Page 70 of La Dolce Vita

"There's a doctor. Someone that can deal with her issues. Help her."

"Where is the doctor?" Rocco asked.

"Firenze."

"What kind of doctor?" he asked.

Giovanni didn't answer. He saw the old man glance over to him.

"What kind of doctor?" Rocco repeatedly asked.

"A head doctor. A psychologist," he mumbled.

"Mistake. Take her to a priest," Rocco said.

"It's psychiatry," Giovanni said. “Not an exorcism.”

"What she needs is for you to find Isabella and put her in a grave. The nightmares will go away after the last of your enemies are gone. Never bring strangers into the family business."

Giovanni stepped forward. "I’ve been thinking aboutPatria lot.”

“Why?” Rocco asked.

“I dunno. The man he was.Patriwas complicated. For all his faults he did love his family, and he was good to us in his way.”

"Is that what you think? That your father was compassionate, a good man? Did he show you compassion when you disobeyed him as a boy?"

The remark stung. “It’s hard for a boy not to want to see the good in his father. I have sons now. I want them to be able to say the same thing about me some day.”

Rocco walked over to the shade under the tree. He used his cane to balance his steps. He stopped. Giovanni watched him. Rocco pointed his cane toward the villa on the hill. The one he originally built for Zia. The one they would now stay in during their visit.

"I never go there. Ever," he said. "And here you are, bringing the family to stay there. Forcing Zia into that... that... place."

“Then why didn’t you have it knocked down old man?” Giovanni asked. He glanced back at the villa. Many of his men were arriving.

"Do you know how Arturo, my only son, died?" Rocco asked.

"He had an accident on the farm, and he died here."

"Not here!" Rocco stomped his cane. He then pointed it to the villa on the hill. "He died there!"

Giovanni frowned. He turned his gaze back to the villa.

Rocco shook his head. "Arturo was seven years old when he found my gun. He picked it up. I don't even know if he thought it was loaded. It was. He blew a hole into his head so large we had to bury him with the casket closed. Your father told me it was my fault. It was. But to hear him say it when I was dying inside hurt more than anything you could conceive. I never felt right again. That is why I don't go up there. But I keep it there because that’s where my son died. A reminder of my failure."

"I didn't bring the family here to torment you. I’m trying to make peace.” Giovanni said. "The kids miss you; my wife misses you."

"What about you? Do you miss me?” Rocco asked.

Giovanni smirked.

Rocco sighed. “Before you married her you stomped through this life bulldozing over your enemies. It got you far, but you made a lot of enemies."

"And all of them are circling now," Giovanni said.

Rocco nodded. “They found your weakness. Her.”

“They’ll never get close to her again.”

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