REESE

chapter seventeen.

Third Person POV:

Hope.

People say hope is a dangerous thing, but what they don't realize is that it only becomes dangerous when you believe it means something. For the Di Genova's, hope was a thing of the past. Certain events throughout their young lives became pulsating derailments that tore apart their very foundations of hope.

Hope for a future with their father withered away as they watched him slowly and painfully lose his battle with Cancer.

Hope for a future with their mother shattered as they lowered her casket into the ground, only one day after the brutal car crash that left her blood stained into the gravel roads by their home, suddenly took her life.

Hope for a future with their sister diminished as investigator after investigator failed to locate the whereabouts of a little girl that was driven out of her home by the same people who once taught her the meaning of true unconditional love.

The Di Genova's knew better than anyone that hope was unrealistic. The feeling simply led to disappointment and pain, two sensory experiences equipped with such force they were easily able to bring a grown man onto his knees. The Di Genova's had experience, they had suppressed their emotions, they had created walls that protected them from meaningless false hope, they were guarded, and most importantly they now knew better.

Until Anastasia Di Genova was supposedly rescued by a girl that was none other than Dakoda Di Genova herself.

All it took for the walls that were built from years of pain and disappointment to come crashing down, was the small sliver of hope that the missing Italian mafia princess was in the same vicinity as her biological brothers.

That small sliver of hope was the very reason pure frustration was currently bubbling through the chests of the Di Genova's.

It had been four brutally long days since Anastasia was supposedly rescued by Dakoda. Every second of every hour for the past few days was dedicated to finding the whereabouts of Reese Vanderbilt.

It was like she was a ghost.

The Italian's sat down and planned for hours. At first they stationed undercover mafia men outside of Cryptic Incorporated, but absolutely nothing was found. If Reese was actively travelling to and from Cryptic it would have to have been from a secret entrance. The Di Genova's tried to investigate the property but there were cameras spread throughout every inch of the land and breaking in was just out of the question. The huge building was surrounded by an electric fence with the voltage so high you could hear its buzz from more than a hundred meters away. Trying to get past it would simply be a suicide mission.

Next, they tried finding out the whereabouts of Jonathon Vanderbilt, but just like his apparent daughter, finding out where he was, was practically impossible. There were absolutely no leads or even a single hint as to where he was located or where he conducted business.

Just like the girl he shared surnames with, Jonathan was a ghost.

Lastly, they put all their manpower and resources into finding out any information they could about the American Mafia. They scoured New York, they hired more hackers, they called up business associates, they went to underground clubs and asked around. No one uttered a word.

It was like the American Mafia didn't even exist.

They were experiencing first hand why the American Mafia was so feared by the rest of the Mafia world. How do you compete against an empire that sees everything but shows nothing? The brothers were close to giving up. The small flicker of hope in their chests was close to withering away. No one wanted to end up using the last resort.