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I’d told them about the engagement, and then it came time to tell them the real reason I was there. I didn’t know how any of the three would handle my confession, so I motioned for them to sit on the nearby bench. I flanked myself between Fantino and Marcu because it was Andrea’s reaction I feared the most. He’d decided to stay standing, and I didn’t object.
“There’s more to the story.” I hung my head in shame for a few seconds until I remembered how much I wanted this baby. I looked up and began, “I had to play the role of Stefano’s mistress, but during that time, I also became attracted to Nazario.”
Do you love him?” Marcu asked, and I shrugged.
“I desire him,” I said, “so I’d fallen into his bed. It’d been perfect, even. I could live better with myself, knowing I was betraying Stefano, all while plotting his demise. I also was planning the end of the son because I wanted to take them both out. I truly thought I was using one against the other until I could destroy them both.”
“Did you kill Nazario? Is that why you’ve called us for protection?” Fantino asked.
Andrea was remarkably silent throughout, and when I glanced up at him, his eyes were aflame. Inwardly, I ached for this man. The relationship we’d had together had been one of passion, trust, and love, although I wasn’t quite sure if it was romantic in nature. He was angry at me. I could see it in his dark gaze. Our eyes were locked in on one another and I prayed he could see how much I loved him, but he saw something much worse. He saw the truth, and finally he spoke. “He’s ruined her.”
“Ruined?” Marcu asked, and when I looked guiltily at him, recognition dawned. “Is it Nazario’s?”
I brought my hands to my face and covered it with them. My eyes were heavy with unshed tears, and I knew I needed to just spit it out. “I-I don’t know. It could also be Stefano’s,” I stammered, then flinched at Andrea’s response.
“Sei così stupido,” he barked out, and I felt every bit the fool he just called me.
I got up in that moment and stood in front of this man who’d shown me what pleasure and love were, and how they could erase pain I never thought I’d get rid of. Knowing the disappointment he had in me, I needed to make things right. I lowered myself to my knees and stayed there for several long seconds. It was a very submissive move, and one that those like Stefano and Nazario liked. It was also one Andrea liked, and when he extended his hand to me, I anxiously grabbed it and allowed him to pull me back onto my feet.
“I’m sorry,” I told him, finally allowing the tears to run free. They burned my cheeks, but weren’t anything I wasn’t used to by now. “But there’s more.”
“More?” Fantino asked, and I filled them in on his threats to get rid of me and the baby if I didn’t agree to an abortion. When I was done, I was still in tears. “You and your baby will be safe. You’ve escaped and—”
“You still want Nazario, yes?” Marcu asked.
“No, I...” I stopped, at a loss for words.
I wanted to deny it all, but when I closed my eyes, I could see the two of us in the wine cellar, and at his club, and in his arms on the veranda. I remembered the mausoleum, the pool, the torture room, and even against the wall an hour before I left for the airport. I even thought back to our school days, and while we never really spoke to one another, I could remember the way he would watch me when he thought I wasn’t looking. There’d been the alley in New York City, and even inside the walls at the club. I was actually in love with the devil. I had to have lost my mind somewhere along the way, although I couldn’t remember when or how. I was a fool and every other derogatory word Andrea or the others could come up with, but I was one for Nazario.
“You love him?” Andrea finally asked as he tipped my chin up. I glanced into his eyes and saw pain. “Cazzo!”
He lowered his mouth to mine, but I willed mine not to move against his. I owed this man a debt of gratitude. I owed them all one, but I had nothing to give them. I’d given my body and my mind before, but I couldn’t give them my heart. It was ridiculously already possessed by the man who’d be my downfall. Andrea sensed my tension, and he raised his head.
“He’s going to kill you, Bella.”
“Maybe, but it’s a risk I have to take. I love him, and I believe that’s reciprocated. I must return to Napoli and make him see reason.”
“We’re simply a call away,” Fantino assured me as he rose from his seat and pulled me into his arms. “Even Andrea.”
I hiccuped and sobbed at the same time at the last part, and the others eventually came over and offered the same assurances. We then made plans for me to stop in and visit Veru. They soon left me alone on the rooftop and I stayed out there, now needing to figure out how to make Nazario understand that I not only loved him, but that I wouldn’t give up this child either. Both could seal my death warrant, or they could open up the world of happiness I’d always deserved but had been robbed of at his father’s hands.
NAZARIO
Viviana had only been gone a day and a half, but the house seemed so quiet and empty without her in it. While she normally kept to her self most days, there was no trace of her perfume or sound of her laughter to greet me when I stepped inside. The home I was born, and grew up in was like a fortress, so it was even colder without her. In addition to the sights and smells, there were also no screams of pleasure as I made her shatter, or verbal jabs from her venomous mouth to contend with. Dare I actually admit it out loud, but I missed her. The feeling was a foreign one to me, and I swallowed it down like I used to that nasty medicine my mother would give me when I was sick. If only there was something I could take to get rid of this sudden case of emotions. I’d down an entire bottle.
Restlessness filled me as I tried to go along with my daily routine. Until a few months ago, there had been no problems. My days and nights were full, but now they seemed so hollow. My mood was surly, and my staff avoided me at all costs. At the moment, I was holed up in my office and pacing back and forth when my cellphone rang. I snatched it from my back pocket, and answered it without even looking at the caller ID. “Hello.”
“We found your mistress, Nazario. She’s in Palermo with the Catalanos, and—”
“TheCatalanos?” I asked, enraged. “What in the hell is she doing with them?’
“I’m not sure, but she was very friendly with them. I’m sending you the photographs now, and you can deduce what you like from them. I will continue to watch her and report back with anything else I find.”
The call ended and I pulled up my messages. I needed to sit for this one. As they downloaded, I stalked over to my desk. Once I was seated, I started to scroll through them and my anger increased tenfold. There were some nighttime photos, and because of the distance between my man on the ground and Viviana on the rooftop, they were grainy at best. I might’ve even convinced myself that those men were not one and the same. As I continued to flip through them and saw the ones in the daylight, it was confirmed she was definitely in their company. She was smiling, and it was something I hadn’t seen in a while, if ever. She was genuinely happy even when with the deadliest men in all of Sicily.
Photograph after photograph, she was with them, whether walking down the street, getting in and out of their car, or sitting in the coffeeshop having lunch. Viviana knew these men, and not just from a day or two in Sicily. I pulled up my contacts and clicked on the number for my other investigator.
“It looks like my fiancée has some interesting friends. I believe she came back to Napoli for my father, and she was in Sicily prior to that time. I need everything you can find on her days in Palermo, and I need it yesterday.”
