Page 82 of Destino

Mira didn’t know what to say. She looked back at the picture, “What’s your mother’s name.”

“Evelyn, but he called her Eve.”

“Did she ever explain why she stayed with him?”

“I suppose she loved him, or learned to love him as some prisoners learn to love their captors. Because in spite of everything he put her through, she was a devoted woman to her faith and her family. We were moved toMelanzanaand she became thedonnaof our family.”

“But you said she ran from him?”

“Even a saint has her limits.” Giovanni dropped his head back and told the rest of the tale with his eyes closed. “She watched me and my cousin grow in the image of our fathers. The way we worshipped them and our lifestyle as teenagers became too much for her. When Lorenzo’s father was killed, Mama took Lorenzo and his mother in. The competition between my cousin and me worsened and Lorenzo’s mother constantly worked to drive my mother from my father’s heart. To do so would mean I wouldn’t be a Battaglia heir. Lorenzo would fill those shoes.”

“Oh, okay.”

“So my mother went to my father and asked that Lorenzo and I be schooled away from Italy, that we not know the brutality of our family’s history. My father refused. He told her that I would carry on the traditions. I was his son. She packed our things and bought us a ticket out. Telling my dad she wanted to purchase things for our upcoming visit to Mondello, we slipped past him and the guards.”

“Then you told him where you were?”

“And he came for us. I later learned that she made him swear to send me to college in America, to give me a different life. He told her she could never leave him again and would give him another son. That’s why he put her here. Her open defiance wouldn’t allow for him to bring her back to Sorrento. Catalina was born. Having Catalina healed my parents. They changed. She and my father were inseparable from the moment Catalina entered our lives.”

“What happened to her, after your father’s death?”

“When he was shot and I accepted an oath, the ordeal broke her heart. She pleaded and cried at his bedside to release me. Mama actually thought I’d be some great lawyer and leave this life. He refused. We fought; I didn’t show her the respect she deserved. I was too hell bent on avenging my father. I’m not proud of the things I said to her. Less than six months later she took ill. I believe she stopped taking her insulin. She died soon after.”

Mira pulled his face to hers and kissed him. He reclined her on the sofa and she parted her legs continuing the kiss. With him on top of her, she felt the weight of his burden. She clung to him wrapping her legs around his waist. Giovanni’s mouth was the most persuasive. The kiss pulled her under his spell. His lips grazed her cheek and then went down to her neck while he worked the zipper on his pants and freed himself. He lifted and raised himself by gripping the arm of the sofa above her head. The folds of her dress had parted and slow and easy he untied the ribbons to her hips to release her panty. Afterwards he was thrusting into her hard and strong. He pressed his forehead against hers and they breathed in unison as he drove both pain and pleasure into her until her body melted beneath him and she cried out her release. He lay on her panting against her ear with his face partially covered by her shoulder and the sofa seat. Mira stared up at the ceiling thinking of her own sad tale. Should she share it? Could she fathom the sad life her mother too shared with a man that led to her misery and then her conception?

“My mother ran away from my grandparents when she was sixteen. With a boy from our town to God knows where.”

Giovanni withdrew from their intimate connection but rested on her breasts, close to her heart. She stroked his head to share what she did know of her mother. Her intention was to lessen his suffering but the more she talked of her mom, the more it lessened her pain as well.

“She came back ten years later with me in her arms. My grandmother said her eyes were dead. For old people dead eyes meant the person had lost their soul. The bracelet you found with my purse was attached to my wrist. My mother would not speak of who my father was, but Me-ma said it wasn’t James. Later they discovered she had overcome a bad drug habit. Something she confessed in my grandfather’s church. She found a way to remain clean. After a month she asked my grandparents to take care of me. She said she had left her heart somewhere else and it was time to go claim it. My grandmother begged her not to go. She couldn’t believe her daughter would run out on a new baby for a man. My mother swore that wasn’t what she meant, but she never disclosed the truth. Four months later she died of a heroin overdose in Chicago.” she said bitterly.

His head lifted. She touched his face. “You see, your sorrow is mine as well.”

He nodded and relaxed against her breast. Mira closed her eyes. Before long they were asleep.

Chapter Ten

Dominic removed a pair of slender black gloves and slipped one on his left hand then the other on the right. A perfect fit. His gaze lifted to the mirror. He didn’t possess the features of the Battaglia men, namely Lorenzo and Giovanni. Both were giants in personality and height. Dominic barely stood over six-feet. His hair, unlike theirs, was curly, his skin a richer shade of olive and his irises a deep chocolate brown. Still he loved them both like brothers. Papa Tomosino had been the only father he’d ever known. Giovanni told him they shared the same blood withinomertaand that was enough. It was Dominic’s brain, quick decisive actions, and carefully laid plans that always bore results and earned him his respect. Tonight he would keep a cool head. Get the information his Don needed and return to Napoli before the sun rose.

The whimpering drew his attention from the mirror. Maria Bottego, daughter of Sal ‘il sarto’ Bottego and Fish’s whore, sat on the edge of the bed sniffing. She was a beautiful young thing. Her dark hair cascaded down her shoulders and shielded the tears streaming down her face. He could understand why Angelo and Fish constantly fought over her.

Dominic walked out of the bathroom into the bedroom. He’d arrived to find her in a skimpy negligee, satin and pink. He told her to cover up before he signaled for Carlo to enter. Dominic was a gentleman; Carlo on the other hand didn’t have such grace. It was evident from the smells from the kitchen she was expecting Fish for dinner and dessert.

He stared at her. The woman found it hard to make eye contact. Her mascara ran dark tears down her cheeks. A few black tears dropped to her lap. He removed the gun from the back of his pants and screwed on the silencer.

“Why the fuck is she crying? No one has touched her.” Carlo sneered. He glared at the woman from the corner he leaned in, a toothpick swirled on his tongue between his pressed lips.

Carlo was mean. It was the only word to describe him. He was another giant among men. Stood as tall as Giovanni and Lorenzo, and chose to dress like a businessman instead of the thug his reputation proclaimed him to be. He hated to have him on a mission of discretion, although Carlo’s thirst for respect and blood could prove handy if Fish didn’t cooperate.

“We do this clean.” Dominic approached Maria. He curled his index finger under the young woman’s chin. “Tutto a posto.”

She sniffed and blinked up at him. Her hands trembled in her lap. The corner of his mouth lifted into a small smile.

“Be a good girl for me. Stay in here and stay quiet. Carlo will behave unless you give him a reason not to.” Dominic glanced up to Carlo to emphasize the order.

She nodded that she would obey. On cue the door to the front of the small cottage opened and slammed shut. “Maria! Get your ass out here. I’ve been calling you.”

Dominic winked. He brushed his index finger along the side of her cheek affectionately. He shot Carlo a look and the enforcer removed his toothpick flicking it to the floor. His hooded gaze narrowed in on Maria and the woman pleaded with Dominic with her eyes to not be left alone with him. Dominic waited a beat and Carlo nodded his obedience. Satisfied Dominic walked out of the bedroom. He could hear Fish in the kitchen, possibly sampling the dinner his woman had prepared for him. He chose to go left to remain in the shadows toward the enclave that separated the family room from the bedrooms.

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