by Sienna Mynx
When they arrived home, Mirabella went straight to her husband’s room. She found him in bed with a hired nurse who replaced the nun’s checking on him. She looked up surprised to see her at such an early hour.
“How is he?” she asked.
“No change, Signora,” the nurse said.
“You can go to bed. I’ll stay with him.”
“Sì, Signora, buenos noche,” the nurse said and walked out. Mirabella walked over to the foot of the bed. She stared at her husband. The man she thought she knew, but had only known from the shallowest surface. How could he run with so many giants and always remain a step ahead of them?
She began to untie the sash to her dress. The silk fabric drifted from her skin and pooled at her feet. She walked over to the bed in nothing but her g-string. She pulled back the covers. Giovanni remained in his eternal sleep. Mirabella eased under the covers with him. She moved his arm and snuggled the warmth of his healing body. She pressed her curves against the side of him. She rested her face on his shoulder, and pressed her hand to his chest.
Her eyes closed.
And she wept until sleep claimed her while in her husband’s arms.
Chapter Twenty
The Rotten Truth
Sorrento, Italy
“Signora, Signora, Signora?”
Mirabella was shaken awake. She opened her eyes to find a nurse staring at her. She pulled the sheet to her breast to cover her nudity. She could see the surprise on the nurse’s face. The woman had found her nude, in the bed with her comatose husband.
“The doctors need to see him. They tried to... but found you, uh, sleeping in here. They asked that I wake you. Tests are needed this morning.”
“Yes, of course. Can you pass me my dress from the floor?”
The nurse did as she asked.
“That will be all,” Mirabella said and sent her away. When the door closed she looked over to Giovanni. He was unmoved, unchanged. However, spending the night next to him was the best healing she’d had since their nightmare began. She leaned over and kissed his parched lips. She eased out of bed and put on her dress. She found her shoes, and with them in hand she crept from his room. She saw Dr. Singh in another room on the phone. Dr. Genaro stood off to the side staring out the window. Dr. Singh glanced up from his call, and his eyes locked on her, and she nodded a hello before slipping down to the second floor. Leo was outside her door. She didn’t know when he slept. He was always there for her. No matter the time.
“Morning, Donna,” he yawned.
“The kids? Have they been brought downstairs for breakfast?”
“Sì, Donna, they have.”
“What time do we leave for the funeral?”
“In two hours. We will fly over to Sicily and be at the church before two.”
“Grazie,” Mirabella said. She turned to go inside the room, but Leo cleared his throat.
“Perdonami Donna. But I looked for you earlier. Renaldo came earlier. He’s asked to speak with you. He’s waiting for you in your office. He says it’s very important.”
“Important? He used that word?”
“Sì, Donna.”
“Is Domi there?”
“No, Donna. He wants to speak to you alone.”
That was unlike Renaldo. He never requested private meetings. “Grazie,” she said and went inside the room. She closed her eyes and walked to the bathroom. There she shed her dress once more. She stepped into the shower and didn’t flinch when the icy cold rivulets splashed over her breasts and streamed over her nipples to her navel and lower. She closed her eyes and remembered all the showers she shared with her husband in the past. The comfort was there, in memory.
“Are you ever going to forgive me?”
Marietta asked the question as she tended to his ruptured wound. Lorenzo barely blinked during the mending. Since the fight with Armando and Catalina, they’d been confined to their room under a guard and gun. She was allowed to leave for food and necessities, but Lorenzo was not.
He’d been silent with her.
His anger had boiled to a stony paralysis, and he only moved when he had to pee or shower.
“Lo?”
He didn’t respond.
“I... I’ve been thinking. I need to see Mirabella. I know she’ll be there. I need to talk to her.”
His gaze turned to her. “Please forgive me, Lo. I only did this to help us. I didn’t know what Armando had planned for Catalina. I had no way of knowing. I was trying to protect...”
In a flash of rage, he knocked the basin of water off the bed. It went sailing across the room splashing its bloody water everywhere. Marietta jumped to her feet with a startled cry, and the man outside the door forced his way in. He had his gun aimed directly at Lorenzo.
“Get out!” she shouted at the intruder.
He glared at Lorenzo. Lorenzo glared at the man.
“Get the hell out! Now!” Marietta demanded.
The man finally looked her way. He glanced from her to the floor covered in bloody water, and then back to her. He left. Marietta put her hand to her head. “You have to tell me what to do. What do I do? Do I go to the funeral or not?”
“You have to have the baby at home. Not here,” he said.
“Then I need to talk to my sister about letting us both come home.”
“No. You go to Mirabella and you beg her to let you and Catalina come home. I stay here with Armando.”
“I won’t do that!”
“I’m not asking you to agree, Marie. It’s what you will do.”
She bit down on her tongue so hard she thought she might bite through it. She hated when he turned into asshole Lorenzo. She hated this version of him. But she was the cause. And she accepted it. “Even if I could convince her to let us come, Armando won’t allow it. Not for Catalina. You heard him. He think’s she... belongs to him.”
Lorenzo narrowed his eyes on his wife. “You make it happen. You find a way to make it happen. It’s your sister and your lie. You convince her.”
She stepped across the slippery floor to the bed, and she sat on it with her hands to her belly. “We’re in this together. Remember? Don’t make me have this baby without you.”
Lorenzo reached for her. She came closer and was careful not to touch his wounded leg. He hugged her to his chest.
“I’m sorry. I am. I don’t know why I mess up. I created this. Catalina, Rosetta, and Vito, I caused it. I almost killed Giovanni,” she whispered.
“You didn’t,” he said.
She wept in his arms.
“I am strongest when you are stronger, Marie. I can’t be at my strongest when you are weak. And you are, with guilt. The guilt could harm the baby. Listen to me, Marie. Listen.”
She tried to stop her tears, but it was hard. She nodded that she was listening.
“I’m going to do what I need to do, to deal with Armando. I need you to get back into Melanzana where it is safe. Protect our home and our family. If Giovanni doesn’t live, then it means we are the future. Our son is the future.”
“How? Even if he dies, nothing changes. Nico, Renaldo, Carlo, Domi, all of them will hate you, blame you. They will never let you come back in and take over.”
“They won’t have a choice. I can get the Camorristi to turn on them, and with Armando’s help I’ll take Melanzana by force. Those who get in my way will be nothing more than a casualty,” he whispered his dark plans into her ear.
“That’s crazy, what will happen to Mirabella and the kids?” she asked.
“You’ll see to them, maybe we can send her back to America. Either way, you are the rightful Donna. And I am going to make sure you have everything you deserve. So be a good wife and do this for me. Stick to my plan. Go be the dutiful sister and we’ll take what’s ours.”
She lifted her face from his shoulder and looked into his eyes. “If I go to her and she agrees, promise me you will be there in time for the baby to be born.”
He kissed her brow. “Nothing, no
one will keep me from our baby.”
“Then I’ll do it. I’ll do whatever I need to do to protect the family. Our family.”
“That’s my girl.”
Catalina chose a blue dress, instead of black. The modest one of out of the collection of garments that Armando brought in for her. She slipped it on before he reentered the room. She didn’t bother to turn and look at him. He was the only one who entered the bedroom they shared. Besides, she was so nervous now she had to use all her energy to focus on her hair and makeup.
“Marietta wants to attend the funeral with you.”
“No. It’ll only upset the family. They have to know by now what Lorenzo did.”
“They know what you did to Rosetta as well,” he said.
Her hand froze on the brush stroking her hair. Her gaze lifted to the mirrored reflection of him. She turned and faced him. She pointed the brush at him ready to aim an insult at his pride. But she remembered what happened the last time she insulted him. Making him angry was not part of the deal. She lowered the brush and sighed before speaking. “Can you get us both in to the funeral? Get us both in to see Mirabella?”
“That’s what’s important to you?”
“Yes, Armando. It’s very important to me.”
“Why?”
“Because it just is.”
“But why? What do you want? To gain her forgiveness. To see Dominic? To plead for her to take you back home.”
“Can you, or can’t you?” she asked.
“Lorenzo has offered me a different kind of deal.”
“What?”
“Marietta tells me that if you two return home to Italy, he will stay here and help me deal with La Cosa Nostra. He will also make sure that Mirabella and Marietta sign over to me all my father’s business assets that they share.”
“What you always wanted,” Catalina said.
“My wants have changed.”
“Armando...”
“We had a deal, Catalina. It’s you and me now.”
“My family is crumbling. Mirabella and Giovanni need me. I have to go home.”
“This is home.”
“This can’t be about you; it can’t be about me. Not anymore. It has to be about... about more than that.”
“If I let you leave you won’t return. Will you?”
“Let me? Am I a prisoner?”
“Answer the question!” he demanded.
She blinked at him not sure if honesty was the best answer between them.
“Will you?”
“I don’t know,” she said.
Armando smiled. “I think the only way for you to truly accept me, us, our future, is to prove it to you.”
“Prove what?”
“That there is no family but the one I offer you. I’m going to get you to the funeral, inside the chapel, at the gravesite. I’m going to get you an audience with my sister, and even Dominic if you like. I’ll wait for you. Wait for your eyes to open to everything I’ve been saying to you since you first became mine. And when you come back home to me, you will give me the chance I deserve, for putting up with all of this bullshit!”
Armando turned to go and stopped. “We leave this afternoon. This morning let’s have breakfast together. Who knows, you might be right and it will be our last.”
“Armando?”
He glanced back at her.
She opened her mouth to thank him, but stopped herself. He winked at her and left. Catalina sat on the bed. She closed her eyes and prayed.
“Renaldo?” Mirabella said as she entered her office and went to the desk and chair. The enforcer stood from the chair and nodded respectfully. “What is this about? We have to leave soon to get Sicilia.”
“I’m sorry, Donna. I wouldn’t have asked for this meeting if it weren’t important.”
“Something wrong? Is it Kyra, the baby?”
“No. Our daughter is growing bigger every day. She’s amazing,” he said. “Thank you for making us so comfortable.”
“Good. I was glad to do it. Seeing her and having her here has been such a comfort to me.”
“We talked and we both agree. We want to ask you to be the godmother.”
“I’m honored, Renaldo. Of course, I would love to be.”
“Grazie,” Renaldo said.
A silence fell between them. It felt awkward. Mirabella frowned. “Is there something else?”
“I’ve struggled with this. But I have to tell you the truth. And last night confirmed it for me. You have to know all the facts.”
“Facts?”
“I went to the warehouse. Where Giovanni was shot. I found his gun, and I found another.”
“Lorenzo’s gun?” she asked.
“No. I found Carlo’s gun.”
“Oh?”
“Donna, you called Armando and told him that Marietta was in trouble. No?”
“Yes, I did, how do you know that?”
“I surmised it, considering he arrived in time to rescue Lorenzo and Marietta. But, I also figured out something else. Carlo says that when he arrived he had Marietta with him. He’d found her at the lemon house, and she told him where Gio and Lo were going to meet. He drove them there, because she insisted. He told her to stay in the car.”
“Okay?”
“Armando wasn’t there. Not then. He’s certain he arrived and only Giovanni and Lorenzo were inside.”
“Continue,” Mirabella said. Her heart now beating faster with each nugget of truth he shared.
“I looked at where the blood was. I could see where Giovanni was shot. How he was dragged out to the front of the warehouse. There was another stain of blood. Separate from Giovanni’s. It had to be where Lorenzo was shot.”
“By Giovanni?” she asked.
“Yes. Carlo said, when he got out of the car he heard a gun shot. A single gunshot. It was then he was hit over the head by Marietta.”
“My sister? She attacked Carlo?”
“Domi didn’t tell you?”
Mirabella shook her head no.
“He’s almost certain that she hit him over the head with a crowbar from the car. He blacked out. He never made it inside.”
“I don’t understand what you are telling me.”
“Donna, I believe that Marietta picked up his gun and went into that warehouse. I believe that Giovanni had wounded Lorenzo, but not killed him. Marietta saw this and she shot the boss. Giovanni took three hits to the back. From the way it appears, it had to be from someone ambushing him.”
“Marietta wouldn’t do that. She doesn’t fire guns. She sure as hell wouldn’t shoot Gio!”
“Wouldn’t she? If she thought Lorenzo was in danger. Carlo came too as Armando and his boys dragged her and Lorenzo away. If Armando had wanted to kill Giovanni, then how did his body get dropped off where Carlo was? Armando wouldn’t be so sloppy with the hit of a boss. He’d deliver the kill shot. I think Armando arrived at the lemon house in time to see her leaving with Carlo. I think he followed them to the warehouse. And watched it all play out.”
“Stop talking,” Mirabella closed her eyes. “Just stop.”
“Forgive me, Donna.”
Mirabella sat still. She considered the lies and manipulations of her sister from the day they met. She could remember every time Marietta called Giovanni king, or mocked her devotion to him. All this time Marietta knew what Lorenzo had done, and never breathed a word. How many times had Marietta said to her face that Lorenzo came first?
The anger crept over her like a cold wave. She felt frozen inside. She opened her eyes. Renaldo stared at her.
“Who have you told this to?”
“Carlo and I talked about it. He’s still confused from the knock on his head. And there is a small chance that one of Armando’s men shot Gio, and not Marietta. But I doubt it, I doubt Lorenzo did it.”
“Is that all you’ve told?” she asked.
“Kyra, I told her. She supports me being honest with you.”
Mirabella nodded. �
��Tell no one else. Not Rocco and not Dominic. Make sure Carlo doesn’t talk about it further. I will decide how we deal with my sister.”
“Sì, Donna.”
Renaldo left. Mirabella sat long after the door closed. Her hands gripped the edges of the chair. She considered Renaldo’s truth in contrast to the one she herself conjured. In her mind Lorenzo was the enemy, and Lorenzo would have to pay. Never in her wildest imagination could she think her sister would betray her this way.
Three shots.
Three shots to the back, and Giovanni lay in a perpetual sleep.
Three shots to the back meant his assailant wanted him dead.
Mirabella stood. She went to her desk and turned away. She walked over to the phone and stopped herself from picking it up. Her gaze then landed on the record. The precious record of her mother’s voice. The only evidence Lisa ever existed. And Marietta had wanted to keep it for herself. She glanced to the journal she has been unable to read. Marietta wanted to keep that hidden away too.
All of her emotions collapsed in on her. Giovanni might die. And even worse than death, her beloved may be in a vegetable state forever. Because of her own sister.
“Damn it!” Tears hotly coursed down her cheeks. Mirabella sat down in the chair and reached for the silver framed image of her wedding picture. Giovanni stood behind her as she held a bouquet of blue roses. Her wedding was the first time she laid eyes on Marietta. Mirabella gazed upon Giovanni’s handsome face. The happiness in his smile.
She sniffed and drew back her tears.
“I swear to you, Gio. She’s going to pay. They are all going to pay.”
The door to the room opened. Lorenzo glanced up. He expected Marietta to return. Instead it was Armando. He pushed a wheelchair inside the room and brought it to a stop before the foot of the bed.
