“Do you know his last name?” Naz tips his head to me, and I step behind his desk and take a seat, firing up the computer.
“No. But I mean, he worked there the whole time I was there. He didn’t leave until the day before I was picked up.”
The computer comes to life, and I hack into the Academy’s employee records, fishing for anyone with the name Edward.
“How old were you when you arrived at the school?” I ask.
“I don’t know. I don’t remember the first couple of years other than I was sick a lot.”
“How old are you now?” Naz asks.
“Twenty-two.”
I start clicking away while Naz and Eliseo ask more questions. I’ve tuned them out, hyper-focused on finding this Edward character, hoping maybe he can unlock some of the mystery behind Annanias becoming Daemon and how my father managed to pull off such a fucked-up plan. The idea that Gianni simply kidnapped a kid to give himself a new son and a casino just isn’t sitting well with me. Gianni was never a small-minded thinker. He was always looking for the bigger play. But he couldn’t have pulled off keeping a child hidden for this long by himself. And the part I really haven’t been able to figure out iswhyput him in the Academy where he would likely be brought into the fold?
Why run the risk of getting caught?
Too many variables. Too many things that don’t make any sense.
“There’s no Edward in the school’s employee database,” I tell Naz. “Maybe it was an alias? Or do we know of any outside companies that work with the Academy?”
“Maybe a food service delivery company or something?” Eliseo suggests. I dive back into the school records, searching through food services. Cleaning services. Ground maintenance, landscaping companies, plumbers. Then one list I didn’t think of but suddenly makes sense to check—the church.
“The Academy is partnered with St. Augustine’s, right?” I ask Nonno. He would know more than the rest of us about town affiliations.
He nods. “Yes. They provided books for the library and food on occasion. There was always a group of women from the church or this one bishop who would visit regularly. Sometimes daily. They come in as volunteers though, not employees.”
“No fucking way.” Nazario and I make eye contact. “Search it.”
I switch my search and start going over all the volunteers in the system. Each one was required to file paperwork and have a badge made to access the campus. Our men would then run a background check on each one to make sure they weren’t pedophiles or working for our enemies.
“Son of a bitch.”
I found him.
“Edward Masters. AKA Edward Malgeri. Brother to one Sebastian Malgeri, Sr.”
“Fuuuck!” Nazario throws a stapler from the desk across the room. “Find him! Send what you have to the boys back home. I want this motherfucker found.NOW!And Enzo.” Naz glares at me. “Have your bride confirm the identity since she was tucked up with him at the bar.”
“On it.” I do as he requests. Sending text messages to my men back home, letting them know who we’re looking for. ThenI send the same information to Devante Mesias. “Done. I’ll talk to Althea tonight.”
“Hold up,” Daemon calls, confused. “You’re saying the guy who was taking care of me all these years—the only one who was ever really nice to me—you think he’s the same guy who’s been fucking with your business in Dallas? I don’t understand how this all ties to me and the school. He was a bishop for the church and worked with orphans for a fucking living.”
“He wasn’t actually a bishop. He was using the church as a cover. St. Augustine’s has no record of Edward Masters,” I tell him. “But the school has a record of The Bishop visiting almost daily, shortly after you arrived on the scene, according to what I found. He even had a fucking badge made to get him anywhere he wanted on campus.”
Daemon scrubs his face. “But don’t you guys check everyone who works for you? Wouldn’t someone have caught this guy?”
“Gianni Levanesse would’ve caught it,” Nonno snipes. “The Academy was part of his job to oversee at one point. I sent him out here once with Alessia. She wanted him to work with Eliseo, mainly to keep him out of our main business affairs. Knowing the son of a bitch, if he found out about The Bishop, he would’ve found a way to turn it to his own advantage.”
“And this Levanesse person is where now?” Daemon asks angrily. Nonno looks at me.
“I fucking killed him. Years ago,” I answer honestly, feeling completely vindicated for my actions yet again. “But apparently, his grand fucking scheme is still playing out all these years later.”
“He always said he would see my empire fall,” Nonno grumbles. “But I never considered he would use children to do it.”
“Which means someone else has taken up the torch. And we need to find out who,” Eliseo interjects.
Nazario is suspiciously quiet. His face is a stern mask of indignation.
