Page 230 of La Dolce Vita

"I... didn’t. I wanted her to be quiet. I wanted her to shut her fucking mouth." He looked at his sister who was so red in the face with bulging eyes. She continued to hack and cough as she dragged in air to her lungs. Clarity returned to his mind. The drunken rage he was consumed by had lifted like a dark storm cloud blown away in the wind. He had attacked her. And if they hadn’t stopped him he might have done worse. He pleaded with his wife with his eyes. She recoiled from him and helped his sister stand. Catalina hugged her and cried.

"I didn't mean it..." he said softly.

"You have gone too far. When you turn on us, you go too far! I want you out of this house! I don't know who you are anymore." Mirabella said. "Stay away from us!"

"Bella?"

His wife left. His men didn’t stop her. And they didn’t let him go after her. There were lines, even in his family. Everyone looked at him with disgust.

“Get the fuck out!” Giovanni ordered.

The men left. He put a hand to his head to stop the ringing in his brain. Had he struck Catalina? He was certain now that he did. Never in his life could he have conceived it. He was different. He wasn'tPatri. He was a better man. Or maybe he wasn't a man at all. Maybe he was the monster; they should fear.

He didn't know anymore.

ChapterThirty-Six

Motherless Child

Sorrento, Italy

I feel like a motherless child... a long way from home...

A blast fired off in his head. Lorenzo shot upright in bed, drenched in sweat. He aimed the gun at the dark. And his mind screamed for him to pull the trigger. If it weren't for the touch of his wife, he would have.

"What is it?"

"I heard something," he said.

"I didn't hear anything."

Lorenzo got out of bed with his gun and looked around the room. He then walked out into the hall.

"Stay here!" he ordered Marietta.

He crept along the hall in the dark. He remained close to the shadows. He each room upstairs, and then checked the front of the villa. He checked the kitchen and the back rooms. He then went upstairs and checked those rooms again.

It was still late. He could sense the time was close to dawn. Had it been all in his mind? He couldn't be sure. When he was certain the gunshot he heard was in his dreams, he relaxed. He came down the stairs to find Marietta up waiting for him. She had a gun in her hand.

"I told you to stay in bed. Please."

"If someone is here I'm not safe in bed. I'm not safe anywhere but at your side."

"Do you know how to use that?" he asked.

She turned the gun over in her hand. Lorenzo chuckled and moved it away from his face. "First rule is never to point it at anyone unless you know how to use it."

"I'm from the Southside of Chicago. I know how to handle myself!" she boasted.

He smirked. "If you're going to be at my side you need a lesson."

"If?" she arched a brow.

"Okay, Marie, let go of my balls. You know what I mean. Come on." He walked her over to the kitchen where he kept the arsenal. He picked up guns he knew she would be able to manage. He laid out four. "Pick."

"I like the one in my hand."

"This one,cara, is a Beretta 93R, and see here.” He stepped behind her and put his arms around her to hold the gun properly. "It’s not a beginner’s gun. This allows you to switch between a 3 round burst of gunfire or a single. It’s the one the men who work for me carry."

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