Page 235 of Vita Mia

GIOVANNI LAID LEEZAnext to her mother. Mirabella didn’t open her eyes but she groaned and instinctively turned toward her daughter. He fixed the covers over them and kissed Eve’s brow. He then pressed a kiss to Mirabella’s cheek before leaving the room. He stopped by the room where his boys slept. Both were without covers and laid in crossed over positions on the bed. He adjusted his sons and covered them. He kissed them goodnight. He rarely needed sleep. His time in jail had robbed him of the ability. Two to three hours was all he survived off of now. He closed the door and went down the hall toward the stairs but paused at a light coming out from an open door. Someone was up. He knew who. Giovanni went to the door and inside he saw Zia lighting candles before going to her knees to pray.

“Zia?”

She glanced back at him with a face weary from heartache.

“Let me help,” he said and went to her. He helped her stand straight and then walked her over to the chair. “You shouldn’t be up so late,” he said.

“I’m praying for him. For Lorenzo.”

“After you rest.”

“I’ll never rest again Gio. What we did to him. What I did is unforgivable.”

“Can’t be undone Zia. You have to accept it.”

“He’s gone? For good?” Zia asked.

Giovanni nodded. “I’m doubtful that he’ll return. Ever.”

“This is not how it should end. For us. We are family.”

“That doesn’t change,” Giovanni told her. He knelt before her. “He knows that. I know that. Because you and Madre taught us well. We’ll get through it even if we have to do it alone.”

Zia nodded Giovanni wiped her tears with his thumb. He took her face in his hand and pulled it toward him to kiss her brow. “Restmia Zia. Let us take care of you. Enjoy the children, be strong. We need you.”

Zia said she would try. Neither of them knew the toll the heartbreak would have on her health. Seventeen days later Giovanni would find her in the kitchen. The doctors said it was a stroke. He wasn’t sure. The look of peace on her face said it was something even more powerful. They buried her next to Rocco and Eve placed blue flowers over her casket. He noticed how his daughter had adjusted to constant death in her life. She no longer clung to the family or begged for anyone to stay. She no longer cried. And that too he felt was his fault.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Present –2018

Mondello Beach, Sicily

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EVE PARKED HER CARnext to first edition Bugatti Chiron. It belonged to Gianni. She hadn’t expected to find him here. Outside of her car, she slammed the door to announce her presence. And true to his nature Gianni appeared shirtless with a gun in his hand at the front door.

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