Page 134 of Vita Mia

“I’m not sure if it was a game. More like a competition,” Mirabella commented.

“Interesting. I have questions about your husband and his cousin. So much has been speculated over the years and since your husband’s death there have been very few sightings of Lorenzo Battaglia. Where is he now?”

“Lorenzo? At this moment?”

Ryder nodded.

“Cuba,” Mirabella answered.

Ryder removed his laptop from his backpack. He opened it on his lap. The others turned on the camera’s and lighting. “Why Cuba?”

“It’s a long story. I’ll explain it towards the end of the interview,” Mirabella said. She stared at him as he pulled up his screen to find the questions he had for her.

“I’m curious. When you talk about the past you call your youngest daughter Leeza. When you speak of her in the present you call her MiaBella. Is there a reason?”

Mirabella smiled. “When she was four she walked into my bedroom and told me her name was MiaBella. She informed everyone in the family. We agreed and Leeza was a name we let go.”

“Odd, for a four-year old.”

Mirabella nodded. “She’s a special girl.”

“Yes,” he agreed.”

“So, you have more questions?”

“I do. Ugh, umm, I need to fact check a few things.”

“Go on,” she said.

“Your age? There are conflicting reports. You have two birth records remember.”

“I’m 54. I was born on May 16th1964. My birth record was changed because I was a twin and my father’s name had been added and removed.”

“Your father is Marsuvio Mancini, an Italian mafia boss out of America?” he asked.

“He’s Sicilian. He lived in America for some time, but if he walked through those doors he’d correct you and put you down for calling him Italian and American.”

“Oh, so, wait, okay. Umm, that means you are part Sicilian. Did you know that growing up?”

“I did not.”

“Must have been a shock?”

“My husband is the one who discovered the truth and told me my heritage and connection to him. I’d say I was shocked then.”

“Wow?” Ryder said. “That’s crazy.”

“It was part of it. The life here, well, here in Italy. Amazing things happened quite quickly for me. At first Giovanni’s culture shocked me. But later... not so much.”

“Your husband’s death. The bombings in Rome. Will we be covering it in the interview? How he and the Générale died?”

“Yes.”

“And your time in South America, or was it Cuba?”

“Cuba.”

“Yes, will we cover it? Can I ask about it?”

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