by Sienna Mynx
“I’m glad you left it this way. Don’t take anything else out of this room. Not even his clothes. Not yet. I need some time alone.”
“Yes, I understand. I’ll come for the plates tonight.”
Bionca left.
The moment the door closed Catalina’s heart sank to the floor. She dropped on the chair and let go of the tears she’s held down for what felt like eternity. She had cried for Armando plenty before. But never like this. And it never felt so pure.
“I wish I had known. I never knew... if he had more time...” the words clogged in her throat. What would more time with him had really meant? He was so certain of his love for her, but she never truly trusted him. Even now if she were honest it was more of an obsession than love. One fueled by years of warring with her brother. Armando was no saint and his intentions were never pure. What could she have said that would have made it real? She pressed her hand to her stomach. Their child would have changed everything, for them both. She believed it.
Weary from her travels, the court appearance, and the insufferable ride with Lorenzo back to Mancini’s Estate she wanted sleep. Her baby craved it. She pushed up from the chair and went to the bed. She crawled over the silk linens to his pillow. She buried her face deep into the downy fluff. Catalina groaned out a wounded cry and beat her fist again and again on the bed. How could he be dead? How could that be? God wouldn’t be that cruel.
Catalina laid there crying until all her pain was unleashed. And for the first time since Armando was shot, she was able to drift to sleep without nightmares. A peaceful sleep.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Natale non è Natale
One Week Later - Sorrento Italy
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Eve pranced over to the side of her cousin’s chair.
“Isn’t it time for your bath?” Belinda asked.
“I wanna know what you are doing? With those matches?”
Belinda sat close to the fireplace in the entertainment room. She’d found a matchbox during her wanderings. Out of sheer boredom she pulled out matchsticks scraped them across the side of the box and tossed the flaming sticks into the fireplace. The draft coming down the chimney extinguished the flame before the tiny sticks landed on the logs.
“I wanna do it. Teach me how to make fire!” Eve said.
“Go take your bath, Eve. I’m in no mood.”
Belinda used her elbow to push Eve aside. She struck another match and tossed it into the fireplace. Kyra had once again asked Mirabella to let Belinda travel to Milan. And once again Mirabella had said no. Though they were on strict orders to not leave Melanzana, Kyra had to be present to close the stores in Milan and Rome. She was taking a small army with her to do so. Belinda itched to be part of the drama. The sketching and one-on-one mentoring with her cousin had stopped. The Donna was too busy with her company and moving family from Sicily into Melanzana. To make it worse no men ever came inside. Leo had disappeared as well. All Belinda ever saw were family members of the Battaglias who didn’t speak English. She was going crazy with boredom. She missed home.
“Teach me!” Eve demanded. Her blue eyes stretched as she watched one match after another go flying by her into the fireplace. “È così fico!”
“I told you, you little brat to speak English. English!” Belinda barked at her.
Eve’s bottom lip began to quiver, and her eyes pooled with tears. If she started to cry, then Belinda would be asked why. The last thing she needed or wanted was for Mirabella to think she was mistreating the kids.
“Hey, Eve, wait. Sorry, honey. Sorry, okay? I didn’t mean to yell at you,” Belinda pulled her over.
“Yes, you did. You did it on purpose,” Eve wept. “I’m going to tell.”
“No. No. No. No. I’m sorry okay. Look. Want to learn how to make fire?”
Eve nodded.
“Come here.”
Eve came around the chair. Belinda sat forward and turned Eve to face the fireplace while the child was close and between her legs. She took Eve’s hand and opened the matchbox. The little girl watched intensely as Belinda helped her remove a matchstick then turn the matchbox on its side. One strike and the flame shot up.
“Oooooooh!” Eve said.
“Now throw it,” Belinda said.
Eve threw the match and it went into the fireplace. The flame blinked out before it landed.
“I can do it! I can do it!” Eve said.
Belinda sat back and let Eve try. Each time she attempted to strike a match the stick snapped. Belinda smiled. Little Eve bit down on her tongue and gave it several more tries. Broken match sticks were all on the floor.
“Eve!”
Both Eve and Belinda heads turned. Cecilia walked into the room with a look of shock on her face waving her hand at her nose to ward of the stench of smoke. “What are you doing, Evie?”
“Nothing, I do nothing,” Eve said and hid the box of matches behind her back. “I promise. I didn’t do it.”
“Let me see it!” Cecilia demanded. “What’s behind your back, let me see it!”
Eve dropped her head and handed over the incriminating evidence.
“Avanti Eve, lo sai meglio di me,” Cecilia said and shook a finger at the little girl who was now sobbing.
“It’s not her fault, Cecilia. I’m the one that showed her how to use them.”
“Why would you do that? She’s five. Do you know what the Donna would do if she caught Eve with matches? What would happen to us both for letting her play with them? Get out! Get out of here now!”
“Why are you yelling at me? At her! It was perfectly harmless.” Belinda reasoned.
“It is not harmless! You don’t teach kids to play with matches!”
“She’s my cousin, okay. I don’t answer to you!”
Cecilia narrowed her eyes. “That’s right. You don’t answer to me. I think you should answer to the Donna instead.” Cecilia grabbed Eve’s hand and yanked her away from Belinda. The little girl cried harder. Belinda reacted and yanked Eve away from Cecilia. The child was caught between them both shouting and pulling on her by her arms. That was until Leo walked in on the scene and demanded the women stop. Belinda wasn’t sure when he entered the room, when he returned to Melanzana, his presence rocked her to her core. Over the past few weeks she had grown to miss him. She let go of Eve. Cecilia picked up a crying little girl in her arms and comforted her.
“Buon dio, che sta succedendo?” Leo asked.
Cecilia answered in Italian. It made Belinda scream at them both to speak English. The two paused and gave her a look. Cecilia’s glare was full of disgust and distrust, but Leo looked at Belinda with concern.
“I’m going to the Donna,” Cecilia said and started to the door. “I can explain it to her.”
Leo stepped in front of Cecilia. He spoke in Italian, so Belinda couldn’t hear what was being said. Leo looked up from Cecilia to Belinda only once then continued to reason with the nanny. Eve now wept with her face resting on Cecilia’s shoulder.
“Don’t tell Mirabella on me. It was harmless, Leo. Please. I was just bored.” Belinda swallowed her pride. “I apologize, Cecilia. I’m sorry, Eve. Okay? I’m really sorry.”
Leo said something more in his language and it seem to make Cecilia less red in the face. The nanny nodded her agreement after a long pause. She left with Eve whimpering in her arms.
“What the hell is wrong with you!” Leo said the moment he closed the door.
“I apologized to her.”
“Sei... sei fuori di testa, cazzo?” Leo said.
Belinda turned away now crying herself. “I can’t understand you.”
“I say... you be in big trouble. It’s dangerous what you do!”
Belinda crossed her arms over her chest. “Go! Go tell Mirabella! Send me home. I’m sick of all of you! I’m sick of this place! I can’t take being a prisoner here anymore!”
What did any of them expect? She’d behaved, she’d babysat the kids, and played servant for affection
to Mirabella. She’d done everything to avoid Leo, too. Of course, he wouldn’t save her now. She was a big mess, and she couldn’t stop herself. Her mother was right she went after her bad habits like a dog chased a bone.
Leo’s arms circled her. She was forced to succumb to his embrace. He hadn’t even come close to touching her since the time in the cellar. He’s been too busy and absent to show any real interest. She didn’t believe there was anything left between them.
“No problemo,” he said and kissed the back of her head.
“No problem?”
“No problemo,” he reassured her.
Belinda turned in his embrace and pressed her face to his chest. She closed her eyes. Maybe she was wrong to push him away. Afterall, the Donna had approved their budding friendship. Maybe more of him was the cure she desperately needed. “I didn’t mean any harm to Eve. I love her. I love those kids. You believe me? Don’t you, Leo?”
He lifted her chin. Belinda smiled as he wiped away her tears. She initiated the kiss. It ended soon after it started. The connection, however, warmed her all over and lasted. She hugged Leo again. He was gentle. Something she didn’t know she could appreciate in a man. What little experience she had with men was always sex. Nothing personal. This felt personal. It felt nice.
“You tell the Donna,” he said.
“Me?” she asked.
“Promise? Cecilia insists.”
“But... Mirabella will get angry with me.”
“Explain to her. Promise you will.”
Belinda sighed. “I promise.”
“I have to go.”
“So soon? Wait, Leo, stay a little longer with me. Please. We can go to my room, and spend a little time together.”
“Tonight. Later tonight. The garden. Meet me there.”
Belinda blinked in surprise. “You sure?”
“I ask Donna for permission. That is why I come up here. She says yes. We have dinner. Me and you. In the garden.”
“Mirabella said yes?”
Leo smiled. The side of his face with the scarring wrinkled. Though it detracted from his physical beauty he looked handsome to her. Like a real Prince. “Okay, tonight.”
He kissed her brow and left. Belinda hugged herself and smiled. She sat down and made herself comfortable by propping her legs up on the chair next to her. Finally, she’d found a cure for boredom.
“SCUSI DONNA,” CECILIA approached. In her arms she carried the Don’s oldest child. Eve stretched her arms out to her mother with a face wet with tears. The moment Mirabella reached for her daughter, Eve broke down into heavy sobs.
“What is it? Why are you so upset?” Mirabella asked her nanny.
“I don’t do nothing wrong mommy, please,” Eve cried. “I didn’t do it.”
“Cecilia?”
“Belinda will explain the trouble they got into. She’s fine now, but I had to be a little stern with Evie about the rules of the house. She understands.”
“Eve, honey, what did you do?”
“I want Nico. I’ll tell Nico not you. Okay mommie? You'll be so mad at me, Papa will be so mad at me.”
“You’ll tell me if I ask you too. Now answer me, Eve, what did you do?” Mirabella persisted.
“Everything is fine, Donna,” Cecilia quickly interjected. “I promised to give Belinda a chance to explain the mischief, but if you insist I can explain it to you now,” Cecilia said. “Eve is afraid of upsetting you.”
“Never mind it. I have a call. I’ll handle her and Belinda. Thank you, Cecilia.” Mirabella carried Eve down the hall and into her office. The tears had stopped but Eve kept her face buried against Mirabella’s neck and shoulder. Mirabella had been on her way to her office to wait on Giovanni’s call. Tomorrow was Christmas Eve. She had so many plans for the family. He had to make an appearance. It would be the first holiday since their marriage that they would be separated. She turned off the light in her office and carried Eve over to the sofa where the phone was left on the coffee table. She sat down and turned her daughter on her lap, so she could cradle her as best she could.
“Are you better now?” Mirabella asked.
“Mi dispiace, mamma. Perdonami,” Eve said.
“Want to tell mommy what happened?”
“Cecilia... it was her fault, she yelled at me. Nico will be mad at her.”
“Cecilia never yells. Does she?”
“No. But this time—.”
“Then why was she upset with you?”
“I was playing a game I shouldn’t have.”
Eve turned her face to Mirabella’s breast. Mirabella stroked her daughter’s arm and kissed the top of her head. “You miss Papa?”
“Mi manca il papà! Yes,” Eve said.
“Me too.”
“I don’t mean to be bad. I want Christmas. Will I have a Christmas?”
“Yes honey. You’re always my good girl. Guess what? Papa’s going to call us today. Would you like that?”
“Really?” Eve’s head shot up from Mirabella’s breasts. “When? Can we talk to him now?”
“In a few minutes.”
The phone rang. They both looked at the phone as if Giovanni himself had stepped into the room. “That’s him. Do you want to answer?”
Eve didn’t wait for any further instruction. She slipped off her mother’s lap and got to the phone on the third ring.
“Pronto?” she answered. “Papa? It’s me. Evie. Hi.” Eve grinned and jumped up and down on her little feet. “Yes. Sì, mi manchi anche tu. I do. I have. Yes, but Cecilia yelled at me and made me cry. No. Yes, mama knows. I dunno. I do nothing wrong. Yes. Yes. I know, papa. I will. I promise. Nooooooo. I want to come with you. Please. No. I want to, that’s why. When? Yes. I promise. I love you too. You be here for Christmas? A surprise? For me? Okay. Here she is.” Eve extended the phone. “He wants to talk to you. Then it’s my turn again, okay, mamma?”
“I promise baby.” Mirabella accepted the phone and Eve crawled back onto her lap. “Gio?”
“Bella, everything okay? Why is Cecilia yelling at the kids?”
“We’re fine. Your daughter is only telling half the story. The real problem is she miss you.”
“I miss you both.”
“It’s been three days since you last called. And I don’t see Domi at all anymore. I have updates on the press releases I sent. And appointments he’ll have to attend with me, since you have this place under lock and key. It’s just... so empty here without everyone. Christmas Eve is tomorrow. The family is here, and the celebrating is already starting.”
“It couldn’t be helped. I’m rarely near a phone that can be trusted.”
“Are you in Naples now?”
“I’ll be in Puglia tomorrow night.”
“Oh? I... uh, okay. So that means you will stop here? Be here for Christmas morning?”
“Bella,” he sighed.
“You need to see me, us, the kids. That was the deal. Plus every time I try to talk to you about ideas I have to help you, you say you don’t have time.”
He answered with silence. He was slipping away from her. Giving more into that life instead of the one they built. She understood his reason and supported them. But she couldn’t help but fear the consequences. The media now mentioned him by name. Crime was increasing in the Campania and he was blamed for all of it.
“The authorities aren't going to keep looking away from all of this Gio. It's getting dangerous.”
“I know,” he said.
“The doctors said that we can know what the sex of the baby is.”
“They will tell us?” he asked.
“If we want. Yes. They’ve known for a few weeks.”
“Why didn’t you say?”
“Because you weren’t here. We must compromise. I am. Where is your compromise? You have men, capable men, Gio. Trust them at least for the holiday.”
“Maybe this time we don’t need to know what we are having,” he said.
“But... I thought it would be
nice for the holiday or before our anniversary?”
“I want a healthy baby, and a happy wife. That’s enough for me. Uhm, Bella, I have to go now.”
“Wait. No. Let me come to you. For one visit. Puglia is safe, isn’t it?”
“I’m not really at a place that I want you to be.”
“One visit. And it’ll be enough. It’s Christmas Eve tomorrow, remember. You’re too close to say no.”
When she heard the defeated sigh, she smiled.
“Have Leo return my call at this number,” he said.
Mirabella moved Eve from her lap and hurried to her desk. She located a pen and paper with the cordless phone pressed between her cheek and shoulder. Giovanni gave her the number. “You’ll have to leave soon, to get here. It’s a three-hour drive and I don’t want you on the roads at night, and you’ll have to leave at sunrise. Because...”
“It’s fine, Gio. I’ll leave soon. It’s more than enough time. Say goodbye to Eve.” Her daughter was at her side. She gave Eve the phone. Father and daughter had a proper goodbye before the call ended.
“Papa said I can have a puppy!”
“Wait, what?” Mirabella frowned.
“A puppy! I can have a puppy!” Eve ran from the room squealing Cecilia’s name with joy. Mirabella rolled her eyes. She didn’t care. If a puppy made her daughter happy then a puppy it was. Also, Papa had given her a treat as well. After three weeks of separation she would see for herself that he was okay. And the plan she wanted to share with him to save the family could be shared.
DOMINIC BARELY HEARD his own thoughts. How could he? The screams of men being tortured soaked through the walls of every room. There was no place still or quiet enough for him to escape. He left through the only door in the building and took down deep breaths of fresh air to expunge the stench of death.