La Sposa (37 page)

“
Only the Five Dons of Sicily and
what?”

Rocco didn’t speak. He didn’t blink. It was as
if he was frozen.

“
What? Only the Dons of Sicily can
have jewelry made for their babies? Yes, I know. Now do you
understand why I need to make the connection?” Lorenzo asked.
“Someone wants to bury Caruso’s history in America. How do you
explain her having this necklace with her name on it?”

Rocco continued to stare at Marietta. Lorenzo
didn’t like the hard unrelenting look fixated on her. It was very
out of order with his uncle’s gentle, often flirtatious nature.
Lorenzo and Giovanni forgot Rocco’s days of being one of the
ruthless Battaglia brothers. The blood fights he would constantly
get into with anyone who challenged the family.

“
We are done speaking on this.”
Rocco was slow to his feet, but steady. “I want you to go!” He
pointed to the door.

Surprised, Lorenzo didn’t move.

“
Vattene!”
Rocco
seethed.

“
Wait? Don’t send us away. Please.”
Marietta stood.

“
Does Giovanni know you are
stirring up trouble?” Rocco demanded. Lorenzo shrugged up at his
uncle. It only incensed Rocco further. “Does he know you meddle in
affairs that are none of your concern?” He pointed an accusatory
finger at him. “Shall I call him and tell him what you do now for
pussy instead of business?”

Lorenzo rose, his patience expiring by the
minute.

“
Please wait!” Marietta stepped
between the two men. Rocco stood upright. Taller than age and years
of hard work the farm had weathered him down to. Only a man with
something to hide could summon the strength to do so. “Please. All
I want to know is who my mother is. I think her name was Lisa. Do
you know her? What happened to her? Can you help me?”

Rocco sneered. He spoke in his broken English.
“Your mother was a
puttana!
Nothing more! And now she is a
dead
puttana!
That’s all I know.”

The look of crushing pain on Marietta’s face
made Lorenzo shove her aside and push Rocco. Twice hard to the
chest. Typically, Rocco’s age and feeble manner would make him
drop. But something fueled his uncle today. He staggered a bit but
stood upright. It unnerved Lorenzo. “Apologize to her!
Now!”

Rocco spit on his hand and made an obscene
gesture at Lorenzo. “You forget your place. If you don’t leave and
take her with you in five minutes, I’ll remind you of it!” The old
man turned and walked away, possibly looking for his gun. Stunned,
Lorenzo and Marietta watched him go. When he looked to her, she had
angry tears streaking down her cheeks.

She turned and headed for the door. Lorenzo
caught her hand. “I’m sorry,
Cara
. My uncle isn’t normally
this way. I’ll talk to him.”

“
Go to hell! You and that old
bastard make me sick!” She broke into tears. “Go to hell!” She
turned and ran out of the cottage.

America –

Catalina rolled over and touched Dominic’s
chest. He was finally hers. All hers. Life had changed for the
better; so dramatically since she decided Franco would die and
she’d go for what she wanted. It was why she didn’t mourn the
bastard. Catalina scooted in closer to snuggle the warmth of his
body.

The trip to America and the night of studying
for her big day at Mirabella’s exhausted her. But excitement made
her restless, unable to sleep. One sniff of Dominic’s clean, manly
scent when he eased under the covers with her, and she couldn’t
help but feel the urge to have him... between her legs. She ran her
hand over his chest and flicked her tongue at his flat nipple.
Dominic’s hand eased down the center of her back in a slow caress.
Catalina glanced up as her hand moved down under the covers to
stroke his flaccid cock. Her chin rested on his chest as she
continued to stroke him.

Dominic’s eyes were closed. In their dimly lit
bedroom she studied his face, feeling his erection grow in her
hand. She exhaled in delight. He was so handsome, so virile, so
loving to her always. How did she ever get so lucky?

“
Are you tired?”

“
I am.” He reached and touched her
hand. His erection was solid but the fatigue in his eyes made her
heart hurt. She eased up on him, pressing her achy center against
his thigh.

“
You can lay here, let me take
control,” she brushed her lips over his, teasingly slow.

“
No,
Cara
. Not tonight.”
Dominic gave her a wary smile. She dropped her bottom lip in a sad
pout. Dominic lifted her chin. “Are you excited about tomorrow?” he
asked her.

She nodded. “My first day at work. I’ve been
studying. Giovanni told me to make him proud. Mira trusts me to be
her partner and help her. I will prove to them that I can do
it.”

“
You will, baby.” He kissed her
brow. “We have an early morning. Lay with me.”

She nodded, easing her arm around his waist,
throwing her leg over his muscular thigh and listening to his
heartbeat. She felt her arousal melt down to contentment.
“Domi?”

“
Mmm?”

“
I know you worry about Gio and the
family. I know you want to return as
consigliere,
and you
will prove yourself again to Gio some day. I know you can do it.
But with me, Domi, you don’t have to be anything but you. I love
you.” She looked up and he was asleep. Catalina smiled. She kissed
his lips.
“Ti amo.”

Villa Capri –

With the sun and ocean breeze in his eyes, he
squinted. Giovanni walked the shore. Each step drove his feet
deeper into the sand, or so it felt. He should have removed his
shoes. The wood stairwell down to the beach went along the
thirty-foot high cliff side drop at the back of his villa. It
troubled him that his wife and baby girl made the descent without
him. What if she had lost her footing and fell? What if Eve became
too much for her? He would have to talk to Bella about her taking
caution with these things. Soon her pregnancy would show, and their
baby would require more of her. It was best now she understood her
limitations.

This small section of the beach was privately
tucked away from annoying tourists. To his right however, were two
wooden fisherman rowboats. Young men pulled nets out of the sudsy
foam from the breaking waves. Each froze to see Don Battaglia on
the beach. They cast worried looks at each other and worked faster
to conclude their business. One waved at him as a show of respect.
Giovanni dismissed them. But Leo and Romero had already stepped
aside to keep an eye on them, in case their accidental wash-up on
his
beach was something more sinister. Such was the
suspicious nature of his life.

Mira had chosen to sit down. Her shoes and
Eve’s sandals were set off to her right side. Eve was on her knees,
playing in the sand to her left. With her camera, she used the zoom
lens to get a really close personal picture of Eve. Their daughter
stacked sand and then knocked clumps down with a fit of baby
giggles. Mira cheered and encouraged her to try to make another
masterpiece.

He approached them, and his girls looked up.
Mira let the camera drop, with the strap around her neck, keeping
it to her chest. She shielded her eyes with her hand and Eve sucked
her pacifier curiously. “You started without me?” he
asked.

“
We waited for you, but your
meeting seemed to last forever.” Mira said.

Giovanni lowered down next to her. Eve
immediately rose, sand on her diaper bottom and legs. She walked
over to her father and dropped down on his lap, covering him with
the same. He kissed her. “How do you feel about doing some sailing
today? It’s a nice day. We can see the islands and
grottos.”

“
Sounds nice. Though sailing isn’t
my favorite.”

“
Indulge me, we will go to dinner
too. How does that sound, Eve? Want Papa to take you to
dinner?”

Mira reclined on her hands. She stretched her
legs out and crossed her ankles at her feet. They stared out at the
sea. All he could think of while Eve dug her hands in the sand from
his lap was the news Dominic shared. He stared at his wife’s
profile, suddenly concerned for her. A past that she didn’t
understand could be hurtful, or even dangerous, if it connected in
some way to dangerous men like him.

“
Eve’s going to have a little
brother soon,” Giovanni said.

“
Mmm,” Mira nodded.

“
Do you think having a sibling is
important?”

Mira turned her attention his way. One look
into those doe eyes under a fringe of dark lashes and he was
hopelessly lost in her beauty. “Yes. I was an only child. It can be
quite hard. You wouldn’t understand, really, how lonely. You have
Catalina and Lorenzo. Imagine growing up and having no
one.”

“
So your mother never had any other
children?”

“
Not that I know of. And since
James is in prison, I’m pretty sure he didn’t either. Just
me.”

“
But do you wish you had a sister,
Bella? Someone to share your life with?”

Mira removed her camera from around her neck
and sat it on her shoes. She drew her knees up and wrapped her arms
around them. Her long dress covered her feet. “No. I don’t wish for
things like that. I had Fabiana. Now I have Catalina and Zia. And
you. Plenty of people to love and share my life with.”

Giovanni leaned over and kissed her lips. “And
I do love you. Let’s go. I want to show you Capri.”

He rose, and heaved Eve up. Reaching back, he
extended his hand and helped her stand. Mira gathered her things.
She wrapped her arm around his waist and they began the walk back
to the villa. Dominic would solve the mystery. And he would protect
his wife from any ugliness he uncovered. He was the man for the
job.

Chianti –

“
Are you going to talk to me?”
Lorenzo asked.

They’d been on the road for an hour and she
hadn’t spoken. Marietta kept her gaze trained on the passing trees
and buildings with laundry strung up and out of windows. She wept
silently to herself. Tears fell, and then more came. She wiped them
away, using her sunglasses to conceal her eyes from him. She knew
in her heart that her mother was dead. A child knows. She could see
it in Gemma’s eyes when she pressed for details on her mother’s
identity. She could see it in her adoptive mother’s eyes when she
begged her to forgive them for lying about her parentage, but
claimed to know nothing about the people who created her. Still she
had to hope against hope that maybe, she existed out there. Maybe
she left America and lived some exotically beautiful life in Italy.
Now, there was no hope.

Was she angry? Yes. But more importantly, she
was heartsick. Her adoptive parents robbed her of the truth.
Instead, they replaced it with the lie that she was the product of
an affair that her adoptive father had. Gemma fed her lies. Whoever
her mother was no one cared for her. And here she was with this man
who gave her empty sex and even emptier promises. Her money was
low, and the fight in her was all but gone. Nothing was left. It
was time to return home.

She cleared her throat. “I plan to leave soon.
So I’ll need to get things in order with David.”

“
Leave?” Lorenzo
frowned.

Marietta looked his way. “Yes. I’ll sign
whatever you want. Take whatever the Capriccios want to give me and
go. I’m done. I want to go home.”

“
Just like that?” He snapped his
fingers. “You’re going to give up?”

“
Giving up!” She shouted through
tears, brimming and clouding her vision of him. “Is that what you
think this is? I have spent so much time being angry, fighting,
searching, that I’m beyond giving up. I’m giving in. I can’t do
this anymore!”

Lorenzo swerved and the car veered off the
road. Marietta grabbed the dash to hold on as he brought the
vehicle to an abrupt stop. He threw the gear into park and turned
toward her. “What a fucking idiot I am!” He slammed his hand on the
steering column. “Fuck! Why the fuck didn’t I see it
sooner?”

Marietta drew closer to the door, away from
him. Lorenzo snatched off his sunglasses and she saw the excitement
and clarity of thought reflected in his baby blues.

“
What do you get?” she asked, a bit
leery.

“
This was planned.”

“
No shit!” Marietta rolled her
eyes.

Lorenzo laughed.

“
This isn’t funny! My mother is
dead! You heard him. I just found out she
is
dead.”

He dropped his arm around her seat. He leaned
in and smiled in her face. “She’s dead. Yes. But who knew? Who
would know the real truth of your mother, Marietta?”

She shrugged. “All of them. Everyone but
me.”

“
Not exactly. Think about it. You
come to Italy, demanding to be part of a family who hates you on
sight. Caruso has a heart attack and dies. Negali said no one in
the family knew you existed but David. He wants you gone. He has to
deal with me, the lawyers, taking care of his family, and you. How
does he get rid of you? He uses us both. Turns us against each
other.”