Page 53 of La Dolce Vita

"Don't bullshit me, Dominic! Giovanni blames only me for Isabella, not you," he said, and finger poked Dominic in the center of his chest. "You know better than anyone how hard I'm hunting her!"

"Hunting her and failing," Dominic sighed.

"I am close damn it. Close! Now Gio thinks he can do better? That's dangerous for him. Especially if he is going to give the Benicias more power. Mateo Benicia is setting him up. He hates Giovanni!"

"Power and the perception of power are two different things," Domi said.

"M'infischio!He's opening the traffic all the way to the triangle. Have you forgotten the Baldamentis? He's letting that idiot Benicia handle the business? It's insane."

"It’s his plan, Lo. And you don't have to know all of the details of his plans for the plan to be successful. That's what separates him from you and me. That's what makes him the Don."

"But you do, right? Right?" Lorenzo stepped to Dominic. "If Giovanni is fine then why listen at his door? I'll tell you why, because you feel it, too. The squeeze. Doesn't feel so nice to be pushed out does it?"

Dominic didn't bother to answer. Lorenzo stormed off. For all of Lorenzo's faults, he did understand the nature of things. A divided clan was a weak clan. And no matter what Giovanni said to appease them, his only focus at the moment was revenge. That worried Dominic.

***

Sorrento Italy –

Marietta felt flushed. She could still see her feet when walking. Mirabella told her that would be impossible in a month or so. She looked down at her swollen ankles and shook her head in disbelief. The doctor warned her about spending too much time on her feet. It was time to cool off and relax before dinner. She walked down the hall with her hand to her back. Not because of her girth, just to pace herself.

"Oh my God!" she yelped. She nearly collided with her husband when she turned the corner. He swept her up in his arms and spun her around. Shocked, she choked on her gum and gripped his neck for support.

He carried her into their room and kicked the door shut.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she demanded.

He put her down and she shoved him, but he captured her wrist and snatched her back to him. He grinned down at her before he gave her a sloppy kiss. She hadn't seen him this happy since she told him she was pregnant.

"Lo? What is going on?" she asked once she broke free. His arms crushed her against him. He kissed the side of her face and then her neck. He held her against his tall frame. "I love you,cara, so much. You are all the good in my life. I'm a good man because of you," he groaned and rubbed her ass.

"What is it?" she asked and rubbed his back.

"It's happening. It's happening!" he said and cupped her face in his hands.

"What?" she asked.

"Giovanni's going to take Armando down and give us Sicily."

Marietta’s eyes stretched, and her mouth gaped at the news. "Are you sure? Are you?"

He nodded with a wide grin. "We will have our own. You, me, and thebambino. This is our destiny."

"But... how did you convince him so fast?"

"Don't worry about the how. This is what we've been waiting for, Marie. This is the way we fix everything. I'll kill Isabella. I swear all of my mistakes will die with the bitch. And then we will have our new beginning! No more bullshit. I'm a different man. A family man."

"Mio amore," Marietta smiled.

She caught her reflection in the shimmer of tears trapped in his eyes. All his life he wanted acceptance.Did he do everything the right way? No. But with a mother like his, and an absent father who was never there to teach him, he shouldn't be blamed. Even now in her heart, she knew no one in this family loved her man like she did. Giovanni used him. They all did. Lorenzo deserved better. And if it meant she had to sacrifice her brother to give her husband his dreams, she'd do it. She'd die for him. Marietta’s lips brushed his.

Lorenzo spun her around and then brought her back into his arms. They danced and swayed in each other’s arms to their music.

"Are you in this with me? The distance. Even if it means that your brother... that I may kill him if need be, to take what I want? You are my wife, Marietta. The mother of my children. You belong to me, not to Mancini, not to your sister, to me. To the end."

She wiggled in his arms and pressed her face to his chest so she could hear his heart beat when she answered him.

" Amore é gioia, amore é gelosia, amore é soffrire, amore é tenerezza, amore é calore. Amore sei tu!" She said to him: Love is joy, love is jealousy, love is suffering, love is tenderness, love is hot, and love is you." She had heard the phrase in a song when they sailed along the Italian Riviera and made love under the moonlight. The words were a profession of love she carried in her heart each time he disappointed or upset her. To keep her focused on the one thing that she never had growing up. True love. He stopped moving, and she lifted her head from his chest and looked up at him. "Yes, Lorenzo. I love you. And I will stand by your side and step over all of our enemies to protect us."

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