by Sienna Mynx
“This is bullshit! Are you sure Shae said these things?” Carlo asked.
Ringo nodded his head yes.
“What did Eduardo tell Lorenzo?”
“The Donna met with us. She told us to never speak of the incident. The pink hair lady said she lied. She was upset and it was words of anger. But Eduardo thought the birth control part of the tale was true. He said it explained why signora Marietta wasn’t pregnant. He thought if he exposed her to Lorenzo he would be rewarded. I told him not to. I remember when I got a package for Lorenzo and gave it to him, how he put a gun in my mouth and threatened me. No disrespect but he’s a psycho. I told him not to. I called you to tell you about the pink lady leaving. I didn’t want anything else to do with it.”
Carlo remembered the time when Ringo and Carmine were at his place, and Lorenzo walked in with a gun and beat Ringo. He never really understood why.
“Eduardo didn’t listen. He said he would not say anything against you, but he would tell Lorenzo this thing of birth control. I think it’s why Lorenzo killed him.”
“Get up!”
Ringo refused.
“Up!” Carlo extended his hand. He helped Ringo stand. “It was a lie. A stupid fight. I have never betrayed my brother. Never slept with his wife. And she is not on birth control. You forget everything about this. If Gio asks, Domi, anyone, you play dumb. You know nothing. Do you hear me, Ringo?”
“I do. I understand. I have already forgotten,” Ringo said.
“Go back to Sicilia for a few days. I’ll tell you when it’s safe to return.” Carlo reached in his back pocket. He pulled out all the money he had on him. He handed it over to Ringo, who took it and nodded. “Wipe your fucking tears before anyone sees them. Be a man. Go stay with Ciro until I’m ready to leave.”
“Grazie.”
Ringo ran as if the devil was after him. Carlo looked to the sea. Shae saw through him. She was right to leave him behind. He turned and started back toward the rumbling engine of the tractor. In the dark of night they would bury Eduardo and the secret of the kiss. Tonight he vowed never to cross that line again.
**
The phone rang. Isabella’s head lifted off his chest. “That’s him.”
Santo sat up and so did Isabella, she covered them both with a sheet. He reached over after the third ring and picked up.
“News?” asked Kei.
“Giovanni is suspicious. He knows you are out of prison, and he’s tried to confirm your whereabouts.”
“What else?” Kei asked.
“I say it’s time you take her. He’s got the men heavily guarding the women. However the Donna and little Eve will be visiting Our Lady of Lordes church about her attending school. It’s the perfect time to grab them both.”
“I want the boys dead,” Kei said.
“I’m not a baby killer. I told you—”
“Kill the boys and deliver Mira and Eve. And then our business is done. Non-negotiable.”
The line clicked off.
“Well? What did he say?” Isabella grinned.
“I’m not a fucking baby killer!” Santo threw the phone across the room. “I’ll get my revenge on the Battaglias, but I’m not killing Giovanni’s sons.”
“Slow down. Why be upset? You are a man who will do anything to have what he wants. Kei Hyogo still doesn’t know that he is half-blind because of your order to have his eye carved out of his head.” She laughed.
“How do you know that?” Santo frowned.
“Oh, caro, I know many things about you,” she smiled. The agitation he felt pitched. “Kei believes he’s in control but is he really? We are loyal to our cause. Not his. Correct?”
“Cause or no cause, I won’t kill children for him or you.”
“Wait!” Isabella put a hand to his chest to keep him from rising. “Don’t lose focus. If you can’t kill the boys bring them to me. I’ll see that it’s done.”
“Get off of me!” Santo left the bed and paced the floor. “What is wrong with you? Killing bambini? What kind of woman are you?”
Isabella smiled like a hungry serpent. “What kind of man are you? In your feelings about two half-breed brats? The bigger picture, Santo. Stay focused on the bigger picture. We aren’t doing this for Kei. You break Giovanni and the clans will feed on themselves. The plan has always been to give you control. I have the money, the influence, and the men to make you king. You tried with Mottola and you failed. Giovanni is a weak man, and yet your Camorra calls him capo di tutti capi. You must hit him hard. The best strike is to take his sons. You cut out their little hearts out, you break his. After Mirabella and his daughter are gone, he will be on his knees. He will give it all over to you. We stick to the plan.”
He grabbed his pants and pulled them on. Isabella laughed at how hurriedly he dressed. She sounded wicked. And when he dared to look at her again her beauty had faded. She was pure evil. “I’ll deliver Mirabella and that daughter the psycho is crazy about. I’m not killing his sons. You want those kids dead, you find a way to do it.”
“Whatever you say.” She shrugged. “I have plans for them all.”
He walked out with his heart lodged in his throat. Giovanni was like a brother to him. He’d been stripped of everything. Reduced to a trash collector in the Camorra. The boss of all bosses deserved this misery. But there were lines to never cross. Killing children was where he drew his line. No matter what the sacrifice he wouldn’t make that one.
Morning –
Lorenzo opened his eyes. He had a cramp in his neck that reached down to his spine. Marietta was wrapped up in his arms. Her naked body pressed against his. At some time in the night he removed her negligee and made love to her. He now lay with her with no pants or underwear on, just his button down shirt and blazer.
He moved. She curled up tighter on him. Lorenzo didn’t want to let her go. Last night was a blur. The motherfucker Eduardo had the nerve to speak against his wife. Make him question her. The hell he spiraled down into at the thought of Marie betraying him was the darkest place he’s visited in his soul. He loved her. It wasn’t the average kind of sweet kisses and sweet promises love. It was much deeper. His love for Marietta consumed him. It kept him balanced. And though he fucked up regularly in presenting that love to her, it was the purest love he’s had in his life. Each day he obsessed over their future, their life, and the perfect family dynasty he wanted them to have. God gave him a second chance after he sinned against Patri Tomosino. He gave him a third chance when Marietta agreed to be his wife. And then God visited and gave him another. Mancini’s legacy could be his for the taking if he played everything right. He was close to having it all.
Lorenzo felt no guilt. He knew he was right to put a bullet in the leccaculo. After he showered he’d explain himself to Giovanni before the other men spread the news. He reached over and grabbed the blankets. He dragged them up and covered her. Marietta smiled but didn’t fully wake. She was most beautiful when she slept. He kissed her brow and eased off the bed to not disturb her further. Later he’d have one of the men go get her another diamond bracelet from their private jeweler. It would make up for his falsely accusing her last night.
The temperature in the room felt cooler. He shrugged off his blazer and unbuttoned his shirt. As he walked into the bathroom he scratched his jaw. It itched. Unlike Gio he could never stand facial hair. He shaved regularly, and if he forgot his skin became irritated with bumps. Lorenzo removed his shirt. He stood naked before the mirror and sink. He picked up his razor. The shaving cream can was empty. Lorenzo knelt and opened the cabinet. He reached inside and pulled out his bag. Marietta’s makeup bag fell over. Lorenzo tossed his to the sink. He righted her bag and then paused. Countless times he caught her in the bathroom fiddling with her cosmetic bag.
“Why are you constantly with that damn bag?” Lorenzo asked. He reached around her to pluck the bar of soap from its dish, and then turned to go to the shower.
“This is my magic bag, baby. It’s where I
keep all my secrets. How else do you think I stay so beautiful for you?”
He glanced over at her and she removed her lipsticks and then blew him a kiss. He shook his head smiling.
“Bag of secrets? Che palle,” he chuckled. “That’s where you keep them women things.”
“What women things?”
“For your period. Those things.”
“I swear, Lorenzo, you act like a cave man sometimes,” she laughed.
“Bag of secrets,” he said. Lorenzo stood. He unzipped the top. Inside were tubes of crèmes and lipsticks. He turned the bag over and dumped its contents in the sink. A circular plastic disc was one of the last items to drop out. He studied it. What the fuck did he know about birth control pills and how they were packaged? The thing looked odd enough to be something. Was it contraception? He flipped it over. The foil was a circular wheel of broken capsule slots. Lorenzo flipped the compact open. It was a prescription in his wife’s name. The date was just under a month.
“Lo? What are you doing?” Marietta entered through the bathroom door as she tied the front of her robe. She looked to the sink first and then to his hand.
“What is this thing?” he asked.
She turned and walked out of the bathroom. Lorenzo blinked. He was surprised by her immediate retreat. He went after her. She was by the bed twisting her wedding ring over and over.
“Marie?”
“I can explain. I swear!” she yelled at him.
“Why are you yelling?” he asked her.
Her bottom lip began to quiver and her eyes pooled with tears. She stood there twisting her ring over and over on her finger.
“Explain it. Start talking!” he said.
“I-I-I-took those pills before. Not after,” she answered. “And, I tried to tell you before. But you wouldn’t listen. Then we talked about it and I changed my mind. So I didn’t need them anymore. So I didn’t take them.”
“You took them before what? You don’t need what?” he asked. He threw the packet at the wall. “Tell me what they are.”
Marietta put her hands in her hair. She pulled her hair at the root. “I made a mistake.”
“Did you lie to me? DID YOU LIE TO ME?” he shouted loud enough to raise his mother from the dead. Her silence fileted him. It was like she’d taken a blade and carved out his heart. “Did you? DID YOU LIE TO ME?”
“Yes! I lied.”
The confession was not what he wanted. It was not something he was prepared to hear. She could have lied to him again, and he would have convinced himself that it was the truth. He could forgive so many things, but not her betrayal. Not this betrayal. She made a fool of him.
“You did this. You did this,” he said in disbelief. He took a threatening step toward her. He could see his hands wrapped around her throat. He could actually feel her gasping and begging for life as he squeezed the lie out of her mouth once more. But her weeping turned his rage inward. Just like his mother, when the hurt became insufferable, she wept and made him feel guilty about his own pain.
Just like his mother.
Of course she tricked him. Of course it was a lie. No one could love him completely. Her tears were further sullied by her pathetic apologies and garbled excuses. He could hear none of it. Marie yelled and screamed at him while crying. He went deaf. He heard nothing. She didn’t want his child. She never did. And she’d do anything to keep from having it.
“Lorenzo, please forgive me!” Marietta wept. She reached for him but her touch had the adverse affect. It unleashed the fury he kept caged. He grabbed her by both arms and threw her to the bed. And then he turned and destroyed everything in the room he could lift, throw, and rip from the walls. The chair to her vanity went crashing through their window outside. It landed on a car that sounded a car alarm.
“No! No! Stop it!” Marietta screamed. She ran to him to grab him and he threw her off him. She hit the dresser. Her head landed with a loud smack. She nearly lost consciousness. He either didn’t notice or didn’t care. She crawled away. Lorenzo smashed his fist into the wood dresser drawer, and nearly put it through it. He shoved the heavy tallboy and it too went crashing to the floor, barely missing her. Marietta screamed. She kept screaming because her heart hurt too bad to fight back.
Lamps, clocks, even the television was hurled at the wall.
“How could you fucking do this to me? How could you fucking do this?” he shouted.
Marietta put her hands to her ears and closed her eyes, begging for him to listen, to forgive. Praying that she could find a way out, but realizing she was trapped.
**
“What was that?” Mirabella turned from the mirror and stopped braiding her hair. The car alarm blared. Giovanni sat up in bed. They listened for the noise again. A woman’s screams could clearly be heard. Next came pounding on their bedroom door.
Mirabella fled to the kids’ room connected to theirs. Giovanni was up and putting on his robe. He was half dressed when he opened the door with his gun in his hand.
“What is it?” Giovanni asked.
“Boss, it’s Lorenzo and Marietta. They’re fighting. We can’t get into the room.”
“Fighting?” Giovanni asked in confusion. He stepped out into the hall where the screams and shouting could be clearly heard. “It sounds like they’re going to war.”
Mirabella heard Leo. The twins were still sleep in their bed, but Eve was sitting up now looking around. She locked eyes with her mother and pulled back her covers. She was going to get out of bed and come to her. “Stay there, baby. Mommy will be right back.” Mirabella raced from the room. In the hall she could hear Lorenzo’s shouting clearly, and they were on the hall beneath them.
“What is it? What’s going on?” Zia asked her.
“Watch the kids,” Mirabella said. She went after Giovanni and hoped to reach her sister’s room in time.
**
“Smettila di mentire e inizia a raccontarmi la verità! Stop telling me you’re sorry. You’re a fucking liar!” he shouted.
“I didn’t do it to hurt you. I stopped taking the pills over a week ago. I just threw them away. I tried to explain it to you.”
There was nothing left in the room to hit or kick. Lorenzo started to get dressed. He put on his underwear and pants. The men were demanding the door be opened. He ignored them. Marietta found the strength to stand.
“Please don’t leave me,” she said softly. “We have to… talk… work it out. Right, baby? We can figure it out”
“Vaffanculo!” he said.
“Lorenzo, please!” she pulled at his arm.
“Get the fuck off of me!” he yanked away.
“No!” She panicked. She jumped on his back. Marietta wrapped her arms around his neck as tight as she could to choke him. To make him come down to his knees, or at the very least stop him. He was too tall and too strong. She didn’t know what else to do. He struggled to get her off him. He swung left and right. He finally got a hold of her when the door crashed open.
Marietta shrieked and screamed to the top of her lungs.
“What the hell is going on in here?” Giovanni demanded. The men took the question as an order and charged in to break up the fight. Lorenzo must have resisted throwing her off him to keep from hurting her. But Giovanni couldn’t tell if his theory was correct by the look of the destroyed room. The way Marietta screamed and hit at her husband, he again was curious over who was attacking who. Everything but the bed was either shattered or broken.
“No! No! Noooooo!” Marietta screamed like a mad woman. The woman wouldn’t stop screaming. Mirabella pushed past him. He didn’t even know she entered the room. She grabbed her crying sister, who was being restrained. Marietta clung to her when released.
“Take her out of here, Bella. Now!” Giovanni ordered.
Mirabella nodded. She had to help Marietta walk. The woman wailed so loudly that they all believed her pain to be physical. And that further outraged Giovanni. He grabbed Lorenzo and punched him in the face. H
e slammed his fist into his face twice more before driving him to his knees. He pulled him by the hair. “Did you fucking hit your wife? Did you?”
Lorenzo shook his head no. Giovanni let him go. His cousin fell forward on his hands and spat blood. “Out! Everyone, get the fuck out!” Giovanni shouted.
The men left and closed the door behind them. He immediately turned on Lorenzo. “Convince me that you aren’t insane enough to beat your fucking wife in my home!” Giovanni shouted.
“I didn’t hit her!” Lorenzo said. “I was trying to get the fuck away from her!”
“That’s not what I saw when I walked in. Look at this fucking place?” Giovanni kicked the splintered wood.
“It’s personal, Gio. Stay out of it.” Lorenzo staggered to his feet.
“I will not! I will not have you fucking hitting your wife!”
“I didn’t!” Lorenzo shouted him down.
“Then tell me what I walked in on.”
“It’s private!” Lorenzo sat on the bed. “It’s my private hell,” he said.
“None of your fucking business!”
Giovanni wiped his hand down his face. He stepped over what looked like a dresser drawer. He sat on the bed. “Tell me or leave my house. Push me and I’ll make the boys get it out of you. Do you want to confess your private hell to them?”
“She’s not pregnant.” Lorenzo said. “And don’t worry, I was leaving your fucking house.” He got up and went to the closet and brought out his suitcase.
“You went crazy because she can’t make babies?” Giovanni asked.
“Not can’t. She won’t,” Lorenzo said.
“I don’t understand?” Giovanni said.
“She’s not pregnant because she doesn’t want to have my child. She’s been taking birth control pills behind my back,” Lorenzo said.
“You sure about this?” Giovanni asked.
“I caught her lying. I… last night… fuck,” he said shaking his head. “Everything I am, I touch, it all turns to shit.”