just go to the bathroom and check on him to wish him a speedy recovery Mrs. King, I won't be long."

James had brought Mark to his office, while Mrs. Faradey made herself comfortable on the couch and started to load her presentation on a tablet. She treated Isabella like she couldn't understand her when she started to explain. I don't know how my sister stands her in their PTA meetings, but if I were her, I would have shot someone by now. I tuned them out because her voice was screechy enough, I didn't need to hear what this was about, too. I answered a couple of e-mails and stumbled upon an interesting one. My investigator found a video taken from a doorbell camera from one of the social worker's neighbors. It didn't show much, all I could make out was a figure with blonde hair lying someone on the porch swing and ringing the doorbell. Then the figure disappeared from the camera's range. Damn... We had nothing except for blonde hair, which in today's world was nothing to go on. 

After some time James and Mark came back and Tasha was still explaining her presentation. Mr. Faradey had a sour expression, so my guess was James declined his offer to invest. He put a hand on his wife's shoulder silently urging her to hurry along. She didn't take the hint though. Unfortunately for everyone. We all heard Weston's instructions from upstairs. He was leading Seth to the door. "You heard it Faraday, rejection stings but I have to admit it looks good on you. Weren't you traveling somewhere?" 

"Relax Wes, I don't bite...much. I would be a total gentleman, I promise. Mr. King, you have a beautiful daughter, no wonder you have been keeping her a secret." Everyone in the room tensed and finally, Tasha Faraday took the hint and stared at my sister startled. "Daughter, I didn't know you were pregnant Isabella, you look very good considering..." Of course, she assumed Isabella had a child and sarcastically took a dig at her appearance. Asher and Aurora came downstairs. While she was introduced reluctantly by her dad, I watched her reaction. She stood behind Asher and Mateo and it looked like she was hiding behind them. When I caught her expression, I shot my sister a concerned glance. She looked sick, maybe she was finally showing symptoms. With how rapidly she was swallowing and breathing heavily, I think she was barely keeping herself from puking.

Those people were just looking for a reason to stay and I will be damned if when she goes to school in the fall she will hang out with their brat son. I stood up and announced, "I think it's time for you to leave, we have sick kids here and it's family time, which you aren't part of." The mother probably pissed herself judging by the scared look she gave me, but what concerned me most was Mark Faraday peeking behind us to steal a look.

They left escorted by the security team and I personally went with them, so there were no objections. Sometimes it paid off to be feared and I certainly got them out without much fussing. My sister didn't want to cause a scene or be in the spotlight, but I didn't mind that people talked. Unfortunately, they weren't stupid enough to argue with me, so I still had to see them out without clawing their eyes out, which was hard because they were insufferable and still kept talking all the way to their car.

Is the virus finally conquering our Nephilim?

What will be her opinion of the visitors?

Question of the day: Do you have a pet/pets?