Page 60 of Mafia and Protector
“Thank you,” said Carmela. “But we have a friend who drove us here and she will drive us home.” She may have had a hard life, but I could see she still carried herself with pride.
We stood by awkwardly as Bella helped her mother up and led her out of the room, Carmela leaning heavily against her daughter for support.
Jacob saw them out, leaving me in the office with Gabriel.
“Fuck,” I muttered.
“Fuck indeed.”
“Do you believe that the girl is our half-sister?” I asked my brother.
“Yes. Did you see her eyes are just like Nancia’s?”
“I noticed that too,” I commented.
“She’s definitely got the Santino look about her. If she didn’t, I might doubt her story. But seeing her and knowing already what our father was capable of, the story adds up. Anyhow, I’ll get someone on it to check their story and the background details.”
“Who will you ask? We need someone discreet.”
Gabriel considered this for a few seconds. “I’ll get Jacob on it. He’s already heard her story and he’s got as much interest in keeping this quiet as we have. If it gets out, it will only make things worse for Jessica—because she’ll have to hear the endless gossip and speculation about what our father did to Carmela.”
***
A few days later, Jacob came to the house to see Gabriel and me.
He had been looking into Carmela and Bella’s background. “I broke into their place and got Bella’s hairbrush for a DNA sample.”
“Christ, we told you to look into Bella, not traumatize her by breaking and entering.”
“I was in and out of there without them batting an eyelash.” Jacob drawled. “She’ll just think that she misplaced the stupid hairbrush. If you’re that concerned about it, I’ll pay another visit and put the hairbrush back.”
“For fuck’s sake, you’re not going near their place again.”
“What did you find?” interjected Gabriel, obviously fed up with our squabbling
“The lab compared Bella’s hair with the DNA samples they have on file for the Santinos.”
“And?”
“And it’s a familial match. She’s definitely a Santino.” So that was it. Although we had already suspected as much.
“The family priest gave me quite a bit of information on the woman and girl,” carried on Jacob. “I had to threaten first to burn down his church, of course, but he came around quickly, especially when I said I’d throw in a sizable donation to the church coffers and his pocket. The good old carrot and stick method—works like a charm every time.”
After Jacob had filled us in on what else he had found out, I excused myself as I had some other business to attend to.
As I reached my car, Jacob caught up with me. “Are you going to tell my sister about this?”
“That’s my business,” I said tersely, not in the mood for Jacob’s protective older brother shit right now.
“It is my business if it upsets Jess.”
I shot daggers at him with my eyes. “She’s my wife. I know how to handle her.”
“Yeah, your family sure has enjoyedhandlingher, haven’t they?”
My patience snapped and I took a step toward Jacob.
“Jake?” I heard Jessica’s voice and turned around to find her standing in the front doorway. “I didn’t know you were coming here today.”