AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Of course she is my daughter,” Giusy replied as if it were as plain as the nose on her face. But her smirk let me know that she enjoyed my surprise, that this was information she hadn’t wanted me to have until now. I finally realized that her secrets and her decisions to share them were about her sense of control. That and the fact that knowledge was currency.
“With Nino gone his business will also fall to us,” Giusy kept explaining. There was a wicked thrill in her tone.
“His business?”
She leaned in closer. “It is my turn to take a hand now. It is time for things to change. The Cosa Nostra is weak in some parts of the island because the men have been lazy. Nino was an idiot, but so many are. You know the saying. The mother of fools is always pregnant. And in Sicily... she is always having twins. But I am not lazy. And I know the new ways of the world. I know computers and crypto and the dark web. Fina has found herself a place with the police. We can help them and now Nino’s bosses know it for certain. They know I have what it takes. I have proven myself.”
“You told me the Cosa Nostra was ridiculous. You told me they were losing their power.” I snorted.
“They will never lose it. Things are different now. The good bosses. They are like CEOs, businessmen... the power will never go away. It only changes. It is hard to explain. I once heard it described as a festering cold sore that subsides and seems invisible and then erupts more powerful than ever. It will erupt again soon.”
“I thought you hated them.”
I’d struck a nerve without meaning to. “I am doing what is necessary for me and for my daughter,” she seethed.
“Fina has a good job.”
“The police make shit money. And they get no respect. I will make her real money. I will give her and her daughters and her daughters’ daughters a future.”
My brain sifted through all the new information. I didn’t have the wherewithal or the words to wrap my head around how much bigger this was than me. Maybe I shouldn’t even bother, but I had to try. “You had me kill Nino to prove you are worthy of taking over his work with the Mafia, and now you’re telling me all this. Jesus Christ, Giusy. Isn’t there like a code of silence or something?”
“You watch too many movies. And do not take the Lord’s name in vain like that. I tell you things because I trust you. Are you judging me? You have no idea what it is like to live here, how I have been treated my entire life. I did what I had to do and it worked. I will get the money for the land that is rightfully mine. You’ll get yours. That dirtbag is dead, that man who has probably hurt and raped dozens of women without remorse.”
My stomach roiled with anger and fear. “He could have killed me.”
She finally ruffled with irritation as her lips curled into a sneer. “That wasn’t going to happen.”
“You can’t control everything.”
“I knew what I was doing. You were never truly in danger.”
I almost believed her.
“Was Luca a part of your plan too? Him taking me to Palermo. Him taking me... to the beach.” Disgust and shame flooded through me as I imagined Giusy ordering him to sleep with me.
“No. No. Luca threw us for a loop. It is why we tried to warn you off him on the beach. In the parking lot. But that did not work. We didn’t plan on Agata either, but whatever. It was fine. It was all fine.”
“But his car?”
“It was not his car. It belonged to Nino. Nino was his big investor and Luca liked to impress people by borrowing the fancy car. My cousin was not very happy that I smashed the windows of his prized Alfa Romeo but that does not matter now.”
A small relief. I wanted to believe that Luca was a mostly good person, that he had no previous knowledge of what Nino planned to do to me on top of that mountain. I agreed with most of Agata’s assessment of him—exquisitely sweet, a puppy, adorable, loyal. That was how I wanted to remember him.
“Did you have my passport stolen too?”
She nodded. “I wanted you to need me.”
My clothes were still strewn all over the floor. I got down on my knees and stuffed them into my duffel.
“Why aren’t you more grateful?” Giusy asked.
“Grateful to you? I’m grateful to be alive,” I spat back.
“You’re alive because of me.”
“I almost died because of you.”
Giusy stood so quickly I wondered if she was about to cross the room to punch me in the face. Instead, she made her way to my armoire to extract the box of Rosie’s ashes. “Rosie wanted this for you.”
