Among his brothers, he was the one who had an equally close and friction-free relationship with all. Yet he’d allowed not even them beyond the serene facade he’d refined.
They believed it was Wildcard—or Ivan Konstantinov as he now called himself—who knew Antonio fully, as he’d been closest to him since childhood. But Antonio hadn’t even let Ivan in on everything he’d been through or everything he was. He hadn’t told Ivan anything he was doing or planning now.
While the others had searched for their families, sought reunion with them and/or revenge on those who’d stolen them away, Ivan, who’d come to The Organization old enough to know his family, had elected not to contact his family once he’d been out. Antonio had elected not to bother with either finding his origins or seeking revenge. Or so he’d told his brothers. In reality, he’d found out everything about his family.
What he’d learned had made him think The Organization had done him a favor by abducting him. His Italian aristocracy family put its members through hell for appearances’ sake, which they enforced at any expense, even abandoning or destroying any of them who threatened their traditions and standing.
As they had him.
His mother’s pregnancy when she was seventeen had threatened their image. Her inappropriate lover had been dealt with, while she’d been taken away to avoid the scandal. The same day she’d given birth to him, he’d been given to an orphanage, from which he’d been culled by The Organization less than four years later. Up until that day he’d lived hoping his “real family” would find him.
It turned out he’d been better off with The Organization than in the Accardis’ sterile, cold-blooded environment where relationships were warped and members turned into shells of human beings. At least The Organization had let him pursue his true inclinations, what had made him who he was. It had been there he’d forged stronger-than-blood ties with his brothers, nothing like the pathological ones his family shared.
He’d at first decided to ignore the existence of the family that had wronged him so irretrievably. But after three of his brothers had found their roots and reunited with their own families, he’d begun to feel restless until he’d realized that he was being eaten alive with the need to even the score.
And to do that, he had to destroy the Accardis. Starting with his mother.
Agreeing to or at least accepting her family’s crime, she hadn’t attempted to search for him, had moved on instead and gotten married three times. She’d had legitimate offspring with each of her husbands as well as adopted children. The oldest was a man five years younger than him, the youngest a girl of twelve, making his crop of half siblings no less than six.
He’d planned to infiltrate the family anonymously, to exact up close and personal retribution on those who’d had a hand in his abandonment.
But the elitist snobs hadn’t opened up to him, not even with the bait of vital financial relief. Getting close to this family could be through the only way they allowed.
Through blood. Through a member.
After a thorough analysis of the extended family, he’d zeroed in on one member. Liliana Accardi.
Liliana was the daughter of Alberto Accardi, his mother’s third cousin. Her American mother had escaped Italy and the poisonous Accardi family when Liliana was only one and run back to the States. But after her mother’s death last year, the only child, family-less Liliana had started to reestablish relations with her father. The man who hadn’t bothered to see his daughter after he’d granted her mother a lucrative divorce was now eager to welcome her into his life. Surprisingly, the rest of the Accardis seemed as enthusiastic to invite her into the family. That had added to her potential use to Antonio.
Being a fellow doctor was another thing that had made her his best choice. And the fact that she’d graduated at the top of her class, but had ended up in a minor nonprofit lab battling impossible odds. Her quixotic tendencies had only made him consider her an even easier target. Everything else about her from looks to personal history had made her the most surefire as well as most tolerable vehicle for his needs.
He’d decided to approach her in a professional setting, bait her, snare her, then through her, enter the family, exact punishment from within, then walk away when they’d all paid, each to the exact measure he’d decide they deserved.
As for Liliana, she’d been wronged, too, if on an infinitely smaller scale. Though he’d despised her for seeking the family who’d driven her mother away and made Liliana grow up alone, to court their favor and inclusion, he’d intended to be lenient with her. If she provided him with a smooth ride to his life’s most anticipated surgery, that of excising the petrified heart of the family who’d thrown him away like so much garbage.