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Mathias Fiore? As in Emilio’s father?
“The events that followed led him down a path that made him become Don of the Esposito family.”
"What the fuck?" I murmured the words in a reflexive response, shaking my head in disbelief.
My mother continued to explain in a melancholy voice. "But when Mathias betrayed them, it all went wrong. Your grandfather, who was the don of the Mancini family then, blamed your father for bringing shame to the family. He disowned Riccardo because your grandfather believed that your father was responsible for the loss that Mathias brought upon the Mancini family."
"Riccardo saw no other option. He toiled tirelessly to establish his faction," she recounted, her eyes clouded with memories. "Meanwhile, his younger brother was appointed as the Don of the Mancini family. Tragically, he passed away after only a few years, leaving his son, Crino, to inherit the mantle."
So Crino Mancini, Emilio’s enemy, was my cousin?! A slight nausea started growing in my belly.
I listened to my mother as she spoke about how the Mancini family declined under Crino's leadership, casting a shadow over their once-mighty name.
My father, seizing the opportunity presented by the weakened state of the Mancini family, took it upon himself to manipulate his nephew. He painted Mathias Fiore's betrayal as the root cause of their downfall, using it to sow the seeds of doubt and discord within Crino's leadership.
My mother interrupted her account, getting up to stand over by the window. With a heavy sigh, she continued.
"Riccardo saw an opportunity to weaken both the Mancini and Fiore families," she explained, the weight of her words hanging in the air. "He held onto a deep-seated resentment toward his father for disowning him, blaming him for a betrayal that was not his own. His animosity extended to his brother, whom he believed had failed to bring him back into the fold after their father's passing."
The revelation hung in the air, the implications of my father's calculated actions echoing within the room. The wounds of abandonment and injustice had festered within him, casting a dark shadow over his relationship with the family he had once called his own and the man who had long ago been his friend, Mathias Fiore.
However, he couldn't bring himself to be the agent of the Mancini family's destruction. Instead, he had sought to pit the two families against each other, using their resources and ambitions to bring about their downfall.
It was a strategy that would allow him to achieve his goal while keeping his own hands clean, effectively killing two birds with one stone.
My mother's eyes held a deep tiredness as she continued her narrative, delving into the harrowing chapter of our lives that had unfolded when I was just a year old.
"Riccardo had become consumed by his lust for revenge," she confessed, her voice quivering under the weight of the past. "He had descended into a dark abyss, and I grew increasingly fearful for our safety."
The fear that had gripped her heart ultimately led her to make a decision that would alter the course of our lives. When I was just a year old, she made the heart-wrenching choice to flee from Riccardo, desperate to protect us from the menacing shadow he had become. The journey to escape his reach was not an easy one, marked by a constant vigilance to avoid detection.
Over the years, she had worked tirelessly to erase any trace of our former identities, leaving behind the lives we had known and adopting new ones in their place.
The secrets of our past had been buried beneath layers of deception with a single purpose: to remain hidden from the vengeance of a man who had become unrecognizable in his obsession.
However, the past had resurfaced in the form of Mathias Fiore, who had appeared at her doorstep with palpable anxiety, seeking information about Riccardo. His inquiries had carried a veiled threat, a reminder of the danger that still loomed over our lives.
He had demanded answers, compelling my mother to reveal whether Riccardo was alive or not, under the ominous promise that he would pursue us, his threats extending to me.
The revelation of Mathias Fiore's involvement in our lives left me dumbfounded. Suddenly, several pieces of the complex puzzle fell into place. I now understood the reason behind my mother's visceral reaction upon hearing the name Fiore. It wasn't just a matter of recognizing the name; it was an acknowledgment of the peril that it represented.
The fear in her eyes and the urgency in her voice when she had warned me about my life being in danger all made sense.
Emilio's father, Mathias Fiore, was at the epicenter of the turmoil that had disrupted our lives. It was a revelation that left me struggling to grasp the depth of his involvement and the complexity of the web that entangled us all.
While understanding his motives provided a semblance of clarity, it didn't absolve my own father's actions or the responsibility he bore for his choices.
I found myself contemplating whether Emilio had any knowledge of his father's past, but I swiftly dismissed the thought. There was no way he could have known. No, he didn't know.
A heavy silence settled between my mother and me as I absorbed all that she told me. The truths she had shared only added to our burdens.
"This is why I didn't want to tell you," my mother murmured, her voice carrying the weight of her past decisions. I nodded, appreciating her reasoning. However, the need for answers still pulsed within me, refusing to be quelled by digging up the skeletons of the past.
"I know," I replied softly, acknowledging the difficult choices she had made. "But I needed to know."
I gazed at her, my eyes searching for reassurance, seeking solace in the shared understanding of the turmoil that had shaped our lives. I couldn't help but ask the question that had plagued my thoughts for so long.
"Has he ever come close to finding us?" I inquired, the tension lacing my words betraying the fear that still lingered within me.
