Page 23 of The Final Beat

“Did she know about us? You know when you bumped into her.” He nodded once. “Great. I guess it’s not cheating if you’re cheating on your mistress with your wife.”

“I loved your mother very much, but Rosetta was my childhood sweetheart, my wife, and it would mean abandoning her with two babies.”

“Wow, saw yourself as King Solomon, did you?”

“It was not like that, Joseppi.”

“Joey,” I snapped. “It’s Joey, and yes it was like that. You had to choose a family and chose this one. Fair enough, but you could have kept in touch with me. You could have explained. Instead, you didn’t come back and let us wonder and worry until you made one call and told Zoe you weren’t coming back.” I stood up. I’d had enough. I’d got what I’d come for. I wasn’t to blamefor him leaving, that was his choice because he was a coward. He couldn’t choose between two women so may as well have flipped a coin. “You’re a coward, Aldo, and I have nothing more to say to you.”

“Joey,” he begged, his voice cracking.

“No. I hope you have peace in the time you have left, and I hope when your time comes you’re not in pain, but I won’t be coming back here.”

“Joseppi…”

I didn’t respond because I was out of the door, almost barrelling into Rosetta who was standing right next to the door.

“He’s all yours,” I said, swallowing back the emotion that neither she nor Aldo deserved.

“He always was. I just needed to remind him of that.”

I had no doubt she’d plotted to win him back, but like I’d told Ronnie not so long ago, you couldn’t take someone who didn’t want to be taken. She was welcome to him.

“Daisy,” I called, walking down the hallway towards the front door. “We’re going.”

I fiddled with the latch, desperate to get out of the stale air of death but couldn’t get it to open. I was seconds from kicking the door down when a hand closed over mine of the lock and gently pushed it down.

“Christ, you’re a dick. You can’t even open a fucking door.”

When it opened, I had never been so grateful to have Destiny with me. As we walked to the car it struck me like a wrecking ball to the head. The times between needing her and being thankful for her were getting shorter and shorter.

CHAPTER 12

DESTINY

The drive back to the plane was made in absolute silence, except for the sound of Joey’s breaths of anger. It was thick and heavy and filled the car to the point that I was almost choking on it. A few choice words from me might have cleared the air, but I wasn’t sure even my witty repartee could bring him out of his mood.

It wasn’t until we were back on the plane and flying that I decided to broach the subject of the visit.

“You going to talk about it?” I asked as we unbuckled our belts. “What did he say? I tried to listen but that youngest sister of yours can’t half talk. I mean, her English is good but some of it was difficult to understand, the general feeling though was your band is very good and she wishes she’d known about you earlier.” I winked at him. “Seems you might be hearing from her again at least.”

Joey shrugged with his lips turned down like it would be a huge effort to move them even an inch. There wasn’t even a hint of enthusiasm showing in his body.

“Joey, you’re going to have to talk about it at some point.” I leaned forward in my seat but didn’t touch him. He had that lost, broken look again, the one which for some reason my bodyfound irresistible. Maybe if I kept my distance, I could be the friend he needed.

He stared at me for a few seconds before heaving out a long sigh. “He’s a selfish, egotistical man who felt he had the right to take what he wanted. He wanted Mum so didn’t give a shit about leaving Rosetta and Cosima. He wanted Rosetta so didn’t give a shit about leaving me and Mum. Aldo Esposito got what he wanted every time, and it didn’t matter what the collateral damage was.”

“If it’s any consolation I think Cosima hates him as much as you do.” The whole time I was in the kitchen, she had a sneer. I’d thought at first it was purely for Joey and my benefit, but whenever the word ‘papa’ was spoken, her face got even sneerier.

“She went through the same as I did. Except he came back to her and her mother.”

“Did he say why he came back?”

Joey nodded slowly. “He bumped into Rosetta when he came for a visit and slept with her. She got pregnant and so he came back because he didn’t think it was fair to leave her with two children. She was his wife and Mum was just a mistake.”

“So, they were married before he left?” Wow the man really was a piece of work. “No wonder Cosima looked like she was smelling shit every time he was mentioned.”

“Her demons have to be worse than mine.” Joey scoffed. “Imagine him leaving and then only coming back because you had a sister on the way.”

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