Calls Home
“Hello? Who is this?” Icaro’s voice sounded as if he were in the room with her and Zorah couldn’t help but sniff. “Zorah? Baby is that you?”
“Icaro.”
“Amoré, where are you?”
“I can’t tell you where I am yet.” She looked at Chester and Orlando who were both listening to the call. It was part of the agreement she made.
“Why? Who has you?”
She met Chester’s eyes, a small smile tugging her lips. “My dad has me.”
The silence extended across the ocean for a long beat before Icaro spoke quietly, “my love, I personally ended his pathetic existence twenty-one years ago. I know he did not survive what I did to him.”
“He wasn’t my Dad. My mom lied. My father, my real Dad, was a boy she was with before the other guy.”
“Zorah.” Icaro sounded like he was ready to chastise her for being fooled.
“We have matching eyes. I saw photographs of my grandfather who I will be meeting later today, and he also has the same shade of brown. He also,” she lifted a piece of paper, “has DNA evidence in front of me. I know he’s my father, Icaro. There is no doubt.”
“Why now?”
“It’s a long, complicated story.”
“He shot you with a dart to kidnap you.”
She looked to Chester. “I’m going to let him explain however I will tell you, they employed a full medical team to make sure I wasn’t negatively affected by the medication and my uncle was with me the entire time.”
“Your uncle?”
“I have two uncles, an aunt, grandparents, and they’ve all been watching over me for years. My father got hurt and couldn’t come for me. He was coming to finally introduce himself and landed in America to meet me the day you flew us to Rome. He missed me by a day.”
“Zorah, you’re too trusting, love.”
“I’m not Icaro and you of all people knows how untrusting I am. I’ve been fighting and arguing with you for weeks.”
“I want to see you. I don’t trust you are not simply feeding me things I want to hear. Please, love. Tell me where you are.”
“Icaro,” Chester spoke up, “part of us permitting this call was Zorah giving us her word she would not reveal her location quite yet. We are overly concerned you have been remiss in providing her appropriate security. You have two separate groups chasing her, one to kill her and the other to send her to Ippocrate Giannone who intends to use her for his own nefarious purposes.”
“Who are you?” Icaro demanded angrily.
“I am Zorah’s biological father. I have been watching over her since she was nine years old. I knew of your involvement in her life, and we thought, erroneously, you were in a partnership with Ippocrate Giannone.”
“I hate him.”
“Get ready to hate him more,” Orlando grunted.
“Who are you?”
“I am Zorah’s uncle. Her father is my best friend since we were teenagers. When he learned of his daughter, there were three of us who took turns watching over her. We love her like she is our own.”
“Like she is your own what?” Icaro accused. “She already has one pervy uncle. She doesn’t need more.”
Orlando sighed, “my niece is beautiful, but I promise you I prefer my women closer to my age. The age gap of seventeen years is gross to me and again, I have been watching her grow up since she was a little girl. Even if I didn’t consider her my blood, there is no way I’d go for a woman so much younger than me.”
“Speaking of pervy uncle,” Chester spoke up. “You are aware Giannone is looking for her?”
“Our family is managing the situation. The family he employed is going to regret making the deal they did.”
“You have six of their family members in Catania, Icaro.” Orlando said bluntly. “They are staying in a smaller villa a few doors down from you. You have three men who are dead right now, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Not our doing. We intercepted them as they were making their move to take Zorah. We used rubber bullets, Icaro. My team was a team of ten. We came in from the water. They saw us as we approached, and they bailed. We shot two of them, but we went in with non-lethal force, Icaro. They aren’t dead. They are still there. They know you’re searching for whoever took your wife and so they are hiding out trying to figure out what the hell happened.” Orlando paused, “they were intending to kill you Icaro.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Clean up the mess you created by overlooking the basics in keeping my niece safe,” Orlando grunted folding his arms over his chest. “Giannone hired them to bring her home. The fact he was being bold enough to kidnap her told me he was plotting something. There is no way on earth he could bring her back to the church and for you to not be looking for her there. We did some reconnaissance. Giannone built a bunker, complete with a bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom underneath the community center building. We believe he intended to hide Zorah there indefinitely. The bunker is sound proofed.”
“How did you find this bunker?” Icaro asked quietly.
“We’ve never been in the community center’s basement before. My guy realized right away the room was short. He found the hidden door, got in, snapped some photos, and got back out.”
A string of Italian expletives flew from Icaro’s lips.
“Icaro, Zorah tells us she wants to go home to you.” Chester interrupted. “I have no problem returning my daughter to you if it’s what she genuinely wants. If she said to me, she didn’t want to go back, I would hide her from you until the end of time. I have the resources to do it. However, she tells me she cares for you, and she wants to give your marriage a try. To that end, Zorah and I have come to an agreement.”
“What?” Icaro’s voice was low, his breathing loud in the quiet of the room.
“Clean up this shit.” Chester was blunt. “Fix the shit with the New York family, fix the shit with the Gallo family and the Russian. Do whatever the hell you want with Giannone.”
“Zorah doesn’t want him dead,” Icaro sighed regretfully.
“My team is sending you a photo we took in the bunker, Icaro. Zorah has no recollection of how he took this. Either you deal with him, or we will deal with him. Personally,” Orlando bit through his teeth, “I wouldn’t argue a joint operation, this time without our non-lethal efforts.”
“And when this shit as you called it is cleaned up?”
“Then I will personally escort my daughter back to you,” Chester said earnestly. “However, until you can guarantee her security, despite her arguments, I will keep her where I know she is secure.”
“Do you want to come home to me Zorah?”
She heard the pain in his voice and nodded, “I will be coming home, Icaro.”
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