“Gabriele is telling the truth. Ask Leonardo Messina.”
Ben sits up straighter. “What has Leo got to do with this?”
I wet my dry lips. “It was Leo and Mateo who rescued me.”
Shock splays across his face. “This is the first I’m hearing of it.”
“I was the forgotten girl,” I numbly reply. “It doesn’t surprise me I wasn’t mentioned.”
Ben picks up his cell and taps out a message, drumming his fingers on the table while he stares at me with a puckered brow. He’s troubled. Conflicted. A few months ago, I would have said that was unthinkable. If someone comes to New York to kill the president in revenge for something his father did, there is no gray area. It’s simple. That person must die.
It should be uncomplicated for Don Mazzone.
But I know Bennett now.
He isn’t prone to rash decisions, and he has empathy. It’s written all over his face. He’s torn. He believes me when I said I gave up that agenda once I got to know him. He understands I am no threat to him or anyone now I have had my revenge and made peace with my past.
“Let’s park that for the moment,” he says after a few silent beats. “I will need that evidence you have on Salerno.”
“I can arrange to send it to you.”
“If it proves what you say, that Salerno had been planning to kill me and he was going to make a play for Alessandro, it exonerates you for the unsanctioned murder.”
“You are putting too much faith in a liar’s words,” Maltese says, and I would really love to gut that fucking spineless bastard. If I make it out of here alive, I’m taking that motherfucker down. “What is wrong with you?”
“Shut the fuck up, Roberto. I am sure I speak for everyone when I say we are sick of hearing your voice.”
There is a knock on the door, and then Leo slips into the room, arching an inquisitive brow as he strides toward Ben.
“Leo. I need to ask you something,” Ben says. “Do you remember rescuing Noemi Cabrini from the Grecoes’ basement after Carlo Greco died?”
His brow pinches together as he bobs his head. “I do, yes.” He glances around, looking thoroughly confused. “Angelo discovered her father had betrayed him because Carlo had kidnapped his young daughter and was using her to force his hand. His dying wish was that we rescue her and ensure she was looked after.”
His words shake me to my core, and a sob rips from my lips before I can stop it. I clamp a hand over my mouth, trying to compose myself.
Leo looks at me and frowns before returning his gaze to Ben. “What is this about?”
“Do you remember the girl?” Ben asks.
Leo’s face pales. “As long as I live, I will never forget the way we found her.” He levels a glare in Gabriele’s direction. “She was locked in a cage, naked and lying in a pool of her own vomit. The stench of urine was strong, and there were dried blood stains on the floor and fresh blood seeping from a festering wound on her back.” His voice cracks. “I had already seen a lot of things at that point in my career, but that was the most shocking sight I have ever witnessed, and it remains so to this day.”
His statement hangs heavy in the air. My heart pounds behind my chest, and I squeeze my eyes shut to ward off the images his words conjure.
“There wasn’t an inch of her skin that wasn’t bruised, scarred, or damaged in some way. Clumps of her hair had been pulled out. She was scrawny and malnourished. But it was the haunted, vacant look in her eyes that has remained with me.” His eyes look suspiciously damp. “She was only a kid. Thirteen years old. If anyone treated my daughter like that, I would have burned the world down to save her and then burned it again to avenge her.”
Tears leak down my face unbidden, and I’m powerless to stop them.
As if in slow motion, Leo turns to face me. I see the mounting horror cross his face as realization dawns. “My God, it was you? You’re Noemi?” he whispers quickly figuring it out.
I nod through my tears.
“You were avenging yourself,” he quickly surmises.
I nod as I mop my tears with the tissue Gabe hands to me across the table. “I was the only one who could do it. For years, I have been tormented by the things done to me in that dungeon. Those seven months altered me irreparably. I’d like to say things were better after I got out, but they weren’t.”
“Salerno and Conti,” he says. I nod. “My God.” He scrubs a hand over his jaw. “I am so fucking sorry, Rina. I failed you. I should have checked up on you, but Mateo died shortly after, and I lost Nat, and a part of myself died too. It’s not an excuse. There is no acceptable excuse for not taking better care of you. I am incredibly sorry.”
“I forgive you.”
