"Sir, the person you mentioned this morning is here.", Caro said on the private 'link. "Shall I get an assistant and lead him to the waiting lounge or shall I direct him to your office?"

"Bring him here personally, Caro. Thanks.", Roarke replied and hang up.

He knew that Don Miguel would keep in touch with him, but he never expected that he’ll get the first flight to New York after the last night’s events.

Irony, he thought, how somebody connected to Eve walked at the same floors as the Don in impressive clothes, but that person went to him to extort money by blackmail and murdered by greed. This person was different.

“It’s nice to see you again, Roarke.”, the Don greeted as he entered the office.

“Likewise, and welcome to New York.”, Roarke replied as he reached his hand and shook.

The Don’s cane clicked to the marbled floor and muffled to the carpets, and then helped himself to the visitor’s seat. “It’s been years since I last stepped in US. Still busy and noisy as ever.”

Roarke noticed how the Don’s eyes roamed around his office with astonishment. When he offered him a cup of coffee, he tried to stifle a laugh when the Don’s eyes glazed at his first sip.

Very much like Eve.

“I’m sorry for the unannounced visit. I bet you have several appointments today, and I disrupted your schedules.”

“Don’t be, Don Miguel. What’s the point of being the boss if you can’t even change your schedule?”, Roarke said. “I could offer you a first-class suite in The Palace for free, so you can stay there during the course of your trip here.”

“I don’t mind taking that offer, but thanks anyways.”

The Don sipped his coffee again, and after savouring its last drop, he placed it to the small table. “So, how’s the Lieutenant?”

Roarke raised a brow, surprised on his inquiry. “She’s fine and back to fight the justice.”

“I see.”, he sighed. “Last night I was terrible for both of you, and quite insensitive especially to her. She might be good at hiding her emotions, but I could sense that she’s distraught about McQueen’s case. You might have known this, but I made some background inquiries about her. Eve was…an amazing woman, and with that childhood, she managed to become one of the most respectable women in the society.”

“Eve is my life, and my salvation. I couldn’t imagine myself before her, and now that I found her, I would die if I lost her.”

And would risk everything to protect her, Roarke thought. That’s why he created an invisible wall that would raise flags whenever somebody checks on Eve’s profile, and has the control what data should appear on screen.

He has several questions, especially the two medical files he retrieved with a paternity match to Eve. These two files – one was from a random drug test in high school and one was a blood test result during college – were the most unique among the hundreds of medical exams the Don has in records, since the rest were bogus and mismatched to the other. If none of these were genuine, then whose blood was tested in the two matched files?

“I’ve never seen you like this before, Roarke, being too much in love. But it turns out to be a good thing for you. You transformed yourself for the better.”, the Don said.

“I believe you’re not here to praise my wife. Because if you are, then you’re making me jealous.”

 “Of course not.”, he chuckled, and then pulled a clear folder from his case. “I’m here for a business proposal.”

Roarke scanned the contents, and then looked at him with disbelief, “You’re selling all of your properties?”

“What you have there was a quarter. Some of my portions will be frozen by the banks at my will, while others will be donated in different charities. Those deeds will be in effect after my death, and all of my properties will be open to the market immediately. I’m not dying, if you’re assuming that, but I wanted to let you know that when my time comes – God forbids – I wanted you to be the buyer.”

“Your distant relatives?”

“I have allocated a good portion for them, and unfortunately, they were bunch of contented people and won’t demand for more.”

Roarke knew that Don Miguel didn’t have any direct relatives. His only sister, Sara, died in the convent when she’s twenty. His mother died during childbirth with his unborn brother, while his father died when he’s in his thirties. His cousins and nephews lived a decent life away from the mafia world, which made him the only heir in the family.

“How about the child you’re looking for? I’ve checked she’s your daughter.”

The Don flinched, but it was smothered immediately with a smile. “I did not say that.”

“Summerset worked with you before, and he told me about it. And even though he would never share the details, I have the means and ways to prove that the woman you’re looking for was the mother of your child.”

Both men stared each other in silence for one minute. The Don gave up first, and sighed.

“Is your office safe?”

Reading that the Don was giving confidential information, and even though it was unnecessary, he activated the office’s private screens for a total-lockdown.

“Nobody outside can open the doors here, or even hear our conversations inside. If you want me to activate the scanners for some bugs, I’m willing to do so, though I would like to point out that no one has an access here except me.”

“Still slick as ever, ragazzo.”, the Don smirked. “But I may tell you, what I’m going to reveal here might harm not only you but also Eve’s welfare.”

“Just by admitting who was that child?”

“By admitting that the child was indeed my daughter.”

Roarke knew he’s not surmising anymore, and hearing it directly to the man himself, he loosen up. Now he has the reason to rush the DNA results by afternoon.

“You know the world of Mafia, a world wherein a human life was simply treated as a mere fly. Families and clans can eliminate each other to show which of them is superior, and mine was not an exception. My father was a revolutionary man with cold-blooded traits I never inherit thankfully, but his legacy was enforced to me, and being the sole heir, I was left with no choice but to embrace it. Since his death, I was considered by his sworn enemies as the only threat – but what if they got wind about my daughter? What do you think will happen if they learned that I have a heir all along?”

“They would split all their energies and kill her.”, Roarke murmured without masking his fury. “But you abandoned her after two years.”

The Don closed his eyes as he reminisced the painful past. “It was not my intention to abandon her. Samantha blackmailed me, sent me some blood and hair samples of my daughter in a vial, and threatened me that she’ll sell her in the brothel if I won’t send some money. I’m young and naïve back then and under the wing of my strict father, and when he learned about this, he cancelled all my finances and forced to work as a shark loan. I’ll take care of it, he said, but he didn’t. I later learned after his death that he never sustained their needs, and with the hope that Samantha did not kill our child, I looked for them. Brothels, sex clubs, name it – checking if a woman named Samantha went there.”

As Roarke listened, he saw a glistening tear on the Don’s eye.

“I thought any mothers would never hurt their child, just like what my mother did to us, but then I realized, not all parents have the heart like that. My father never loved me. Samantha never loved our daughter – and so I to her. I was weak that time and did not fight for her, but what would I do afterwards? If by some chance I was able to save her from her mother, can I also save her from my ruthless father?”

“You loved her.”, Roarke reasoned.

“But love was not enough to save us.”, the Don replied as he tried to regain his composure. “Samantha did not give a name to our daughter, and on her letters she mentioned her as ‘child’. When I first saw her picture, she reminded me of my sister and my mother, how she got the shape of their eyes. That time I recalled how mother gave us our names, and how it should be sentimental, and for my daughter I wanted it to be blessed. Like the name Maria.”