Ti Amo (24 page)

She watched them until the story came to an end.

“
Lucciola
, should Papa read another?”

Eve opened the book and indicated she wanted him to start again.

“I think that means yes.” Mira said. Eve’s head shot up. Immediately she began to wiggle to be free of her father’s lap. He let her slip from the chair, and her daughter hurried across the room toward her. Mira lowered. Her bones ached but not enough to prevent her from picking Eve up into her arms. “Did she wake? Was she upset?”

Giovanni rocked back and closed his eyes. He didn’t answer. Mira walked over to the crib and placed Eve back in it. Her daughter whined in protest but she forced her to lie down. A mother’s touch always worked. She rubbed her belly and shook her softly until her lids fluttered and shut. Mira sang softly to her until she was certain her voice lulled her back to sleep. It was late, and she should have changed her. But Mira withdrew.

“We need to talk.” Giovanni spoke.

She turned and he stood directly behind her. Giovanni cupped her neck and drew her face to his forcing her to rise on her toes and brace for support with her hands to his chest. He kissed her. “We need to talk, Bella. There’s something you should know.”

“Okay.”

“Is she sleeping?”

“She is.”

“Then come with me.”

He took her hand and pulled her toward the door. They ventured out into the dark house. He led her down the hall and then Giovanni paused. Catalina crept along the hall. She didn’t see them before she slipped inside of her bedroom.

Giovanni frowned at her stealthy behavior.

“She probably went below for something to drink.” Mira whispered. Giovanni stared a moment longer.  Mira silently prayed that Catalina hadn’t been where she thought she’d been. God help them all if Dominic appeared next. “What is it you want to talk to me about?” Mira said, hoping to draw his attention. It worked. He continued down the hall holding her hand tightly. They arrived at a door she hadn’t entered. He pushed it open and she saw it was a small office. More like a library because the walls were covered with books. The only one without them was a ceiling to floor window behind the desk. The moon spread a natural light over everything and she walked inside, bathed in its silver glow.

“Have a seat,” he said.

Mira honored his request. Giovanni paced. Why was he agitated? Last night he didn’t fall asleep in her arms angry. “What’s wrong now?”

“I got a call. That’s what woke Eve up.”

“Okay?”

“You left here today. Went into Napoli?”

“To do some Christmas shopping. Catalina and I didn’t—.”

“You know you aren’t supposed to leave here without my consent!” Giovanni’s voice was abrupt. His nostrils flared. “People think you are dead. You can’t walk around here and keep that secret!”

“Oh, calm down.”

“What did you say to me?” he seethed.

“I was careful.” She threw up her hands in defeat. “I said calm down. Don’t make this into something it wasn’t.”

“Who was the man in the trees?”

“Man?” Mira blinked at him. “What trees?”

“Dammit, Mira!”

“I don’t know what I’ve done. I went shopping nothing else.” She opened her mouth to say more then stopped herself. Her eyes stretched and her breath hitched in her throat. She remembered. “There was a man. Eve ran up to him. He didn’t do or say anything, but he kind of came out of nowhere.”

“He was Asian?” Giovanni said.

“Yes.”

Giovanni wiped his hand down his face. “You aren’t to leave here again. Do you understand?”

“Yes. Yes I understand.”

His head turned and his focus was centered on the desk in the room. Eventually he looked back at her again. “After the bomb went off in your penthouse, when the world thought you were dead, what did Kei do to help you?”

Mira moistened her lips, her mouth and throat went dry. She didn’t want Giovanni focused on Kei again. Whomever the Asian man was, he didn’t have anything to do with Kei. She smiled up at him to soften his heart. “He helped me. I told you.”

“How, Bella?”

“Kei has friends. Powerful friends. He brought the F.B.I. to me. They…” Mira bit down on her bottom lip. She didn’t want to tell him that the American government drilled her for hours on her relationship with him, what she knew of his world. The same people showed her pictures of his life, dead men tied to claims of murder.

“Tell me everything.”

“They wanted to know about what happened to Fabiana. I had to go over my time in Italy with you. Everything. Then they gave me a new identity. Even let me choose the name I wanted. I was placed in the Witness Protection Program. Kei and I left the country. I found out a few weeks later I was pregnant. That’s why I agreed to stay in the program. I couldn’t risk our baby, Giovanni. Why are you making me tell you this?”

“He lied to you.” Giovanni sat on the edge of his desk. “There was no federal agency protecting you. All of it is a lie. I visited America and attended your funeral. I was detained for twenty-four hours.”

“I know sweetheart.” Mira touched her chest. “I saw the funeral on the television. I saw you. I’m sorry.”

Giovanni waved his hand, dismissing it. He reached behind him and picked up a folder. “Kei lied to you. He isn’t the man you think he is.”

Mira stared at the folder. Her pulse quickened. “What is that?”

“The truth about who he really is, and what he’s done. He set up the meeting with fake agents for your benefit. To find out more about me and scare you into running away.”

“He didn’t have to. I was already scared of you, us, all of this.” Mira sighed. “I don’t know who’s telling you these things but Kei didn’t do anything but help me.”

“Read it, Mira.”

“No. Giovanni, stop this. Kei isn’t a threat to you sweetheart. He saved my life.”

“Bullshit!” Giovanni shouted. “Read the damn documents.”

“No.” Mira shook her head. The idea that Kei would betray her was so foreign she refused to entertain it. For two years he was the only person she could trust. Before that he was her best friend, her lover. He wouldn’t manipulate her. He didn’t have to. They weren’t like that. “It’s how our government works. They do this, to help people.”

“That is not how your government works!” he shouted at her. “Why would the American government protect you? Cover up two deaths to let you run from me? What did they get in return?”

Mira blinked. “I-I-I told them about us.”

“So what!” Giovanni threw his hands up. “Every national agency out there has a folder on me. You saw nothing when you were here but Fabiana’s death, and even that meant little to them when they detained me. Think dammit! Why would they give you a new identity and erase you from the public? Convince me that you were dead? What did they gain? Answer me!”

“Stop yelling.” Mira shook her head. Holding back her tears.

Giovanni groaned. “Bella, Kei lied to you. He staged it all. He needed you afraid, complacent. And now he’s put a hit out on me.”

“No. No? He wouldn’t that that. He’s not a violent man.” Mira shook his head.

“And I am? Right?” Giovanni smirked. “He made a big mistake pissing on the gift of tolerance from me. Say goodbye to your boyfriend. I’ll have his ass before the sun sets in New York.”

“No!” she charged at him. She shoved him hard in the chest. “It’s your paranoia! I told you he’s not a threat! He’s not!” She took a step back wagging her finger at him in warning. “Don’t you dare do it, Giovanni. You swore to me that you would not touch him. You swore it.”

“It’s done.”

“Oh God. Okay. Calm down. Listen to me sweetheart. Please. Let me find out if it’s true. I can’t live with his murder if you’re wrong. Please! Giovanni, listen to me. I’ll call the F.B.I., and they’ll verify everything.”

Giovanni grabbed her by both arms and shook her. Mira wept hard. Giovanni drew her into his arms and she clung to him. He held her tightly and spoke words that split her in half. “I should have killed him the moment I laid eyes on him. He kept you from me. No man will ever come between us. Ever! He took my
bambina
and my life with you. I promise you he will be on his knees confessing before the bullet hits his skull. Then you’ll have no guilt.”

He continued to tell her the truth. He held nothing back, and when he was done, she could barely speak. He captured her face and forced her to look into his eyes. He brushed his lips across hers. “You are mine Mirabella. This is who we are. No one will ever come between us again. Read what’s in the file. Understand this man’s crimes are against our family and accept it. Never let me see you shed a tear for him again.”

He let her go. She stumbled back and closed her eyes as he walked out and slammed the door. Mira opened her eyes and looked at the folder on the desk. Slowly, and with a heart of dread she walked around the desk and lowered to the seat. After collecting herself, she opened the folder and drew out the documents. Tears dropped on to thin sheets of paper. Her breathing went deep, and her heart felt like it was in a vice. Her stomach twisted into a pretzel knot. Mira scanned everything. Giovanni even had Kei’s arrest documents from China. She slammed the folder shut. The answers to the questions she’d had over the years about him surfaced. The silent authority he wielded, the people he would never introduce her to. How could she not see this? All her life it felt like she’d walked around with blinders on. Mira clenched her fist, struggling to catch her breath. Her rage seized her, and she shoved everything on the desk off with a swipe of her hand. Screaming in frustration, she dropped her head on the desk into her folded arms and cried. For two years she had lived Kei’s lie.

****

Lorenzo checked the chamber of his gun. This was the final act. He’d deliver the news to Giovanni personally that he’d put an end to Calderone’s tyranny. All the mistakes of the past would be forgiven. Even the ones his cousin will never know.

Their hostage was told to go inside and verify how many were in the mountainside villa. He would not give Bonaduce’s men any indication of trouble. As the personal driver to the family his arrival could be expected. Lorenzo concocted a cover story for him. He would tell whoever answered the door that the Don wanted him to bring Angelo into Bologna for a meeting. Lorenzo had forced their prisoner to recite the story over and over until it rolled off his tongue and sounded like the truth. He even made him clean up and wear a turtleneck to cover the rope burns around his neck. He looked believable.

“Remember, my men are waiting at your sister’s villa. They don’t hear from me in an hour, and they will pay her, the kids and her husband a visit.” He lied.

The poor man nodded his obedience. Carlo and Lorenzo exited the vehicle. They stepped aside and watched as he drove up the single lane road. Its isolation was the cover Lorenzo prayed for. He glanced up to the sky and mentally calculated the hours before sunrise. They would have to make it to the airport and out of Bologna before the bodies were found. Carlo suggested fire. Lorenzo agreed it would be a good cover. The problem was Giovanni wanted this to be clean. Lorenzo didn’t agree. The Battaglia name needed to be carved into the bastard’s chest. So he would do things his way and ask for forgiveness later.

The driver went to the door and knocked. It opened. He entered. Lorenzo waited in the cold forest for fifteen minutes before their messenger reappeared. He waved goodbye, climbed in the car and drove out toward them. Lorenzo kept his gun ready. Maybe he hadn’t put enough fear in the man. Maybe it was an ambush waiting for him inside. Or worse, maybe Don Bonaduce would send men to greet them.

“I did as you asked.”

“And?”

“It is only Angelo, his woman, and two of his men here. No one else.”

“You will walk out of the mountain.
Andare!
” Lorenzo opened the car door and made the man exit the vehicle. He took the keys.

“I don’t want Don Bonaduce to ever know that I helped you. I’m ashamed of what I’ve done. Threatening my dear sister and her children was disgusting!” The man spat. He then made an obscene gesture with his hand. “If I ever see either of you again,” he said walking backward and pointing accusingly. “I’ll be ready.”

Lorenzo scoffed and then flipped the bastard off. The man turned and disappeared into the night. Lorenzo waited. He scanned the front of the villa. Nothing stirred. He could see a glare from a television in one of the windows. The others were dark. He’d have to go in smooth and quick. Carlo would charge in after the first gun blast. That meant the first move was on him.

****

Mira walked over to the bed silently and eased back under the covers. She suffered dull aches of regret and disillusionment deep in her heart. She turned over to her side and put her back to her lover. Her eyes closed, and she lay still trying to understand how she could be so wrong about the men she cared for. Giovanni stirred. He eased in closer to her. Mira’s recalled the warm comfort of ecstasy she found when held against his strong body and resisted the urge to turn over and give in to the feeling. Sex would be wrong after learning her lover ordered the hit on her ex. Right?

His hand, with its strong calloused fingers and large palms, became soft and gentle when he traced the line of her arm and then slipped underneath to stroke her stomach as he kissed her shoulder. Mira pressed her lips together and pretended at sleep, but she sensed he knew better. He pushed his semi-erection into her backside. “Not now, I’m not in the mood,” she said.