~~~~~

I clicked open the leather black briefcase atop the desk in the hotel suite foyer with Nico standing close behind me. He apparently knew more about the Villa than I thought, as he’d found it and brought it along so we could open it together. Inside were a few pictures of a woman holding a baby with a man next to her and papers tucked neatly into a worn pale yellow manila folder.

“There’s a letter here from grandfather. It says, ‘Lili, I know you will begin your search for your parents and the truth soon, as much as I’d rather you didn’t. This case contains the start to your quest. The Independent Country’s name is Vespus. I’m sorry I cannot be there with you when you find the answers. Also, Nicolo Romano is a good man. It was him or an old man.’ That codger.” I’d found out about the idea only after I assumed official position of the Accardi family. “There’s another Espionage Family out there, though not as powerful. I think my grandfather married me to you to avoid tying me to an old friend of his.”

Old was an understatement – so was friend. The two had been rivals since childhood and often fought, something which grew worse as time passed and they became Mafia Heads. I’d known the old guy wanted to marry me since I turned eighteen, but grandfather always put him in his place. Maybe the ‘protection’ I needed was a husband to ‘hide behind’ when approached with unwanted advances.

“The old friend is in his seventies. Another Mafia Don who wanted into the Accardi family for information as well as ‘young fruits’ to explore. I never mentioned it because I didn’t feel it was important.” I glanced at Nico, who was already looking ready to end someone. “I love you, though I do feel we will have to deal with that old man sometime soon. He doesn’t need to taste the ocean but he’s not known for giving up what he wants.”

Giorgio Francesco. His family worked closely with the Chinese government to prevent war. It was quite remarkable what they’d accomplished in the years since their partnership, but that was something I could think about later. Right now, the contents of that folder took priority. I shifted the pictures out of the way to pull the folder out, my eyes catching on the only one of the woman from before by herself.

Alessandra Accardi. My mother. We had the same face, same eyes, same hair, and same everything. People could’ve easily mistaken us for twins! She was beautiful, dressed in a blue sundress in a vineyard and a note at the bottom dated the photo to before I was born, so this was likely before she met my father. My throat tightened for a moment, then I moved to tuck the picture away into the briefcase.

“Is that you?” Nico ventured, pulling the picture from me before I could. “No, this must be your mother. You look just like her.”

“Yeah, my grandfather always said the same thing.” I shrugged, then opened the folder without glancing at him. “I didn’t know her, so it’s hard to connect.”

“It’s in the blood. If you ever meet her, you’ll know.” He tried while glancing over my shoulder again. “Vespus, eh? They’re in international waters, though it’s not a place recognized as a country by most major powers. They always seemed to me to be more like a cult though.”

“Wait, you know about them? This is the first I’ve heard the name. Damnit, I wish I had my laptop right about now. I could access the network and learn everything I needed to know.”

“They’re in the news. They’ve been trying to get other governments to officially recognize them for years!” Nico countered as he held up my phone with a sheepish expression. “I still get two days with you, but for this, it’s worth it.”

The whole point of this little ‘vacation’ was to take our minds off things, yet here we were. I sighed a little, then grabbed my phone and glanced through the information we had looking for anything with Vespus in it. So far, there were only a few articles about the place, and a list of people who ever made it ‘in’ to the Vespus nation. Apparently they had special requirements for an outsider to join. Nicolo’s mention of them being cult-like made sense.

Arnie Vespus, fifty-eight years old, was their ‘president’ with five wives, and nine children, and a penchant for barely legal women. All his wives were eighteen when he married them. There were no mentions of the escape my parents made, or any ongoing search for them, but why would the country announce something like that? If my parents took something important, the last thing a nation would want to do was admit to the rest of the world that something happened. I thought back to the attack on the Villa.

“Maybe they’re behind the attack. It’d be so much easier if I knew what I was supposed to be protecting, that way I could make sure it was properly hidden.” I looked through the other documents before sighing as I sank back into my chair. “There’s nothing else here noteworthy. Any word from that guy we captured?”

“No. I’m thinking one of us will have to confront him. You have a name, and looks like you have someone on the inside.” Nicolo passed me the paper he was reading which looked like a report from one of our agents; the page having clearly already been decoded by my grandfather. “It’s dated for the day of our wedding. Clearly, your grandfather has been planning for this for a while.”

‘Date: June 2020, time: 8:24 AM. There is mention of a code they’ve been searching for upwards of twenty-five years. I’m not sure if this has to do with the recent inquiries regarding Princess Liliana, however. I will continue to monitor and send monthly updates to the now Donna.’

Could our insider be compromised? I hadn’t received any updates from the person since my official placement, and it’d been two months. Perhaps it was time to send a missive with new orders for them. With the new devices I created, they wouldn’t have to stay in the field, so I could send some along with my orders for them to return to base. I sent orders to Marcello to send the new bugs and to await further instruction with the coordinates to our insider’s location.

“Perhaps they don’t know of your new location and sent it to your old one.” Nico offered but I shook my head. “No?”

“No. There’s a full network that you don’t even know about when it comes to things like this, Nico. And you’re a lot better off not knowing.” I replied, turning back to him with a chuckle, then waved towards my phone. “But according to the other reports, they do not allow for cellular devices of any kind. You were right about it being cult-like. We have to do things the old-fashioned way to get anything to our insider.”

“Old-fashioned?”

“A bucket line, my sweet Italian man, and some of the people in the line aren’t even aware they’re part of it.”

~~~~~

It may have been challenging had it not been for Accardi contacts, though I knew it was boastful. Two days later, after a lot of exhaustion, I rolled over on our bed back in the Villa to face the door. Our insider in Vespus was my third cousin Ginyvra, a talent in her own right. Her placement there somehow made sense, as she often acted quite gullible. It made her the perfect spy for a cult. The Accardi knew it was an act, as she was a successful graduate of Harvard, only pursuing a Law Degree in the States to protect the Family.

“Why did you sneak my phone in through the trash, Lili?! Do you have any IDEA what I had to dig through to get it?” She whined, then chuckled a little as if she had a big secret. “I heard you got married to Don Nicolo Romano. Shame the old man didn’t marry you to Giorgio!”

There were only so many ways to send things into the country. Making sure things worked out the way they needed to was a feat only Marcello could pull off though. He’d masterminded someone to drop trash on the ship that took pilgrims to Vespus. From there, the trash was deposited on the island – then burned - for space. Since Vespus does have some international trade, they used the ferries to trade goods with local city markets and needed all the space the boats afforded.

As Ginyvra works on the former oil-mining rig turned reclaimed land as an apprentice, it wasn’t unusual for her to handle trash. All she had to do was dig the phone out, along with the new bugs, then dispose of the evidence. The rig was close enough to land that she could easily get a signal, yet far enough that things had to be ferried across. As for how trashy she was, that was for another time.

“Oh, hush. Remember, I could always marry you to him, now that I’m the Donna.” I countered, giggling evilly once she gasped in clear horror. “As for the trash thing, I didn’t have much choice. There’s only so many routes we could use to get the devices into Vespus and that was the easiest one.”

“So, your orders, oh great one?”

Though it sounded snarky, we’d teased each other like this since we were children. We grew up down the street from each other until she went away for college, so we were secret best friends. In front of others, I would always be her boss, and she an employee, but we trusted each other more like sisters. At least I thought we did. It’d been a few years since I’d talked to her, as I didn’t even know she was on a mission.

“Plant the devices in key locations throughout the platform. Let me know if you need more. I want to be able to hear a mouse crawling if there is one there.” I stated simply, then rolled onto my stomach, effectively tangling my legs in the silk sheets. “As for Nico, I think you’ll understand when you meet him. It’s… Different.”

The line fell silent for several long minutes, and concern flooded my heart. Did someone hear her talking on the phone? I knew it was too dangerous, but once I found out it was Ginny, I couldn’t help it. It’d been a long time since I wanted to talk to someone, but I wanted to talk to someone who wasn’t Nico about Nico. He didn’t need the ego boost, and I didn’t think I’d be able to handle his response right now.

“Different, huh… You fell in love on the job!!!” She shout-whispered as though she’d never imagined such a thing. “You told me you’d NEVER fall in love on the job, that what you do is too important for future generations!!”

“It’s… I don’t know… The way he looks at me? My heart always races whenever he’s near, and seeing his smile is like looking into the sun. Then my stomach turns flips, I’ll feel like I’m going to faint, and almost sink into his arms.” I sighed before pursing my lips as I stared at the headboard, my head propped on my free hand. “No, maybe it’s what he makes me feel when he touches me. It’s like a fire burning across my skin with electric sparks at the same time! It’s so confusing how dazed he always makes me feel just by standing a few steps away!”

“Woah, you REALLY fell in love. He must be gorgeous!”

“Oh, he is. Nicolo’s got a body like a God-Sculpted Adonis. Dimples in his cheeks, dark hair, green eyes. He has that powerful, wealthy, strong boss vibe, too. Thanks, I was trying to NOT think about him right now.”

“Why? Just thinking about him get you ready for bedtime?” She ventured with a giggle, then sighed in annoyance. “I’ll tease you when I get there, if I ever do. I have a contact for you, an investor of Vespus I will text you the details on. I got to go, they’re wondering why I’m in the restroom for so long, so I need to hide this and get back to work.”

I flipped onto my back with closed eyes after we ended our call. Things had only just gotten back to normal, we were back in the Villa, yet Nico wasn’t by my side. As soon as we got back, Piero pulled him into the office where they both needed to discuss work. I had things to get done as well, so I came here, hoping to make some phone calls and send new orders to some of my Family.

The Accardi had its work that still had to proceed, regardless of my wandering thoughts. Working with American Government for information on terrorists, discussing the sale of certain stolen weapons back to their place of origin that our newly combined family worked together to acquire, and more! Certain things were outside national police forces capabilities, but my family was one who could make anything happen.

“Our hands will never be clean.”

“That’s true.” Nicolo’s voice startled me to a sitting position, hand holding up my phone like it was a weapon. “Ack! Sorry, I wasn’t trying to scare you!”

“I… I didn’t hear you come in…” I hadn’t even noticed him enter the room; then shook myself from the stunned realization. “How long have you been there?!”

“Hm, I wonder. ‘Nicolo’s got a body like a God-Sculpted Adonis…’ How long indeed.” He smirked then crawled up the bed to lie next to me, propping his head up with his hand. “I didn’t realize I was your type.”

“Oh, for the love of… I married you!”

He laughed, falling onto his back as he did, those gorgeous dimples forming. I love him. This was a fact I was still learning to come to terms with. Nico pulled me against his chest, his emerald pools floating with happiness despite his breath smelling of strong liquor. What had him in such a celebratory mood? He licked at his lips, then winked at me with another lascivious smile.

“I suppose we’ll need to address the family Enforcers and Earners soon. Both your family and mine this time. We’ve put them off as long as we could.” Nico’s face turned a bit more serious, though he brushed my lips with his. “Marcello rallied all your family here for a meeting while we were away. They’re in town waiting for your order.”

“Looks like I’ll have to have a talk with Marcello.” I didn’t like him making plans or ordering things without my approval. “His disobedience needs to be rectified immediately.”

Marcello’s irritation with my marriage had reached the boundary of what I was willing to deal with. Our people had their work they needed to do, not being rallied here, focused on my personal life. Before I could stand to go find him, Nicolo took my hand, pulling me back into his arms. I wanted to go confront my newest victim not fall asleep angry like this, but when I started to struggle, his arms tightened.

“I already talked to him. Amore Mio, I know you want to go confront him, but I suspect he will come to you.” When I pulled back to look at him, he grinned that usual mischievous smile, then pressed his lips to mine in a devouring kiss. “Seems I still hunger for you, but seeing as I’ve had four days and nights to feast, I will allow you to rest.”

“Allow me?” I scoffed sleepily, leaning more into him as I yawned. “You couldn’t stop me now.”