I laughed but had to quit; it hurt too much.
“All right,” Isabella said, taking Effie’s hand. “Time for us to go.” She looked at me. “I’m glad you didn’t die.”
“Thank you?” I guessed.
Lucia walked them out then returned to me. “Effie’s a hoot,” she said.
“Yes. And I’m staying away from that pea soup. I trust that kid.” It grew quiet as our smiles faded.
“I thought you were dead. I couldn’t feel you breathe, and you were so still. And the blood…”
Her eyes filled with tears.
I reached up to touch her face, although my arm felt sore even with that small movement. “I’m not that easy to kill off.”
“I kept the clothes I was wearing.”
“Huh?”
She shrugged a shoulder. “With the blood.”
I must have made a face when I got what she was saying.
“I know, it’s creepy.”
“You can throw those away now. I’m not going anywhere. I have a promise to keep.”
She smiled.
“Where’s Dominic?”
She shook her head. “No one knows. He disappeared after that night. Good riddance.”
“He’s not my father’s son.”
“I know.”
“He wasn’t trying to kill me. You know that, right?”
“I don’t care, Salvatore. He almost did.”
I decided to drop it for now. “My father?”
“He had a heart attack, but he’s fine. He’s home already. Roman’s been running the show apparently. Probably waiting for you to get well enough to take over.” She snorted, her face changing, darkening.
“He had a heart attack?”
“I guess seeing one son shoot another was too much even for his cold heart.”
A knock came on the door. We both turned to see Roman peek his head in.
“I heard he was awake.”
“Come in,” Lucia said and stepped aside.
“Where are your crutches?” Salvatore asked me.
“You’ve been out a while. Long enough, my ankle’s mostly fine.”
“You should use them—”
“Bossy.”
“I need to talk to you,” Roman said to me, glancing at Lucia.
“I’ll wait outside,” Lucia said, picking up her bag.
“You can stay,” I told her.
She shook her head. “It’s fine. I’ll get some coffee.”
“Thank you,” Roman said.
Once she was gone, he sat in the seat she’d occupied and took a folder out of his briefcase.
“How are you feeling?”
“I’ve been better. What’s going on? Fill me in.”
“You know about your father’s heart attack?”
I nodded.
“Well, Franco is home and recovering. He’s not doing well, though, Salvatore.”
I didn’t reply.
“He wanted to come and see you, but the doctor advised him against it.”
“Okay.” Was he telling me that so my feelings wouldn’t be hurt?
“He knows you saved his life.”
“I didn’t do it for him. I did it because I knew my brother would regret it for the rest of his.”
“You have every right to feel the way you feel.”
“I don’t need you to tell me that.”
He inhaled a deep breath.
“Where’s Dominic?”
“I don’t know. He disappeared after the shooting. No one knows. He didn’t go home, didn’t pack, didn’t take anything with him. Just left.”
“Is it true?”
Roman nodded.
“And you knew?”
“I’m the only one apart from your mother and father who knew. He regrets having told him.”
“He should.”
I cursed my father for having told Dominic like that. What purpose did it serve? It would only wound Dominic. Perhaps irreparably.
“Franco is no longer able to manage the family, the businesses, anything, Salvatore. I’ve been doing it until you’re recovered.”
We studied each other for a long time. I just couldn’t tell what my uncle was looking for.
“I have papers here, things I want to go over.”
A small knock came on the door. Lucia opened it.
“Not now,” I said to him. “Just take care of everything for now.”
“I can come back,” Lucia said.
“No, you stay. Roman, thanks for your visit.”
Roman took his dismissal with grace and left. Lucia sat back down in the same chair.
“Coffee is so crappy here,” she said, setting the untouched paper cup on the table nearby.
Before we had a chance to talk, though, the doctor walked in to look things over and told me I’d be home in three days’ time. Lucia vacated her chair and stood back and watched, giving the doctor room. Every time I looked at her when she didn’t know I was, I saw the worry on her face. My mind traveled back to what I’d told her. What I’d promised her. Freedom, as soon as I was boss. Freedom, once I knew she was safe. A quiet life. Happiness. I wanted it for everyone I loved. I wanted it especially for her.
24
Lucia
Salvatore moved into a bedroom downstairs while he recovered. I slept beside him, taking care not to touch the still tender spot the bullet had ripped into. I knew he felt pain, but he insisted on less and less medication, saying he could manage it. Within a day of being home, he could walk on his own to the bathroom, although it wore him out.
“I hate this,” he grumbled a week later after one of his visits to the bathroom. “I hate being weak.”
I tucked the blanket up to his waist. “You’re getting stronger every day.”
“Not fast enough.”
“You hate having someone else take care of you. You’re so used to taking care of everyone and everything and being in charge of it all but can’t stand to be in a position where you need others yourself.”
He studied me, then looked beyond me to the waning light outside the window.
“Let’s sit outside.”
“I’ll get your wheelchair.” I’d already stood to unfold it. He hadn’t used it except for the time they’d rolled him in here in it.
“No.”
I looked back to find him rising on his own.
“Jesus, Salvatore, it’ll only take longer if you don’t take care—”
“I said no,”
He leveled his gaze on mine, giving me a glimpse of the man I knew him to be—rough and tough and sexy as hell.
He must have seen the change in me too, because his expression softened, and his gaze rolled over my body.
I swallowed, my nipples tightening, my belly fluttering. Just one look from him, and I shuddered.
“Okay,” I said, clearing my throat. Then, without asking his permission, I opened the bedroom door and called out to Marco. “He’s too stubborn to use the wheelchair, and I can’t support his weight, so maybe you can walk with him.”
Marco gave Salvatore a look then glanced back at me. What he saw in my face must have trumped what he saw in Salvatore’s, because he put Salvatore’s arm over his shoulder and held on to his waist.
“Come on, boss.”
Salvatore shook his head. “You’ll answer for that later,” he told me.
“Is that another promise?” I gave him a dirty grin and walked ahead, taking my time, knowing he was watching my ass as I led the way out back.
Once Salvatore was settled, Marco left us. We sat quietly, watching the light dance along the surface of the swimming pool. Salvatore held my hand.
“I’ve been thinking,” he said, then stopped.
I glanced at him, but he looked straight ahead.
“I’m going to hand it all over to Roman.”
“What?” I didn’t expect that.
Salvatore looked at me. “I only have one thing to do as boss, then I’m walking away.”
“You’re free, Lucia. I’ll talk to Roman tomorrow, destroy the contract, and draw up a new one, so they can’t touch you or your family ever again. You’ll be free of me, of all of us.”
Free of him?
I watched his eyes. Soft again. Like they’d looked the day we’d been forced to sign that terrible piece of paper. Gentle. I’d been wrong when I’d thought he was like them. A monster. This was the real Salvatore. It had always been there, lying beneath the fear.
Only thing was, I didn’t know if I wanted to be free of him at all anymore.
I cleared my throat. “I can’t leave you alone while you’re not yet recovered.”
“I’ll be fine,” he said, then looked away from me again.
“Salvatore—”
We started to speak at once, but he won. “I’ll make sure you have enough money to set yourself up, buy a house, take some time—”
I pulled my hand free of his. “I told you before. I don’t need your money.” I turned the back of my head to him in case he saw me wipe away a stupid tear.
We were back to this.
He picked up my hand and squeezed, making me look at him. If he saw my eyes were wet, he didn’t mention it.
“I’m going to take care of you, whether you like it or not, so just accept it as a part of life.”
“Do you know what you’re going to do?” I asked, swallowing a lump in my throat, not sure what else to talk about, needing there not to be any silence between us because in that silence, I would fall apart.
“Sell this house. Move. Look for Dominic. I don’t know.”
“You’re worried about him.”
“Yeah. He needs someone now, after everything. Not sure he wants it to be me, but I’m going to try.”
“Can you walk away from it, though? Can you just up and leave?”
“I’m going to.” There was a long pause. “What about you? Where do you want to go?”
“My sister is putting the house up for sale. I think it’s a good idea to start fresh. She, Luke, and Effie are looking at Florida.” For a moment, I thought I would go too, but then the thought of being without him made me stop. Didn’t I want this? Didn’t I want my freedom?
Strange, how priorities shifted. I thought I’d always want revenge for what they had done to my family, but that had all slipped away. All the anger, the hate, it just wore me down to think about it, and now, it was gone.
“Salvatore,” I started, but again, we spoke at once, our voices and gazes colliding.
“If you don’t know…it will take some time to sell the house. Maybe you can stay…” He trailed off.
I nodded. “That would be good. Izzy and Luke need their space, and I can help you get the house ready and make sure you’re—”
He took my face in his hand and drew it to himself to kiss me, swallowing up the empty words.
“I want to make love to you.”
“The doctor said—”
“I need you, Lucia. I’ve needed you for so long.”
25
Salvatore
I kept my promise to Lucia. Roman came to the house the following morning and handed me the initial contract she and I had signed. I set it aside and had him draw up another one. This one forgave any and all debt any DeMarco owed any Benedetti, real or perceived, and the two families were no longer bound in any way. And it could not be overturned at any time in the future.
I signed it and had a copy sent to Isabella. I would deliver a copy to my father personally. This insane vendetta was finished. I ended it as one of the two things I did during my hours-long rule over the Benedetti family before I gave everything—the reign, the rule, the power—over to Roman.
It was another week before I could move back upstairs to my own bedroom and another month before I was fully healed. All that time, Lucia stayed with me, caring for me like I didn’t remember ever being cared for by anyone apart from my mother.
I also saw Natalie and Jacob. She came to give me the news she too was moving away, along with her parents. She didn’t trust anyone but me, and with Roman now taking over and Dominic somewhere out there, she didn’t feel safe. She promised to keep in touch with me, though, and I let her go, let her take my nephew with her. I would miss them. It was another piece of Sergio that was gone, but I knew part of him would always be with me, no matter what.
As far as the house, it turned out I didn’t have to put it on the market. An anonymous buyer bought it outright, furnished, within hours of my talking to a real-estate agent. We needed to be out within two weeks. I let Rainey go with a hefty bonus to tide her over until she found work. I didn’t need to worry about Marco. He would go to work for my uncle. Lucia and I simply had to pack up our personal things, and we were free to truly walk away.
Those last two weeks in the house were strangely more bitter than sweet. Lucia would go to Florida, where her sister had already gone with Effie, while Luke took care of the selling of their house. I hadn’t yet decided what I would do. I couldn’t think about it for some reason. And I still had one more person to see before I could close this long chapter of my life.
“Can we take the Bugatti?” Lucia asked, a glint in her eye when we got to the garage.
“No.” That was my baby, and she was insisting on driving ‘considering my injuries.’ “We can take the BMW.”
She pouted but picked up the keys.
“It’s not that I don’t trust you driving it,” I started, “although I don’t. But the less bumpy the ride, the better.”
“My driving is just fine.”
“We’ll see.”
“You nervous?” she asked.
“About your driving?” I joked, but I knew what she meant.
She only glanced at me as she pulled out of the garage.
“Not nervous, just want it over. I know he’s my father, and maybe it’s wrong, but I don’t feel anything close to love for him.”
“Have you forgiven him?”
I thought about it. “For being a complete and utter failure where it counted?”
She shrugged a shoulder, but her gaze was serious. “Regret sucks, Salvatore.”
I knew she still had some of that.
“I actually have, I think. The way he’s chosen to live his life—well, look at him. He’s alone. He’ll die alone. Roman will be there for him, but not us. I don’t feel any anger toward him anymore. It’s like it’s sated or something. Not because I’m happy he’s alone. I’m not. But he made his bed, and I’m making my peace. It’s all I can do.”
“You’re good, Salvatore.”
Once we reached my father’s house, I climbed out of the car. I held the envelope containing the new contract. It was symbolic, nothing else, but it was necessary for closure.
“Ready?”
Lucia wound her arm through mine. We’d gotten used to each other’s company, but when she did things like this, touching me like this, it still felt strange, special. It made my heartbeat quicken.
“You don’t have to go in there.” I watched her; she watched the house.
“I want to be there with you, Salvatore,” she said, turning to me.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
We both took a deep breath and walked up the stairs and to the large, foreboding double doors. I rang the bell, and Roman opened the door, expecting us.
“Morning,” he said, quickly hiding his surprise at seeing Lucia.
“Morning.”
“Come in. He’s waiting for you in the study.” I nodded and took a step. Roman put his hand on my shoulder.
“Should I keep Lucia company—”
“No, thank you,” I said, tucking her arm tighter to me.
He stepped back. “I’m glad you came.”
I nodded, and we moved forward, neither of us speaking. Knocking once on the study door, I pushed it open, not expecting to find what I found. I heard Lucia’s gasp, but I had
schooled my face for so many years that masking my surprise came more easily than I thought it would.
“Salvatore,” my father said after glancing at Lucia on my arm.
“Father.” They’d moved a hospital bed into his study. It stood in place of his desk, which was pushed to the side. I remembered that desk, how I’d trembled on the opposite side of it when I’d been called in for this reprimand or that growing up. There had always been something he was displeased with.
“Don’t just stand there, come inside. It’s not contagious.”
His bitterness held an edge of regret. I heard it clearly.
We both entered. He adjusted his positon, so he sat up taller. He looked so much smaller than the last time I’d seen him. So much older. Dark circles ringed his eyes, and his cheeks looked sunken. He must have lost about twenty pounds too.
“I came to say good-bye,” I said, not wanting to delay this any further.
He once again glanced at Lucia before returning his gaze to mine.
“I assume you’ve seen the contract?”
“Roman showed it to me.”
“Well, here’s your own copy.” I set it on the foot of the bed. “You were wrong to tell Dominic. He never needed to know.”
He took in a deep breath, and his hand trembled, but his eyes remained fixed and hard.
“It was a mistake,” he said. “One I will pay for until the end.” No one spoke for a long moment. “Will I see you again?”
“No.”
He lowered his gaze to the envelope then back to me.
“I forgive you,” Lucia said, surprising me. “I forgive you for everything you did, all the hurt you caused.”
He only stared at her, but I couldn’t read his eyes.
“We never could please you, huh? None of us, not my brothers, not our mother, not really.”
“I’ve never been an easy man, son. Don’t think I don’t know that. And don’t think I don’t know I’ve made mistakes. I only did what was best for my family.”
“I believe you believe that.”
I released Lucia’s hand then and went to him. Leaning down, I kissed the top of his head. “Good-bye, father.”
His eyes glistened when they met mine, and he nodded but didn’t speak. I walked away and took Lucia’s hand. Without a backward glance, we left the house, got into the car, and drove away.
Salvatore: a Dark Mafia Romance Page 22