Song above for Chapter: "Nothing" --- VÉRITÉ

FEDERICO

"Why didn't you fucking tell me, Domani?" I shout into the phone not being able to reign in my temper. I can't catch a full breath since I got on the jet from Italy over twelve hours ago and I am now in the car rushing to get back home.

Elenora's still pregnant.

I thought she had lost the baby. Everyone had told me she did and she didn't look pregnant, but I cannot forget the radiant look on her beautiful face.

She didn't move the entire time when we were in the penthouse, remaining seated at the table, but how did I not realize it?

Rage is coursing through me and I'm sweating from how hot my body is after also discovering I've been lied to since my parents were murdered. But it's being overpowered by the fear, and panic that I've lost Elenora all over again.

"When should I have told you? When you aimed your gun at me?" Domani questions. "You didn't want to hear it. Not from me, and sure as hell not from Nora." His calmness angers me even more.

"I've been trying to reach her all morning but she isn't answering," I state.

"Do you blame her?" He says and I want to scream at his calmness. "She gave me some things to give you when you got back. She didn't want to leave it in the penthouse knowing Rosetta has the place being watched and we now know it was bugged."

"She signed the papers, didn't she?"

Domani doesn't say anything for a moment. "You ordered her to leave and you know what you were doing when you baited her to promise not to come back."

I wipe at the angry hot tears rolling down my face as I picture how she looked before I walked away. "She didn't try to stop me," I state, knowing what an idiot I sound like.

"She's fucking ready to pop, Rico. You want her to follow you around while you were raving about like a lunatic?" Domani asks me, irritation clear in his voice.

I need to focus on something else, even though my body is in hyperdrive mode, I switch the conversation. "Has Mickey made any progress?"

"He's located and removed all the listening devices, but now is working on getting all the cameras out of there." He informs me. "Hang on, I have Clara calling me."

I pull off to the side of the road and use the car phone to call the Borelli household again while I wait.

"Borelli residence, how may I help you?"

"Yes, I know you must be sick of hearing from me, it's Federico Di Maggio again, and I've been—"

The housemaid interrupts me. "Yes, Mr. Di Maggio, I'm sorry but Ms. Elenora is not here. No one knows where she is or where she went."

"What?"

"She was here but then she left in a rush and the entire household is in chaos in worry for Ms. Elenora."

"How long ago was she there?"

"A few hours ago, sir."

"Rico," Domani comes back on speaker on my other phone and I let the Borelli housemaid go.

"I heard; I just called the Borelli's. Send Ciccio and Mostro to her old apartment and have them talk to Ruben and Mrs. Jones, see if they've heard from her."

"Okay, but Clara thinks she may have gone back to Skaneateles, where she's been this whole time."

"How far away is it?"

"Just over four hours," Domani tells me. "But there's something else Rico. Rosetta confronted the Borelli's about the videos that were released, she knows you know the truth, but she threatened to expose Tiziano about keeping something from Elenora."

"What? What is he keeping from her?"

"He is not her biological father."

The blood drains from my face. Everything that's happened from the first moment I saw her comes rushing back in a succession of flickering moments. My stomach turns with everything that not only my Zia wanted but what I've allowed to happen.

Elenora has always been innocent, but now the truth reveals she's not even a Borelli. She's going to hate me more than she already does. This must be the source of Orsino's Borrelli's indifference and dislike of her, compared to her sisters.

"One of the maids thinks she may have overheard them when she was at the house earlier and could explain why she left in a hurry," Domani explains.

I can only imagine what must be going through her mind.

I rejected her and now she discovered her family—her parents, who have been a source of love and comfort lied to her; she must feel completely alone.

"Meet me at the Borelli's." I hang up and pull away from the side of the road to head to the Borelli's home.

The rest of the drive I run-through all the stories—the lies my Zia fed me during childhood. All the times she held me in her traitorous arms. She may have been the one behind the hits, but she might as well have been the one to have killed my parents herself.

I pull up the Borelli's long driveway and Domani's steps out of his car, but I also see my Zia stepping out of the house. I barely manage to set the car to park when I rush to her. Domani holds me back as her two guards aim their guns on me.

"Go on then! Order your fucking goons to shoot me! Finish what you started twenty two years ago!" I shout.

Rosetta's unconcerned expression makes me want to grab her and shake her. She signals for her men to put their guns down.

"Don't be so dramatic. You're always so quick to believe what's placed before you instead of doing the work to find the truth for yourself," She states, stepping forward.

"Abbastanza!" I yell. "Enough of your lies! How could you do that to your own sister!" (Enough)

She sneers. "Mariella was weak. She didn't know how to handle Alessio's temper, his wildness. If she had, he wouldn't have made the decisions he did that cost him his life."

"You had him killed!"

"Rico, you don't have time for this." Domani reminds me.

"That's right, your time must be spent chasing after the girl you ruined and rejected, Federico." Rosetta taunts.

"You threatened her! You made me believe she lost the baby!"

She shifts her cold, shameless eyes from me and then to Domani. An uneasy sense comes over me that there's something else I don't know, and it heightens when she begins laughing.

"She did lose a baby, Rico. I was there, I saw it happen," She chuckles. "But she didn't tell you, did she? And it looks like Domani didn't either? Hm." She eyes him before she focuses on me again.

"You were going to have twins."

Her eyes widen when I lunge for her yelling. One of her men raises his gun but she pushes his aim away from me before the gun goes off.

"Pinocchio?" The scared small voice of Maya reaches my ears and I watch in horror as she crumbles onto the porch with the front door open. Teresa stands at the doorway and screams witnessing what's happened; I rush to Maya.

"Call 911!" I shout to Domani and turn back to Maya who's crying. I vaguely hear my Zia shouting at her fucking guard, but I keep my focus on Maya. Blood is trailing down the side of her face as she whimpers.

"Bambina mia," Teresa wails as her shaking hands trail over Maya's face. Tiziano runs out the door followed by the rest of the family and Clara. They all look down terrified when they see little Maya on the porch. Jackeline runs back in the house but Tiziano charges toward me.

"What did you do?" He growls, pulling me up by my collar and shoves me against the pillar on the front porch. Jackie comes running back out of the house, kneeling near Maya's head. She applies a towel on top of her head.

"Maya, baby, keep your eyes open, keep talking, okay?" Jackie instructs her as she lifts the towel away to inspect the wound.

"Clara shine your phone flashlight over here, please."

"Papa!" Maya cries. Tiziano lets me go and turns back to her, falling to his knees.

"I'm here, fiorellino mio," He keeps his voice soft. Luna and her mother are crying holding onto Maya's hand. (my little flower)

"I think it's just a graze wound, but it's deep and there's too much blood," Jackie informs everyone as her fingers prod and move over Maya's head.

Maya sniffles. "Don't...don't be mad at Rico, papá. He didn't hurt me. Rico?"

I move forward and kneel next to Teresa so Maya can see me. "Nora kept her promise. She said...she promised to try and bring you to....to visit me and...and you're here." I reach for her hand and squeeze it.

"Nora...Nora always keeps her promises," She cries and my heart twists in my chest.

"You're so brave, principessa. Just hang on, okay, help is coming," I tell her. (princess)

"It...it hurts—" Her eyes start to flutter close and then her eyes roll back.

"Maya? Maya!" Teresa screams and then Tiziano starts yelling her name,too. Jackie tells Clara to keep pressure on Maya's head while she pushes her dad aside and begins feeling for a pulse and checks if she's breathing.

We can hear sirens as Jackie begins giving breaths to Maya.

Luna comes next to Teresa, hugging and comforting her as she sobs while Jackie keeps working on Maya.

The ambulance pulls up and they take over for Jackie as they continue working on her and load her into the ambulance.

"You better pray she survives, Di Maggio family!" Tiziano warns. His angry eyes shine with tears as they bore into mine before he glares at Rosetta.

"Luna, you and Clara stay here and see if you can find anything on Nora. Jackie, you come with your mamma and I."

They hurry into their car and follow behind the ambulance.

I focus on Rosetta.

"Don't look at me like that Rico, I would never hurt a child like this."

"Right. You use lies and manipulation to hurt kids," I seethe. I pull my gun and shoot the guard that shot Maya; his body collapses next to my shocked Zia and the other girls gasp.

"The only reason I don't turn the gun on you right now is because of the years you spent raising me. Though you spent them feeding me your lies and your poison on a vengeance that should never have existed," I step closer to her. "I never want to see your face again. And if you do anything or come near the Borelli's again, I will end you, Rosetta."

"Don't threaten me, Federico."

"Get out of here before I do it now," I say through my teeth. "And take your trash with you." The other guard bends down, struggling to lift the dead guard over his shoulder following Rosetta to their car.

Domani answers his ringing phone and hangs up shortly after. "Ciccio and Mostro spoke to Ruben and Viviene and they haven't seen Nora since she went and saw them earlier in the day. They want to come help find Elenora."

I turn to Clara. "Do you have anyone's number in the town she's been staying at? Anyone we can reach to see if she's there?"

She shakes her head at me with tears in her eyes and Domani brings her close to comfort her. The guilt is consuming me for not only what's happened to Elenora but now Maya. This family has suffered too much and it's all because of me.

"I'll pick up Ciccio and Mostro and head to Skaneateles. Keep me posted on Maya," I tell Domani.

"You go too, Domani. You know where her place is. I'll stay here with Luna in case Nora comes back," Clara tells him.

She digs through her purse and hands him a key."Here, take this. It's the key to her place. I'll call you on what we find out about Maya."

He kisses her head and we get into the car, my heart is heavy with regret as I sit thinking about how I'm going to fix all of this if I find Elenora.

No. When I find her.

***

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