La Sposa (53 page)

“
Siediti,”
Rocco said
calmly.

“
I want fucking
answers!”

“
Sit down.” Rocco said more firmly.
His gaze lifted and leveled with Giovanni’s. With no other choice,
he lowered to his chair. Rocco rose from his. He went to a desk and
opened the drawer. He removed a bottle of whiskey. “Zia won’t let
me have it. The best way to hide something from your wife is in
plain sight. Before I’m done with what I have to say, we will
finish the entire bottle and she’ll never know.”

Dominic and Giovanni waited as Rocco shuffled
around and got glasses for the three of them and brought them all
over. He set them on the coffee table. He poured a shot for them
and then himself. He plopped down with a weary sigh. After taking a
hit, he took another.

“
I will start at the beginning.”
Rocco lifted his glass and reclined. “It was the Ciaculli massacre.
Afterwards, everyone in Sicily called it the First Mafia War. The
beginning of the end!” Rocco toasted them.

“
I remember
Patri
talking
about the bombing in Ciaculli, just outside of Palermo.” Dominic
interjected. “Several police officers and military officers were
trying to defuse the bomb, before it went off. They failed. That
bombing turned the parliament against the mafia. Right?” Dominic
said.

“
Very good. See, Gio. Do you see
this?” Rocco wagged a crooked finger at Giovanni. “This is why Domi
should be
consigliere
. He knows, and remembers the important
things.” Rocco tapped his index finger against his temple. “He is
better than Flavio in that regard, the scheming
porco
!”
Rocco chuckled bitterly. “You were right to slit Flavio’s throat.
You were wrong to cast Domi out. You need someone you can trust.
And in our business, Gio, trust is hard to find.” Rocco reached for
the bottle and poured himself another.

Giovanni held his tongue.

“
You boys never understood why
Tomosino hated drugs. Well, he didn’t always. He just didn’t
understand the drug trade. Why pollute your own people and make it
impossible for them to be the mules you need them to be to stand up
your empire? That’s what the heroine trade was when it spread
through Sicily. A pollution. Men were no longer men and women
either; they were something else, slaves to something that made
them disloyal and weak. The Mafiosi went against principle and drew
unwanted attention to themselves because of it. Before the heroin
trade, the
polizia
, the military, and the republic, bowed to
the mafia. There was no law above us, or below us. The Five Dons of
Sicily were the most powerful men next to the Pope.”

“
And drugs changed that?” Giovanni
asked.

“
Yes. Things changed. Tomosino made
up his mind to cut all ties and to continue to build the
Camorra
from Italy. Here, he could rule without the Five
Dons of Sicily’s permission or influence.”

“
This I know,” Giovanni
said.

Rocco smirked. “Yes, I’m sure you think you
know.” He reached for the bottle and Giovanni stopped
him.

“
Continue, Rocco. No more drinking.
What is it that has you so afraid of this discussion?”

“
You.”

“
Me?” Giovanni gave a hollow laugh.
“Why are you afraid of me?”

“
I’m afraid for you,” Rocco said.
“You are so like your father. I see you with Mira; I saw what
happened when you lost her. Your weakness is your heart. Where his
love for your mother made him cruel and careless, yours made you
into the
Capo Di Tutti Capi
. The lives you took without a
blink, Gio, have washed our name in blood. Even here in Chianti, we
are looked upon with scorn. It will take years to undo what the
Calderone war has done to our reputation.”

“
If I hadn’t sought justice, the
families in the
Camorra
would have unraveled. They needed to
see my strength.”

“
Yes. But did they need to see your
weakness too? Did they need to know that Mira is the only reason
your heart beats?” Rocco asked.

Giovanni sighed. The truth was a bitter pill
to swallow. It was true. He had lost respect and gained fear. His
pursuit to legitimize the family was a hard battle to be won. But
he was determined to do it.

Rocco continued. “Do you think it’s a
coincidence you found a woman that is outside of our life? Same as
Tomosino? That even now when you know there is more to her you
can’t bring yourself to distrust her? How many young girls have
been thrown at your feet that you have rejected? How unshakable was
your leadership before Mira was given to you?”

“
Given to me.” Giovanni let go a
nervous chuckle. “She wasn’t given to me. She’s my
destiny.”

Rocco’s brow arched.

“
How does Mancini fit into
this?”

“
Mancini was your father’s best
friend. He kept us tied to Palermo, though our influence was
limited. The Ciaculli bombing was because of a feud over a lost
shipment of heroin. Against Tomosino’s advice, Mancini’s father
Salvatore and the other Dons put a hit on the Calcedonio in 1962.
The Grecos wanted justice, and the fighting extended from the
shores of Sicily to Italy. They’d strike, and then the Mancinis
would strike back and so forth. So, in the small city of Ciaculli
in 1963, a bomb was planted. An anonymous tip led the
polizia
to the bomb, but it exploded before it could be
diffused. Seven of them died. It was the beginning of the first
anti-mafia efforts in the history of Sicily, which eventually
spread here to Italy. Before this heroin bullshit, we fought each
other like men over territory, property, trade. After the bombing,
the Sicilian republic wanted to stamp out the violent tyranny of
the mafia. They turned on us. Hunted us. In a matter of weeks, over
twelve thousand men were arrested. Several fled to Canada, America,
and South America. Mancini was one of them. He left the bullshit to
us to clean up.”

“
Who was the anonymous tipster?”
Dominic asked.

Rocco chuckled. “No one knows. I’m still
unsure. That’s not all, Giovanni. I can stop right here son, and we
never speak of it again. But if you make me tell you the rest of
the story, you risk your marriage. And that is probably what
Mancini wants. Do you understand?” Rocco said.

“
There’s more?” Dominic asked,
confused. “More than Mancini being the father of Mira? How is
Giovanni responsible for that?”

“
Much more.” Rocco nodded. “Lorenzo
came here a few days ago. He had a woman with him.”

“
Yes, you told us,” Giovanni
started to rise.

“
She has the same charm. Hers is a
necklace, but it’s the same.”

Giovanni froze. He looked to Rocco, unsure of
his own hearing. Rocco smiled. “Her name is Marietta and she’s here
trying to find out what happened to her mother. If that bracelet
belongs to Mira, then this woman is Mira’s sister.”

“
How is that possible? What the
hell is Lorenzo up to?” Dominic asked.

“
What did Lorenzo and the woman say
about Bella?” Giovanni demanded.

“
I don’t think they know who Mira
is to her. They came here for information on Capriccio. I tried to
steer them away, but I could see it wouldn’t die. Lorenzo is trying
to impress the woman.”

“
This isn’t a coincidence, Gio,”
Dominic said.

Giovanni nodded. “I agree.”

“
Do you want to know why it’s not a
coincidence?” Rocco asked.

Giovanni sat back. “Yes.”

“
Mancini went to America and left
our cousin, his wife, behind. She was young, and with a boy child
the same age as you. Armando. It infuriated Tomosino when she came
to him, begging for help to bring him home. Tomosino tried to
solicit Mancini to return, but he was stubborn and refused. Why
return when Sicily was so turbulent and his own father so hell-bent
on war? Mancini’s bloodline to the Mafiosi, made him the next
powerful Don of Palermo. This meant he could never be anything but
what his father wanted him to be. So, Tomosino brought Mancini’s
capodecina
Caruso Capriccio. It was Capriccio that explained
why Mancini was so intent on staying in America to Tomosino and
Flavio.”

“
Mira’s mother.”

“
And he couldn’t bring her back
here to Sicily if he already had a son and was married, among other
things.” Gio added.

Rocco nodded. “She was black. He couldn’t even
make her his whore in public here. But in America, he had total
immunity. Your father was furious.”

“
That he’d choose Mira’s mother
over our cousin? Why would
Patri
give a shit, considering he
did the same thing with my mother?” Giovanni said.

“
It was more than that. The
anti-mafia commission had hit us hard. Mancini was the only one
capable to control his father. We needed him on our
side.”

Giovanni cut his eyes away in
disgust.

“
Mancini kept the young girl with
him always. Treated her like his wife so I’m told. And it wasn’t
easy to do considering the prejudices in America were as bad as
they were in Sicily. Eventually, Tomosino lured Mancini back to
Italy. He made one last attempt to bring him in line. Mancini
refused. He told us that the girl was pregnant with twin baby
girls.”

No longer able to sit through the telling,
Giovanni stood. He paced away. When he turned his gaze back to
Rocco, he saw the old man had taken to drinking straight from the
bottle.

Rocco wiped his mouth with the back of his
hand. “It was the final straw for your father, Gio. Tomosino met
with the other Dons of Sicily. He told Mancini’s father the truth.
That his son had done the unthinkable and chose that woman over his
wife, son, and his birthright. And then he struck a bargain. If the
Mancinis’ agreed to abandon the heroin trade, he’d let him in on
the commercial transports he ran out of Napoli. In return, he
wanted them to bring Mancini home—for good. It was a matter of
pride for the old Don, and Tomosino resented how flagrant Mancini
was about abandoning all they had built between the
Camorra
and the
Mafiosi
. They decided in that meeting to take care
of the problem. The black whore in America could easily be
dispatched—babies too.”

“
No.” Giovanni shook his head.
“It’s not true. My father wouldn’t put a hit on a pregnant
woman.”

“
Wouldn’t he? How far did you go
for revenge, Gio?”

Giovanni closed his eyes to the sins of the
Calderone war. He said nothing.

“
It is true. He gave Capriccio the
order to kill her. That’s all I know. The babies, how they were
separated. What happened, those details, you have to get from
Mancini himself. Giovanni, if Mira is his daughter, then he knows
she’s his daughter. And he also knows that she doesn’t. He set your
meeting her in motion, just as he brought the other daughter here
and put her in the path of Lorenzo. I could only guess his motives.
Twenty years later, to seek revenge this way, makes no
sense.”

“
Are you sure Mira’s mother was
murdered by my father’s order? IS THAT WHAT YOU ARE TELLING
ME?”

“
Yes. That’s what that bracelet
means. Mancini gave it to them. It’s her legacy. It’s the only way
she could ever connect her birth to him.”

“
Gio…” Dominic started.

“
Shut up! Both of you shut
up!”

Giovanni wiped his hand down his face. The
woman he loved, the mother of his children, was tied to him in
blood and destiny. The secret between them could destroy everything
they shared. “I could lose her if she ever found this out. She
would never understand her mother being slaughtered by my father.
None of this. She’s lost her best friend because of me. She’d hate
me.” Giovanni staggered to breathe. “She’d hate me.” He closed his
eyes, remembering how she ran from him before. How he spent days
and nights in misery without her. The punishment seemed so severe,
considering his only crime was loving her with all his heart. “What
did you tell Lorenzo, about the Marietta woman?”

“
Nothing. He doesn’t know she’s
connected to Mira. I don’t think. For some reason, Capriccio has
claimed her as his daughter. The stupid fuck put her in his
will.”

“
There has to be more to this
story, Gio. Let me keep digging.” Dominic volunteered.

“
No. No. This is between me and
Mancini. I want you to call Santo and tell him to pull Lorenzo in.
Now.”

Dominic rose and went to the phone. Giovanni
turned his attention to Rocco. “Lorenzo and I both will go to
Palermo. We will get the answers from Mancini himself.”

“
That’s a mistake.” Rocco warned.
“At best it’s a trap, at worst it’s his way to Mira through you.
Don’t poke the bear.”

“
I’m going to put a fucking bullet
in the bear! I won’t risk my marriage and family on this bullshit
story you just gave me. I remember Mancini as a child. They weren’t
adversaries. He and father were friends. Something is missing here.
I’m going to get the answers.”

Later –

Sweetness in the dark, it’s what making love
to her was. That strange, almost sad little murmur of surrender
escaped her when he thrust deep, then deeper. Lorenzo could not get
enough of her. He buried his face in her hair as he kept moving,
squeezing her ass in his hands, and moving. She forced him to roll
and was now on top. She rode his cock with such wild freedom, he
lost his senses. And that was them; such uncharted passionate
battles waged during their lovemaking, that the headboard banged
noisily against the wall. He flipped her for control. She was his.
And he would not tolerate her dominance any longer. Summoning all
of his strength, he pinned her left leg down to her shoulder and
pumped hard and fast, squeezing his eyes tight and halting his
breathing.