Page 202 of Vita Mia

“And you’re not angry now?”

“I want my family. What the fuck do you care? I’m taking the biggest risk, that crazy fucking Générale could destroy me for turning on him,” Marietta said.

“It’s not just their lives at stake. My family lives are too. So, the risk goes both ways.” Sera said.

Marietta glared at her. She shrugged and picked up the teddy bear she had the doctor buy for her. She didn’t know what her baby girl liked but she hoped the teddy bear would be a gift to make her smile. The first time she heard Lorenzo’s voice was two months ago. A late-night visit from the doctor to her room. A phone was given to her. He sounded so weak, his voice was grave, but she could hear her man coming through. She wept. He said the things she remembered most about their love and he promised to be there for her. He was. Once a week for the past two months she spoke to him. They talked about everything. She learned of his time in Russia with the monsters and some of what was done to him. She even learned of how Giovanni refused to kill him on the boat. Marietta didn’t consider it mercy. Her husband went through hell. But Lorenzo told her of the hell Giovanni has endured. It was true. The family was broken. They had all paid the price. And she wanted a life away from it all. She asked him about Carlo’s death and learned that Carlo was alive but Renaldo was indeed dead. So much had changed, and still so much felt the same.

Today was to be the beginning of the end. Marietta had prepared. She had hope.

***

“WILL SHE SEE IT THROUGH?” Dominic asked. He stared at Lorenzo with the side of his face resting between his pointer finger and his thumb.

“Oohh, little brother you have so little faith,” Lorenzo chuckled and moved the toothpick around in his mouth with his tongue.

“Don’t call me little brother,” Dominic said.

“Why are you still pissed at me? After all of this time. After everything I’ve been through?”

Dominic got up from his seat and went over to the bar. Lorenzo and he were in a family’s home close to Chianti. Southern Italy was a war zone. And even here in the isolated countryside, they were targets. Both he and Dominic kept guns on them at all times.

A woman entered the room. She had long raven hair and wore a sundress that revealed too much of her cleavage. Her skin was a deep olive and her eyes brown as chestnut. Dominic didn’t seem to notice her beauty or the seductive way her hips swayed as she walked past him and Lorenzo to the bar. Lorenzo, however, noticed and paused as the woman refreshed their drinks. She looked as if she wanted Dominic to speak to her, to make a request so she could serve his needs. Anything. Dominic did not. So, she left.

Lorenzo’s brows lowered with concern.

“She’ll have your dinner soon,” Dominic said. “Then we make our move.”

Dominic removed a cigar from the box and lit it.

“Why are you fucking with whores, when you and Catalina and are still together?”

Dominic took a few drags of his cigar and then exhaled smoke. He lifted his gaze and narrowed it on Lorenzo.

“We are not together. I take care of Catalina and her son.” Dominic exhaled.

“That’s not what I heard from Nico?”

“Fuck what you heard, and fuck Nico,” Dominic sat forward. “I don’t owe you an explanation.”

“You love Catalina. You’re obsessed with her. Have you forgotten? Shit you almost died twice for her,” said Lorenzo.

Dominic’s smirk was in his eyes and could be seen in the corner lift of his mouth. He blew smoke into Lorenzo’s face. It irked Lorenzo but his time with the Russians had taught him patience and how to manage his destructive rage. He was only curious now. Lorenzo had noticed the change in Dominic the moment he laid eyes on him. Gone was the scruffy kid that used to chase him and Gio around, or the man-child walking in Flavio’s shoes trying to be consigliere to someone as powerful as Gio. Lorenzo was now dealing with the Don of Palermo, and unlike Armando Mancini, Dominic had taken well, to his new role—body and soul.

“I know a whore when I see one Domi. Don’t make my mistakes, don’t make Patri’s. Be the better man.”

Dominic checked his watch. “Court should be over. I need to make some calls.”

“Tomorrow is Marietta’s big day. She’ll be ready. I guarantee it,” Lorenzo said.

“Will you be ready?” Dominic got up and walked toward the bar again. “That is the real question.”

“I know my part in it.”

The door opened and two of Dominic’s enforcers entered. Two badass muscular blokes who carried fists as big as bricks. Lorenzo’s brow lifted. Dominic leaned against the bar. “They’re here to make sure it looks authentic.”

“You saying my few weeks of freedom has softened me?” Lorenzo asked.

Dominic chuckled.

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