Page 51 of Ti Amo

“Va bene.I will be there.” Franco leaned over and kissed Catalina’s cheek. He smiled at Eve then nodded at Mira. Mira smiled in return. She ran her finger across his desk.

“Oh, I have an idea!” Mira clapped her hands together. “How about you invite Arturo?” she said.

“Che cosa?”Franco’s pleasant smile flashed away. His eyes stretched. “What is she talking about?” he turned on his wife. Catalina shrugged, looking at Mira quizzically.

“Arturo, the young man that was here.” Mira pointed to the door that Arturo went out. “He seems nice. Just this morning at breakfast Giovanni mentioned to Dominic that he wanted to get out and meet more of the people who worked here. Didn’t he Catalina?”

“Ah, yeah, I guess he did?” Catalina blinked at her confused.

Mira nodded. “Invite him to dinner.”

The tense silence lengthened. Catalina was now exchanging looks between them both. Mira never let her eyes drop from Franco’s, whose stare barely masked his self-restraint. She smiled at him again. “See you tonight. Let’s go Catalina.”

Franco stalked back to his desk refusing to address his wife. Once they left Mira glanced over to Arturo who was working on the bottle assembly line. She winked at him and he smiled politely continuing to work.

“What was that about?” Catalina asked with them sitting in the car. “My brother doesn’t care about meeting people that work in his factories.”

“I think I know how to help you.” Mira said.

“How?”

“Franco has a bigger secret than yours.”

Catalina frowned. “I don’t understand?”

Mira chuckled. “He’s bisexual, silly.” She whispered to Catalina so the driver didn’t hear.

Catalina drew back shocked. “No he isn’t!”

“Yes, Catalina he is.”

“That’s disgusting and a lie!Che merda!”

“Why are you upset? This can work in your favor.”

“Because it’s a lie! He has a mistress. He wouldn’t… he wouldn’t dare!” she shouted. The driver looked up in the rearview mirror at them, and Mira hit the button in the door console to bring up the tinted divider. Shaking her head, she tried to process the latest.So it was worse to be married to a gay man than a man that hit you?Now she would have to deal with this prejudice as well? Days like these she truly missed Fabiana. She always knew what to say. She glanced to Catalina who glared back. Her attitude would explain why Catalina never picked up on Franco’s ways.

“What difference does it make to you that he’s gay, bisexual, or both? It’s a way to end this farce of a marriage and keep Giovanni from discovering your affair with Domi. Grow the hell up!” Mira said through her teeth. Eve began to whine for something in Catalina’s purse. Catalina picked up Eve’s pacifier and gave it back to her. “Do you know how insulting this is? Do you know how the accusation will make me look?”

“No one will know, Catalina, that’s the point. I thought you wanted to preserve your relationship with your brother?”

“I don’t want to even think about what you’re implying!” she pouted. She turned her head to the window with her arms crossed in front of her.

“Well think about this. You buried your head in the sand pretending that your affair wouldn’t be exposed. It will be, and maybe sooner than you think. The truth is, whether your husband is sleeping around with a man or a woman, it doesn’t matter. He’s bringing whomever he sleeps with into your bed. On top of that he’s been violent. So either you grow up now and face the hard truths of the life you chose, or I’ll expose it all and protect my man from himself. I won’t let the two of you play these games when so many other lives are at stake.”

Catalina dropped her head crying. “Il padre lo aiuta.”

Mira rolled her eyes. “Catalina stop crying. We have to decide on what to do. You’re out of time.”

Chapter Ten

Carlo tossed his bag into the backseat of the car. Lorenzo waited behind the wheel for his friend. He checked his watch again. They had a forty-minute drive ahead of them, and he wanted to make it into Casalecchio di Reno before nightfall. The roads along the mountains of the Reno River could be tricky to navigate at night.

“What took you so long?” Carlo grumbled climbing in and adjusting the seat. “My flight landed over an hour ago.”

“I had to make a stop.” Lorenzo swerved into moving traffic and gunned the engine on the rental car. Ahead were the congested streets of box shaped cabs, business men travelling on vespas, and passenger vans. Navigating through it all required a bit of skill. The road soon narrowed into a two-lane highway, and he fell in line with the other slow moving travellers. His gaze flickered to the sinking sun near the mountains, and he grimaced. Carlo fired up a cigarillo and cracked the window to let the wind drag out the thick plume of smoke curling up out of his nostrils. For the first ten minutes neither of them spoke. They had a mission, and it would not end pretty. What was there to discuss? In fact, if they failed it could very well end with their lives. Don Bonaduce would not take kindly to them slipping into a village within his providence without his explicit approval. Especially considering that tonight they would cut the throat of a man who was under his protection.

“Tutto va bene,” Carlo slipped him a look dark with malevolence. “We will find the rat bastard and cut out his heart. Slow down.”

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