Amore (62 page)

“And you said you stopped after we were married. A lie!” he shouted her down.

“So what? You’re the fucking king of lies! Who killed Tomosino? Huh? Care to tell the truth about that?”

He lunged at her. He grabbed her by the throat and pinned her to the door. He didn’t squeeze her throat but he forced her to her toes from his strong grip. She looked him in the eye. “Who are you ever honest with when it doesn’t serve you, Lorenzo? Name one person! You’re a liar too! A liar!”

“You,” he said and let her throat go. “You’re only the person in my world that I never lie to. The only person who knows all my secrets. All my fears. You, Marie. And I can’t fucking trust you! Do you know what that means for us?”

“I’m sorry!” She threw her hands up. “I’m sorry, okay?”

“It’s not okay!” he yelled at her.

“Then what is?” she demanded. “I’ll give you a baby, Lo. Just don’t leave me. Please!”

“Which is it, Marie? One minute you hate me, the next you want me to stay!” he threw his hands up in the air. He walked over to the chair and dropped in it. “I don’t know what we can do to fix it. A baby doesn’t deserve to be born out of force, Marie!”

“I’ll love the fucking kid. I will. I can learn to,” Marietta said.

“Stop,” Lorenzo said.

“I can do it!”

“AMMAZZA!”
he shouted. “Stop. This is why I didn’t come home. I don’t want to hear this from you. Do this with you!”

“I’ll kill myself,” she said and picked up the gun.

He looked at her with alarm.

“I’ll kill you. I’ll kill everyone in here. Then I’ll kill myself. Is that enough?”

“Marie, you’re fucking out of your mind,” he chuckled.

She walked over to him. “If you say you didn’t sleep with that nasty woman then I’ll believe you. I’ll trust you again. Let’s start over and we can trust each other. Okay? We’ll just forget.”

“You’re out of your fucking mind, woman!”

“You make me crazy!” she shouted through her tears. “I can’t do this! I can’t go through this. I can’t!”

He took the gun out of her hand. She released it to him. He looked at it. “You could have blown my fucking head off.”

“I won’t let you disrespect me. I don’t care who she is, you don’t disrespect me,” she said softly.

He dropped back in the chair and sighed. She sat on his lap. She curled her legs up and rested her face on his chest. She ran her hand over his bare skin. He set the gun aside to the windowsill. When his arms came around to hold her she smiled. She closed her eyes and held on to him.

“Stop talking crazy, Marie. I married you. I’m not going anywhere. Okay?”

“You’ll come home with me?” she asked.

He sighed. “I’ll come home. We’ll figure it out.”

She hugged him and smiled to herself. The panic seizing her heart began to fade. Bad or not she wasn’t going to let go of her marriage. Ever.

“Whose gun is it?” he asked and stroked her thigh.

“Mira’s,” she answered softly.

“How did you get here?” he asked.

“I walked,” she said softly as she succumbed to her emotional exhaustion.

He chuckled.

“Lo?”

“Yes?” he answered.

“There is some good in the worst of us, and some evil in the best of us,” she said. “That’s my favorite quote. I learned it in elementary school. I didn’t know why I liked it then. No, I’m lying. I know why I liked it then. A child wants to believe that even the cruelest act committed against them by a parent has to have meaning. I now know what it really means.” She sat up. “I made a terrible mistake by lying to you. But I never once did it to hurt you. I love you. The worst of you and the best of you I love. I’d die for you.”

He looked away. She turned his face around to look back into his eyes. “Forgive me. We’re the same. Tell me you love me.”

“I do, Marie.”

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“I didn’t betray you. I wanted to. I came here to hurt you. But I couldn’t. There is some good in the worst of me, and some evil in the best of me,” he smiled. “You make me strong, Marie. When you hurt me I don’t know how to handle it. I see that now.”

Marietta hugged his neck. Shae was right about her having a second chance at happiness. She had family now, and a husband she loved. She’d never lose sight of that again.

**

Ciro went down. The crowd jumped to their feet. The referee entered the ring and stood over Ciro counting. Mirabella’s breath caught in her chest. She clasped her hands together and said a silent prayer. Giovanni was standing too. They all waited. Ciro struggled. He wavered and then found the strength to rise. The ref grabbed him by the face and looked into his eyes. He nodded at the officials and Ciro was given another chance. Everyone in the clan cheered. Carlo was in the ring coaching his brother.

“He has skill, Gio, he’s good,” Mirabella said.

“I think you’re right, Bella,” Giovanni smiled.

They didn’t think Ciro would win the fight. He had taken a beating. But he’d lasted three rounds. He landed some of the hardest hitting blows. For a rookie he was quite light on his feet.

“Gio,” Santo shouted over the cheering. He scooted past Renaldo and then Dominic to reach them. Mirabella rolled her eyes and looked back to the ring.

“I got a page. Mirabella needs to call home. It’s one of the kids.”

“What? What did he say?” Mirabella asked.

“
Andiamo
,” Giovanni said as he took her hand to stand.

“Boss! Wait,” Santo said.

Giovanni frowned at Santo.

“The Donna just needs to call home. They said one of the kids is achy. They need to talk to her. Not an emergency. There’s a phone in the ticket office. I can take her.”

“Stay, honey,” Mirabella said. “I’ll go call and check in. If we need to leave we can.”

Mirabella kissed Giovanni’s cheek. She could see the objection in his furrowed brow. She had to use the bathroom as well. It was perfect timing for a break. Giovanni didn’t immediately consent. He never let her out of his sight in public if he could help it. She didn’t want him to shift into panic mode and end the evening. They were having so much fun. “It’s probably Gianni and his ear infection. Cecilia has to give him his medicine. She has some questions possibly. I can handle it.”

“Take three men with you,” he told Santo. “No. Take six.”

“Gio!” Mirabella laughed. “Three is fine, Santo. Please take me to the phone.”

He bowed his head in respect. “She won’t leave my sight.”

Mirabella heard the bell ring and her heart sank. She glanced back to see Ciro step up and Chao Lee ready for the next round. If she hurried she’d possibly make it back before there was a knock out or official call. She crossed her fingers.

The men flanked her on the left and right. One walked behind her. Santo led the way. He glanced back at her twice when they breeched the crowd who couldn’t return to their seats. They walked along chamber halls that curved in odd angles. He led them away from the people buying food and socializing. They turned a corner and then another. She found it odd that they kept walking.
How far was this ticket office with a phone?
She glanced over to Leonardo. He smiled at her with encouragement. She smiled in return and tried to ignore the knot of fear curling tighter in her gut.

These halls were dusty. She felt her nose itch and suppressed the urge to sneeze. With her head down she checked her purse for a tissue. It was then that Santo attacked. He grabbed her arm and yanked her forward, and then his arm went around her throat. Mirabella blinked in shock, not sure of what was happening. She believed at first he grabbed her to protect her, and possibly the men did so as well. All three froze and looked at Santo with confusion. In that split second he was an assassin. He drew his gun on them. Leonardo took a bullet between the eyes. The other two were both shot before Leonardo dropped. Mirabella screamed. She fought for release. Santo’s arm snaked tighter around her neck. It cut off her breathing. She reached back and scratched at his eyes.

The bitch scratched him. Santo had to let her go. She ran as soon as she was released. She was screaming to the top of her lungs. With his face bleeding he ran her down before she got too far ahead, and she stopped and turned on him. She landed a punch to his face and a kick to his groin. The blows hurt him more than he thought possible. He stumbled back. She ran from him screaming for help. He ran after her again and grabbed her by the hair. Before she could use those razor sharp nails on him he threw her into the wall. She hit her head hard against the brick and dropped like a rag doll.

“Bitch! Damn it!” he yelled at her. He looked up. A confused couple was staring at them. He drew his gun and fired, killing the man but the woman got away. Santo had no time to deal with it. He had minutes to get out of the chamber to his car. Only minutes. He picked up an unconscious Mirabella and threw her over his shoulder. His heart was in his throat. If he didn’t see it through he was a dead man.

**

Chao Lee took several hard punches to the face. Everyone jumped to their feet expecting this to be the take down. It looked as if Ciro had found his second wind. Chao hugged Ciro to stop his swing, and the ref was in the ring to make his customary attempt to separate the men. Giovanni checked his watch. His wife had been gone fifteen minutes. That was too long. He glanced to Dominic with a curious frown. It was in that split second he missed what precipitated murder.

When his gaze returned to the ring it felt as if it did so in slow motion. Chao delivered a jaw breaking punch to the referee and knocked him down. He then grabbed Ciro by the head. One hard twist and the kid’s neck was broken. The crowd went silent. Even Carlo froze, not sure of what he saw. And slowly Ciro dropped dead to the center of the ring.

“Gio!” Renaldo yelled. Dominic was knocked back and Renaldo slammed into him. He was brought to the ground. Renaldo provided cover from the onslaught of bullets as panic spread through the auditorium. He could hear the projectile of gunfire zipping past him and his men. When Renaldo didn’t move Giovanni pushed back and his top enforcer rolled down the bench seats. Renaldo’s chest was covered in blood. The bullets meant Renaldo had been hit repeatedly. He wasn’t sure if he was alive. There was no time to react. Amidst the chaos his wife was not at his side.

Giovanni’s men returned fire. But at who? Who the fuck was shooting?

“Bella! Find her!” Giovanni shouted to the others. He was shoved to the exit. He glanced back to see one of his men’s head explode by the ricochet of a bullet, and another two get dropped.

“Santo has her. Let’s go!” Dominic said forcing him out of the arena.

“Renaldo?” Giovanni asked and then called the names of the countless other men who were down.

“Gio! Go!” Dominic shoved him. “We have to get you out of here.”

Carlo was in the ring. Ciro was on the ground and the officials were charging in. It happened in a flash. In a blink of the eye his brother’s life was taken. And though he had a wall of men between him, the primal urge to avenge his brother gave him herculean strength. There were gunshots. He didn’t care. Those that cowered and ran for safety gave him the advantage he needed. He reached Chao who was ready. Carlo took several hits to the head and throat before he brought the bastard out of his shield of protection. Men were on them. But Carlo was able to straddle Chao and his hands fit tightly around his throat. Men struggled to pull him off. He squeezed and squeezed with his hands until his arms shook and every vein in his face and throat bulged. Chao’s tongue protruded and his eyes popped with the vacant sign of death. Chao was dead, and the auditorium was in pandemonium. Several of Carlo’s attackers were shot. The others who were members of the Triad began to beat and kick Carlo. He didn’t care. He wanted to die. And then the
Carabinieri
were inside the ring breaking up the fight. Carlo was freed; beaten and bleeding he crawled toward Ciro. His brother’s neck was twisted, turned awkwardly to the left. Carlo dragged Ciro’s lifeless body to him and wrapped him up in his arms. On his knees he hugged his dead brother to his chest.

“Maro' ch'aggio cumbinato!”
he said through his tears.
“Maro' ch'aggio cumbinato!”

**

“Are you going to stay?” Marietta’s head lifted from the pillow.

“I’ve been gone a week,” Lorenzo said. He pulled down a fresh shirt. Marietta dropped on her pillow and closed her eyes. They barely spoke after leaving Maria’s. When they returned home they went straight to bed. She tried to initiate sex. It was awkward for them both. He refused her. Lorenzo never refused sex. Instead he lay with her and held her until he thought she was sleep.

“I’ll be back before morning,” he said.

“Maybe you should sleep in a different room when you come home? Maybe that’s what you prefer?”

Lorenzo walked around the bed. He sat down. He moved her hair from her face. “I don’t need any more space from my wife. Stop with the crazy talk, Marie. You shot a woman and broke into a whorehouse. There are a few things I need to make sure are taken care of so no trouble comes to you.”