by Sienna Mynx
“Get it together. She’s your damn wife. Figure it out.”
“Fuck figuring it out! I’m done!” Lorenzo dropped several suits in the suitcase and zipped it. “I can’t look at her. I need to be away from her, from all of you,” he said.
Giovanni had to agree. What else was there to say? If his Bella had done this thing behind his back he wouldn’t know what to do with the betrayal. And then it dawned on him how he recovered from sin in his marriage. “Do you remember what you told me when I found out that Mirabella had run away with another man and kept little Evie from me?” Giovanni asked.
“No.”
“You told me to not let my anger cost me the woman I love.”
“That was Domi, not me.” Lorenzo said.
Giovanni frowned. “I don’t remember if it was you or Domi, but the advice was solid.” He pointed a finger at Lorenzo. “I didn’t believe that you two belonged together. I thought you married her to piss me off, or to manipulate me, or maybe because you finally wised up and found someone to love.”
“I have loved her! What did it get me?” Lorenzo said.
“Maybe. Maybe not. She lied, she betrayed you, but she is your wife. And that bond you only make once. Forever. Be careful where anger takes you. Never close doors in your marriage that you want to return through.”
“I’m leaving,” Lorenzo said.
“Go. Get over it. Then bring your ass back to deal with it. She’s your wife. I don’t care if you married her under a full moon, on the back of a donkey, you married her. That’s not going to change! We clear?”
Lorenzo looked him in the eye. He shook his head and finished packing. Giovanni walked out.
**
“I have to go to him. I have to talk to him.” Marietta paced the floor. She twisted and turned her wedding ring.
“What exactly does he know?” Catalina asked. “Does he know about what Shae said about the birth control? About Carlo?”
“Yes!” Marietta shouted. “Oh God. I don’t think so. He came home last night and asked me if I was lying to him about taking birth control. So they told him. My marriage is over because of lies!”
“He doesn’t know,” Mirabella said. “You talked to him last night and he was fine. You said he found your birth control pills this morning. If he knew, trust me they would have come for Giovanni last night,” Mirabella said. “Giovanni is with him. He’ll calm him.”
“No! He won’t. He’ll side with Lorenzo. You know how they are. He’ll tell him to leave me. I’ll kill myself!” Marietta began to hyperventilate. Mirabella rubbed her back and encouraged her to breathe through her anxiety. She looked up at Catalina who shook her head in disbelief.
“Stop with the crazy talk!” Catalina stood. “You will not kill yourself, and Lorenzo will not leave you. Not if Gio has anything to say about it. And he does. He’ll get Lorenzo to calm down, and then you’ll talk to him and make it right between you two.”
“She’s right,” Mirabella said. “He just needs to clear his head.”
“Why would you keep the birth control pills?” Catalina asked. “Why keep them if you didn’t plan to take them?”
“I forgot to throw the empty package away. I couldn’t just toss them in the trash. We’ve been crazy the past week. Here and there, and back again. I didn’t remember… damn it! I’m human!”
“It’s fine. We’re just trying to understand,” Mirabella said.
“It’s not fine. You didn’t hear him. You didn’t see how he looked at me. He’s going to leave me. He’s going to punish me.”
“I’ll call Domi and tell him to come home. See what he thinks,” Catalina said.
Mirabella agreed. She pulled Marietta down to the sofa and sat with her. Marietta laid her head in Mirabella’s lap, and lifted her feet to stretch out on her side on the sofa. Mirabella stroked her hair. “I promise you when he’s not so angry he’ll listen. Let him cool off.”
“Okay,” Marietta said weakly.
Mirabella began to hum as her grandmother did when she was a child and confused or hurting. She stroked Marietta’s hair until he sister stopped trembling. Giovanni peeked in at them. Their eyes met. He then disappeared. Mirabella continued to comfort her sister.
**
Dominic found Giovanni in his smoking room. The door was open. Gio saw him and gestured for him to come in closer. He was on the phone.
“Yes. I’m not sure where, just handle it,” Giovanni said.
He ended the call.
“What’s happened?” Dominic asked.
“Lorenzo. He and Marietta had a fight. He’s packed and left.”
“A fight? Do you know what about?” Dominic asked.
“He didn’t give me the truth. Not all of it. I just got off the phone. Apparently last night Lorenzo killed Eduardo.”
“He killed him?” Dominic said.
“Carlo says the boy told him that Marietta and the women were fighting because she was sneaking birth control behind Lorenzo’s back. Lorenzo shot the kid when he told him the truth, came home and lost his fucking mind.” Giovanni picked up his cigar and cutter. He snapped off the end. He flashed his lighter and took a toke from it. “I told Carlo to find Lorenzo, get him off the streets. I don’t need him out there in this state.”
“Where will he put him?” Dominic asked.
Giovanni glanced up and Dominic knew. There was no reason to name the place.
“Birth control? I can’t say I’m surprised with those two,” Dominic said.
“He’s been thinking she’s infertile.”
“Ah… what a mess,” Dominic said. “Anything you want me to do?”
“Domi! Gio!” Catalina charged into the room. “Where’s Lo? Is he ready to talk to Marietta now?”
“He’s gone, Catalina. He’ll be back after he cools off,” Giovanni said and dropped his cigar in the ashtray.
“Gone? No. He has to talk to her. Make him, Gio. She’s really upset.” Catalina pleaded.
“She made her bed. Betrayed her husband. Everyone stay out of it,” Giovanni said.
“I can’t believe you would say that. We all make mistakes. Look at what I did with Franco. Look at what Mirabella did with Kei Hyogo. She made a mistake and she deserves forgiveness.”
“Mistakes do not come and go without consequences. We all pay them.” Giovanni said. “They are married. It’s a personal lesson between them. Let them figure it out. I’m going to shower.”
Catalina turned to Dominic. He had to admit that he agreed with Giovanni. He smiled at Catalina and she spurned his touch.
“You know Lorenzo. He’ll do something stupid. He’s not Gio. He’s not you. When he’s hurt he hurts himself. He self destructs,” Catalina said.
“He’s like any man, Catalina. He’ll remember what’s important when it matters. Trust me.”
She shook her head in defeat. “I hope so.”
The Storm – One Week Later
“YOU ASSHOLE! I want my FUCKING husband!” she screamed. “DO YOU HEAR ME? STO CERCANDO LORENZO! DO YOU HEAR MEEEEEE?”
“That’s enough!” Mirabella grabbed Marietta by her arms to keep her from advancing on Giovanni.
“Let me go, Mira! He knows where he is! It’s been a week. You said he would help! He’s done nothing!” Marietta wept. Mirabella glanced back to her husband. He sat behind his desk glaring at them both. She pleaded with him with her eyes. The stress was killing all of them. He had to do something.
“I will talk to him,” she said to Marietta. “Go back to the villa. Wait for me.”
“No! No more talking! You keep saying that. They know where he is. They won’t tell me. Nobody will. If I don’t find him I’ll go crazy,” Marietta said through her sobs. And her sister looked a sight. She hadn’t bathed or eaten anything in a week. Her hair was tangled, uncombed. Her eyes were swollen with puffy dark circles underneath. Nothing they did or said calmed her. She was making herself ill.
“I promise you I’ll talk to Giovanni. He’ll
bring him back.” She cupped Marietta’s face. “You trust me right? Right?”
“No,” Marietta said softly.
“Yes you do,” Mirabella smiled. “I’m your sister. I love you. Go back inside. I’ll be there with you in a minute.” Mirabella gave her a gentle shove to the door. She watched and waited until Marietta left with the men who would escort her back to her prison. She looked to Giovanni.
“Why won’t you put an end to this?” she pleaded.
Giovanni didn’t answer.
“It’s killing her. She made a mistake! A horrible one. I agree. Hasn’t she suffered enough?”
He slammed his hand down on the top of the desk. “She did not make a mistake!” he shouted. “It was intentional. It was deliberate. It was a lot of things, but not a mistake!” Giovanni said.
Mirabella sighed. She put her hands in her hair. This was making her just as crazy. She needed peace in her family. The constant hysterics from Marietta were putting an unfair strain on her marriage now. She sucked down a deep breath and exhaled slowly.
“Have Lorenzo come back and talk to her. Or take her to him. Whichever you think is best.”
“If she comes down here again I’ll have the men lock her in her room. Do you understand?” Giovanni replied.
“She’s upset. I would be too if I were her.”
“But you aren’t her. And this is not your battle,” Giovanni reminded her.
“She’s my sister. My twin sister!” Mirabella said. Giovanni didn’t blink. She walked over to the desk. “Where is he? Do you even know? Do you?”
Giovanni scratched his brow. Something he did when she knew he struggled with telling her the truth. “Lorenzo is dealing with this his way. He’ll return when he’s ready. You have my word, Bella.”
“Can’t you see we’re beyond that now? It’s not good enough, Gio. You can put an end to this. One phone call and he walks through that door. Do it! Now!”
“Basta!” Giovanni said. “You don’t give me orders. This is her fault! She betrayed him. He has been a loyal husband to her, and she betrayed him. If she suffers she deserves it.”
“She was right. You can be a real asshole at times!” Mirabella said before she too stormed out. The door closed and she dropped against it. She closed her eyes and tried to catch her breath. She should go back inside. She knew how to convince him to act against his strong beliefs. One thing was clear, Giovanni and his men believed in the most traditional rules of marriage. No birth control, ever. Only Mirabella could help him be reasonable. She’d done it before. This approach wouldn’t work. It has never worked! She put a hand to her head to keep away the lightheaded feeling stress brought on. Marietta had her on edge and she was now taking it out on Giovanni.
Tears pooled under her tightly shut lids, “Damn it!” she said. She had to be stronger than this. She’d never seen her sister so manic, crazed. It terrified her.
Three nights ago Mirabella brought food to Marietta’s room. The bed was empty. She found her sister in the bathtub. She wore the same floor-length white gown she had on for days, while sitting in lukewarm water that reached the brim of the claw foot tub. It was the strangest sight. And then Mirabella’s heart stopped. A pack of unopened razor blades floated on the surface of the water. Marietta stared at the package. It was her only focus. When Mirabella tried to coax Marietta out of the tub she didn’t blink. When she took the razors from the water and put them in the trash her sister didn’t blink. It was when she touched her that she went crazy. She screamed and fought her, splashing water until it covered the floor. Mirabella had to run from the room and bring back Catalina to help drag her sister from the tub.
Something was wrong with her sister. It wasn’t Lorenzo leaving. Though she imagined Marietta was scared for her marriage. There existed a much more troubling reason for her erratic behavior. She’d seen her sister throw tantrums, and show rage, but nothing like this. It was as if a switch was flipped and all her demons surfaced at once.
It dawned on Mirabella who Marietta reminded her of in that moment. Her grandmother’s twin sister. A feisty grand-aunt they all referred to as Sweetie. She was a fun loving, gun-toting woman who was never diagnosed for her manic bouts of depression. Sweetie had made several attempts to take her own life through the years, and Mirabella was too young to understand why. It was only after her grandmother died, and Sweetie drank herself into a hospital bed, that a cousin told her what the doctors called it. She was bipolar. Sweetie’s erratic behavior and drinking habit drove even her children away. Only Mirabella’s grandmother could keep her calm. And when she died Sweetie’s demons eventually caught up to her.
Marietta may not be bipolar. But there was something broken in her that pushed her dangerously close to Sweetie’s edge.
Mirabella had done the only thing she knew to do. She channeled her grandmother’s patience and took care of her sister. She’d been so worried about Marietta’s depression she took to sleeping in her room with her. That infuriated Giovanni. He didn’t say so. He didn’t have to. She knew it. If she had to leave Marietta to see about the kids she’d check on him to either see his pacing shadow behind a closed door, or to be told he was downstairs in the cellar hitting his punching bag to work off stress.
They always slept together, whether angry or not. No exceptions, until she introduced this one. If she had just lain in his arms and talked it out with him, she might have convinced him sooner to bring Lorenzo back. This had to end. Add to it that she hadn’t been physical with her man since the drama started, and she was unraveling a well. Her body craved Giovanni like an addict. Her heart craved him too. She fought down all of her own turmoil to do what she could to heal her sister. But could she?
“Are you okay?” Dominic asked her.
Mirabella looked up and saw his familiar smile. She glanced around at the other men waiting to go in. She was keeping them from their meeting.
She wiped her tears. “Yeah, sorry. I’m fine. Ah, I…” she looked back at Giovanni’s door. “Tell Giovanni when he’s done to come see me. I want to fix dinner for us, or something. Tell him I wan to talk. Excuse me,” she said. She hurried for the door and didn’t look back.
It made him sick with frustration. All he did was argue with his wife. Night after night they fought over Marietta and Lorenzo. He had enough of it.
Dominic, Renaldo, and Nico came in. They had been in a meeting when Marietta charged inside screaming for them to tell her where her husband was. He had no idea how she got around the men outside. Marietta should be thankful Mirabella showed up before he had her dragged out.
“How the fuck did she get in here?” Giovanni asked.
She attacked Umberto. Hit him in the head with a stick from behind. The men were caught off guard.
“What bullshit story is that? A stick?” Giovanni shook his head. “He carries a fucking gun and she beats him up with a stick?”
“He couldn’t shoot her, Gio,” Dominic chuckled.
Giovanni waved the comment off. “My wife hasn’t been in my bed in close to a week. She sleeps with her now. Where the fuck is Lorenzo?”
“I spoke to Carlo. He says he’s at Maria’s,” Renaldo said.
Dominic put his face in his hand. Maria’s wasn’t a woman. It was a place. A whorehouse that Giovanni’s father owned, and Lorenzo inherited. Giovanni did away with the business of prostitution. Maria’s was now managed and owned by the Tacchi clan. The place was full of a bunch of gypsy whores who robbed and hustled men who came through the door. It was not the agreed upon place they went to escape.
“Do you want me to bring him out of there?” Nico asked.
Giovanni tapped his finger on the surface of the desk. He thought it over. “Pay him a visit. Tell him to clean up. I expect him to return to his wife no later than tomorrow morning. He needs to walk through that door and not be dragged in. The man has his fucking pride.” Giovanni shook his head in disgust.
“Pride? Gio, he’s at Maria’s. The women find this out and he
can’t walk through that door.” Dominic said.
“Not our concern. If he’s stupid enough to take a whore into his marriage, there is nothing we can do to prevent it,” Giovanni said.
“The Donna asked that I tell you to come see her when you are done. She says she wants to talk,” Dominic said.
“I’m done talking about this bullshit.” Giovanni grumbled.
Santo appeared at the door and knocked. Giovanni granted entrance with a glance. Nico left.
“Ciro?” Giovanni asked Dominic.
“He’s ready. I just left the gym. This fight will make him a star, Gio. All the clan bosses will be attending. Everyone in the Campania is going to show support.” Santo boasted.
“Carlo’s been working hard with him,” Dominic agreed.
“I want to take Bella to the fight tonight,” Giovanni announced.
Santo sat up. Since the Lorenzo and Marietta drama, his wife hadn’t answered a phone call from her business, or handled any other matters. In fact his little one was supposed to start school, and Mirabella had called it off. The women were standing together in their support of Marietta.
“She likes boxing,” he explained though he didn’t have to. “She needs to get out and have some fun. With me.” Giovanni smiled. He was ready to make up. Boxing could be the key. “Marietta’s draining the life out of my wife,” Giovanni said. “It’s time I put an end to it.”
“It’s a good idea, Gio,” Santo spoke up. “I think the family should be there. The press will be. It’s a good way to give your endorsement of Ciro.” Santo stood.
“Where are you going?” Dominic frowned.
“I, uh, excuse me, Gio. I need to make a few calls,” said Santo.
“I agree with him,” Dominic said and watched Santo curiously as he walked out. “I’ll bring Catalina.”
Giovanni shook his head no. “I don’t want Catalina to come. I want it to be my night with Bella. Catalina comes and it’ll just distract her, or the women will worry about Marietta. Her attention should be on having fun with me.”
