Page 72 of Enzo's Vow
“Happy now?” I slammed the divorce papers onto the round foyer table, the sound sharp and brutal in the sudden silence. “She’s gone.”
Carina gave a swift nod. “I’ll call Giancarlo and have him finalize it.”
Of course, she wouldn’t delay contacting the Calafiore family lawyer. After all, this entire procedure should be resolved fairly quickly since we had Gemma sign anAccordo di Rinuncia Parzialeat the ceremony, a partial waiver agreement that would streamline any future separation proceedings. It even stipulated divorce rather than annulment, a detail Carina insisted upon. An annulment, given the lack of consummation, might have been technically possible, but Carina would never allow it. No, the taint ofdivorceewas the point, stinging far worse than a quiet dissolution. Even back then, Carina was thinking of the cruelest way to burn Gemma. But of course she would. She’d been planning this revenge for years.
“Thisisfor the best.” My mother touched the pearls at her neck, her throat bouncing. “Believe me, I’m not wrong about this.”
“For the best.” I snickered. The nerve of this woman. I grabbed the nearest object, a heavy crystal vase filled with lilies, and hurled it at the marble floor. Water splashed, glass shattered,and the air filled with the cloying scent. “When you robbed me of my childhood… was that for the best? When you made me live up to a promise I never should have made… was that also for the best!”
Her jaw clenched, but otherwise, she remained unflinching.
“Go on then, call your enemies, tell them the good news.” I spread my arms out wide. “Your obedient son will marry the De Luca girl. After all, it’sfor the best,” I spat the words.
She stomped her foot, as if the action would quell my outburst. “It’s our one chance for safety.”
“It’s also your one chance at getting your way. Rest assured, Carina. You’ve sent Elisabetta’s daughter back to her heartbroken.” I pounded my fist against my chest. “My heart’s broken, too.” I spat as tears leaked down my cheeks. “But as if a mother who turned her back on her sons would care about our feelings.” The grudge from all those years ago bubbled to the surface.
Her nostrils flared, a pink hue staining her cheeks.
“For once, you could’ve given me your blessing. Instead, you threatened her, dangled her life above my head like a sick pawn in a game. Now you’re blackmailing me into marrying some mobster princess.” I clapped my hands, unbothered to wipe away the tears. “Bravo, Carina,bravo!You outdid yourself as the worst mother in the world.” I paused when reaching her on the staircase, indifferent to her stark white complexion. I should have reprimanded her years ago, long before she puppeteered my life. “Just know, this wedding will change nothing. I will not be some lowlife made man despite how much you’ve steered us into this lifestyle. I’m fullyCammarata.” I stormed past her, having said my peace.
“You’re not a Cammarata.” Her words stopped me dead in my tracks.
I whipped around, my heart hammering in my chest. “What did you say?”
“I said you’re not a Cammarata.” She sank to the step as though the confession drained her of energy. “You’re a De Luca.”
What felt like a dagger struck me to the core. My lips thinned, and I descended the few short steps to face her, a snort bubbling to the surface.
“I’m not lying.” She wrapped her arms around her midriff. “When Vito learned I broke off our engagement, he kidnapped me. There’s an old custom in this town amongst those in my dark world. If a woman refused to marry her rapist, she’d be dubbed aDonna Svergognata.”
Donna Svergognata. Shameless woman.The translation hammered into my skull. Staring at the floor, the cold marble penetrated into my soles. Or maybe shock brought on the sudden chill. A wave of nausea crashed over me.
“Do you remember Martina, the nun from the orphanage?” Her gaze drifted far away, as though back in time. “She worked for the De Lucas, as a maid. Without her help, I’d have never escaped.”
My breath came in ragged gasps, as if my lungs rejected the air, the blood that now coursed through me. It was tainted, De Luca blood. “What happened after you escaped?”
“My father disowned me for shaming the Calafiore name. Vito contacted him to negotiate what they called arehabilitation marriage, since I was now considered a shameless woman, but I rejected my father’s wishes.” She bit her lip, pooling tears gathering at the edges of her eyes. “I eloped with Lorenzo, and never told him what Vito did. Soon after, I discovered my pregnancy. I waited until your birth to arrange a DNA test behind Lorenzo’s back.”
And this test revealed my paternity by not matching Lorenzo. I ran a fist over my mouth. “You pretended I was his.Mannaggia, you named me after the man! And you never told him?”
“No.” She choked on a sob. “I didn’t want to lose him. I certainly didn’t want Vito to learn about you. So, I pretended you were his.”
I shared the same blood with our sworn enemies. Nicolo… my half brother. My one memory of Vito surged in my mind, every detail intact, as if the event occurred yesterday. Who’d ever forget their first kill?
“You should have been mine.”
I sure comprehended his words now. I relived the gun pointed at my head; the hatred pouring out of his bright green eyes. My breath hitched. Eyes I now recognized mirrored my own. Those times I recalled that night, I neglected to see our uncanny likeness. In a flash, his scowl had faded as awareness registered. He must have comprehended I looked an awful lot like him in those few seconds before I shot him dead.
“Is this why you sent us to the orphanage?” After losing Lorenzo and no longer needing to deceive him, she couldn’t bear to raise the child who resembled her rapist? “Do you hate me? You hate me because I’m the son of Vito.”
Her brows squished together, and she stood, caressing my jaw. “Hate you? No Enzo. Even once I discovered your paternity, I never hated you. I never saw you as Vito’s. You were mine. Mine alone.” She swiped at her tears. “I spiraled into a mental breakdown after Lorenzo’s death… then more so recovering in the hospital after Vito shot me. Vito’s death urged the De Luca family to come for me with a vengeance. Without the help of my father, I struggled to protect you and your brother, so I sent you both to the orphanage under the care of Martina. I do admit, those few photos Martina sent me from the orphanage, you’d grown more and more into a copy of Vito. Guilt ate me alivebecause how was I to tell you the man you killed was your father? I didn’t want you enduring any more misery than you already had.”
I flexed my hands to dispel the tremors twitching my fingers. “But why an orphanage with Martina? Why not send us to my father’s—” Did I have any right to call him father, especially now that the truth was out? “to Lorenzo’s family?” And what of my grandfather? I had considered Pietro Cammarata my family my entire life. Although not a loving or affectionate man, he would have been a better option than the orphanage. After all, the old man did leave us his company.
“The Cammaratas were wealthy, but they were clueless when it came to dealing with the underworld. Pietro was willing to take you both when I needed to go on the run, but he refused my suggestion of hired guards, and he was completely against having you boys trained in firearms, even though I explained it was to save your lives. I couldn’t risk it. You and your brother needed to stay hidden. Martina was the safer option.”
I poked my chest, more forceful than intended. “If I’m a De Luca, why am I marrying this girl?”
