Hunter clears his throat. “The Francos.”
Rage moves over my father’s features. “Those bastards. My God, Caterina, I don’t have the words.”
“The Solomons are an old couple who did terrible things to Phoenyxx,” Ghost adds. “They sent her to The Retreat when she finally fought back.”
My mother’s face whitens, and her legs shake.
“Sit down, please,” I say to her.
She sits next to me, not touching me, but looking at me closely. “We have photo albums. You, as a child. We can look through them later.”
My father clears his throat to get our attention. “I have a confession to make.” He moves closer to me. “I’m the one who shot the gun, back at The Retreat, when you all were escaping from that dreadful place. I was aiming for that bastard Volkov. I don’t know how I missed. I’m sorrier than you could know. Once I saw your face, I knew you were my Caterina.”
Both me and Hunter leap up in shock.
“You... what?” I gasp.
“We were both shot. Phoenyxx could have died! Luckily, we were both able to be patched up. Why were you there?” Hunter takes over, grinding his teeth in barely controlled rage.
Ghost makes a strangled sound, jumping up in anger. “That was you? You shot my Malishka?”
Before I can say anything, the rest of my guys chime in with their own angry words.
Valley even stands, violently shaking. She opens her mouth, but nothing comes out.
My father sighs, sinking down into a big armchair. “Originally, there were seven families. We were one of them. The Rossi family is the biggest mafia organization in the States. Our family joined them foolishly, thinking it was a good business decision. Once I realized the Volkov's were spearheading branching out into trafficking and other horrifying things, I removed us from the group. We went into hiding. You were just a small child. Only five years old at the time. Clearly, Franco found us and stole you away as retribution.”
Holy. Fucking. Shit.
“So, you’re mafia, too?” I clarify.
“Yes, Carina,” my mother answers.
“We deal with business, guns, and drugs. Nothing further,” my father explains.
That name—Carina. One of my recovered memories had a woman calling me that as I played outside. It was my mother.
My father continues, “I have been keeping an eye on The Retreat, watching for an opportunity to breach it. I want Volkov dead. He’s the leader of the other six families. He owns that place. From what I’ve discovered, he uses the students to experiment on and train as mindless soldiers for his family. He wants to take over the entire United States and eliminate the Italian families completely. He sends those young people to a place called The Camp. We're still trying to find that location.”
We all sit there in complete shock. Answers... finally.
But Purge... God. He’s going to be sick hearing this.
My stomach roils violently, my heart thrashing in my chest.
“No wonder you want the fucker dead,” Razor growls.
“Razor,” I glare at him. “Language!”
But my father addresses me. “So, who are these people with you?”
“My best friend, Valley.” I pat her back. “Hunter, the therapist from The Retreat. Razor, Ghost, and Frost are heirs to the other families.”
Frost stands up. “My family is the Aslanovs. My given name is Damien.”
The other two guys follow his lead. “Aleksey Petrov,” Ghost says.
“Antonio Marino,” Razor adds.
