“Well, you can’t take my famiglia. I won’t let you,” he snarls.
Gavino arches a brow, his lips curving up into a grin. “Oh, no?” he asks. “I can’t?”
Watching him, I wonder if he didn’t have this planned all along. It’s not like Gavino to have someone associated with him that he hasn’t fully vetted, and Valerius being part of whatever the fuck he claimed he was part of, the Ramos family, I didn’t think that shit would just fly under the radar.
“Tell me, Trevisani. How well do you check your men before you allow them to become Made?” Gavino asks.
There it is.
Fuck.
How did I not realize this? How did I not know that Valerius was from the Trevisani famiglia? How did Gavino even get him to work for him? I have a million fucking questions, but can’t ask a single one, at least not yet.
Trevisani’s face pales and he presses his lips together. That’s when I know that Gavino was playing with him, has been playing with him, and knew all along what was going on. He just didn’t let us know, and maybe he didn’t realize Valerius would take shit to the level that he did. But Gavino knew something was dirty.
“I check my men,” Trevisani mumbles.
Gavino lets out a bark of laughter. “You don’t do shit,” he announces. “You’re a piss-poor excuse for a boss. I could go through and clean house, get rid of half your men because they’re either stealing from you, they’re not property vetted and should have never been Made, or they’re just plain scuzzy.”
“Watch your mouth, Santoro,” he growls.
Gavino shakes his head, laughing at Trevisani’s audacity. And I don’t blame him. “Valerius was part of the Ramos family. You know the ones that we wiped the fuck out? I didn’t go through all that fucking work of ridding the world of Angel Ramos just to have some estranged daughter and one of his old lapdog’s kids try to take me down, try to take down one of my women.”
“Then why did you ask me for a guard?” Trevisani asks, his tone defensive again.
There is a moment of silence where Gavino just stares at him, watches him, then clears his throat. “Because, unlike you, I went through all of your men and found the connection. I wanted to see who you would send me if I asked for someone and you sent exactly who I wanted. Your operation is fucked, you’re broke as fuck, and you’ve lost your grip.”
“What are you going to do, strip me of my own famiglia? Strip my children?” he demands.
Gavino holds his gaze. He doesn’t flinch, doesn’t blink—nothing. What he does is stare at him and let him think about the situation. Trevisani is weak, his famiglia is weak, and Gavino has the upper hand. If Gavino goes to his Underboss, to any of his Capos with this, they’ll dethrone him themselves.
Even if Trevisani didn’t hire Valerius himself, he is responsible for him and the fuck tried to hold a woman against her will, marry her against her will, and had plans to rape her and breed her until he was finished with her.
Not fucking acceptable, even if she wasn’t my goddamn wife.
“Wait,” Rosana cries out, causing everyone in the room to turn and look at the doorway.
ROSANA
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Gavino growls. “This is business, Rosana.”
“I know,” she breathes before her gaze flicks around the room and lands on me. She gives me a weak smile, but I don’t meet it. I’m not sure what the fuck she’s doing here.
“Mr. Trevisani. I’m sorry about Courtney,” I whisper.
Everyone freezes. Then I hear Gavino’s voice roar. “Speak,” he demands.
“I thought you knew everything, Santoro?” he barks.
Pressing my lips together, Salvatore wraps his fingers firmly around the bicep of my arm and he gives me a firm shake. “You better start talking and you better start now,” he demands.
“I didn’t know right away. But a couple times Courtney mentioned her grandfather. It took me a while to put it together, then I realized when she started really acting shady. Mr. Trevisani was Courtney’s grandfather. His daughter had an affair with Ramos. That’s the only thing it could be.”
“All of you are idiots, but the girl is not dumb,” he announces.
Shaking my head, I lick my lips. “That’s not it. I’m not that smart, but I started thinking about it today. Valerius claimed that he was sent to protect her, by her father. But no way would that have passed, not even the shadiest background check could have overlooked that connection. It had to have been deeper, different.”
Gavino’s eyes are wide, he’s shocked as shit, and I don’t blame him. I didn’t quite get it until this morning. I started thinking about everything that’s happened and the anger toward Gavino and the famiglia.
It all couldn’t have just been some estranged father vendetta thing, it had to have been deeper, and it was.
It is.
“What do you suggest we do now, Trevisani?” Gavino asks. “You were related to this girl, this girl who tried to harm another woman in the famiglia, who tried to infiltrate the Zanetti famiglia. Then there’s the fact that you sent me someone who was supposed to do the same. You orchestrated all of it, no?”
There’s a long moment of silence, and then he finally speaks. Trevisani admits to it. He’s stuck and can’t see a way out, but I also think he felt desperate which makes me sad, but not sad enough to want him to keep control of an entire organization still.
“Give my son my position,” he tries to demand.
Gavino chuckles. “You’re all out of leverage. You had it before you tried this half-cocked plan. You no longer do.”
“It wasn’t half-cocked if it almost worked,” Trevisani sneers.
We’re all quiet for a moment because he’s not wrong. It did almost work, but almost doesn’t get the job done—thank God.
“Can I just ask one question before I leave?” I ask.
Salvatore releases my arm, but he doesn’t step away from me. All of the men in the room turn to me, but it’s Gavino who speaks.
“You may, Rosana.”
Licking my lips, I turn to Trevisani, my eyes focused on his and not looking anywhere else. He looks weathered, tired, and old. I don’t know why he’s fighting so hard, but maybe he just loves his famiglia so much, he’s fighting until the death. I don’t know.
“Why me?” I ask. He doesn’t say anything immediately. But I don’t let him off the hook, not for this. “All of this, the charade with the guy who used a Libertad’s name, finding me at work, striking up a relationship—purposely getting me pregnant? Why? What did I ever do?”
His words, his explanation, don’t make me feel any better. In fact, it makes me feel a bit worse. “It was easy. You were an easy target. You didn’t live near your family, you stayed away for the most part. You liked men, you didn’t have a lot of friends. You were easy.”
My heart cracks at his words, mainly because he’s spot on. He’s absolutely right and I hate that so much.
“Outside, Rosana. Go and see what Luciana is up to, but don’t leave the grounds,” he growls.
Taking a step back, Salvatore doesn’t touch me again and I don’t blame him. I’m a slut who has no friends. I was an easy target. Trevisani is right and my entire body hurts knowing that and realizing that they saw it before I ever did, that it was just that transparent.
Walking out of the office, I don’t go in search of Luciana. I don’t want to see anyone. Instead, I hurry toward the backyard. Their home is gorgeous, including the yard, so I just stand on the patio and stare at the greenery and flowers that litter the grounds.
I stay there for too long—staring.
“Rosana,” Luciana’s voice calls out.
Turning my head, I look back at her. She has a tray in her hands, but I can’t look anywhere but her face. Pity. She knows. I hate that. I feel like I’ve had enough pitying looks aimed toward me to last a lifetime.
“Sit,” she softly demands.
I walk over to a chair and I do just that.
My body follows her directions. My brain is too muddled, too all over the place to even think about anything right now.
“You are not easy. You have friends, and you are not some kind of slut,” she announces.
“They told you,” I say, shifting my gaze off to the side.
She shakes her head. “I heard. Nobody else is home. It can echo when people yell and that asshole yelled.”
“What do I do?” I ask. “He wasn’t wrong.”
Luciana snorts. “He was. He was so very wrong. You’re smart, you’re beautiful, and every woman in the famiglia thinks you’re wonderful. You have friends, you just aren’t ready to accept us yet. You’re working through your shit, but we are here for you.”
“I shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t be married to Salvatore. He was right to want a divorce. I was played, easily.”
Luciana snorts. “Girl, all those men were played. Do you really think Gavino knew any of this shit beforehand?”
My head snaps up and my eyes widen at her words. “What?” I breathe.
She giggles softly. “He has a wonderful poker face. I love my husband, but he had not one fucking clue about any of that shit, not until a few days ago after he started looking into Valerius deeper. And you uncovered the truth about Courtney.
“So, you are not the only one who was played, they all were. They just know how to play the game, mainly because they’ve been doing it a lot longer and have had more practice than they probably should.”
Relief.
That’s what I feel from her words. Reaching for a cookie, I take it, my appetite suddenly appearing again. Smiling, I take a bite and watch her for a moment. She’s so sophisticated and cool, a true Boss’s wife.
“No more beating ourselves up for things we can’t change, yeah?” Luciana asks.
Smiling, I nod my head. “Yeah,” I whisper.
It’s probably a lie, but it sounds like a really, really good idea. I’m honestly tired of beating myself up at this point. I’ve been doing it for months now—nonstop.
I’m ready to see my baby on the ultrasound machine and then make love to my husband in that order because, to be honest—I need to see my child and know that it’s healthy after everything that I’ve been through.
That’s what I’m ready for—a whole lot of all that.
Chapter Thirty-Six
SALVATORE
The minutes tick by as we watch Trevisani squirm in his seat. Nothing is as it seemed and I’m sure that it shouldn’t surprise me at all, but it really has.
It’s shocked the shit out of me, really. Gavino watches Trevisani for a long moment, his gaze almost penetrating as he stares at him, then he nods his head as if he’s made an internal decision.
“I’m not killing him here with my wife in the next room. Load him up, the blood isn’t even dry from Valerius yet, but it seems that we have another body to dispose of.”
Trevisani opens his mouth, undoubtedly to yell, but Massimo is behind him with a gag and wraps it around him quickly. Trevisani mumbles unintelligible words and is completely ignored.
He’s a dead man walking at this point and nothing he attempts to say will get him out of the hole that he’s dug for himself.
I watch as Arlo and Massimo drag him out of the room. Then I turn to Gavino. “What the fuck happens now?” I ask.
He arches a brow. “We kill him, actually, I think you will.”
“Me?”
He nods his head once. “That fuck targeted the woman that’s now your wife.”
“He did it to fuck with the Zanetti famiglia. I just killed Valerius, you can have the honors.”
Gavino smirks, his gaze finding mine. “I’m a boss, no need to lose my head.”
“Oh, so that’s it. You want me to take care of the problem for you?” I ask. “I’m a paper pusher. I do my damage in court. The past few months have been the most I’ve ever been involved with famiglia business in my life.”
“Feel good?” he asks. “To get your hands dirty?”
Knowing that my father would hate this. He would say that I’m behaving beneath my station of Consigliere. My lips curve up into a grin. “You know that it does, and it also feels rebellious.”
He snorts. “Your fucking father,” he grunts. “Let’s end this, put the whole thing to bed.”
“Then figure out who is going to take over the Trevisani famiglia and act as a boss?” I ask.
He chuckles. “Exactly.”
Looking over to him, I watch him for a moment, then nod my head once. “I’ll happily take care of it, Gavino. Everything you’ve done for me, for Rosana. You know that you’re my famiglia, but you’re also my friend.”
He doesn’t say anything right away. His eyes shift around the room as if he’s thinking about something, but knowing Gavino, it could be anything at all. He slowly stands to his feet, grabbing his phone off his desk, and shoves the device into his pocket.
“What do you think of Ermanno?” he asks as we walk out of the office and toward the front of the house.
I glance into the house, looking for Rosana, but I don’t see her anywhere. Leaving, I wonder where she is, but I know that I can’t ask, not yet at least. Gavino is focused, and he has something on his mind.
“He’s a good man,” I say, though I’m not sure why he’s asking me about any of the men. I don’t really know them that well.
Gavino lifts his hand and motions toward Paul. I hear him tell Paul where we’re going and then he slips into the back seat of the car and I follow behind him. Closing my eyes, I let my head fall back slightly. I’m tired, not just physically, but I’m all over exhausted.
“Ermanno,” he repeats. “He’s secretly gone to your office and you’ve gone to him more than once. Tell me why,” Gavino demands.
I have a strong suspicion that he knows exactly why Ermanno has been to see me, but I don’t say that. Instead, I tell him. Granted, ethically I’m not supposed to say shit, but this isn’t a regular case. This is famiglia and Gavino is the boss.
“He wished me to draw up divorce paperwork for him and Valentina,” I state.
Gavino’s lips press together, and he nods once. “I thought as much. I was afraid of this and this whole situation will put a damper on things.”
There’s a moment of silence, and I open my eyes to look over to him. “You want him to take over the Trevisani famiglia?” I ask.
“I did,” he says. “He can’t if he’s getting divorced.”
“I don’t think they’ve started any proceedings. He hasn’t given me the official go-ahead to file anything, yet,” I explain.
“Do you know the reason?”
Pressing my lips together, I roll them a few times before I suck a breath through my teeth, making a hissing sound. “I do,” I say, keeping my voice low.
“Do I want to know?”
“It’s ugly,” I admit.
“I need to know what I’m dealing with if I want to make him a boss because he has to be married. So I need to know if this can happen, if they can make it work.”
“They’ve had four miscarriages, haven’t been able to conceive, and he caught her cheating on him.”
“Cazzo,” he curses.
“That’s about it.”
Gavino lets out a heavy sigh as Paul pulls up to the warehouse next to a black SUV. Gavino doesn’t make a move to get out of the car, not yet at least, and neither do I. He’s staring straight ahead, his gaze probably not focused on anything at all as he seems lost in thought, then he turns to me.
“I’ll talk to Ermanno. He’s the only man I can use for the job. May need you to draw up a few contracts, but I definitely need one for him taking over, same as the other ones I’ve done, yeah?”
Nodding my head once, I clear my throat. He turns to me, waiting to hear what I have to say. “You’re an empire, Gavino. You’ve taken over the five largest famiglias in New York.”
Gavino’s lips curve up into a grin. “It almost cost me my life, but I have done it, hav
en’t I?”
“You have,” I agree.
“Wish I had time to celebrate.”
“You don’t?”
He shakes his head. “More takeovers to plan. I want the east coast, cugino.”
“You’ll get it.”
Gavino laughs wholeheartedly. “I know I will. I’m Gavino Santoro.”
ROSANA
After a snack with Luciana and a long talk, I feel better about everything. I know that I’m still a mess, that my life is upside down, but I no longer feel guilty for my part in all of this.
I also don’t feel like a complete idiot. I mean, I feel a little stupid, but what’s done is done. Most importantly, I no longer feel completely alone.
Walking into Salvatore’s condo, I toss the keys on the counter and look around the space. It’s very contemporary, very modern, but it’s also masculine and comfortable.
I would like to maybe change a few things around, add a little bit of myself to the place if I’m going to stay and I am going to do just that, too. I’m staying right here, staying married to this man even if he is scared of us, worried about the future. I’ll be strong enough in that sense for both of us.
Reaching into my bag, I root around and look for my cell phone, then let out a heavy sigh and throw my bag onto the sofa when I realize that I don’t have a phone any longer. I wanted to send Salvatore a text, find out when he’ll be home.
Making my way into the kitchen, my stomach growls, and I decide to make something to eat. Opening the fridge, I’m a bit taken aback by the lack of food. I didn’t live here long, but there was always food in the fridge, always something.
Frowning, I wonder what Salvatore has been eating while I was gone. From the looks of it, he was eating about as well as I was… not well at all, just enough to survive. It’s too late in the evening to head out to the store, so I call in an order for takeout.
Becoming her Salvation (Zanetti Famiglia Book 7) Page 24