Page 100 of Vita Mia

“Huh?”

“And I want Nico to be at my side. Dominic, you are out of it. As soon as Nico walks out of the jail you’re out of it.”

“Why? What have I done?”

“You said it yourself. You have to be in Palermo. You’re still compromised and that doctor has a weak spot for loving and hating you. You’re probably being watched and recorded. You and Giovanni trust the doctor to see his plan through, but I don’t. I’m not risking his life. We move to the next step. Arrange the meeting with the Russians.”

“Giovanni would gut me if I let you even sit at the table with Tarzan,” Dominic said. “It’s too soon, to play that card.”

“Giovanni isn’t here. I run this family. I run it! Now, arrange it.”

Dominic averted his gaze.

“I have to see Gio first. I have to see him soon. Find me a guard in that fucking prison that can be bought or controlled,” he said to the lawyer. “There is someone.”

Mirabella bristled at Dominic’s open disrespect. First, he wouldn’t tell her the plans for Marietta and the doctor and now this. She closed her eyes and said a silent prayer for what she was about to do. “Stop fighting me so hard.”

“I’m only doing what Gio wants, I’m the only one he can really count on now to understand these men,” Dominic reasoned.

“You’re second rate at best. You aren’t a real leader Domi. I did more as Donna when he was in a coma than you. Or have you forgotten? All the drinking and crying over Catalina while the family was in hell.”

“What did you do, kiss Tacchini?” Dominic tossed back.”

Mirabella narrowed her eyes on him. “I did what was necessary. And I’ll do it again. You pretend at being my husband and you’re weak. I’m the person he needs now!”

Dominic glared at her.

“You will set up the meeting with the Russian.”

Dominic didn’t object.

“And you will stop working on Renaldo’s release,” she told the men.

The attorney looked surprised by her change of heart.

“If I can get to the warden and help Gio, then he’ll need someone to—” her voice cracked under the strain. “Ah, to protect him. Renaldo is the only one in this family that will take a bullet for him if he has too. He’s done it before. He’ll do it again.”

She hated herself for what she said to Domi and even more for what she was doing to Renaldo, but it was true. And she could only deal with the truth. She picked up her purse.

“Are you sure you want this Mirabella?” Dominic asked in a voice so calm it did make her doubt herself. “Are you sure you’re ready for the responsibility?”

“I said it, didn’t I?”

“There’s something you forgot.”

“What did I forget?”

“The press,” Dominic said. He stood and faced her. “You’re still Mirabella the American fashion designer. The press has always been your greatest weapon. You want to pressure the warden and use the President of the Campania to do so, you can use the press to do it. Force the media to turn the wheel of justice a little faster.”

“I won’t speak to the press. That never works. We live in silence. That is our code. Why would I tell all of my family secrets to the press!”

“That vow of silence isn’t for you Mirabella. It’s for men like us. You have a voice. And you need to use it. Not pretend to be Don.”

“Domi I—“

“Always play the American dutiful wife that doesn’t understand our customs and our laws. It’ll get you further than being Donna Nera, is all I’m saying.”

“I want you gone Domi.”

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