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‘Take a deep breath, you’re an intelligent man… and think about how what has happened today makes the Giordanos look… taking my life will seal your fate… and not just yours, but also your family’s. As the acting head of your family, you have responsibilities to attend to.’
What’s happened?
Papa?Pain travelled fast around my body.
For the first time, I saw Alessio question what he was doing, and his shoulders slumped forward. Fleetingly, the gun he was holding dipped an inch or two, then just as quickly he held it steady again and pointed it at Salvatore.
‘You’re right, I won’t kill you… not today anyway. Now let Sera go. Her family need her.’
The second I saw Mia appear at the edge of the terrace, with her arms wrapped tightly around herself trying to find comfort, my hands fell away from holding onto Salvatore’s forearms. Her distress unfettered my foolish head and suddenly my vision cleared. As if a veil had been lifted away from my eyes, I caught sight of blood splatters clinging to the thick dark hairs on Salvatore’s arms and a larger dried stain on the back of his left hand.
Why hadn’t I seen them before?
I’d instinctively reached for him as I’d turned to face Alessio, but seeing the anguish written on my siblings’ faces and the facts in front of me, I realised if any of it was true, Salvatore wasn’t the man I thought he was.
‘Tell me this isn’t true,’ I stupidly whispered, even though I could now see the evidence tainting his skin.
‘I can’t.’ Salvatore’s voice rang out strong, deep, and true. It expressed no sign of guilt or hesitation, and nor did it waver in any way. ‘Today, I made sure the trash got taken out.’
‘Knowing what you’d done,’ I stopped speaking briefly as a small sob escaped me, ‘why did you come here today?’
‘For you.’
With his arms still firmly wrapped around me, I spoke again, ‘What sort of man are you?’ My voice sounded out the pain in my heart.
‘If anyone knows me in this world, little bird… it’s you.’
Very quickly I began to shake my head from side to side, trying to dislodge his accusation. ‘NO.’ I raised my voice and looked at Alessio, speaking the words I knew he and I both needed to hear. ‘It appears, Salvatore De Luca, that I don’t know you at all.’ My cheeks felt damp as my pain fell from my eyes and down my face. ‘Just who and what are you?’
‘It isn’t what I am, Serafina, it’s who I am… and you may not see it or understand it yet, but it’s also who you are.’
I shook my head in response, unable to defend myself against his indictment.
‘You know me.’ I felt his broad chest expand behind me as he inhaled deeply. ‘Feel deep inside you, Serafina… We’re bound together.’ He released the sentence on an exhale, as though he was reluctantly admitting the words and in response my heart began to beat wildly. ‘We are meant to be.’ I hated it, but I feared what he was saying was true.
‘No way… not now. This is the second time you’ve come to me with my brother’s blood on your hands, and I’m telling you today, this day, the day my elder brother lost his life… it willneverhappen again.’
‘Never is a very long time,’ he stated. ‘A long time to be without the other half of your soul.’
I shook my head even quicker and heard a long sigh leave his lips. The warm air he’d just expelled brushed over my chilled skin. My body was so responsive to him, that with a deep shame I felt my nipples pebble once again into hardened nubs, behind the thin fabric of my swimsuit.
‘I need to go,’ I whispered, unable to remove my eyes from Alessio.
‘No,’ came the cold command from behind me.
‘I need to go to my sister and my mum… you need to let me go, Salvatore.’ I spoke the words with clarity as I encouraged him to do the right thing. I knew I’d led a sheltered upbringing, even given the families we belonged to, but what was quickly unravelling around me was shocking even to me.
‘I’ll let you go in my own time… but first you need to understand that we will be together.’ Once again, I felt the warmth of his breath as he spoke and this time it gently caressed the shell of my ear and, unable to help myself, I sagged traitorously against his frame.
‘I hear you.’ I said the words he wanted to hear, when in truth I knew I’d already left him on the beach that I’d always loved and the one that only ten minutes ago we’d been so happy on.
‘No, you’re not listening, not really.’ I felt him shake his head from side to side as he disagreed with me. ‘But hear this… one day I will come for you, and youwillgo with me willingly… But for now, I’ll let you take flight, little bird.’
As soon as his arms fell away from me, I was off. Without saying goodbye, without even looking back, I grabbed hold of Alessio and holding on to his arm tightly we made our way back home.
In the background, I heard the throaty roar of Salvatore’s bike as he left, and squeezing my eyes shut momentarily, I prayed that not only would my papa survive, and our family wouldn’t crumble with the loss of its eldest sibling, but also that this mafia princess was resilient enough to close this chapter of her life, leaving her ridiculous ideas of love and her mistakes enclosed in the pages.
But mostly, I prayed that I was strong enough to ignore the sound of Salvatore’s bike should he ever come to our beach again, because he couldn’t be right; I wasn’t like him… and we weren’t meant to be.
