Page 27 of Gianni DeLuca

Diamond’s calm quickly became a storm, and she pushed my chest hard, yelling, “So, I can what? Kill you? Huh? Is that what you’re about to accuse me of? These last two months meant nothing to you?”

My voice became steely. “Diamond...you better back the fuck down.”

Diamond moved even closer to my face and slapped my face hard. “Or what? You’re going to hit me, beat me to a pulp, kill me? Do what you usually do when people betray you? Go ahead and do what you came here to do.”

I grabbed her shoulders and shook her. She managed to push my hands off her shoulders and backed away, screaming, “I wasn’t supposed to still love you. God, I hated lying to you about Laffy, but you weren’t supposed to be this perfect...this right...this....” Her eyes widened as she looked past me the moment I felt a nuzzle on my neck.

I quickly twisted around and knocked the gun out of the stunned man’s hand. The man who’d introduced me to Wisdom was the same man with her at the casino. Her soldier... who now was trying to kill me. He quickly recovered and threw a jab to my face that connected. I countered with a punch to his chin. Once he fell back against the front door, I pounced on top of him, threw two vicious hits to his mouth, and blood spewed. Before I could whack him further, Diamond shoved me off him roughly. “Stop before you kill him. He’s your son.” She looked down at the stunned expressions on our faces and spoke softer, “Courage is your son.”

“You’re a fucking lie,” yelled Courage, who jumped up, angrily wiping the blood from his mouth and nose. “My father is a Desire...not a DeLuca...not some fucking white man.”

She tugged on his shirt and spoke hurriedly, “He is your father. I lied and told you your father abandoned me because I never thought we would see Gianni again.” At the visible truth, I could hear in her voice and see in his appearance. I collapsed against the wall. Too dazed to do anything but stare at the man who was my son. I’d figured he was mid-twenties because of his height and the mature way he handled himself. But he was still a kid. His face...his high cheekbones, his nose so much like his mother’s...with hazel eyes like mine that appeared blue at this very second. If his skin was paler and the texture of his hair less kinky, he was me as a young man. How could I have missed the obvious when I watched him on the screen at the casino?

Courage stole only a glance at me before his fists balled, and he punched a hole in the wall on his way out the door he’d just entered. Diamond didn’t attempt to chase him. Her shoulders sloped down before she turned to face me. “We can get a paternity test.”

“Got damn it all, Diamond. I can’t take any more fucking surprises. First, Lafayette is alive and wants me dead. Now I have a son who also wants me dead.”

“Neither one wants you dead...at least not intentionally.”

“What difference does that fucking make, Diamond? Those two men are my family now, and I’m all enmeshed in this craziness with you because you couldn’t tell me the fucking truth.” I grabbed both sides of my head, my emotional mask completely the fuck off, and cursed loudly, “Fuck it all to hell!”

Tears flowed down her face as she slid down next to me. “I couldn’t tell you about Lafayette until I knew I could trust you. His life depended on it. You’re the only one who really knows him as Lafayette. He’s been Wisdom for twenty years. Candy saved his life that day and called my father. My parents faked his death...had a funeral and everything to protect him and the family from Tucci. Lafayette was sent to my mother’s family in Jamaica to heal. My mother and I followed. Candy must have told that Lafayette was still alive and had killed Tucci because she was found with her throat sliced. My dad was killed by Tucci’s men the morning he was supposed to join us. We knew we couldn’t come back, and most of the money left with my father’s death. Once we heard Blue was in charge and that Tucci’s family was long gone, Lafayette wanted to return. After Blue’s death, he wanted to rule, and because of our father, he became the natural choice. And once we were accused of killing Santini and bodies started dropping, Lafayette thought it was time for you and him to meet to stop a blood bath, so I set it up. Courage...well, Courage is a different story.”

I propped one knee up and allowed my head to flop back against the wall where we sat next to each other. “He must be twenty years old.”

“On his next birthday in September.”

“We only had sex once back then.”

“Last I heard, that’s all it takes. If you want, I can get a test.”

“I can tell he’s mine.” I shook my head dismissively. “I know why you didn’t tell me back then. Don’t understand why you didn’t tell me now. Were you ever planning to tell me?”

“I wanted to be long gone from here before you met Lafayette again. I was supposed to reveal myself at the casino grand opening and then disappear alone. I begged my son to come with me, but he already idolizes his uncle and this fucked up life. The last thing I needed was for him to have further confirmation that he is meant to be a criminal than a father who’s a fucking mob boss.”

Bristling at her condescending tone, I hit the floor between us. “I deserved to know my son, Diamond. Doesn’t matter what I do for a living.”

She scoffed and gestured around her. “Is this really living? Huh? You’re so damn paranoid. You almost killed your son for protecting me.”

I sighed, “I’m sorry, but my instincts took over. Most men would react the way I did. Period.”

“No. You were in my home and not out on the street. He had every right to pull a gun on you to protect his mother. Most men would’ve stopped after knocking him down. You were ready to kill him. I’m not even sure you came here to just talk either.” She rubbed her arms and then hugged herself. “I’m so sick of this shit. I want a normal life where all I do is work at a bank and come home every day tired but happy because I’m with my husband and children. I was still young enough to have that dream with another man, and now I’m back in love with you like a damn fool.”

Her words were like piercing icicles falling around me, and I snarled, “You want to leave me so bad; there’s the mothafucking door.”

She snapped, “You mean my mothafucking door? This is my house. Don’t you think I would if it was that easy for me to walk away from you? I don’t want to love you, Gianni, but God help me, I do, and the thought of leaving you again is worst than death.” She swiped at her tears. “Do you know that instead of fear and anger when I realized I was pregnant at sixteen, I was happy? Happy that I was going to have your baby, something tangible to remember the love I thought we had?”

“Our love was real then and now.” I blew air out of my lungs, needing to rid myself of the rage that lived within triggered by my interaction with Laffy and then my fight with Courage. I closed my eyes and spoke softer, “I’m surprised you didn’t have an abortion. I thought you hated me at that time.”

“I was hurt, Gianni. I felt like you fucked me and then fucked over me. Yet I couldn’t make myself hate you no matter how hard I tried. It didn’t help that Laffy refused to say a bad word about you, that he kept saying you didn’t leave him to die whenever I accused otherwise.”

“Then why were you so angry when we saw each other again?”

“Because from the moment I felt your presence behind me at the casino party, I knew that you would be the only man I love for the rest of my life.” She grabbed my face and implored, “Please, believe me, the only secrets I kept were Courage and Laffy. We didn’t kill Santini. We were set up. Someone paid one of our men to do it so witnesses could accuse us. My brother has taken care of him for going against orders.”

“Wisdom said the same thing.”

“My brother told you to call him Wisdom instead of Lafayette, didn’t he? I’d hope you two could come to an agreement.” Her forehead puckered.

---