by Sienna Mynx
He laughed. “We are going to have our own soon.”
She cupped his face. “Are you ready to be a Papa?”
“I think I want to be called Daddy,” he smiled.
“Really? Daddy?”
“It’s what the kids said in Virgina. Daddy this, and daddy that. I like it. I’m going to be a daddy.”
He chuckled and stepped back. He pushed his dick into his boxers, and she eased off the counter.
"Hey? This is a crazy question, but is there a record player here?" she asked.
Lorenzo peeked up at her under his dented brow. "Record player?"
"Yeah. Don't tell me you furnished this place. The stuff looks too old. So, you bought it with everything in it? Right?"
He shrugged. "It was never meant to be permanent. Just for now."
"Back at the farm, Minnie gave me something, a record my mama recorded. Something I didn't really get a chance to share with Mirabella. Not sure why. I guess I kind of wanted it for myself. I told her about it, and she didn't seem interested."
"Did you listen to it?"
"No. If we can find a record player, we can listen to it together. Tonight."
"I think I might know where one is." He took her hand, and they walked out of the kitchen. He led her to a back room. It was an office. There were crates of books and a desk with an old iron typewriter. "If there is a record player then it's in here."
"Go get my pink bag. The one I took on the plane. I'll look for the record player.”
Lorenzo left. Marietta moved a few boxes and books aside. She found something that looked like a suitcase. She lifted the clamps on it and to her delight it was indeed a speaker box. The record player still had a needle inside of it. She located the plug and inserted it in the electrical socket. There were several vinyls's in the room. All in Italian. Lorenzo returned with her bag and Marietta grinned.
"Found it. This is a good sign, Lo. Things are going to be okay."
"Here," he handed it to her. "What song did your mother sing? Blues?"
"Minnie said it's an old negro spiritual," Marietta said as she dug out the delicate record that was in bubble wrap. She hadn't forgotten the journal. She wasn't ready to read her mother's words. But she was more than ready to hear her voice.
"What's a negro spiritual?"
"Slave songs. When I was a kid, there was an old lady named Arelene that lived in our neighborhood. The only black woman in our hood and she was married to an Italian man. Chicago was pretty much segregated that way. Anyways, she would tell me about spirituals, gospel songs. There are some that were sung by the slaves. To express their pain, their joy, these songs were like lessons to give to the generations to come after them."
"Your mother wasn’t a slave."
Marietta lifted her head from her work of placing the disc on the album. She smiled. "I guess you could say she was kinda. A slave to her addiction."
"What are we slaves to?" Lorenzo asked. He leaned against the door frame and crossed his big arms over his broad chest.
"I dunno. I'm a slave to my insecurities. And you, you're a slave to your guilt."
"Ah," he said. “Guilt. I’m guilty!”
She smiled. "Okay. Enough of that. Now this is it. This one is called 'Motherless Child.'"
The music played first. Marietta stepped back as if her mother herself had entered the room the moment the songbird began to hum through a few bars. And then she sang for them. The most beautiful melodic voice Marietta had ever heard. Sometimes I feel like a motherless child... a long ways from home... She said she wished she could fly away. There was a bluesy clarity to her voice that reminded her of Billie Holiday and Mahalia Jackson. The song was so painfully rich with soul and emotion, that Marietta put both hands to her mouth. Lorenzo came behind her and hugged her. He wrapped his arms around her, and it was snug feeling. He rested his head on the top of hers as she listened to her mother sing beautifully. Words of prophecy flowed in the melody of her voice. Marietta, often, felt like a motherless child. And her husband had the same old hurt in his heart as well.
"How did we ever get so far alone?" She turned and hugged Lorenzo.
"I don't know, Marie. I don't know, but we have each other now."
She swayed in his arms long after the song ended. She feared exile. But what she feared more was the world without her soulmate. They would have the family she never knew she wanted. Raise as many kids as he needed to feel loved. And in returned she will have him and everything she needed to feel whole in this world.
***
Rosetta snuggled into sleep on her large fluffed pillow. And then she woke. It wasn't a noise or a voice that disturbed her nocturnal bliss. It was the hard point of a gun poking at the center of her forehead.
"Wake up, puttana!"
Her vision blurred for a moment. The shadow over her stood in a position that kept Rosetta from seeing the person’s face. But it didn’t matter. She recognized the voice.
"I said wake up!"
The gun came down hard on her head. The brunt force almost collapsed her consciousness into darkness. Pain slammed inside of her skull, and she gasped with shock. "Are you fucking crazy?"
"Up! Now!"
With her hand on the side of her head, she lifted up from the pillow. Catalina stepped back with a gun aimed at her. "You won't shoot me," she said and rubbed the soreness from her brow
"Oh? You don’t think so?"
Rosetta had never seen her cousin so angry. Half her face was covered by her hair. The other half showed madness and rage in her eyes. "Get up and get dressed. We're going for a ride."
"I'm not leaving with you. Vaffanculo--fuck off!"
"Fine. I'll kill you here."
"Wait!" Rosetta put up both her hands. "You shoot me in here and Giovanni..."
"Giovanni doesn't give a damn about me or what I do," Catalina revealed her neck to Rosetta. Even in the dim light, she could see the bruising. "All my life, I've never seen my brother raise a hand to a woman, any woman. Do you know what he said when he did this to me?"
Rosetta shook her head no.... slowly.
“He said he never wants to see me again. And neither does Domi. I have you to thank for that."
"You have yourself to blame. You were the one sneaking with Armando. It’s not my fault!"
Catalina smiled.
Rosetta found her even scarier when she smiled. It wasn’t normal. There was something wicked about how her eyes sparkled in the darkness. Were they glistening with tears or repressed rage? She couldn’t tell.
"Either you come with me or I pull the trigger. I don't care which way it goes."
"Where are we going?"
"Somewhere special.”
“If I go with you, you’ll kill me. So kill me here.”
“If you go with me and confess to Domi that I did nothing wrong I will spare your life. If you don't, I will blow a fucking hole in your face and then kill myself. I don't want to live with Domi and Giovanni hating me."
Despite the outrageousness of the statement, Rosetta was inclined to believe her.
“Now get up!"
Rosetta eased out of bed. She had done her part. Armando was to do his. Catalina should have been thrown out of Melanzana by now. She should have been banished for her actions. But Dominic disappeared. She wasn't sure what was happening. Slow and easy she dressed. She kept her eye on Catalina who kept the gun on her.
"We can't get out of here. The men won't allow it."
Catalina seemed unfazed. Rosetta wanted desperately to get away from her crazy ass and the gun. She put on her shoes and put her hands up to indicate she was done.
"We are going to the garage. We will take the Maserati. The black one. The tint is dark. It's Giovanni's car. They men won't stop us when we leave." Catalina put on a cap and touched her hair underneath. In the dark, she will look like one of the men.
"You won’t fool them with that hat. We can't..."
"We are leaving. Now!"
Rosetta nodded.
Catalina stepped behind her. She kept the gun to her. Most of the villa had settled down to sleep. Rosetta wasn't sure where Mirabella had gone off to. It was close to dawn, so not many of the men would be up and about. Just a few at the gate. The girls made it downstairs and to the garage without a single person glancing their way. Rosetta felt panic swell in her. Half of her mind said she should scream and alert the house to what Catalina was up to. But the other half of her knew that it would cause Catalina to panic and shoot. The only chance she had was to go with her and convince Dominic that it was all a lie.
Once they were in the car, Catalina kept the gun in her lap and her left hand on it. She pulled the cap down low on her head. She drove so fast toward the gates the men didn't have any choice but to open it and get out of the way.
"Slow down!"
The steep cliff side roads that cut through Sorrento were narrow and treacherous to travel at night. Catalina's speed terrified Rosetta. She spent most of the journey silent with her eyes closed. And then they turned onto a single lane road that drove up into a private residence.
She opened her eyes and tried to discern their location.
"Where are we?" she finally mustered enough courage to ask.
"Sant'Agnello," Catalina said. She parked at the gazebo. She picked up the gun from her lap and pointed it at Rosetta's face. "Get out."
"Is Domi here?”
“Get out.”
“What is this place?"
"It's my dream home. Thanks to you it’s my nightmare. Get out!" Catalina commanded. Rosetta opened the door and got out of the car. She looked up at the mansion. The place looked unoccupied, but it was grand. Big and imposing with many dark windows. Silently she prayed that Dominic waited for them inside.
"Walk." Catalina shoved her.
Rosetta climbed the steps. She glanced back at Catalina and saw the gun was still aimed at her. She went the rest of the steps up to the door. Catalina walked around her and unlocked the door. She then forced Rosetta inside. "Over there!"
To her left were tall French doors that led to an outside terrace. The girls headed in that direction. The view of the sea was breathtaking because the end of the terrace dropped down to the cliffs with no barrier. If you stood close to the edge, you could smell the saltwater of the crashing waves wafting up in the wind.
"Our bedroom was going to be up there. Facing the islands. So every morning Dominic and I could see the sun rise. Dominic said we would put the nursery for our kids over there."
Rosetta took a step back. There was plenty of wind, so she had to push her hair from her face to keep her eyes trained on Catalina. There was no escape.
"This was supposed to be my life. Until you decided to destroy it, puttana!"
"It wasn't me. It was you. Always so perfect. Always so spoiled. You betrayed Domi!"
"Shut up!"
"No!" Rosetta shouted back at her. "Am I supposed to feel sorry for you? Well, I don't. I’m trying to survive. To make a life for myself. I don't give a shit if yours is fallng apart. Mine fell apart years ago. When have you ever done something selflessly? When have you ever cared for anyone but yourself?"
Catalina raised the gun and aimed it.
"So, you are going to murder me now? Do it. Do it!" Rosetta raised her arms. "It won't bring Dominic back. It won't make Mirabella love you, or Giovanni forgive you. They will all hate you forever for killing me. They will!"
Catalina squeezed her eyes shut. Her arm shook, as did her hand. Rosetta didn't want to die. She didn't know what to say to live. At this point, all she could do was pray that Catalina was as big of a coward as she was a crybaby, and somehow she’d come to her senses.
To her surprise, her cousin did just that. Catalina lowered the gun. She began to cry. Hard. The gun dropped from Catalina's hand to her feet. The tears consumed her now. Rosetta looked back at the rising sun. This was paradise. But Catalina didn't deserve this happiness. She did. When Dominic returned from licking his wounds, Rosetta would be there to help him heal. God was on her side.
"Are you smiling?" Catalina asked.
Rosetta’s head whirled up and around. Catalina had taken several steps toward her. She left the gun behind, but both her hands were clenched into tight fists.
"You are smiling. Why? You think all of this is going to be yours? That Dominic is going to replace me with you?"
"I think you looked into the mirror and the glass cracked," Rosetta said. "I think the family is no longer going to pretend you are so perfect. I don't want your house, your fake life. I want my life. I'm smiling because finally I will have it and I won’t be your shadow."
Catalina narrowed her gaze on Rosetta. It was Catalina who smiled, but there was something dark and sinister behind it. "Nothing is waiting for you out there Rosie. No life. No future. You did all of this for nothing. Because you will have nothing!"
Rosetta opened her mouth to challenge her, and Catalina shoved the center of her chest. To Rosetta’s horror, she stumbled, and her feet crossed over each other. Her arms extended and flapped. She was dangerously close to the edge. She looked back and knew two more steps, and she would go over. Catalina was before her. She reached out to plead with her for help.
Catalina shook her head no. All of this occurred within seconds; that felt longer and longer. When death was near time stood still.
"No! No! Help me!" Rosetta pleaded.
Catalina shoved her once more, and Rosetta tried to grab her cousin’s arm to pull her forward with her, but her grip slipped. She felt herself going back. And then she went over. Rosetta screamed, and her body flipped in a tumbling summersault as she began to fall at an increasing speed. She could see the jagged rocks washed over with sudsy waves of the sea. She crossed her arms over her face in terror, and kicked her legs, praying she would hit the water and not the rocks. Her body smashed into the side of the edge of the cliffs, and her head hit the pointed ridge of the rocks cracking like an egg. Her death cry for help was cut short.
Catalina walked over to the edge and stared down. Rosetta’s body was twisted into an awkward pose with one leg bent back to her waist. The waves washed over her, but she wasn't pulled out to the sea. She lay there dead. Catalina sat down on the edge of the cliff. She looked up and watched the sunrise. It was her turn to smile.
***
Mirabella didn't sleep. After making sure Catalina was in bed and safe, she went to her kids’ room. She sat in the rocking chair next to her son's crib to watch over them. The scene with She was terrified and worried for her husband. There had to be something to stop Giovanni from self-destructing. Something to protect the family from his rage until she found a way to help him see past it.
The chair stopped rocking. An idea formed that was just as crazy as the horror they were all trapped inside of now. She got up from the rocking chair and went to her room. She sat on her bed and picked up the phone. Mirabella took a deep breath and dialed.
"I want to speak to my brother. This is Mirabella Battaglia calling."
She held the phone and waited. The longer she waited, the angrier she became.
"Mirabella?" a deep voice answered.
"You haven't won anything."
"I haven't lost anything. Have you?" Armando answered.
"I know what you've done. What you did to Catalina. And I swear to God you will pay for it."
"First, your husband threatens my family and me. He then destroys my reputation and takes my business. Now you. Am I supposed to just roll over and let him? Why? Because you are my father's bastard! Giovanni started this war with me. There are consequences."
"Marietta is pregnant."
"And?"
"Giovanni will kill Lorenzo. He will. And when he does, our sister will be destroyed. I never cared for you. But she did. She tried to know you..."
"She cares for nothing but that weakling husband of hers."
"She cares for us all. She didn't have what we had Armando. No mother or father to love her. And she's pregnant, you asshole!"
/>
"Not my problem, is it?"
"Help them. Get them out of Italy. Bring them to Sicily. The only place they can be safe right now is with you."
Armando laughed. "I’d rather load the bullets in Giovanni's gun and help him put it to Lorenzo's head."
"Either you do as I ask, or I give my first interview as Marsuvio Mancini's bastard daughter. And I talk about you. Only you. I talk and talk about you until every ally you have doesn't trust you. Until even your own men want to be away from you. Until the last ounce of respect you have is washed away."
"Your husband already tried this," Armando noted.
"No. My husband tried a different way. He lives in your world. Remember I live in the other world. I have millions of people dying to know about my life. Your legitimate companies will crumble. I will wage a public war against you, and every dime you have will be lost, until you are drained dry. I'm an international star with a Mafia thug for a father. Who in the Western world wouldn't want to hear my story?"
Armando went silent.
"Help her, bring her and Lorenzo there and protect them."
"I don't even know where they are."
"I'll find out. I’ll let you know." Mirabella hung up the phone. She didn't know where they were, but she knew Marietta. Somehow, someway her sister would call her. Even if it’s just to say goodbye. All she had to do was wait.
***
Giovanni woke. He looked around dazed and confused. And then he knew the reason for his rise from his drunken stupor. The phone in his office was ringing. When he sat up, his head swam. The wave of nausea and dizziness almost made him drop to the floor. He waited for it to pass.
The phone kept ringing.
Giovanni massaged his temples. He collected enough of his strength to focus his mind. The ringing phone was a jackhammer to his skull. He wanted to rip it from the wall. He crawled to it. He had to knock over and shove aside so much debris and crap to find it. When he did, he snatched it up.
"Who is this?" he groaned.
"It's me."
Giovanni wasn’t sure the voice was real.
“It’s me Gio.
"Where are you, cousin?" he asked.