AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I slowly tugged the blankets up with me as I rested against the headboard.
“The men at the house? Why me?” I wanted to hear what he had to tell me before I dropped my bombshell on him.
“Someone spread the word that you’re this Mikey person, and now all of Mikey’s clients are out for your blood.”
So many things ran through my head at once that I zoned out for a few seconds while it all come crashing down around me.
“That friggin’ old bat…” I trailed off. “Oh, my God…I walked right into it and never saw it coming.” I shook my head, unbelievably upset that I hadn’t seen it. I had been played like a fool. “I thought I was so clever, but she outsmarted me, and now look.” I laughed even as I admired her.
Elio stood like stone as he watched me, and I realized I was only speaking in half sentences. I rubbed my face and knew it was time to tell him all of it.
I crawled out of bed and stood in front of him. I reached into his coat pocket and removed his cell phone, but when I reached for his weapon, his hand clamped down on mine.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m about to tell you something, and I’m nervous of your reaction.”
“Sienna,” he warned as he removed my hand, “don’t think I didn’t notice you changed your family ring to your right hand, and you never said yes to my proposal. If you’re about to tell me you married Salvo, taking my gun won’t help you.”
“Elio,” I reached up and cupped his face, “you think I married Salvo? No! God, no.”
“Then what the hell’s going on?”
“Remember you asked me to find out who Mikey was? I never got to tell you what I found out. It’s important because Mikey was my grandfather’s nickname. He used that name to make side deals. After he died and Stefano took over, Rosa manipulated him, and they used her husband’s nickname to continue to funnel money into her own accounts. Rosa Coppola is Mikey. Anyway, the point is that one day she had me go with her to a church, when I was there, I told her I knew she was Mikey. Moments after that, the uncles were killed, and she disappeared in the confusion. My guess is it’s her trying to get out from under the spotlight and telling people that Mikey is me. I bet she owes a lot of people a lot of money.”
“Jesus,” he let out a puff of air but then looked up at me, “the sheer stupidity of them stealing from such powerful people. Did they really think it wasn’t going to come back around?”
“I don’t know, but here we are.”
“But she must have been stealing as Mikey for years. It wouldn't take long to figure out you'd be too young.”
“Elio, there’s more.” I cleared my throat, and he went still and studied my face. “That day I went with her to the church, I was legally sworn in as the Coppola Donna.”
Elio shot straight up and towered over me, vibrating.
“Repeat that to me again.”
“The reason I was at the church that night, it was because Rosa had me sworn in as the new Donna for the Coppola family. Salvo was the witness, along with the minister.”
“Sienna, no.” His face fell, and I wasn’t sure what to do. He looked up at me, his expression unreadable. “That wasn’t the plan. You were supposed to bring the Coppola kingdom down, not step into the seat of the Don.”
“Donna,” I corrected him. “I thought it was a good move at the time. What better way to tip the scales than to have me step into that role?”
“Did you ever stop and think why Rosa Coppola would do that?”
“Truthfully, I thought she saw that Stefano had gone missing, thanks to you, and that the uncles liked me. I thought she saw me as her only move, but now I’m seeing I was played. She outsmarted me at my own game.” I got angry all over again.
“Sweet Lord, I need to get my head around this.” He paced then came back to stand next to me. “Okay, take a breath, Sienna.” He placed his hands on my shoulders, as now my head was running like a hamster wheel.
“Elio, she’s been making dirty deals forever, and who knows what my grandfather was doing before that. Come to think of it, Ugo mentioned to me after the fire that he overheard herconsiglieretalking to Rosa about getting rid of emails, and later that day, Rosa’s things were gone from the house.” His hands fell away as I took a turn to pace. “She was never going to return to the house. She had it all mapped out. Get me sworn in, kill the uncles, then slip away into the night with all the money and leave everyone coming after me for it.”
“That explains where all their money went,” he murmured, but I wasn’t really listening.
“After the uncles were shot, Salvo got me in the car, and we took off out of there without Rosa.” My brain ping-ponged all over the place. “I’m still trying to figure out if she knew what was going on at the house. Then there was Noemi.” I wasn’t thinking straight and just let my mouth run. “She was the one who soaked my bedroom in gasoline.”
“What?” He grabbed my arm and pulled me from my tailspin.
“Yes.” I nodded, feeling my eyes prickle, not for her but because I knew how much this news would hurt the family. “She tried to kill me.”
