Page 199 of Vita Mia

“Bullshit!” Catalina pounded her fist to her knee. “Those motherfuckers.”

“It was all to get me on record for the court proceedings. This is a pre-trial hearing. They will take my testimony, mix it with their fake evidence, and then add a dash of witness testimony and then voila! You got a guilty verdict.”

“Not going to happen,” Francesca reassured her.

“Anyone heard from Kyra?” Mirabella asked.

“Kyra? No. Why?” Catalina replied.

“The attorneys told me she’s going to be called to testify. Her attorneys in America are fighting it. But she might have to return,” Mirabella said.

Catalina and Francesca shook their heads in sadness. Kyra being forced to reunite with the family this way was just cruel. It would do more harm to them all. She wanted to leave the Battaglias behind and should be allowed to do so. The information they had was thin. Dominic had cut them out of all communication outside of the family. What they learned they learned from Nico. And now that he was dealing with the retaliation of the Russians he was rarely around.

“I didn’t care what they asked me. I just couldn’t stop staring at Gio,” Mirabella confessed as her gaze shifted back to the window.

“How is he?” Catalina asked. “How did he look?”

“He’s... Gio,” Mirabella said as her eyes glistened with tears. “You didn’t see him when they had him in that horrible prison. They were beating and starving him. But now, he looked healthy, besides the facial hair he looked strong and so handsome.”

Catalina let go a deep sigh of relief.

Mirabella wiped a loose tear.

“He stared at me the entire time. I felt so close to him...”

“Did he say anything?” Francesca asked.

“He smiled at me once. I think he told his attorneys not to question me. I know he must have heard about the trap I almost walked into.”

“Did he look angry?” Catalina asked.

Mirabella dropped her head and heaved another burdened sigh.

“I... if I lose him to this—“

“You won’t,” Francesca scooted next to her. She rubbed her shoulders. “You won’t.”

“In court, they had this murder board.”

“A what?” Catalina gasped.

Mirabella dabbed at her tears with the tissue Francesca pressed into her hand. “It’s a board with all of Gio’s victims’ pictures. They really think he’s a monster.”

“For some people, he’s had to be one.”

“Catalina!” Francesca gasped.

“What? I’m sorry but we all know the truth. Gio isn’t innocent. We can’t pretend that he is.”

“He’s not a monster,” Mirabella reasoned

“Not to you, and not to me either,” Catalina said. “Look, I love Gio with all my heart. But you were right to be worried over how this all ends. This life we have has cost me, my father and my uncles. It took Lorenzo, Carlo, Renaldo. It’s taking everything and everyone from us. It could take Gio. It could take our sons.”

“Don’t say that, Catalina? You’re scaring her,” Francesca said. “Maybe we need to be bigger and better than who we were. Maybe the Mafia isn’t forever, for us. Maybe this is the chance for us to change it.”

Mirabella shook her head. “Nothing changes. We all know that.”

“But—“ Catalina interjected.

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