Page 195 of La Dolce Vita

"No! Hey man don't do this. No! Please! Wait! Wait!"

Giovanni pulled the trigger. And he felt bitterly cheated that Cutter died so quickly. He stood over Cutter and fired again and again. The blood splatter shot up and got on his pants legs. He fired until his gun was empty. It was done. He turned and walked away. He didn’t bother to speak to the men gathered. He’d said his goodbye to Henry hours ago. He made his deals with the Gadsons earlier. It was done. The fact that another man even had the privilege of knowing her wasn't surprising. He accepted his wife had a past. It made her the woman he cherished. But Cutter was different. Cutter had a tie to her that no one other than Giovanni had.That’s why Cutter had to die.

"You say goodbye to ole Cutter?" Lorenzo asked.

"Not a word of what he said in that bar. Ever."

"I wouldn't mention it. Never, Gio. Not even to Marie."

"It's a lie," Giovanni said to restore his wife’s dignity.

"Yeah, I figured it was a lie. That fucker was looking to get a rise out of you. Mirabella wouldn't have an abortion."

Giovanni nodded.

Lorenzo flicked his cigarette. Their van was driven out of the cover of the trees. It stopped running. Giovanni looked over to Lorenzo. He had blood on his clothes from helping get rid of the bodies. Giovanni too had blood on him. They had to make the drive at night and they could not be stopped.

“We will take care of it from here.” A man said. “Take this road out and head south. You should be on the highway and back in Virginia before sunrise.”

Giovanni nodded. He got inside the van. Lorenzo got inside. They backed away from the scene of carnage and then he wheeled the van in the opposite direction and drove away.

They rode in silence. He had gone to God on bended knee to ask him to stop Mirabella's suffering. He thought he was the reason she was being punished. And maybe he was. But this. He couldn't get his head around her going through something so painful as what she did, and keeping it a secret all these years. If she hadn’t he may have never met her, had her as his wife. Does that make Cutter’s loss his blessing? Giovanni thought so.

"Dominic said Mirabella suffers from some kind of stress disorder. From the tragic events in her life."

"Which one? Looks to me like she's had several." Lorenzo said.

"True, her grandfather and mother were only the beginning. Then her best friend died, and she was kidnapped. It ends tonight. Whatever the fuck the future holds, I’m not going to let this life destroy my wife. God and I have that understanding."

"Doesn't work that way Gio. Do you think God will ever forgive what you did to Nicosia? Or forgive me, for all the shit I've done? Doesn't work that way." Lorenzo said.

Giovanni chuckled.

"What's funny?" Lorenzo frowned.

"We're different, me and her. You and Marie. But we're like the same." Giovanni said. "No mother, no father, a past filled with bad choices. The same."

"Yeah," Lorenzo said. "You know, it's been a long time since it was just me and you."

“Again with the Henry shit? He’s my cousin Lo.”

“Not what I mean. I get it. You’re making a move and you want to make it alone. I trust you Gio. I’m not jealous. Just concerned. If you say I don’t need to be...”

“You don’t need to be.”

"Then I'm not anymore," Lorenzo said.

Giovanni slumped back and drove with one arm. He saw the sign to take the highway south. He made the turn under the cover of darkness. He kept his eye on the needle. Speed was one thing they could not do in the state they were in.

"Remember when we used to go to Spain?" Gio asked.

Lorenzo laughed. "Yeah, well we're married now. Best not to dwell on those memories."

"Not talking about the women," Giovanni said. "Talking about me and you. Nothing between us. Just brothers, you know, like this. And the trouble we used to get into."

"Like the night you got drunk in Barcelona and wanted to fight a bull?" Lorenzo laughed.

"I had that bull," Giovanni smiled. "If you hadnt shot him I would have won that battle."

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