Celestial Dawn

CHAPTER 7: The Visitors

Alessandro POV

As I watched my step-niece dance in the rain I replayed her last words to me. I am not a good man, if I were I wouldn't be the head of an organization such as our family business. I was raised that way and I don't think I could help it now. Maybe before... I had ideals once, but that all died when Sofia was taken from us. She was the love of my life and the mother of my child and those monsters took her because they were jealous of the status we held as a family. I had to become just like them to punish them and I didn't care what that took.

I would have given anything for her, so tainting my soul black was the least I could do to avenge her. I became who I needed to be to make sure no one would come after my family again. A family that now includes this pure girl. I could tell right away that she had seen no evil. Growing up in a cult had its perks for one's soul I guess. Now that she was in the real world though, she would see that not everything is black and white. I still had hope that she would remain innocent, but nowadays I doubt it will last long. 

I saw my sister's eyes when she came into the room. The ruthless Isabella Cesari King, who is never afraid of anything looked just like any other soccer mom caught bad-mouthing another parent. She was also afraid. Something I haven't seen often on my little sister's face since she stopped wearing Barbie-themed pajamas. Our father always taught us to be strong and Isabella was always the better student. She is like a statue, you could never tell what she was truly thinking. But when she cares for someone, she lets them in. And she obviously wants Aurora to like her, which is why she is acting so unsure. 

Slowly the whole family came outside and the kids went to the yard together. They will be good brothers to her. My son asked his cousin "Why aren't you running around in the rain bonding with your sister Mateo?" He huffed "Because I am not a child." Antonio was quick to make a joke to lighten the situation because he knew his cousin didn't like being in the spotlight "It's not as believable if you have to point it out, cousin." Everyone laughed at that and my sister said "Well, you will always be my child, so you are wrong about it anyway!"

My mother came out with towels after a while. She said, "Let's get them inside, we can at least try to reign in the symptoms, but I think tomorrow we will have three sick babies on our hands." James got the kids inside and they went upstairs. We sat around the living room, while my mother and sister were whispering something in the kitchen. I received a preliminary e-mail from my main investigator. "Shit." My father asked me first. "What is it?"

"There is nothing on the birth certificate, it's like this woman doesn't exist. There is only a first name listed as the mother, which I don't get how it was allowed to be filed like that in the first place. I will keep searching for something. There has to be a way to track them down."

Mateo spoke after "I will have Ash and Wes ask her casually about where she lived or something else we could search for." Antonio looked at his cousin with concern. "Aren't you planning on talking to her? Why only the boys?" Mateo looked sad but resolute "She is closer in age to them, bonding would be faster and thus they will get the information faster."

My father mentioned, "You should be looking for someone who might have changed their name or a fake identity." I rolled my eyes at that "I wasn't born yesterday, dad!" He continued "Just saying, if they are running they could have changed their names. It would have to be an old cover, too. Ariel's the name that woman gave James all those years ago." He thought on it some more "Or she liked that name and created her alias later because she already used it with James." He had a point there.

We all talked for a while and after some time Mateo said "If you'll excuse me, I have some work to finish." He walked out of the room and went upstairs. James passed him in the doorway and bumped his shoulder. James shouted after him "Mateo, you should be looking where you are going. It's not polite to run into people." But the kid ignored him and continued out. I heard my brother-in-law mumble "Unbelievable." He sat down and put his head in his hands.