Page 32 of Vita Mia

“What!” Belinda shouted. She rushed over to see Eve and discovered her left hand, wrist, and part of her arm was red, inflamed, swollen, and covered with blisters and peeling skin. She was burned pretty bad. Eve didn’t look right. Around her nostrils and her mouth was dark soot as if she inhaled plenty of the smoke. The pup looked lethargic too. Belinda took Eve from Leo and wept. She was a sweet kid, she didn’t deserve it. Leo scrambled to get on his shoes and button his shirt.

“Eve? Baby? Say something? Oh please, God help her.”

“I made fire,” Eve said softly. Her lashes fluttered then closed.

“Leo, she’s unconscious! She’s unconscious. Oh no!”

“She’s okay,cara,” he came back over and touched Eve’s face. Eve came to and immediately began to cry. She looked up at Belinda with pleading eyes.

“I made fire,” she said weakly.

“No baby. No. You weren’t supposed to make fire,” Belinda wept. Eve cried with evident pain but Belinda felt so much relief. She let go the deep breath she’d been holding. “Thank you, Jesus! Thank you so much Jesus she’s alive!” The puppy had burns on her left ear and side of her face so Belinda tried to hold them both with care. It was a horror. To see them in distress.

“Leo? We have to get out of here? Something is wrong with them.”

“I know!” He picked up a chair and threw it against the large stain glass window. The chair crashed through it.

***

FIVE MINUTES EARLIER—

“Eh, Nico? Spoken to Carlo?” Renaldo walked up to him holding his beer. Nico nearly choked on his own beer. He shrugged. He was in a good mood. The best mood. And it helped that he had the distraction of Cecilia’s pregnancy. It helped that he was not selected to make the trip with Renaldo and Giovanni to hunt down Lorenzo and put a bullet in the man he loved like a brother. It also helped that he had not been dealing with Carlo. He was in a good mood and he wanted to stay that way.

“Have you?” he tossed back.

“No.”

“He needs space. It’ll take time for him to deal with the Adara’s death,” Nico said.

“I’m not so sure how much time. After the funeral, he’s gone silent on me. I get nothing.”

“Do you blame him? He lost his wife. To bullshit.” Nico took another swig of his beer.

“And that’s why he needs our support, to keep him from going full crazy,” Renaldo said.

“I’ll admit I was avoiding him. Carlo isn’t in a good place. Adara is dead and so is Lorenzo. It’s all he had in the world. But he will recover. He’s been here before.”

“Before he had Lorenzo,” Renaldo reasoned.

“He needs his space. I think we need to give it to him.”

“You keep saying that. He’s our brother. He needs the brotherhood!” Renaldo argued.

“Really? What brotherhood is that? Look around. Look at these motherfuckers? First Santo, then Lorenzo, and Carlo. Where is the fucking brotherhood?”

“He blames Gio,” Renaldo said.

Nico heaved a sigh. “You know I love Gio. I’d die for him.”

“Not you too,” Renaldo groaned.

“He’s the boss. He takes the glory, so he has to take the blame Renaldo. I know you’re loyal, but you have a family too. We have to be focused on them too. It’s all I’m saying. Family is what matters, that is what Santo, Lorenzo, Carlo, and Gio taught me. Nothing last forever, so hold on tight while you can.”

“Kyra’s pissed. She left the party angry and took my kids. We never fight. But after this Lorenzo affair, and Adara, she’s questioning everything.”

“Why didn’t you go after her?”

“I have more responsibility as underboss, I need to see to things for Gio.”

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