Page 67 of Isle of Beauty

A hand traces up and down my back and I don’t need to turn to know it’s my future husband’s. I pick up my pieces and lay them at the feet of the man at my side, his strong presence giving me the support I need to erase Eduardo Garcia from the face of this Earth to rebuild anew.

I light a long match and direct it to the bottom of the pyre where we laid thin newsprint paper and dried pine needles to catch fire quickly. The smell could almost be mistaken for a festive bonfire, until the scent of death and rot hits my nostrils and makes me want to gag.

The flames climb up quickly, lighting the clearing behind the slaughterhouse in hues of orange and red. The smoke obscures the stars but the moon shines on us like a vigilante.

I take a seat on the ground at a safe distance from the heat of the fire, and watch the remnants of my old life burn for the next four hours, my head tilted on the shoulder of the man I could have married first.

TWENTY-SEVEN

PIERCE

TO UNRAVEL THE PAST

Luc

How’s your wife?

Ipocket my phone and ignore my uncle’s text. It’s coming too late to be fully authentic. I only told him about the accident when Lana was still at the hospital because I wanted him to know I was putting someone from Pierce Security Company on his and Petrov’s account. My focus needed to be on her. It still does.

Lana was still asleep when I left her apartment despite the sun already high in the sky. I kissed her brow and made her promise she wouldn’t leave the place and take the day off but she barely mumbled before turning and burrowing under the light sheet again.

I stood there and stared at my little wife who felt safe to stay asleep for what must have been the first time in her entire life. The trust she put in me swelled my chest with pride until I reminded myself that I’m deceiving her with everything breath I take. The documents I have gathered on my computer will throw the life she’s built up the fucking cliff and the more time I spend with her, the harder it becomes. The more time I spend with Julian, the more difficult it becomes to hold onto the hate I have for the man who sired both of us.

My body feels itchy and my senses are on high alert when I get to my father’s office. I realised when I helped Lana lit the match to burn her past that I’ve been holding on to mine. I thought Lana used me and abandoned me. Then I learnt the truth. What if there is more to my mother’s past that could bring me closer to the woman I want to hold and own?

“You’re early today, figliolu.”

“I asked Marcel to skip today’s session. We need to move forward with the Moretti-Bartoli merger and fully show a united front.”

My tone is clipped, just like anytime I’m around the man, but seeing him show up for Lana after the explosion, seeing him around Julian and the rest of the Moretti women, seeing him with his wife Bea, it’s like I’m meeting another man. The red rage I thought would consume me every second in his presence when I first landed has swirled to a low frustration. It never leaves me but it doesn’t blind me anymore. I’m not sure I can fully let go of it.

I’m not sure who I am without my hate.

“Let me call Maitre Duomo so he can bring the paperwork and have Pietro come and sign them.”

He retreats to the club chair and dial on his phone and I take the opportunity to look around me. Really look this time, unlike all the previous days I’ve spent here. My gaze is drawn by the painting above the mantel. So much love shines through the colours. I doubt Bea would have offered him such a precious gift if my father had abused her.

A drawer is open on the side of the majestic desk and I come closer, peaking in. I’m not sure if I thought I’d find a letter saying “yes I raped your mom” in bold capital letters as the final confession of a guilty man but I certainly didn’t expect this. It’s a small framed picture of me, jumping off a small cliff in the Sant Armellu creeks. My hand trembles as I pick it up, hoping to dissect every pixel and find Julian smiling with elation, not me.

“You loved jumping off that little cliff. I took that picture a week before… before you were gone.”

I look up to him but he’s looking down at the picture, his face soft. And I jump.

“What led to this?”

“What led your crazy mother to take you away?”

“Don’t fucking talk about her like this. You don’t know what she’s been through.”

“You’re right, I don’t. And it’s not for lack of trying.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You think I’d have let her take my first born without a fight? I went after you. Your uncle Luc threatened me and found out about Bea and Julian and threatened them. He’s a piece of shit and I’d have crushed him if Mario hadn’t sided with the Pierces.”

“Mario? Why would Mario get involved?” I frown because it makes no sense. My uncle Mario Capaldi died a decade ago and hated Luc more than anyone else and wouldn’t threaten another Made man. He’s always kept to his own territory and ambitions. And Luc isn’t the best man on Earth but threatening my brother? I’m having trouble reconciling everything I know and feel.

“Ana, your mother, is very close to Catalina, her sister, and there isn’t anything Mario wouldn’t have done for his wife. He threatened to bring war to Kalliste if I ever stepped foot again on English soil. And he had the means and the temper to do it. Over the years, I tried to go and get you back and barely came out of it in one piece. Your mother, or maybe Luc, even sent assassins here against me and against Bea. Your mother hated no one more than me and my new wife.”

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