Giovanni stuck the gun in the back of his pants. “Come with me.” He walked to the door and paused. Armando was looking at Father Nicosia with disbelief.
“Andiamo!”
Giovanni said.
Armando followed.
**
“I called the jail. I asked how to schedule a visit. They said Lorenzo and Dominic could only be seen by their legal counsel.” Marietta sat down. “I asked about Carlo.”
“You did? How is he?”
Marietta shrugged. “No one would say. I asked if he had legal counsel, and I was directed to someone else who hung up on me.”
“He’s in deep trouble. I know Gio will have the men out, but Carlo, he’s all over the news. They are calling him a murderer,” Catalina said as she stared into her mug of tea. “Let’s talk to Gio. To ask him what to do.”
Before Marietta could answer they heard Giovanni’s voice. The women got up from their seats and hurried out of the kitchen to the hall. To their surprise the Dons were walking side by side to Giovanni’s office. Armando looked angry, and Giovanni looked angry.
“I wouldn’t believe this if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes,” Catalina said.
“Why? This is a crisis. All of our men are in jail. He’s here to help,” said Marietta.
“No, he isn’t. They’re enemies. They declared war on each other when they were kids, and they have hated each other every day since. Giovanni has to pay for Armando’s help. I don’t know the price, but I know if we rescue Mira because of the
Mafiosi,
there will be one.”
Catalina walked away. Marietta dropped her head against the wall. She felt fear, deep in her heart. Lorenzo was gone. Her sister was missing. Carlo may be convicted and sent away to prison. And now Armando was here, and though she wanted to believe he came for the right reasons, she had her doubts. Could it be her fault? Could she be the reason the woman Isabella was after Mirabella? Did she bring this woman into their lives when she came to Italy in search of her family? Guilt and grief weighed on her emotions, and dragged her toward the dark space she retreated to whenever she was in pain. She had to fight against it. Be strong. It was hard.
**
“You fucking bastard! I hate you! I hate you!” Mirabella screamed. She was thrown on the bed. She cried out in agony when her foot twisted awkwardly beneath her. She scooted across the bed, but her ankle burned. Kei paced at the foot of her bed. He was angrier than she’d ever seen him. Horrified by all she’d witnessed, and how close she’d come to being murdered, Mirabella scooted back to the headboard.
“You pushed me to this.” Kei pointed a finger at her.
“You’re crazy! You fucking psycho!” she shouted. “Do you think I would ever want you to touch me? Kiss me? I hate you! I hope my husband comes here and cuts your fucking black heart out of your chest. I hope he carves our names into it. Do you hear me? I hate you!” she screamed and wept.
He turned when someone walked into the door. He took the small black case and a folded pouch.
“Kei, wait. I’m sorry,” she backpedaled. “I was scared. He said he was going to kill me. I was trying to get away. I’m not safe here.”
“You’re not safe anywhere once my uncle learns that Bao Zei is dead because of you.”
“I didn’t do anything wrong!” she said.
“You didn’t trust me! You hate me still. That’s your fucking crime. And my uncle knows I would never kill my brother unless I was driven to it.” He came over to the bed and she tried to move away. He grabbed her hurt ankle with his iron hand and twisted it. Mirabella screamed with agony. She kicked and bucked on the sheets. It was of no use. The pain in her ankle stretched all the way up her leg and weakened her.
“You think I’m a monster. But you want to run away to another. How does that make you sane?” he shouted at her. “How am I different from Giovanni? Answer me!”
“Please! Please stop!” she wept.
“How?” he twisted her ankle harder.
Mirabella wept.
He let go of her ankle. He jumped on her on the bed and she fought him. She hit and scratched at his face. He overpowered her. He turned her face to the pillow. She bit down on her lip and drew blood to keep from screaming. She heard him open the case. She didn’t care what he did to her at that point. The pain was her only focus. Then he let go of her face and moved off her. She dared to look up. She felt something cool and soothing on the cuts. Kei gently massaged in ointment. He then began to wrap her ankle tight.
“It’s not broken. You got a good sprain,” he said.
He was insane. And his kindness was scarier than his rage. She couldn’t speak. She didn’t know what to say other than how much she hated him and wished he were dead. She couldn’t believe she ever felt anything for him. And to think she once thought Cedric was her biggest mistake. When he was done he put up the ointments and bandages.
“Take off the dress,” he looked up at her.
She shook her head no. If he planned to hurt her she wouldn’t let him do it easily. He closed the case.
“Then I’ll take it off of you when I’m done.”
Confused she stared at him. He removed a needle and something in a vial. Mirabella knew once he drugged her she’d never escape. “I promise, Kei, I won’t run away anymore. I can’t. Look at my ankle. I can’t stand. I swear I won’t try it again.”
“I know you can’t run. You were the one stupid enough to think you could.”
“Then don’t drug me.” Mirabella pleaded.
Kei walked over to her with the needle.
She moved away from him on the bed. “No!”
He grabbed her ankle and foot. Mirabella screamed. He plunged the needle into the flesh between her toes. “I’m not doing this because you will run. I’m doing it because it’s time to make you want to stay. I tried to convince you. Win back your love. Now I’m going to take it.”
It was the last thing she heard before darkness descended on her mind and all the pain slipped away.
**
Giovanni hung up the phone. The lawyer confirmed that the Chief Inspector was pushing hard on his warrant. And now he had a dead body to get out of Melanzana. Armando paced the floor.
“We’re out of time. The
Carabinieri
could arrive at my door any minute. My boys are fast but not that fast,” Giovanni said.
“You shouldn’t have killed him here,” Armando said.
“Fuck the priest. I have here the places I know that Isabella frequents.” He handed over the paper to Armando. “Do any of them sound like a good place to hide my Bella?”
Armando scanned the list. “If they left by sea and boat then it has to be Lipari. The Asian wouldn’t go into Sicily. It’s too dangerous for him to head south.”
Giovanni nodded. “I agree. It used to be an orphanage. It’s isolated enough.”
“I can have my men there in a few hours.”
“I need to be there.” He looked at his broken hand when Armando did. “We go in together. First I have to see a few old friends and call in some favors.”
“What about the raid?”
“If I’m successful there won’t be one. I think the raid is bullshit. Isabella is trying to flush my children out of Melanzana. She thinks I’ll move them.”
“Why would she give a fuck about your children?” Armando asked.
“Kei Hyogo hasn’t left for China. He made many threats to me, but the one that I can’t forget is his obsession with my daughter. He took a risk just to see her. He wants to take them both back. I feel it in my gut. Isabella has been being the puppeteer. She’s playing us all against one another. Chaos. And the plan is to take my children. I’m a lot of things, Armando, but I’m not stupid.”
“You should move them. You don’t want to expose them to a search by the
Carabinieri
. They’ll turn this place inside out.”
“There will be no fucking raid.” Giovanni paced away from his desk.
“Can I handle Carlo?” Armando asked.
Giovanni paused. “What did you say?”
“You can deal with the release of your men. I want to help Carlo. They are charging him with murder.”
“How do you propose to help? They have his face all over the news as the one who killed Chao Lee.”
“They have a mob fight in a boxing ring. I’ve seen the footage. They can’t tell who did who. I have some favors of my own to call in. Let me do it.”
“Then I’ll ask a different question. Why do you want to?” Giovanni asked.
“I think it’s time we fix past mistakes. Clean slate and all. To show you that I intend to make this right between us, I’m going to release you from any obligation of my help. I don’t want the inheritance returned to me this way, Gio. We work out a deal that is strictly business, but not based on my sister’s life. And I fix the thing that has been between us for years. I help Carlo.”
“You do all of this, and I’m supposed to trust you?” Giovanni scoffed.
“I do all of this, and I can’t see how you won’t. Our fathers were friends. Maybe one day the
Camorra
and
Mafiosi
will be beyond our truce?”
Giovanni looked him over. “Okay. Call your men. Get them ready. I’ll get mine. We leave for Lipari in two hours.”
Armando smiled. “We’ll be ready.”
**
Dominic lifted his head from his pillow. The jailer opened his cell. He nodded at him to rise. He had been in lockup for close to forty-eight hours and not questioned. He figured it was his turn. He was walked out of his cell down several halls and then to an open door. When Dominic walked inside he saw the young hotshot Chief Inspector waited.
“Dominic Battaglia, please have a seat. Please.”
Ispettore
Donatello gestured to the open chair. Dominic walked over and sat down. He waited while the inspector made a show of rifling through a file. “You by far are the most interesting of the Battaglias.”
“I guess this is where I ask why?” Dominic said.
“Even Giovanni Battaglia has a record. You are the cleanest
consigliere
I’ve ever met. Not even a traffic citation.”
“Yet I’m here,” he said.
“You’re here because you were in the room with a man who was being held at gunpoint.”
Dominic smirked. “I wasn’t holding the gun.”
“No. Don Giovanni Battaglia was, but that apparently doesn’t matter to my bosses. Do you know what I’m waiting for?” the inspector asked. He closed the folder.
“No. I’m sure you’re going to tell me though.”
“A warrant for a search of Melanzana. Never has one been served. After all the crimes your boss has done to terrorize the poor people of the
Campania,
no one has ever dared to search his home. All I need is one court, one judge, and I’m in those gates. What will I find?”
Dominic didn’t answer.
The inspector stood. He started for the door and stopped. “Oh, by the way, I got a strange anonymous call. It said to look to Lorenzo for answers. The message was ‘Where there is sin there is audio’. The caller said her name was Isabella. Does that mean anything?”
Dominic shrugged.
“I’ll keep you posted.”
Dominic glanced back over his shoulder. The inspector left. He frowned. Why did the name Isabella sound familiar to him?
**
Catalina rinsed the bowl and put it on the drying rack. She picked up the towel and dried her hands. When she turned to wipe down the table she was startled.
“I didn’t mean to scare you.” Armando stepped into the kitchen.
“What are you doing in here?” she asked. She dried her hands on the dishrag.
“Looking for the bathroom,” he replied. “Wrong turn.”
“Liar. Where is my brother?” Catalina tossed the rag to the sink.
“Business. He will be back soon. We think we know where Mira is,” Armando said.
“Really?” she took a step toward him. “Then why aren’t you out there searching for her?” Catalina asked.
“We will. My men are already headed to Lipari.”
“Lipari? Is that where she is?” Catalina asked.
Armando smiled. “I believe so.”
“You found her, you helped her.” Catalina stepped toward him, or he stepped toward her. She wasn’t sure. In a blink they were closer.
“We haven’t found her yet. Before we storm that island we need to be prepared.”
“What do you want from us? For helping us? You must want something?” she asked.
“I don’t. I told Giovanni he is released from any obligation. I meant it. Mirabella is my sister, I’m here for her.”
“I don’t believe you,” Catalina said.
“It’s okay not to believe me today. When I bring her home you’ll have no choice but to believe me then.” Armando smiled. His smile was so charming she had no choice but to believe.
Catalina threw her arms around his neck. He embraced her. It felt good to hear that her family may be saved. She clung to that hope, and for a brief moment his touch didn’t feel wrong. She liked it.