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“Oh God.” I whisper. “Cazzo.”
“Yeah.” My mother goes behind the counter and whips out a pie from inside the cupboard, puts it on the counter and reaches for a knife. “It’s horrible. They took him from the club, you know? Took him elsewhere and killed him.”
“But why,mamma? Was it… was it because of me?”
She comes around the counter to clutch my wrist hard. “You cannot blame yourself. It’s not your fault you were kidnapped. These people are simply barbarians.”
I cannot believe Romano killed my cousin. After everything. What was he thinking?
“The other man who was shot, who was he?”
My mother snorts. “As if I care. One of their thugs was starting a fight with poor Tizzy. Over a girl! Can you believe this? In my day, such behavior would not have been tolerated.” She puts a piece of pie on a plate and brings it to me before going to put on the coffee pot. There’s usually coffee percolating all day for anyone who wants it.
I pick up the fork and dig into my pie although I’m far from hungry. I need to find someone who can tell me what happened without the intrinsic bias.
My mother comes to sit by my side. “But enough about that. How areyoumy dear? “Eric said they treated you well?”
“Yeah.” I wave my fork around distractedly, “I mean, they didn’t hurt me, and they explained that they just wanted Tiziano to feel the heat after sleeping with Romano’s fiancé. That’s why I don’t understand why Romano would turn around and kill him!”
My mother frowns. “Seems you got very familiar with him.”
I freeze, “Uh… well, he was, uh, my main captor. We talked a lot and he tried to reassure me throughout.”
“And you believed him? The Montis are nothing but liars.”
“It doesn't really matter. He has been sent away.” A hand lands on my shoulder and squeezes it and I turn to give my father a strained smile, my heart sinking into my boots.
“What do you mean by sent away?”
“It is the compromise we reached. We would not seek retribution for Tiziano, if the man who killed him was exiled forever.”
If I hadn't already been sitting down, I would have fallen. I want to scream, grab my dad by the collar and shake him. I want to yell in his face, “What do you mean by that exactly?”
All I can do is sit frozen on my stool and keep my face blank so that my parents can't see how devastated I am.
What the fuck Romano?
How could he just go without a single word to me? What the hell was this supposed to mean? And why thefuckdid he kill Tiziano?
This is beginning to feel like a nightmare. I look at my finger, staring at the tattoo that was supposed to mark our commitment to each other and wonder if it’s just a big joke.
Nothing makes sense any more.
“Mamma? Papà? May I be excused? I’m really tired.”
“Oh, of course!” my mother hastens to help me off my stool. “Go and get some rest. When you are feeling better, you have a wedding to plan.”
I freeze, turning to stare at my mother in some shock.
What?
“You’re lucky, Patrizio is a patient man and knows how hard this unfortunate business of your kidnapping must have been for you.”
All I can do is stare at her in horror. Once I get to my room, I slam the door behind me and then sink to the floor, covering my eyes as the tears flow, totally unable to stop them.
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” I whisper to myself, shaking my head. What a disaster.
What the fuck do I do now?
