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“You drive me crazy, Grazia Caputo.” He said while I was getting ready to step out.
“It’s not easy to be around you either, jerk.”
“Give me your hand.”
“Why?”
“Give me your damn hand and stop being stubborn.” I put my hand in his big paw and he took it straight to his lips. “I’m going to meet cousin Pietro. We have a ship coming at the docks tonight.” He confessed.
“You didn’t have to tell me, Salvatore.”
“I know, but I don’t want you to think stupid things. Why would I need other women? I have you.” He had pieces of me, at best, and I wanted those back too.
“I don’t belong to you, Salvatore Fiori.”
“Funny girl.” He chuckled. “There’s not an inch of you that’s not mine.”
“This is the last time, Salvatore, I mean it. I can’t see you, anymore.”
“Don’t make me mad. You know how I get when I’m mad.” He kissed my hand again, this time lingering more. “Go now. You know the drill. Flicker the lights of your bedroom twice so I know you got in ok.”
“There’s no need for that. I can…”
“Do it or I’m coming inside the house to check.” My heart stopped and dropped in my lap. I didn’t believe he could be so reckless, but I’d never risk it.
“Ok, fine. Let me go now.” He gave me back my hand and despite my words, I wanted to get back into his arms the moment I stepped away. I was too dependent on Salvatore Fiori to feel comfortable.
I walked through the gate and went towards the old and majestic villa sitting up on a rock above the Tyrrhenian that was my home ever since I could remember.Babbo[3]got this house from his grandfather, who bought it from a rich Spaniard before the Great War. It’s been in ourfamigliafor over a hundred years and even if tradition dictated that my oldest brother, Giovani, should inherit it to raise his family here, when he got married to his wife Rebecca, Daddy gifted him a new home. He was keeping this one for me, his youngest, because he knew how much I adored it. The Spanish inside court, the tall ceilings and frescas on the walls, I loved everything about it. It was big enough to hold our entire family – alleightkids – and now that all seven of my brothers moved out, it was too quiet.
Growing up with seven brothers was chaos. Between them and Salvatore, I was under watch every moment of every day. I wasn’t just the only girl, but I was the youngest too, which made them even more overprotective. They were my brothers, my friends, my guards, and on some occasions, my pain in the ass.
When I walked through the main door and started climbing the stairs to my bedroom, Delfina appeared behind me out of thin air.
“There you are! Your father is not coming for dinner.” Seemed like Salvatore’s people were right. “Do you want to eat upstairs in your rooms?”
Delfina was my maid, which was my father’s way of saying I was a few months short of twenty-three years old and still had a nanny. She was hired when I was seven, one week after Mama passed away, and now she was keeping a maid position, looking over the house. Truth was, Delfina was vital for me and I’d be lost without her.
“I’ll eat upstairs, but I need a shower first. Rehearsal was more intense than I thought.”
“Aha, ok.” She stopped and looked at me. “That’s where you were? The ballet studio?”
“That’s where I said I would be, didn’t I?”
“Yes, I think I heard you saying that to your father, but I thought you’d run away again to meet Salvatore Fiori.”
Yes, Delfina was my partner in crime. I had tried my best not to involve her until it was strictly necessary, but she saved my ass a few times, like when I got locked outside in the middle of the night and she helped me get back in the house without a fuss.
“No.”
“Right. Then why are you flickering the lights?”
“Don’t ask questions you don’t want the answer to, Delfina.”
“I’m just saying, be careful. One of these days you’re going to run into your father and ay, ay, ay, the things he’s going to do to that boy. I don’t even want to think about it.” Yeah, I didn’t want to think about it either.
“Dad has no reason to have me watched. I’m not doing anything except for going shopping or to the ballet studio, there’s peace in the streets, his business is good. I’m in no danger.”
“My dear,” she put her hand under my chin, “I think you’re in more danger than you understand.”
