He tried to look down, but I forced him up. “Uh-uh. Take a good look at me. Take a very good look at the last thing you’re ever going to see again.”
His stare bulged as he seemed to have understood what I was about to do. He swore at me, his jaws clenching, spit foaming around them.
“That’s right. The face of the man you thought you had under your mercy, the face you spat at and covered in blood, piss and your filthy cum, is going to be the last face you ever lay eyes on.” I got out a knife from my pocket. “Not your beautiful wife and not your baby you’d live all your years dying to see but can’t because I am about to gouge your eyes out, leaving you blind for the rest of your life, Domenico Lanza.”
CHAPTER 33
Ravenna
I wasn’t supposed to be around this side of the mansion, but I snuck in anyway. Leo had left with Nicole to finalize the hanging matter of Domenico Lanza. I wanted to be there for Leo after he was done. Violence could be a cathartic outlet for him, but it was also a lurking danger that could threaten any progress he’d achieved.
Counting the seconds, I hid, waiting through the agonized screams of Nicole’s husband and her painful weeping as she walked away back to her wing, holding myself tight so I wouldn’t let it get to me and blow my cover, until the door was open.
Leo came out, a knife in his hand, blood staining his face, hands and clothes. His father was waiting right outside the door for him with a towel. Leo took it from him and wiped the blood of the knife and his skin. “I’m done with him.”
“Let’s see if his wife will still want him now,” Don Bellomo said.
“Oh, she will. Maybe more now. He can’t be an enforcer anymore, and Enzio wouldn’t make him his underboss after everything that’s happened. She’ll finally get out of the life like she’s always wanted. She’ll raise her baby safely and go back to school and even find a decent job.”
“How much do you care about Nicole, Leo?”
My heart skipped a beat. I’ve been dying to know the answer to that question for so long.
“Enough to want her to be happy…away from us. Nicole Baldi might be the only good friend I have in this world.”
“Friend?”
“Si. She’s never been anything more.”
“And the doctor?”
“Rav?” He grinned. “Ravenna is everything.”
My heart careened and fluttered in my chest. I wanted to be in his arms right now so badly.
“What are you gonna do with Li—with Angel?” Leo asked, and a chill ran through my spine. He’d finally called her by the name her husband gave her. He’d finally acknowledged their union.
“That’s between me and her,” Don Bellomo said.
“You’re right. She’syourwife and the mother ofyourson. But for once listen to me. You lost a wife before and cost a child his mother. Look what that child has become.”
“Youare looking out forher?”
“I’m looking out for my brother. He’s so innocent, and he can stay that way. Don’t…don’t let him be like me. Don’t let him be like us.” He squeezed his father’s shoulder. “Don’t make the same mistake twice, Don Bellomo.”
Leo gave him the knife and the towel and turned, walking away down the hall. Suddenly, his father stalked after him and swirled him in his direction. Then he pulled Leo hard into his embrace. “You think I didn’t love you, but I do. I didn’t choose her over you. I never chose anything over you. But I needed her more than you did. I still do.”
Tears dropped from my eyes in silence. This father son twisted love was so dark yet so real and painful and worthy of compassion. I wished with all my heart these two could have forgiven each other and acted upon their obvious love neither was strong enough to live by.
“She’syourlifeline. I get it now,” Leo said. “Believe me, I do.”
“Stay with me, Leo.”
“You know I can’t.”
Don Bellomo drew back. “Because of Angel?”
“No, Papà. Because of Ravenna. I want to be happy with her. I want to heal with her. We can’t do that in this world. Our names have doomed us for so long. Leo Bellomo and Ravenna Berlusconi have to disappear.”
