La Sposa (56 page)

“
What the hell are you talking
about?” She broke free to grab his face and force him to look at
her. “What?”

His eyes glazed over with repressed tears and
pain. He was scaring the hell out of her. “You have to let it go.
Whatever it is. Don’t do this. I married you forever. You and me
forever.”

Giovanni closed his eyes and tears escaped.
They shocked her. To see him shed a tear meant something was
terribly wrong. “Please God. Stop this, Giovanni. I don’t know what
to do when you get like this. I won’t question you about your
business. But this is about us, and you’re keeping something from
me. What brought this on?”

“
I won’t lose you or our children
again.”

“
Is this about the baby? Do you
think if I lost the baby I’d take Eve and leave you? That’s
crazy.”

He looked up at her and she saw him struggling
with answering her. His conflict broke her heart.

“
There are some things you can’t
control,” Mira said “I know that’s hard for you, but its true. We
have to have faith, Giovanni, that the baby will be
fine.”

“
Faith has never brought me
far.”

“
Hasn’t it? I never gave up on you,
even when we were apart. Faith brought you to me. Now, I need you
do the same. Our love is strong enough to survive this.”

He stepped back from her shaking his head.
“You don’t know me, Mira, you don’t know what I’ve done. When you
were gone. I did everything to punish myself. I had women, booze,
death, none of it stopped me from wanting to crush everyone,
including myself.”

“
I don’t want to talk about this
anymore…” Mira pleaded. She didn’t want to think of him with other
women or killing people. In fact, she refused to think of that side
of him at all.

“
It’s the truth!” he shouted at
her. “You would’ve never been mine again if you knew what I’d
become when we were apart.”

“
Stop throwing it in my face! I
lost my best friend dammit. Right here! Right outside of those
doors. I’m nobody’s victim! Especially not yours.”

“
You sure about that?” he asked,
with something sinister in his voice that turned her stomach to
ice.

“
I knew what you were and so did
Fabiana! Neither of us cared. Not enough to call it off. I am here
because I want to be. I married you because I love you. You didn’t
force love into my heart. And when you fucked me, we did it out of
love. You’re standing here twisting our life together into
something ugly! Why?”

“
Because before long, it’s how
you’ll see it. That’s the irony. I can bring you a million blue
roses, but one day, you’ll really see who I am.”

She turned from him, putting a hand to her
belly and the other to her forehead. She calmed herself and tried
to speak reasonable. “It won’t work. I won’t let your insecurities
rob me of anything else. Do you hear me? I’m not the woman to be
treated like some puppet, and I’m not so fragile that I’d run away
when things got scary. And yes, baby.” She turned and looked at
him. “Right now, you’re scaring the hell out of me.” She walked
toward him. “Let’s get something straight. You don’t own me,
Giovanni. Not like you own them. Never like that! This is love, not
some totalitarian rule over my heart. I won’t put up with you
taking us here every time you get afraid. It’s the past. Leave it
there!”

“
I can’t! I fucking can’t!” he
turned and walked back into the boxing room. She followed him.
“Leave me!”

“
No!”

He put his hands to his waist and started to
pace. “One day, I’ll do something. They’ll make me do something,
and you’ll have to make a choice that I never want you to make.”
His voice croaked with emotion. “I’ll change you or I’ll lose you.
That’s our future.”

Tears welled in her eyes. She wanted some
normalcy; but if her life would be filled with his darkness, she
had to be strong enough to handle it. “What do you want me to say?
It’s too late for this conversation. We should have had it the day
you came for me in Switzerland. Because it was that day that I
decided I wanted you back. Even before then. If you were this
terrified of loving me, trusting me, then you should have left me
where I was!”

“
Stop pushing me, Bella. I’m in no
mood to be gentle with your feelings.”

“
Whatever the hell this is, you
think it matters now? Now? After everything we’ve been through. I’m
your wife, Giovanni. I know you aren’t a saint, but you aren’t the
devil either. Stop trying to convince me you are. Believe in
me.”

“
I do,” he said, sadly.

“
I believe in you too.” She got in
front of him again. He was covered in sweat and musk but he
couldn’t be more beautiful to her. She touched his face and this
time, he didn’t draw back. She stood on her toes and kissed him.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and held on to that kiss,
taking her last breath with his before their lips
parted.

“
I don’t deserve you,” he breathed,
their foreheads touching. “I need to be alone. I can’t look at you.
I can’t hold you. Not now. Give me some space,” he said, going back
to the bench and sitting down. She stood there, unsure of what to
say or do next. He dropped his head back against the wall. He
closed his eyes effectively, shutting her out.

She turned and walked out. He didn’t call to
her and stop her. She cried all the way back to her bed. After
another hour, he came to the room. She heard him shower. She waited
for him to join her in bed, but he didn’t. He left out again. Mira
turned her face to her pillow and cried again. A few minutes later,
he returned. She looked back and saw he had Eve in his arms. Wiping
at her tears, she rolled over and drew aside the covers. Giovanni
got in with their daughter and she scooted close to them both. He
held her, she held him, and Eve slept between them.

“
I love you both,” he
said.

Unable to stop crying, Mira nodded. He touched
her face. She looked up at him in the darkness. “Don’t push me away
again. Do you hear me?” she sniffed.

“
I hear you.”

He kissed her forehead and wiped away her
tears. Mira sighed and forced herself to sleep. But it was a
different kind of sleep. It was the first time since Fabiana died
that she felt this kind of fear. And she didn’t like it.

Chapter Fifteen

La Famiglia
– The Family

“
Tell him it’s Giovanni Battaglia
on the line.” His tone was abrupt and unapologetic. Giovanni needed
to reign in his emotions and keep a cool head. The young woman who
answered the phone paused over the name. She asked him to hold.
Giovanni closed his eyes and waited. After a tense three minute
wait, Armando came on the line.

“
Giovanni, this is a
surprise.”

“
I’m returning to Sicily this
morning.” Giovanni answered.

“
Is that right?” Armando said, with
a hint of annoyance. “Well good for you.”

“
I’m coming to
Bagheria.”

“
Interesting? I don’t remember
extending an invitation,” Armando replied. There was a silken, yet
deadly threat of a warning in his tone. To say Giovanni and Armando
loathed each other, would be like saying the Pope only liked to
attend Mass. Their shared history dated all the way back to his
boyhood days in Mondello. Typically, an invitation would have to be
extended.

“
What brings you?” Armando
asked.

“
Your father. Tell him I’m ready to
talk. I’ll be there as soon as my plane lands.”

Armando didn’t answer. No quick comeback
revealed all Giovanni needed to hear. He held the line and waited
out Armando’s silence.

“
He’ll be ready.” Armando answered
and hung up.

When Giovanni set the satellite plane phone
down, he caught the stares of Lorenzo and Dominic. “Armando knows
nothing,” Giovanni said.

“
Are you sure?” Dominic
asked.

“
I know him. If he knew about Mira
and his father, I’d have heard it in his voice. Which means Mancini
is doing this on his own.”

Lorenzo shook his head. “All night I stared at
her, Gio. She can’t be Mira’s sister. They are so different.
Marietta has had it tough. She’s a fighter.”

“
And you’re saying my wife isn’t?”
Giovanni scowled.

“
No. Mira is too, but she’s
different than Marietta. You have to spend time with her to
understand. I just can’t believe we’ve been played like this.
Marietta didn’t even know her mother was dead until Rocco told her.
How did this go down?”

“
My Bella is clueless as well. She
knows her mother is dead but thinks of her as some poor junkie.
What Mancini has done will cost him his life!” Giovanni said, while
clenching and unclenching his fist.

“
Rumor has it that Mancini is
sick.” Dominic interjected. “Armando is
consigliere
and runs
the family affairs. No one has seen the old man in months. Only
those closest in
La Cosa Nostra
are allowed access.” Dominic
swirled the vodka and orange juice in his glass, talking while
staring out the plane window at the clouds. “Did Armando agree to
the meeting?”

“
I thought he might object, and he
did hesitate, but ultimately he agreed.” Giovanni wiped his hand
down his face. He didn’t like the hand dealt to him. Last night, he
almost told her the truth. It tore at him so deeply, he couldn’t
return to bed to face her alone. He had to bring Eve. The guilt of
what his father had done to her mother could not be fixed. Mancini
held the power to his happiness, the future of his marriage in his
hands. What the fuck could he do if the old Don wanted to go to war
with him and used his bride as the ultimate weapon? Nothing. And
that made him desperate.

“
Mirabella…” he said softly,
pounding his fist into the arm of his chair. Fortunately, neither
Dominic nor Lorenzo heard the tremor of uncertainty in his voice
when he said her name. He’d treated her horribly last night. Lashed
out at her in fear, not anger, and his actions left her confused
and disillusioned. He was so ashamed, he couldn’t face her this
morning either. He left a note and crept from the room before the
sun rose. The truth was, when it came to disappointing her, he was
a coward.

Giovanni plucked the phone up and dialed. He
waited a moment and prayed the direct line to his bedroom would
reach her. After three rings, she picked up. He closed his eyes to
the softness he heard in her voice. “It’s me.”

“
You left without saying
goodbye.”

“
Mi dispiace.
The sooner I
leave the sooner I return, was my thinking.”

“
Last night, you, I… are you okay?”
she asked.

“
Are
we
okay?” he
answered.

“
I love you so much,” she said. “I
don’t know what to do, Giovanni, when you punish me for loving you.
We’ve only been married for a week and already you are acting like
it’s a mistake.”

“
Shhh…” he silenced her. “Never
think for a moment I don’t want you, what we share.”

“
Then you have to communicate with
me. Not about your business but about your feelings. Don’t shut me
out. How can I know when something is wrong between us?”

“
There is nothing wrong with us,
Bella. Forgive me for making you think so.”

The answering silence was punishment enough.
He had to reign in his emotions. She was right. They’d only been
married a week and already he was anticipating the worst. It had to
end.

“
Why did you call?” she asked. He
could hear the exasperation in her voice.

“
Ti adoro
,” He told her he
adored her.
“Sposami!”

“
Marry you? I thought I already
did.”

“
Again, tonight, when I come home.
We can marry privately. The way you did the night of our
wedding.”

“
Oh?” A soft laugh echoed through
the phone line. He could envision her smile. He smiled, fueled by
her laughter, with renewed confidence.

“
I see. So you want a repeat
performance? Come home to me soon and I’ll get out my
ribbons.”

“
Now we’re talking,” Giovanni
chuckled. “I needed to hear your smile in your voice today, Bella.
So very much.”

“
We’re waiting for you. Come
home.”

“
I promise.
Ciao
.”

Giovanni hung up. He reclined in his chair and
focused on nothing, prepared for whatever awaited him in
Sicily.

Bagheria Sicily –

Armando Mancini was a tall man. Six-foot-three
and all muscle, he had skin darkly bronzed even for a Sicilian,
like his father. He wore his hair longer than most men. It lay
straight to his shoulders, as dark as raven wings. He had his
mother’s hair and features, but his father’s temperament. It made
the calm in his chestnut brown eyes deceiving. Most women paused at
his handsome features, or succumbed to his wishes from a single
glance. Few men mistook his boyhood appeal for weakness. He had
proven himself anything but. He was truly Marsuvio Mancini’s
progeny. Where his father in his day would be known to use a gun on
anything in his way, Armando preferred knives. He had a knife room
that housed treasures and artifacts dated back to Julius Caesar. As
the son of the most powerful Mafia family in Sicily, he rarely had
a chance to carve his name into his enemies. His bloodline dated
all the way back to the origins of the Mafiosi. Men gladly stepped
forward to preserve his family honor and enforce his
wishes.