Page 37 of Amico
“Where is the safe, Maria!”
She jumps before looking at him confused. It takes her a minute to gather her thoughts as she closes her eyes and stumbles over her words. “In the back bedroom,” she stammers, as she turns and begins walking in that direction.
My eyes glance down the hallway as we pass and I see no sign, no trace of the mess we left mere hours before. All signs of any struggle are gone, along with the bodies that once lay on the floor. Even the carpet is clean as the light from a nearby window from the sun beginning to rise peeks through.
Not trusting the men in front of me, I follow quickly behind them as we enter the room Maria and I shared just a few short hours before. The bed is a mess. Her dress from the night before thrown on the floor. Luigi kneels and picks it up, bringing it to his nose and smelling it like a fucking hound. My blood runs cold as I tell myself to reign it in just a little while longer.
I look up and see Maria lost, not knowing what to do now that she has us here. The safe a fool’s distraction, and I know it because the fucking notebook they want is gone. Burned. Ashes in the back yard of the Lombardi house. One of the first things I snuck off and made sure of after handing Maria over earlier.
“Well,” I hear Luigi grate out as everyone stands still in the room. “Where is it?”
Maria looks at me frantic, needing me to save her. But I give her a small nod instead, showing her she has the power. The control. And I will do whatever it takes to back her up.
Taking a deep breath, she pulls back her shoulders and looks Luigi in the eye. “I don’t have it.”
The room grows still, quiet, as Luigi rolls over in his mind what he just heard. “What was that?” He growls.
“I said,” Maria whispers as she takes a step towards him confidently. “I don’t have it. I never had it. It was taken from me. Days ago.”
Luigi looks behind him, at me, but I show no sign of her words having any truth to them. “Who took it?” He hisses out, as he turns back to meet her stare.
I expect her to look up. I expect her to sell me out. But just like all those years ago when I fell in love with her, trusted her, promised to always protect her, she keeps my secret and takes another step forward. “Do you know of the Vestal Virgins, Luigi?” She questions, throwing more than just me off from her intention. “They were the highest priestesses of Rome, sworn virgins, who’s only job was to keep the sacred fire lit.”
Luigi doesn’t make a move, he barely breathes as she takes another step further and meets him toe-to-toe in the middle of the room.
“They were trusted, esteemed, were held in a high ranking of honor in the city.”
“They were also beat, put to death, dishonored if they did not uphold their promise. Their work. Their job. Buried alive for their treason.” Luigi whispers dangerously low between the two of them. “And you Maria, are no virgin.”
She laughs, before leaning into him closer. “No, but I do have more power than you could ever dream to have, Luigi. Otherwise you wouldn’t spend your whole life trying to silence it, ruin me, and erase just what and who I am from the face of the earth?”
“And what is that,Bambina?” He says sarcastically.
“The only one who has the power to free you, a slave, a prisoner to the truth, by giving you the only justice you deserve,” she grates out angrily before moving quickly, pulling Luigi’s gun from his holster and aiming it at his head. “Death. Your demise. An eternity in hell for the life you forced me to live on earth.”
Instinctively all men in the room pull their weapons from their side. All of us aim straight ahead, but my sight is not locked in on Maria. No, I have a clear shot at the back of Luigi’s skull and I’d pull the fucking trigger right now if I didn’t think one of these bastards to my side wouldn’t shoot at her next.
“You don’t have it in you,” Luigi taunts. “Don’t fool yourself and think just because De Luca blood runs through your veins that you have what it takes. That you’ll ever have what it takes, to be one of us.”
“You’ll never know how strong you are, until being strong is the only thing you have left,” she whispers, the very words I said to her as we walked through the Roman Forum that first day coming back in all their vengeance. Her eyes lift and lock on something in the distance, but I am too concerned with her safety to look at see what it is, although my gut instinct tells me I already know.
“You’re right,” she finally responds. “I don’t.”
“But I do!” I shout, moments before I cock my pistol, pull the trigger and end what I should have months, years ago. Luigi Lombardi’s reign.
Another shot is fired behind me as Angelo quickly falls to the floor, and time stands still as my bullet slices through the back of Luigi’s skull. Blood splatters in slow motion before my instincts kick in and I quickly aim to my right, pull my trigger twice and see Big Jim stumble back from the impact.
Looking up, I see Maria standing before me, her hand trembling as she drops her weapon to the floor. A smile spreads across my face before I see the tears stream down her face. Her usually rosy cheeks pale, and her legs begin to give out moments before blood oozes through the front of her shirt.
I don’t know how, but I am at her side in an instant as she falls to the floor and I catch her in my arms. Looking to my left, I see the weapon. A large knife still clutched in Luigi’s lifeless hand. I look up and see Nitti, the man responsible for pulling the trigger on Angelo, as Sofia rushes past him into the room.
“Maria!” She shouts. “Maria!” Her small hands frame Maria’s face as she comes to our side and I hold her in my arms and lift her shirt to address her wounds. Her flesh is filleted open. The cut is deep. Too deep, and I instinctively put pressure on it to stop the bleeding.
“Open your eyes Maria,” I hear Sofia yell. “Open your eyes and look at me!” But as I glance back to the woman I love I see her fade as her eyes close completely and all life drains from her beautiful face.
I’m too stunned to speak. I too shocked to respond as tears prick the back of my eyes and my hands begin to shake. I hear Nitti calling for an ambulance as Sofia cries over her daughter at my side and look at Maria’s body in disbelief.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to end. The wasn’t how I swore to protect her. I took out the man threatening her life, and he still got to her. Hurt her. May have killed her and there was nothing I could do to stop it. The only thing I can do now is hold onto Maria. Hold on to her life that quickly feels like it is drifting away as her body feels cold to the touch.
