Eight Years as the Invisible Mafia Princess of the Family Chapter 06
The call from the airline came the next evening.
My mom hadn’t slept in two days. When the phone rang, she nearly threw herself at it. “Did you find her? Did you find my daughter?”
The rep spoke cautiously. “Ma’am, we’ve confirmed your daughter purchased a ticket for Flight 4922.”
My mom’s vision went black. The rep added quickly, “But she never checked in.”
Dead silence locked the room. My mom was too stunned to cry. “What did you say?”
“Ms. Rossetti did not board the aircraft. Airport records indicate she entered a private aviation area that day. Her movements after that are classified and we don’t have access to them.”
She surfaced for one breath. Then the terror pulled her under again. “Private aviation? She was supposed to go to New York. Why would she go into a private terminal?”
The next day, my dad burned through every contact the family had and finally got word from a partner medical corporation.
The manager locked his office door and looked at them with a tangled, complicated expression. “You’re only looking for her now? I got word through an informant—Vesper signed a dedicated physician training contract with the Vitale family.”
My mom leaned forward desperately. “Where is she? New York? Boston? We’ll go right now.”
The manager shook his head. “The Vitale family keeps their people locked down—doctors, lawyers, everyone. No locations, no contact. All I got was this: eight years. She’s gone for eight years.”
My mom’s legs gave out. She slid down the couch onto the floor. “Why didn’t she tell us?”
The office went quiet. Why? Because in that house, no one had ever truly listened to what I wanted to say.
…
The Rossetti family did eventually set up that western branch in Bozeman. But Katerina never moved into the apartment they’d prepared for her. She didn’t take the position they’d arranged either.
She stood in front of my parents, eyes red. “This isn’t just your fault. All these years I felt you favoring me, and I never stopped it. I knew that love was hers. But I took it anyway. I told myself losing my dad meant I deserved it. But Vesper—she was just a kid too.”
My mom grabbed her hand on instinct. “Katerina, don’t think like that. Your father gave his life for your family. Taking care of you is the least we can do.”
Katerina pulled her hand back, gentle but firm. “Everything you gave me because of my dad—it shouldn’t have come out of Vesper’s life.”
That line slammed my mom into silence. Katerina took a step back, looked at each of them, and nodded once—like she was saying goodbye. “Thank you for taking care of me all these years. But I’m an adult now. I’ll learn to live on my own from here on.”
“I’ll give the property and the shares back. Everything. I’ll cover school with loans and work on campus.”
She turned and walked away. After Montana State started, she took out student loans and found a part-time job at a campus dining hall. That upscale condo in downtown Bozeman gathered dust, and no one ever moved in.
My mom couldn’t sleep anymore. She’d jerk awake in the middle of the night, shuffle down to that little room at the end of the back stairs in her slippers, and sit on that narrow bed until dawn.
My dad resigned from the family’s day-to-day leadership and served only as consigliere, the gray spreading fast through his hair.
He told anyone who’d listen about his daughter out East—top medical program, elite training, the whole thing. But he never dared tell a soul that she hadn’t contacted the family in eight years.
Silas handed back his underboss authority and shifted into international medical logistics. The job kept him crossing time zones—which was exactly why he took it. Every unfamiliar number, every encrypted message made his pulse jump. He never stopped hoping one of them would be me.