Page 236 of La Dolce Vita

"I know you are angry. You put a hit on me?" Lorenzo asked.

"Angry? I'm not mad. Tell me where you are. We can talk." Giovanni tried to sober.

"I didn't killPatri."

"Fucking liar!" Giovanni seethed.

"I was drunk and high. I was joking. If you listen to the tapes, you can hear..."

"I can hear you put a hit on the only father you ever really knew. I hear you talk aboutPatriand me as if we were the reasons you are such a fucking loser!"

"I am a loser. And an idiot. But I am loyal to you. I don't care what Isabella said."

"Isabella? Thatputtanais half-dead. I’ll bury you next to her."

"I want to meet with you. Tomorrow night. Just you and me. No one else."

"Tell me where you are and I will come to you. And we can talk like men," Giovanni smiled.

"This is between you and me Gio. Keep the brothers out of it. I have a wife. A kid on the way. I know you can't forgive this, Gio. I know the price of what I've done. But I have a family too. I must protect them. I can't do that and constantly look over my back. Waiting for the day for you to come after me. I can't. Let's settle it. And then..."

"And then what? You run away with your wife, my wife’s sister, and I'm the one to blame for keeping them apart. No, cousin. The only way this is settled is for you to pay the same wayPatripaid for trusting you. It’s the only way."

"And Marietta?"

"I'll take care of her. I'll raise your child. Be the Godfather. But you... you don't get a second chance. You don't get forgiveness. You made me into a monster the day I had to watchPatridie. Remember? That was the day. You did this. And you don't get to walk away from it."

"However it ends, it ends between us," Lorenzo agreed.

"It ends in blood. That's how it ends," Giovanni said.

"I will call you this evening. I need to prepare my wife."

"I'll be waiting for your call."

***

"What are you doing?" Marietta demanded.

Lorenzo looked back. She stood at the door to the room. She looked horrified. "Why did you call him, Lo? Taunt him? And you sure as hell won't be meeting with him!"

"Marie..."

"No! What are you doing?" she shouted at him. "We said we would leave. We would go to Brazil. Be safe."

"We can never be safe! Gio will never let us go. I can't give you a life on the run. I can't do that to you and our child."

"So, what is the alternative? You let them kill you? Is that it?"

"The only chance we have of surviving this is for Giovanni and me to face off. He won't kill me. He thinks he can. But he isn't that man."

"Bullshit! He is that man. You are that man! He will kill you."

"He will try. When he sees me, and we talk face to face, he won't pull the trigger. Then he will understand that he has to let us go." Lorenzo walked over to Marietta. "He'll let us go, Marie. I'll agree to his terms, and I will take you and ourbambinoas far from here as I can. Okay?"

"No. It's too risky. He'll bring Nico and Renaldo. They will kill you on command. He'll do it! You can't take this risk. Not with your life. Not with our future!"

Lorenzo hugged her. He spent half the night in her arms thinking of his options. He spent the other half the night checking rooms and peeking out of windows in search of men he knew were hunting him. Giovanni was his brother. He loved him. And he would not run away like a coward. He had to face him. He had to try. As much as Giovanni believed himself to be a monster, to be likePatri, Lorenzo knew the truth. He never was.

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