Scrapbook
Zorah sat in the living room of Orlando’s house and was going through photo albums Chester put together for her. They were done up in scrapbooking style. It was all about her family history, Chester’s career, and photographs of her he’d surreptitiously taken over the years.
“I can’t believe you scrapbook.” She said quietly.
“It kept me from going crazy,” he admitted. He traced a photograph of her in a middle school production at Christmas. “You sang O Holy Night here. It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard.”
“You were there?”
“I was there.”
“My mother wasn’t,” she whispered. “She never came to any of the school productions or choir shows.”
“Your dad was,” Chester said quietly. “If I wasn’t out of the country, I was there. So many times, I wanted to scream you were my little girl and I couldn’t. When I got shot, I kicked myself for being so stupid. One year turned into two and then suddenly it’s been thirteen years of missed time.”
He pulled a large brown envelope from a side table and slid it to her. “These are the letters I wrote. You don’t have to read them, Zorah but if anything comes of me putting these in your hands, it is for you to understand from the minute I knew you were mine, when I finally got it, I loved you. I went about everything wrong. I can’t reverse time but if I could, I would, Zorah. I would do it all so differently.”
She gave a nod, “I’m glad you told me now. I only wish you’d gone about it differently.”
“Sveva Gallo. Do you know the name?”
“I do.”
“Orlando runs a security team. Basically, when we were all discharged from the Navy, Orlando once we did that last job, decided he was going to open his own company and continue doing the mercenary missions. I work for him.”
“You do?”
“Yes.”
“What do you do?”
“Listen.”
“Listen?”
He chuckled, “I am a hell of a spy, Zorah. In my chair I’m almost better. People don’t want to make eye contact with the cripple. I speak eight languages. I might not have the best use of my legs, but my ears and eyes are in perfect shape. I can read lips pretty damn accurately. I am really, really good at picking out noises nobody else seems to hear. I have developed software which the government has tried to appropriate from me three times now, but we have an ace lawyer on our crew, which breaks down sounds. When I had nothing else to do but recover, I created a data base of sounds and noises, and I can take a recording and tell you the make and model of the car passing behind the two people talking in a crowd.”
“That’s really neat.”
“Thank you. Sveva Gallo was at the villa where you and Icaro were staying. She made a threat against you earlier in the week. It was reported back to us and so our team began tracking all of her devices and conversations. She put out a hit on you Zorah. However, she used her father’s connections to employ a man known to our organization for being the kind of man who doesn’t stop until he completes his mission. Our original plan was to wait until you came back to New York, introduce ourselves and offer you sanctuary from Icaro if you wished to have it. Orlando was doing work in the south of France when we found out she hired the Russian. He immediately put a team together and extracted you.”
“You could have gone to Icaro and talked to him.”
“Zorah, I wasted thirteen years in getting to know you. Each time I’ve hesitated, something catastrophic has happened. The last thing I wanted to do was delay in getting you to safety and lose you forever. Icaro Lucchesi was not taking your security seriously. A woman managed to walk up to your gate. She then hired a hitman. Icaro had no idea. The only reason he knows now is because you were taken, and he realized how much of a mess his security team has been. They take the security of your mother-in-law far more seriously than yours. Then to make matters worse, Ippocrate Giannone hired a family from New York to find you and then he gave them a lump sum to kidnap you. Icaro knew of this. He knows your uncle is searching for you. Instead of beefing up your security, he traipsed you all over Catania without increasing your security and brought you out to the yacht with a skeleton crew. The woman was able to take photographs into your home and all he did was put reflective windows up. I did what any father should do, and I intervened. You can be angry with me Zorah and I understand why however, Lucchesi’s arrogance in thinking nobody would dare cross him because he is the Beast is flawed. It is risky and I have not waited so long to meet you only for me to know you through a grave site.”
She sighed at his dramatic words, “You could have simply talked to him.”
“When Zorah? Before or after the Russian’s team put a bullet in your skull or before or after the people who accompanied the woman on the yacht finished her task? I don’t know how else to make you understand the terror I was feeling, the terror Orlando and Dean and Shay were feeling to know how much at risk you were. Sweetheart,” he focused on her intently, “I was scared to death I was going to lose you and while I know you don’t know me from a hole in the wall, to me, you are the best part of my heart. Losing you, would destroy me. Please, try to understand.”
“Why was Orlando so scared?”
“Because he and Dane are my brothers, like Shay is my sister. They love you, Zorah. Orlando and Dane have watched you grow up as much as I have. None of them have families of their own yet, though Shay and Dane are trying. When you meet Dane, you’ll find he’s not as intense as Orlando, but his affection is just as real.”
“So, Orlando isn’t looking at me with anything more than uncle vibes?”
Chester’s hoot of laughter made her pull her head back in surprise. “Sweetheart, Orlando is not looking at you with anything more than a very overprotective uncle.”
“My experience with uncles hasn’t been good.” She muttered.
“You will find what a real uncle is meant to be with Orlando and Dane. However, and I can’t emphasize it enough, we would all take a bullet to protect you, Zorah.”
She nodded and then twisting her lips she asked quietly, “Can I call Icaro?”
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