La Famiglia (71 page)

Giovanni smiled. “They are. Bella is a good mother.”

“Did you speak with her before we left?” Dominic asked.

He decided to ignore the question. The problems with his wife were private. He feared that the families’ interference was one of the reasons Bella was so stubborn toward him. The other being that she could not forgive him for deceiving her. Once his affairs were settled he’d return and find a way to bring his wife to the understanding of his heart.

The ride out of the mountain of Sorrento toward Chiaiano was ahead of him. He settled back in his seat and closed his eyes.

Later –

“She’s here!” Marietta said. She turned from the curtain. The women exchanged worried looks but Marietta was excited. Gemma was hard to convince to come to Villa Mare Blu. She sounded fearful. Marietta assured her Giovanni and Lorenzo were gone and not returning any time soon. She swore to her she was safe. And after a thirty-minute conversation of negotiations she feared that Gemma would decline. But she agreed.

Mira stood. “Let’s greet her together.”

Zia and Catalina sat on the sofa. Rosetta held Eve on her lap and sat across from them in a chair. Only Cecilia was missing, she watched over the babies in case either of them woke. Marietta and Mira walked out of the parlor as the doors opened to the front of the villa. Marietta held her breath for the meeting. She hadn’t truly forgiven Gemma, but she did love her.

David held the door for her. Gemma walked in looking as regal and beautiful as ever. She wore a white and yellow striped dress with her hair down. Marietta went to her. Mira was hesitant but she followed.

“Ciao!”
Marietta said.

Gemma hugged her in return.

“You can go, David,” Mira said.

Marietta let Gemma go and she waited for David to walk out of the door. “Gemma this is…”

“I know who she is.” Gemma extended her hand. Mira shook it. Gemma kissed Mira on both cheeks. “So nice to meet you,
Donna
Mirabella.”

“A pleasure, come with me.” Mira walked her into the parlor. The others were standing and waiting. Gemma nodded her head in respect at Zia. “Catalina and Zia, this is Gemma.”

“
Ciao
,” the women said in unison.

“Marietta will take you to a beach villa, to wait for me. The men won’t question you but if by chance one does do you understand what you are to say?” Mira asked.

“Yes. Ines, from Bagheria. Zia Carlotta’s cousin,” Gemma said.

“Good. Let me check on my boys and I’ll come.” Mira said.

“
Grazie,
to all of you. I don’t deserve your hospitality,” Gemma said humbly.

Marietta squeezed Gemma’s hand. With Catalina joining them they walked her out.

“She’s not familiar to me, Mira,” Zia said. “Are you sure we can trust her?”

Mira picked up Eve. Her daughter yawned in her face and dropped her head on her shoulder. It was close to eight in the evening. Well past her bedtime. “I’m not sure she can be trusted. But what choice do I have? She’s the closest to the truth I can get.”

“Dominic is going to be angry that we lied to him.” Rosetta volunteered.

Mira frowned. She dismissed Rosetta’s comments. “I need to lay Eve down and check on the babies. Rosetta stay here with Cecilia and help her if she needs any assistance with the twins. Zia, I want you to come with me to talk to this Gemma person. You can help me understand what she tells me. If she is telling me the truth.”

Zia nodded. “I can try.”

Rosetta did as she was instructed. As soon as Mira and Zia left the twins room she told Cecilia she had to go to the bathroom. Rosetta then dashed downstairs. She went straight for the front door and opened it. At first she saw no one. But when she stepped out David appeared from the left with a gun in his hand. He walked straight for her.

“Need something?” David asked.

“I have to speak with Domi. It’s important.”

David looked her over. “Why is it important?”

“I can only talk to him.” Rosetta said.

David frowned. He glanced back to the cars parked out front. “Renaldo will be here later tonight. He’s in Palermo still. I can page him.”

“Yes. Call Renaldo and tell him I want to speak to Dominic. It’s important. Something… something he needs to know from the
Donna
that he has to tell Gio. She only wants me to deliver the message.”

“Why can’t the
Donna
deliver the message herself?” David scoffed.

“They aren’t talking stupid. She’s mad at him remember? Get the message to Renaldo. Tell him I will be near the phone if he wants to talk to me. But I have to speak with Domi.”

David stared at her for a moment. He then nodded and walked off. Rosetta breathed a sigh of relief. It was risky to betray Mira. Up until now everything she did to gain Domi’s attention had failed. If this backfired she’d be sent back to Palermo and her chances of being anything would be squandered. But Dominic hadn’t given her up the last time she told him of Catalina’s actions. Maybe this time his gratitude would indeed prove her loyalty.

* B
*

Yeremian grinned at Giovanni. “It’s good to see you!”

Giovanni embraced his friend. “It has been some time. I can’t thank you enough for coming.”

Yeremian and his men arrived a week ago. They’d been working with Santo and Lorenzo to flush out and capture as many of the Mottolas as they could. The Armenians had a unique yet brutal way of dealing with enemies that Giovanni found exceptionally attractive given the depth of Mottola’s betrayal.

He glanced to Dominic and Santo. They accompanied him to the back room. The stench of excrement, blood and sweat overwhelmed him. And soon he understood why. Three men were tied down to chairs and one hung from chains to the ceiling. As Giovanni entered the room he witnessed one man’s suffering. The beaten brute hollered as a bucket of water was tossed over him. The Armenian stood next to a battery, which he wheeled over to the man, handcuffed to his chair. Giovanni guessed his age to be no more than twenty or so. The young man shook his head and slang water with his hair from his eyes.

“No! No! I beg you!”

Without mercy the Armenian flipped the switch on the battery and then stabbed the man with the end of the rod sending hot electricity through his body. The young man gurgled and jerked in the chair. He either passed out or died before them.

“That one is Mottola’s oldest son. There hanging is his brother, and those two are nephews. We have his women in the room next door.” Yeremian said as if it were the most common of things. Giovanni glanced over to Dominic who looked on with disgust.

“Do not harm the women,” he said and smirked at Dominic. His
consigliere
turned and walked out.

The door was kicked open from the back of the room. A sniveling man was dragged in. Giovanni recognized him. It was Giuliani. The man looked up at him with blackened and swollen eyes. “Giovanni!
Per favore!
I beg of you! I beg of you!”

Yeremian looked to Giovanni. “This one says he has a deal with you? True?”

“No.” Giovanni replied.

The man holding Giuliani tossed him to the floor. He got up to his knees and made the sign of the cross before Yeremian gave his man a nod. A bullet to the back of Giuliani’s head dropped him cold. “He had no further useful information. In fact he played you and Mottola at both ends.”

It appeared to Giovanni he had misjudged many men and things in the past months.

“Like I said, we sent Mottola a gift this morning. He knows his family lives depend on his response.” Yeremian said. “Of course we will honor your wishes and release the women without harm. But we haven’t heard anything as of yet. I think he wants to call your bluff.”

“He doesn’t.” Giovanni replied. Giovanni turned and looked around at the shit stain of a place. He saw a chair and Nico brought it over. He sat. “Then we wait,” he said. “And enjoy the show.”

Yeremian laughed and gave his men the signal to continue with the torture.

* B
*

Marietta glanced over to Catalina. They both exchanged a look but neither of them spoke. Gemma ate as if she hadn’t in days. When Gemma noticed the silence she looked up from her plate slowly chewing. “I’ve been… unable to have a good meal the past week.”

“Why?” Marietta asked.

Gemma looked to Catalina and then back to Marietta. For some reason she held off from explaining. Instinctually Marietta felt Gemma wasn’t to be trusted. And that instinctual feeling grew stronger. “Catalina can be trusted. What is going on, Gemma?”

“I came to
Sicilia
to find you,” Gemma said.

“I know that,” Marietta replied.

“I came to find you because someone forced me to, Marietta. She… she threatened you. I had no choice,” Gemma said. “Maybe we should wait for your sister to return to allow me to explain.”

“I’d like to hear it now. Was it all a lie?” Marietta asked. “The stories you shared when I was a kid. About how you briefly knew my mother. Was it a lie?”

Gemma sat back. For a moment Marietta feared she wouldn’t answer. She glanced up to her and nodded slowly. “It was all a lie. Every thing I’ve ever told you including the fact that your father wants to kill you, has been a lie.”

Stunned Marietta withdrew. The door opened, she glanced over to see Mira step through with Zia following. The sun had fallen.  The beach villa’s lamps became the sole source of luminance when the door closed. Marietta struggled to contain her hurt and rage. Lorenzo said she reacted too many times instead of thinking a situation through. She’d just learned that Gemma was a liar and the betrayal cut deep.

“Hi. Thank you for coming and meeting with us,” Mira said.

“To be honest your call may have saved my life. It wasn’t safe for me in Carini.” Gemma admitted.

Mira walked over and occupied the chair across from Gemma. “Can I ask why?”

“I would like to speak to you and Marietta alone,” Gemma said.

“That’s not going to happen. We’re a family. The four of us,” Mira glanced back to Zia and Catalina then returned her gaze to Gemma. “You speak to all of us.”

Marietta pushed back from the table and stood. She paced. “How can you sit here, and play at being so innocent, when you have lied to me all my life!” she said.

Gemma shook her head sadly. “There’s a lot you don’t know, Marietta. I want to fix it. That’s the only reason why I came.” She looked up and met Marietta’s heated glare with an apologetic one. “I’ve wanted to fix so many mistakes I’ve made since your mother died. But I couldn’t. One lie turned into many. I’m sorry”

“Can someone clue me in please? What lie is she telling?” Mira asked.

“Oh pick one!” Marietta threw her hands up. “We can start with our father not putting a contract on our lives. Or the fact that she knew our mother when she was alive but for years pretended otherwise. And she’s known all these years how she died. Haven’t you!”

Gemma’s gaze bounced between them both. “I have been trying to protect you. Let me explain.”

“Explain!” Marietta shouted at her.

“Marietta, calm down,” Mira said. “Sit, please. Let’s hear her out.”

Marietta breathed through her nose. Her chest felt heavy and her eyes teared. Despite her desire to throw the chair she pulled it away from the table and sat down.

“I met your mother at a club owned by Manny Cigars. She first came in because of her boyfriend. A young man named James. When Manny saw her he gave her a job. Singing for an underage poor girl like Lisa in a club like Manny’s was a big deal. She jumped at the chance. James knew it was a mistake. One look at Manny when he watched her sing and you could tell his real reason for offering her the job.”

“And she couldn’t see this?” Mira asked.

“No. For a long time Lisa couldn’t see the evil in people. She didn’t learn those lessons until years later.” Gemma sighed. “Manny was older, meaner, and used to having whomever he wanted,” Gemma said. “He set her boyfriend up. I remember what she told me the day they came for her. The night Manny took her.”

“What happened the night he took her?” Marietta asked.

Mira shook her head as if to say no. Her sister stepped forward. She slammed her hands on the table. “If we’re going to hear the truth then we have to hear the entire truth.”

Gemma glanced to Zia and Catalina. Mira wasn’t sure why their presence made her uncomfortable but it was evident she struggled with the story she had to tell partly because they were part of her audience. “Before James went to prison Manny made a move on Lisa. She literally had to fight him off her and escape the club. James was furious. He came back and told Manny he’d kill him if he tried it again. At first we all thought Manny would cut his throat or have one of his men do it. Instead he promoted him. Which for that time, that place, with those men it was unheard of. James never knew what hit him. Manny set the trap and he and Lisa walked right into it.”

“She told you this?” Mira asked.