Page 99 of La Dolce Vita

"Do you know what that means, Adara?" he asked.

She shook her head no.

"It means your life is spared. The boss said I could have you."

"I'm not his to give," she said defiantly.

He lifted her chin. "Your life is his. The moment you crossed into his world without permission your life belonged to him. Now it belongs to me."

"What do you want?" she asked him.

"We'll figure that out. Get in the front seat," he said and stepped back. Adara glanced to the old abandoned petrol station. Umberto had sat on the cinder block near where the petrol pumps once were and lit another cigarette without a care in the world. The idiot.

"What about him?" she asked. "He tosses that match in the wrong direction he will blow this place up."

Carlo glanced back to his partner. "Someone will come for him. Fuck him. Get in."

Adara couldn't believe the turn of the night. Though she wasn't out of danger, she had just gotten an invitation to go further than any agent. She smiled at him. His smile wasn't as sincere. Adara stepped out from the open car door and took the seat in the front passenger side. Carlo slammed the door shut. He yelled his goodbye to the man named Umberto and got behind the wheel. Before she could ask a single question, they sped off into the night.

***

"Who was that?" Marietta asked. She had answered the phone and thought the voice sounded like Carlo’s. He wasn't his usual friendly self. After their brief encounter in the wine cellar, he did what he could to avoid her before he left in a blaze of dust with Umberto.

"That was Carlo. He finished a job for Giovanni. Wanted to know what to do about... a situation."

"Oh," she said and eased in under his arm. She threw her leg over his and pressed her face to his chest. He was so tall even when in bed. She loved that about him.

"I'm so tired." She yawned. She stroked his sweaty chest. Lorenzo eased down the mattress and turned over on his side to face her. He kissed her brow.

"Has the baby moved again?" he asked. "Does it move when it hears my voice?"

"The baby gets excited every time she hears your voice," Marietta smiled.

"What does the child feel like? Inside of you?" he asked.

"A tickle. I guess. I can't explain."

"Oh," he said and turned over to his back. "How big is thebambinonow?"

"I think it's about the size of a lemon now," she said.

"A lemon? Does it have its hands and feet? Does it have eyes?" he asked.

She chuckled. "Lorenzo? It's a baby, not an alien. I guess it has those things. It's like you, just really tiny. Needs to grow inside me."

"Oh? When it comes out will it know me? When Giovanni first saw Eve, she knew him. She let him hold her and give her cookies. The twins were very small and in little plastic boxes in the hospital. But if he spoke to them they moved their feet and hands. They knew him. Will the baby know me? Know how much I love him?"

"Yes, the baby knows you love her. Give me your hand," she said.

He gave her his hand, and she pressed it to her belly. "This is your baby. All yours. There is no one more special in the world to our child than her father and mother. The baby will come, and it will need you to be strong, to protect her. To love her no matter what mistakes she makes in life. To give her away at her wedding. To love her babies and make them tough. She will love you like I love you. Unconditionally."

"I want him named after me. Okay? To take my name," he said.

"Of course. And if it's a girl?" she asked.

"It's not. It's a boy," he sighed. "Stop calling it a girl."

There was something in his sigh that caught her by surprise. It sounded like worry.

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