Page 252 of La Dolce Vita

"Where did he go?"

"To meet Gio. He's a fucking idiot!" she shouted. "He thinks he can reason with him. Convince him to forgive and forget. He's going to get killed."

Carlo nodded in agreement. "Tell me where they went. I can get there and..."

"I'm going with you."

"No," Carlo said.

"Yes! Gio won't listen to you. He won't. But me. If he sees me. He won't kill him." Marietta hurried to get her shoes.

"That's a stupid plan. Lorenzo would never want you to be in danger. And neither do I!"

"They are both in danger!" she said and rushed to the kitchen to get the gun. Carlo followed her. "I called Armando. He knows where the meeting is. They’re going be ambushed!"

"Why did you do that?" Carlo asked.

"I was scared. Terrified. I needed help. Now help him."

"Tell me where they are," Carlo demanded.

"No. I'm coming with you. You don’t have time to call your men. We have to go now! I'm coming with you!" Marietta marched past him and out the door. Carlo had no choice but to follow.

***

The door to the cottage opened. A woman smoked a cigarette. She stood there with the inside light as her backdrop, and her silhouette was all one could see in the dark. Giovanni waited. The woman flicked the cigarette, turned and walked back inside. That was the signal.

Giovanni got out of his car and slammed the door. Typically he wouldn’t park on the street, but his time was short. He dashed across the street and went to the cottage under the cover of darkness. No one knew of his arrival. A meeting he’s kept for over five years with Tacchini always occurred here. A meeting he never missed. When he went inside, he drew his gun. He closed the door.

“Sono qui, Giovanni,” Arielle said.

The kitchen was to the back of the cottage. He could smell the creamy fragrance of cooking sauce and hear the boiling water for pasta that was on the stove. When he entered, he found Arielle cutting vegetables with a large butcher knife. She always fixed a meal when she knew he was coming. He rarely ate. But it was her way. She glanced back at him and smiled. She was still beautiful. Her dark raven hair, her olive skin, and trim figure. She was the woman his mother had once whispered he would marry. He never felt anything but friendship for her. In fact, during and after their courtship he never slept with her. He wished she would have found a husband. The men that came and went from Arielle’s life never appreciated a woman like her.

“Tacchini just left,” she said.

“How is she?” he asked.

Arielle smiled. She shook her head and didn't answer. When the Calderone war began, he gave an order. Everyone living with the name of Calderone would die. He blamed them all for Mirabella’s death. And he slaughtered their families. But not the kids. Giovanni could not, and would not kill women and children.Though everyone believed he did.

Arielle and Tacchini were the only ones to know his plan. He didn’t share it with Dominic or Lorenzo. He had the survivors relocated. The living descendants of Calderone didn’t know it was Giovanni who spared their lives. They believed Tacchini and his clan saved them and kept them in hiding. The truth was he didn't want credit. He felt shame then, and he did now. The survivors, only women, and children were moved to Turkey, and Armenia. All were warned never to return to Italy.

Arielle had taken to an older girl. Mentored her. Giovanni had paid for her schooling and when Arielle told him the girls wish, only wish, was to join law enforcement and seek revenge against him and his clan he understood. He watched from the shadows as she made history and entered the Italian Special Services to one day do his beckoning.

“She’s deep cover Giovanni. Assigned to one of your enforcers. It’s dangerous for her.”

“Who?” Giovanni asked.

“The Butcher,” Arielle said.

Giovanni frowned. Carlo was lovesick over the ‘pink lady’ in America. How did he hook up with Adara? It made no sense.

Arielle put a plate of food before Giovanni and a glass of wine. “It’s dangerous for her. The Butcher is a dangerous man.”

“Are you sure it’s Carlo.”

“I spoke to her last night. She’s in Sorrento, staying with him. She actually sounds like she is taken with him. If you can believe that!”

"If Carlo finds out she’s an agent he’ll kill her. This was bound to happen. Eventually she would enter my world. After I deal with Lorenzo I want a meeting. It’s time she met me.”

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