Dark Captor - Faith Summers Page 0,120

his bath,” Isabella giggles. She tries to reach for Giacomo but I pull away. My wife then gives me that sexy pout she’s trying to make look like she’s angry at me.

“Baby, tell mamma you only need to bathe twice a day, no more than that, and she should also lay of the fluffy animal outfits. We’re men, not stuffed animals.”

When Giacomo gives us a wide toothy grin Isabella and I both start laughing.

“You leave my choice of clothes alone, and the only reason I bathe him so much is because you have him crawling around in the dirt. Look at his fingers.”

She’s right. Even I can’t argue when the baby has mud on his hands. I surrender and hand him over to her. The kid is a mini version of me. From his eyes to his hair. But there’s something about his inner beauty that’s all her. we named him after my father. At five months old, he’s the light in our world.

She takes him and gives me a kiss.

Today is my birthday. It was a good day but she can see I’m not okay.

“Massimo should be here soon, why don’t you go get everything ready. I’ll come back when the baby’s napping.”

“Okay, hurry back. Miss you already.”

She gives me another kiss and as she walks back into the house Massimo comes out on to the terrace.

He greets her and gives Giacomo a little pat on his head then comes over to me.

“Hey, happy birthday,” he says and I tip my head in thanks.

“Thank you. here’s to another year.”

“Definitely.”

With the sentiments over, it’s time to talk again.

I reach across the table and pick up the envelope that arrived bright and early this morning. “I got this,” I say and hand it to him.

He looks at it and pulls out an origami swan.

It’s from Dominic. There’s no note in the envelope and no address except mine on but I know it’s from him. It could only come from him. It’s the sort of thing he would do on a day like today. A sign to show me he was thinking of me.

“That’s it? No note or anything?” Massimo asks.

“That’s it.”

He sighs with frustration, looking the way I feel. “Well your day is about to get stranger. I got this. No note or anything. I think it was from him too,” he says pulling an envelope from the inside of his jacket. It’s the same kind as what I got.

I open the envelope and take out a piece of paper. It looks like the end of a contract, except where all the names are usually listed there are initials. There are seven of them, with signatures next to them. All signed an agreement to The King.

M.V, R.B, L.V, T.N, K.G, B.F, F.S

“What the hell’s this?”

“Clues. Look,” he points to the first set of initials. “Mortimer Viggo, Ricardo Balesteri, Levka Volkov.”

I look up at Massimo with wide eyes. “Fucking hell.” I didn’t even notice that.

“We don’t know who the others are but that’s them. Signed to this person called The King.”

The King…

I remember Mortimer talking about the King. He wasn’t just given a label. He was talking about an actual person they call the King.

“You sure it’s Dominic who found this.”

“Yeah.”

“What if it’s our anonymous friend?”

“No, this feels like Dominic because if our anonymous friend had found it he, or she would have sent it already. This has Dominic written all over it. Only he can get his hands on shit like this. Not knowing where he is, is driving me fucking crazy.”

“I know, but what can we do? There’s not a damn thing we can do besides wait.”

It’s been over a year since I last saw Dominic and all I know from the letter today is he’s alive. Waiting is all we’ve been doing. It doesn’t feel right not knowing from one day to the next if I will ever see him again. I’m not sure which brother could just sit back and not worry.

“I know. I guess it’s good he sent this letter. It gives us hope,” Massimo says.

“Yeah.”

“He’s still helping us and I think it leaves us with the question on whether or not we continue with this quest. It’s been years. I have a kid on the way and you have one. Should we be encouraging war? I don’t want to seem like I’m continuously placing my family in danger.”

I see exactly what he means and I know now why there’s no note. Because it puts the question to all of us.

Do we continue?

Massimo and I are both fathers, married to women we love with all our hearts.

But the past still haunts and lingers in the corner of my mind.

“These people are jointly and severally and guilty together. They plot to kill our father. Mortimer was a pawn. I want them all Massimo. It’s not about encouraging war. It’s about ending it. We reformed the Syndicate and they didn’t want that. I’d say they still don’t. They’ve just been quiet.”

Massimo officially reformed the Syndicate last year and invited Aiden, Claudius and Vincent to join us. That’s all, for now. They’ve joined us with their counterparts. We stuck to tradition in that respect.

“Quiet and maybe watching,” he says.

“Mortimer said more will come and the bigger pieces on the chess board haven’t started playing yet. Time is irrelevant here. Just because they haven’t struck yet doesn’t mean they won’t. They just might not be ready right now.”

“Well, I think this both has to be something we all agree to do. I’m in. What say ye?”

I think about it and glance up at the window above us. I can see Isabella rocking Giacomo to sleep. The two of them are my world.

I promised my bellezza I’d take care of her, and there would always be light wherever she went with me.

I have to do this to make sure I can keep that promise.

I nod. “I’m in brother. I’m in.”