And that’s when I made a fatal mistake. I told him the truth, straight from my heart to his ears. I told him Valentina wasn’t carrying Valeria’s child. She was carrying her own.
My confession turned his leverage to dust. It stripped him of any power he wrongly believed he held, and now Valentina is paying the price formymistake.
My chest is splitting open, but it doesn’t douse the rage burning through me.
If anything, it feeds the flames.
Tommaso poisoned Valentina.
He tried to kill her to punish me.
To control me.
And now he and his daughter will die for his stupidity.
My focus drifts back to Valeria when she snivels, “I’m sorry, Giovanni. I didn’t know he’d do this when I told him there was no chance you’d pick me over Valentina, especially since she is carrying your child. I swear, I didn’t.”
I crouch down and look her in the eyes. “You think this ends with an apology? That I’ll let you walk because you said you’re sorry?” I fist my gun so firmly my knuckles go white. “Your father just declared war onmyfucking family… for you!”
“No.” Her usually stern expression deteriorates as tears spill down her cheeks. “This has never been about me. Not our contract or the baby. It’s always been about whathewants. I didn’t have a choice. I’veneverhad a choice?—”
“I don’t care! Valentina almost died. So now you, and everyone in your family, will learn what happens when you come for what’smine.” Her snivels ramp up to full-on sobs when I slowly inch back the trigger.
“Giovanni…” This plea doesn’t come from Valeria. It comes from Dante, who is standing at our side with his arms folded across his chest. “There’s more to this than you know.”
“I don’t give a fuck.”
“You might not, but Valentina may.” He steps closer, placing himself in the firing line. “You also know what Valeria is saying is true. You may not like it, but it doesn’t make it any less honest.”
“You’re on her side?” My words spit from my mouth. “She tried to kill the woman I love.”
“No, she didn’t.”
In sync, Dante and I rocket our heads to the side. There’s no sign of the illness that’s been ravaging our father’s body for the past year when he assists Matteo in tossing a battered and bruised Tommaso into the foyer of our family home, and then he slams the door shut behind Elio and Nico.
The war I was anticipating earlier is in effect, except the Carusos aren’t being brought before the courts. The Guiffridas are.
My father’s voice is a vicious snarl when he looks down at Tommaso and says, “That was allhisdoing.”
Tommaso’s expression is carved from arrogance, but there’s something else there now too. Behind the nicks and bruises is a fear he tries to mask with confidence. “There are rules you can’t ignore, Giuseppe. My grandchild gives me immunity.”
My laugh is bitter. “The grandchild your daughter just admitted can’t possibly be hers?” I shift on my feet to face Valeria. “What did you say again? You didn’t want to get fat, so you paid the IVF nurse to insert my sperm directly into Valentina.”
Tommaso’s expression announces his wish to add to the bruises that have faded on Valeria’s face, but he continues to play the game with narcissistic tendencies he always utilizes.
“Not that grandchild.” He locks his eyes with mine, then gleams like blood isn’t smeared across his teeth. “The one in Valentina’s stomach.”
I stagger back as if he swung at me with an axe, but he isn’t the only one skilled in acting. “Accusations like that will get you killed… slowlyandpainfully.”
My father’s voice breaks through the drumming in my ears. “Itisn’t an accusation.” Blood dots Tommaso’s chin when my father proves age doesn’t weaken a man’s protective instincts. He kicks Tommaso in the stomach, folding him in half. “It took Concetta’s reaction to Tommaso’s arrival for me to locate the final piece of the puzzle.” His following confession sideswipes me. “Valeria isn’t Tommaso’s only daughter. Valentina is his daughter, too.”
“What?” That didn’t come from me. It came from Matteo, who’s forming a protective wall in the entryway with the rest of my brothers.
My father’s demeanor is so calm anyone would swear he was discussing the weather. “When Valentina was born, a much older and ill-advised midwife ganged up on her younger and more vulnerable patient. She told Concetta that a father’s name must be on the birth certificate, no matter how horrid he was, or their request for asylum in the United States would be denied. Concetta was so fearful he’d find them quicker in Sicily than he would in the US that her handwriting was barely legible when she placed his name on Valentina’s birth certificate. Valentina’s surname was registered as?—”
“Raimondi instead of Raimondo,” I fill in as the fog slowly lifts.
My eyes shoot to Valeria as my father continues unraveling the massive net holding my family hostage. “Everyone missed the truth because Tommaso went by his mother’s maiden name until his thirties. He didn’t want anyone to know he was associated with the man who used to beat his mother to a pulp every night, even with him not doing a damn thing about it.” He spits at Tommaso’s feet, disgusted. “You were a grown man for half their marriage, yet you watched your mother be beaten every fucking night.”
