by Sienna Mynx
The Mancini Curse
Lihnari, Peninsula—Private Isles of Greece
MARIETTA STEPPED OUT of the tub. The tepid water dripped puddles that glistened in the moonlight. There was no electricity wired in the bedrooms or bathrooms. Only in the kitchen and television room. Marietta dried herself by the mirror thankful for the night. She didn’t mind the darkness. It had become a protective cover for her in the house during the many nights she spent alone when Lorenzo ventured out to get supplies or for is meetings with his friends.
And oftentimes she wasn’t alone. Every now and then she’d catch a shadow of her mother or a glimpse of her. She knew her mother was dead, but her mind was healing itself after the drugs and grief. Conjuring her mothers’ specter and keeping her near helped her remain sane.
Inside the bathroom a mirror glass was propped up on the shelf above the sink. She stepped back to see more of her body, she could herself to her waist. There were a few traces of her pregnancy. Additional weight, but the skin around her stomach had firmed due to her constant beach runs. She turned sideways and touched the sag in her breasts. They were the one thing she couldn’t change. Three weeks after her baby girl was taken her breasts dried up. Now she was barren, or at least that was how she felt. Empty.
You look beautiful baby girl. He’ll think so, her mind whispered in what she imagined would be her mother’s voice. She glanced up to the mirror and saw her mother smile behind her. She smiled in return.
Instead of weakening over her loss she found her robe and covered her body. She swept her long tangles into a ponytail and put the hair to the top of her head. With her fingers she combed through the strands to extend her tightly coiled curls. Marietta tried to smile. It didn’t work the first two times. But on the third time her heart responded.
Marietta tied her robe and picked up the matchbox. She lit a few candles in the bedroom. When she was pregnant she asked for candles. Something to make her room cozier. Carlo refused. Then one day he arrived for conversation and she threw a coffee pot full of hot water at him. It missed, but only barely. That night she got a room of candles and incense. There were times when he’d been so sweet to her she forgot what a horror show he really was. But there were also times he was so cruel that she cried herself to sleep. He had changed. His crazy was split in half and she never knew which half ruled the day. Especially when she brought up—.
Shae, her mother’s ghost whispered the name of her once best friend in her ear.
Marietta paused. “Damn it. Why didn’t I think of her before?”
She rushed out of the room. Lorenzo was on the terrace reclined in a pool chair. She could see the plumes of smoke from his cigar. He was alone. It didn’t mean that the men weren’t close. Marietta stood behind him on the deck. She had missed everything about him when they were separated. Even the stink of his cigar. Life on the run had taken a toll on her. She hadn’t done much since they were reunited to remind him of why he was her man, the only man she’d ever want or need. The absence of their daughter made loving him hard. If only they had her then she’d jump off any cliff for him.
Go on, tell him your idea, her mother again said in her head.
Lorenzo sat up to reach for his beer. He saw her from his peripheral when his head turned. “Everything okay, Marie?” he asked.
Marietta walked over to his left. He abandoned the beer. He reached for her hand and pulled her down to join him on the chair. It held the weight of them both. She relaxed between his legs.
“I’m going to call you Mama Marie, and our daughter Baby Marie.”
“We named her Lorenza. I was thinking we could call her Lola instead.”
“Lola?” Lorenzo laughed.
“Short for Lorenza. Short for Lo. It’s a strong name.”
Lorenzo tucked his cigar to the side of his mouth. “Strong like her Mama. Yes, we’ll call her Lola.”
Marietta kissed his jaw and removed the stinking cigar from his mouth. She extinguished it on the arm of the chair. “I need to talk to you.”
“Can we talk later?” he sighed and rubbed her breast as his head reclined against the pillow softness of the chair.
“Shae.”
“Who?” He opened one eye and looked down at her.
“Think about it baby. Shae. That’s the way we get out of here. She is how we turn Giovanni.”
“How the fuck does Shae matter in all of this?”
Marietta sat up. “Carlo didn’t spend those months in Africa with me to let us both escape and keep my daughter. It makes no sense. Carlo was supposed to kill you. I was supposed to see it. He was going to kill you and bury you on another continent, so the crime could never reach Giovanni, or touch my sister.”
“So?”
“So he didn’t. Not because he isn’t capable. We both know that bastard is capable. He didn’t because of you. Because deep down he still loves you as a brother. And the only person he loves more than his brothers is Shae.”
“Carlo hates the puttana. She broke his heart.”
“Hey?” she hit him in the chest. “Don’t call her that!”
“You don’t know the way she fucked up his head in America. Had to clean up that shit. She tossed him aside like garbage. It’s a dead end.”
“I know where Shae is. We bring her back to Carlo. We use Shae to get next to Carlo. It’ll work baby. If she knows Carlo’s next moves, we know Giovanni’s. Think on it. If Gio finds us away from Italy not even his conscience will stop him. You said you needed to work on destroying Giovanni from the inside. This is your way inside.”
“It’s a long shot,” Lorenzo said.
“So is this? How long before Domi and Giovanni find this island? How many men do we have? When was the last time you received money from Catalina? He’s coming for us. This might be our best chance.”
Lorenzo touched her face.
“So you think Shae will help you?” Lorenzo asked.
“No. She hates me. I think Shae would laugh in my face if I asked for help. But Carlo? I don’t buy that she didn’t want him. Shae is just screwed up in the head. Like him. You have no idea how much they are alike. If she thought Carlo was in trouble she’d come running. She loves to rescue people. It’s her thing.”
“Mmm, my smart wife. It’s worth a try. Fuck the Ndrangheta! You are the real boss.”
Marietta smiled. She snuggled him. He eased his hand inside the front of her robe and ran his palm down her belly to her sex. He pulled on her pubic hair.
“Owe!” She hit him playfully and laughed as if tickled. He cupped her pussy. Every time Lorenzo touched her she felt freed to believe in his view of the world. A world where Giovanni and her sister didn’t exist. A time where she could be selfish and spoiled at all at once. A time where they’d have their daughter and many more children in their image. But even with her vivid imagination of teleportation she knew exactly where she was. The only place in the world she’s ever truly felt safe. Marietta eased on top of his lap and parted her thighs.
She captured his face in her hands. “I’ve missed you.”
“Why haven’t you let me touch you?”
“I wasn’t ready,” she confessed.
Lorenzo licked his lips and looked down at her breasts. His gaze then lifted to hers. “You ready now?”
She offered him proof of her passion with a kiss that curled her toes. And she knew he was believer again by the way he responded. Kissing him was insane. She was swept away by the urgency and greed in which he claimed her. And she wasn’t released until he deemed it so. His lips skimmed from her mouth, down her chin to the curve of her neck. She braced her hands on his shoulders and tilted her head back. In doing so her breasts heaved and his hot mouth coursed a line down her collarbone to her left nipple where it sealed another kiss.
Marietta gasped. The world fell away. Only they existed. Her and her man.
“You like that,” he whispered against her skin as his mouth found another nipple and sucked.
“Yes,�
� she exhaled.
“What do you want?” he asked before he licked up the valley between her breasts.
“Your mouth first,” she said.
He chuckled. His hand reached to the back of the chair and released a lever. It dropped flat. Lorenzo smirked up at her and rubbed her thighs. Easing up she straddled his face with her feet flat on the ground and her hands braced just above his head, so she didn’t smoother him with her weight. Lorenzo did just as she asked. Bliss tingled in her pelvis as Lorenzo’s tongue flicked over her clit. Marietta’s lungs squeezed in the air she breathed constricting her chest as his tongue did acrobats. He knew exactly how she liked it, and how she craved him. She grew light headed as the most extreme pleasure intensely gripped her. She grabbed the top of his head and pulled his hair while crying out with the most passionate release.
Before she recovered Lorenzo dragged her back down to his erection and slammed into her. She fell on his chest and kissed him while he delivered upward strokes rapid and fierce in and out of her. “Yes,” she breathed. “I love you.”
Connecting with the love her life had never felt so intensely gratifying until now.
LORENZO LIFTED HIS head on the pillow and looked over to his sleeping wife. She lay with her back to him. All he could see was her curly hair. He moved it and kissed her shoulder. She didn’t stir. Earlier she had convinced him to let her call her friend in America. Carlo’s ex-lover was a risk he didn’t want his wife to take. This was his mess to fix and his mess alone. He got up from the bed and left the room as quiet as he could. There was sparse lighting throughout their new home. The humidity kept them trapped in a claustrophobic heat. He didn’t bother to clothe himself.
The front of his villa was empty. The men were all sleeping in their own quarters. He had ordered two to remain awake for security. A quick peek out of the shutters and he saw they weren’t there. The old Lorenzo would have punished any man who didn’t obey his orders. These men weren’t Battaglia born and raised. They were Sicilian, young, and inexperienced. They were poor enough to follow Lorenzo and foolish enough to believe him when he said he would reclaim everything Giovanni had stripped him of. They were all living on borrowed time.
He took a seat at the table where the phone was left. He dialed his sister, dismissing the late hour. After four rings a man at Mancini’s answered and then the call was routed to her. He waited to hear her voice.
“Lorenzo?” Catalina whispered.
“It’s me.”
“What are you doing calling here? I told you not to.”
“But I—”
“They’re here. Do you hear me? They are all here.”
“Who?”
“Everyone, Gio, Domi, Mirabella the new baby, your baby. Everyone.”
Lorenzo frowned.
“Why?”
“Giovanni wanted his daughter born in Sicily,” she whispered. “He’s on to us. I have to call you back. It’s too dangerous. If they find me on the phone—”
“I need more money.”
“Lo—”
“I know. I’m sorry. But you know the danger I’m in. He’s taken everything Catalina. I’m boxed in. I need your help.”
“Dominic has gone to the courts. All I have now is the house and an allowance. Giovanni controls everything. Everything.”
“How did he do it? We had a judgement in your favor.”
“It was overturned. They have Mirabella’s proxy. She is staking claim over Armando’s money. Saying she has the right since Marsuvio Mancini put her in his will as a legitimate heir. If Armando was to die she would be the next in line. Not Marietta.”
“That’s bullshit! They’re fucking twins. They have equal rights!”
“I know. The court has ruled. If Marietta doesn’t appear before the magistrate to contest the order in the next six months she’s out.”
“Motherfucker!” Lorenzo slammed his hand down on the table. “Gio... this motherfucker is strangling me. If he was a real man he’d put the bullet in me himself and let my daughter go. He’s doing this to my wife and child to break me.”
“I think it’s Domi. Yes, Gio is out for revenge, but Dominic...wants... he wants to control me. Taking Armando’s money from me gives him control.”
“Let me think.”
“Lo?”
“I said let me think!”
“I will have my baby in a few weeks. I can’t fight the family much longer. I can’t help you anymore.”
“You’re going back to the family. Trusting them again? After everything Gio has done to you? What Mirabella has done to you!”
“What we’ve done to each other, Lo. None of our crimes are excusable. Tomosino, Rosetta, we’ve all sinned. It’s not safe in Sicily now. The raids have started. Men born to Omertà are turning against each other to save their hides and they’re confessing. We have so many informants now. Guess who they name? Guess! They are naming you, Armando, but not Gio. I’ve talked it over with Zia. Even if I stay here I’m not sure my baby will be safe as a Mancini. Battaglias owning Mancini’s territory has a lot of people upset. What can we do?”
Lorenzo wiped his hand down his face and digested the news.
“If I turn myself over to Giovanni this stops. Lorenza has her mother again. You and Zia are free of this burden. It all stops,” he said.
“Yes,” Catalina said. “It all stops.”
“I’ll lose them, Catalina. I’ll lose Marietta and Lorenza forever.”
“They’ll be safe. Giovanni must accept that you are his brother, as I’ve accepted it. You two have to come to his terms and then we can all deal with the past, so we can all have a future again.”
“All my life I’ve considered him my brother. All my life I’ve been loyal to Gio, but not anymore. He took my daughter from me, when I’m the one who helped him find his Evie. He’s gone too far.”
“You both have.”
“He’s gone too far!” Lorenzo shouted.
Catalina sighed. “I don’t know what else to say. What to do?”
“Promise me. No matter how this ends. You will protect Marietta and my daughter. I need to know that.”
“I promise, I will. I swear it.”
“I’m sorry.”
“For Patri’s death?” Catalina asked. “For Giuseppe Calderones?”
“No. I’m sorry for Armando,” he answered. “I didn’t believe in you two. Not even when I saw it with my own eyes. But you’ve changed. Whether I liked him or not, there was something special between you. I took that from you. I’m sorry, piccoletta. I always wanted you to be happy, little sister.”
Catalina sighed. He thought he heard her weep. But her voice was clear when she spoke again. “Run, run away, Lorenzo. Maybe in a few years Giovanni will have it in his heart to forgive you. I’ll protect your daughter. You know he will never let anything happen to her. If you can’t face him and the consequences, then do the next best thing. Save Marietta from being a widow. Take her and run.”
“Goodbye.”
“Ti amo,” Catalina said.
“Ti amo,” Lorenzo replied and hung up.
He dropped his head back and let go a burdened sigh. He opened his eyes and saw Marietta. She’d come into the room at some point and observed him. One look at her and the loss they shared since their daughter was taken hit him like bullets. He broke. Marietta came over to him and hugged him. He wept against her belly while holding her waist. He’d only cried twice since he married her. Once when he lost her and now. Marietta stroked the back of his head.
“We won’t give up Lo. We won’t. Giovanni won’t win because we’re smarter than him. You’re smarter than him.”
“You’re a good man. You’re a strong man. You’re my gladiator. We’ll fight together. To the bitter end. Okay?”
He nodded. Marietta held back her tears. He could tell. He pushed his face into her belly now flat and absent life and told himself that they could have more kids. They could start over somewhere far away. And one day when he was st
ronger and more powerful he’d find their baby girl and make every living soul who took her from him pay. Marietta pulled him from the chair. She led him back to bed. She clung to him and he held her grateful for having someone who believed in him. And he decided. Catalina was right. For now, they would run. It was the only thing left to do.
STARTLED, CATALINA turned to find Mirabella in the room with her. She held Gino’s hand.
“Uh, hi? Sorry you scared me.”
“Who was that on the phone?” Mirabella asked.
“Phone? Um, no one. I just—”
“I heard you. It was Lorenzo. Wasn’t it?”
“Were you listening at the door?”
“I heard you say his name,” Mirabella said.
“Please don’t tell Giovanni. Please. They have nothing, Mirabella. He’s won. Let them go. Please.”
Mirabella walked inside. She took a seat and put her son on her knee. Catalina could see her sister in-law wasn’t a hundred percent. She’d given birth only a few days ago.
“You need to rest.”
“Not yet. Let’s finish this. You and me.”
“Finish what?”
“Giovanni knows where they are Catalina. I heard him talking with Renaldo. He’s sending us back to Sorrento. Tomorrow. And then he’s going after them. Personally.”
“No. There has to be something you can do?”
“Can you trust me?”
“What?”
“Really trust me. Like I trust him. Let Giovanni handle this. No more interference. None. Let him end the war in this family.”
“He’s going to kill him!”
“And Lorenzo isn’t dead already? Running without his child, without protection. He puts his life and the life of his wife in jeopardy every day. The Armenians want him; the Russians hate him. The N’drangheta are selling him out to the highest bidder. How do you think Giovanni and Domi found him so quickly? He can’t go on forever this way. Giovanni has to end it.”
“How do you know all of this?”
Mirabella pulled Gino closer and he rested against her breast. “I’m his wife. He talked to me now.”