Page 104 of Deception

“They're not holding you prisoner. Are they?” Panic claws through me.

“No, no!” Angelica pats my hand. She searches my eyes for a second, seeing a shift there. “But they are holding you prisoner, aren’t they?”

“Yes. It's also complicated.”

“Oh, what a mess!” She half laughs, turning to the table. “I brought us some tea; Ciro told me I had a guest, so I thought I was just entertaining one of their family members.”

“I’d love some.” This feels right, like we’ve known each other for years.

We sip the hot, herbal brew for a few moments, gazing out over the garden.

“Why would you be entertaining one of their family members?” The question slips out before I can think it through.

Angelica sits her cup down, meeting my gaze again. “Because this is our home.”

My teacup clatters a bit as I place it on the table. “Oh.”

“Gio was working for Alessandro when he died.”

“No. But my brother was a police officer. My brother was a cop.”

“He was. And he was undercover. He was sent to infiltrate a rival of the Diamantes. That’s how he wound up in the States.

“Problem was, the department was corrupt. His liaison was on the take, his captain, too. When he asked to be brought out, brought home, they told him to keep his head down so they could keep collecting. Gio threatened to out them, but the commander was in on it. They sent someone to kill him.”

“Gio always knew how to piss off people in charge, huh?”

“This was on another level. And it gets so much more crazy. The night the cop’s hit man tried to kill him, the Diamantes attacked to wipe out the gang, get them off their turf. Alessandro saw it happening, saw the guy aiming for Gio and took him out.”

“Why would he do that if Gio was with their enemy?”

“I’ve asked him many times. He said, ‘Just did what I felt was right in the moment.’”

“So he saved Giorgio. He was still an undercover cop.”

“Which he confessed to Alessandro. He confessed everything, not knowing what else to do. Alessandro offered him a job and he took it.”

“How could he turn like that?” I see the problem with the question as soon as I ask it. How could he?

How could I?

“You have to understand. Gio lost everything. He was being hunted by the leftovers from the gang, his own department. They declared him a criminal in Italy. And Alessandro offered us a place in his family, made us feel like family. They kept us safe.”

Too many puzzle pieces fall into place at once. Added to my own peril, it’s mind-numbing, impossible to wrap my head around it all. “How did you and Gigi come to live here?”

Angelica waits for me to blink, watching me process before she answers. “Gio swore his life to Alessandro after they took down the corrupt officers in Giorgio’s squad. In return, the Diamantes swore to watch over his family if anything ever happened to him.”

Her eyes drift, fading into a painful memory.

“He took a bullet for Alessandro. An assassination attempt a few years ago. There was nothing they could do. Gio wasn’t wearing his vest that day because we were at a family gathering.”

Tears stream down both of our faces, hers for grief, mine for anger, grief, blame.

It's not the news I was expecting. It feels like a betrayal, all the same.

Like Alessandro might have pulled the trigger himself.

“You know him well, don’t you?”

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