La Sposa (47 page)

“
Beck and call? What the fuck does
that mean? Insecure?” He walked over to the desk and gathered as
many of the important papers as he could into a neat stack. She
stared at him confused, and then shock registered over her face as
he proceeded to rip them straight down the middle. He tossed the
papers up in her face. They rained and floated about the room.
“Fuck it, Bella. If I’m insecure, I’m not anymore.” He turned and
walked out. He’d fix his damn sandwich himself.

*****

Lorenzo answered the phone on the first ring.
Marietta rolled from underneath him and went to the bathroom. Her
thick dark hair, when straightened from the curly style she wore,
reached just beyond her slender shoulders. He watched the sway of
her perfectly shaped, naked ass until she disappeared. The woman
had a beautiful body, with melting softness and thighs he wanted to
be buried between. When the door closed, the fantasy expired. He
sat up, realizing they spent more and more time in bed. He had work
to do and needed to stay focused. “What do you have?”

“
David does own a place. An office.
He’s there now. I’ve seen him go there three times today to be
sure. I think it’s what you are looking for, Boss.”

“
Good. Good work. I want you to sit
on him. Keep him there.”

“
Anything else?” Carmine asked.
“Should I do him? I can if you want.”

“
No. I’ll be there as soon as the
sun goes down. Give me the directions.” He reached for the pen and
pad on the lamp table and scribbled the information down. He knew
exactly where it was. His only prayer was that this was where David
kept the negatives for those photos and the master tape. If not,
he’d just kill the bastard and dump his body on the Nigerians. He
was sick of this bullshit.

The shower turned on behind the bathroom door.
He ended the call. Quickly, he paged Carlo. After a few minutes,
Carlo rung him back. Furious. “Where the fuck are you? I’ve been
here for two hours waiting for you to page me.”

“
Your trap for Santo didn’t spring.
The bastard was here this morning.”

“
Well fuck, I did what you
asked.”

“
And you failed!” Lorenzo groaned.
“Look, I’m at Villa Dici. I, uh,” he glanced to the bed and he
could still smell the sweet scent of Shalimar on his sheets.
“Something came up,” he chuckled. “We need to talk, you’re
right.”

“
Let’s do it now. I can’t find
Carmine either. He isn’t answering any of my pages. What are you
two up to?”

“
Fuck, Carlo! Stop fucking
questioning me. I have to deal with Capriccio okay? It’s necessary
business. Santo left for Capri. We can meet later. Here, take down
this address. I’ll page you from his office. And then you come in
and help me deal with the bastard.”

“
Fine.”

Lorenzo hung up. He had stalled Carlo long
enough. He had to play this right. And hell, it was the only card
he could play. Rising, he went to the bathroom. Marietta was in the
shower. She opened the door and smiled. He dropped his boxers and
joined her.

Later –

Mira’s silent treatment hurt worse than his
pride after their fight. He fucking hated every minute of it. She
moved through the villa, as if he were invisible. Played with Eve.
Took pictures of Rosetta and Eve out near the shore and returned to
bathe their daughter and feed her. She wouldn’t even offer to warm
up his food when he said he was hungry. She punished him. The
punishment didn’t fit the crime. He may have overreacted but she
brought her work with her to their honeymoon. Giovanni tried to
ignore how much her rejection hurt his feelings. But he wasn’t good
at pretending or apologizing. Not when he felt so strongly against
something. And in the moment of discovering her working on her
company business, he realized his true feelings. He didn’t want her
to work. Ever.

Still, this was his fuck up and he had to
right the wrong. A simple apology wouldn’t work this time. And he
would not be turned away from their bed tonight. He decided the
best idea was a nice dinner, for them to talk.

To appease her and make up for his behavior,
he had a private dinner arranged for them on the open terrace. The
night wind had lessened in the evening. And being a coward over
rejection, he told Rosetta to inform his Bella to meet him upstairs
at 7. Now he sat before a candlelight dinner, waiting for her to
arrive. The sun was nearly setting and she hadn’t come up. Exhaling
a stream of smoke, he glared out at the violet orange sky. It
dawned on him as his dinner and hers cooled, and the sun sank into
the sea, she wasn’t coming.

He’d fucked up.

“
Boss?”

“
What is it?” he asked
sourly.

“
Phone. Dominic.”

Giovanni sighed. He rose from the table and
walked back inside. He went to the phone and snatched it up,
rubbing the stress from his brow. “What’s the news,
Domi?”

“
I need to come back to see you.
The things I’ve learned can’t be said over the phone.”

“
Just fucking say it. I’m in no
mood for this bullshit.”

“
Marsuvio Mancini is Mira’s
father.”

Giovanni froze. He actually felt his heart
stop beating in his chest.

“
Mira’s father? Where did you hear
such bullshit?”

“
Gio, it’s a long
story…”

“
It’s bullshit! What the fuck do I
pay you for? I send you there to get answers, not some ridiculous
lie about twin babies separated at birth, and my wife being a
Mancini.”

“
This is why I needed to return to
explain. Gio, I wouldn’t dare say it if there was no truth. I’ve
started looking into it. She’s a Mancini.”

The truth hit him hard and sent his pulse
spinning. Ever since he’d laid eyes on that bracelet, he’d grappled
with the possibility that Mira may have some ties to Sicilians. He
wanted to take her to Sicily and show her how beautiful it was.
Maybe have her fall in love with the culture as she did with Italy.
But Mancini was not a man he wanted associated with his Bella in
any way.

Suddenly, he remembered something he had long
dismissed. Mira arrived in Italy with Mancini as her sponsor. And
the old man’s interference with his business didn’t make sense two
years ago. And it sure as hell didn’t make any fucking sense now.
Could it be true? Did she know Mancini? Did she lie to him? What
the fuck was going on?

“
Gio? I…”

He snatched the phone from the wall. He threw
it across the room. Angrily, he stormed downstairs into their
bedroom. He expected to find her in their bed. But she wasn’t.
“Mira!”

“
Giovanni!” she cried out in
terror.

He raced into the bathroom and threw the door
open wide. She was bent over at the sink, obviously having just
stepped out of the shower. Her brown skin was moist, her hair
tucked in under a shower cap. She looked at him with horror in her
eyes. She showed him blood on her fingers. “I think I’m losing my
baby. I think I am.” She broke down, going to her knees. He rushed
to her, snatching her robe from the hook to cover her. He then
swept her up in his arms. Mira’s emotional state crumbled and she
wept hard. “I don’t want to lose my baby. I don’t. Help
me.”

“
I got you, sweetheart. Leo!
Renaldo!! Leoooo!!!” he yelled, sweeping her up in his arms. The
men rushed into the room, not daring to come further unless
requested. “Get the car. We have to get her to the hospital
now.”

*****

Lorenzo pulled down the black glove tight to
his right hand. He crossed the street, stopping cars in a mad dash.
He knew the place well. Giuseppe had conducted a business meeting
with him twice here. Why he didn’t think to search out the old
places his nemesis was held up in, was beyond him. Capriccio had to
be stupid to play this close to fire.

Throwing the door open, he climbed the stairs
to the building that once held a few boutique stores. The office
Giuseppe brought him to was on the second level. It was the same
office Carmine called him from. And, as he expected, David
Capriccio was forced to a seat with a gun on him until Lorenzo
arrived. He closed the door behind him and removed his gun as
well.

“
Why am I here? I’ve told your man
I’ve done nothing wrong.”

“
Stupid bastard said more than
that, Boss. He’s been spreading lies. Says things about you and
Giuseppe. That you had Don Tomosino killed. He’s lucky I didn’t put
a bullet in him before you arrived. First The Fish said this shit,
and now this one here. Lies!”

“
You’re right, Carmine. It’s a
lie.”

Carmine smacked David to the back of the head
with the gun and the man slumped forward. Lorenzo spared no time.
He began to turn out drawers to cabinets and ransack the
place.

“
I have done nothing wrong.
Tomosino’s death was told to me by Giuseppe. I never believed it. I
never breathed a word of it to anyone. If you say you didn’t have
him killed then it’s the truth. I’ll swear to it, Lorenzo. I want
no trouble.”

“
Oh, you aren’t innocent. Take for
instance the lie you gave me about some bitch named Isabella that
wanted access to Giuseppe’s offices.”

David’s nose bled. He shook his head in
confusion.

“
Where is it?” Lorenzo shouted at
the man.

“
I don’t know what you
want.”

“
The fucking tapes, the photos you
sent to Marietta. Where are they?” Lorenzo put the gun dead center
to David’s forehead. “Talk!”

“
I swear to you, I don’t know
anything. Isabella, whoever the fuck she is, she does exist. She’s
tall, looks to be in her early forties with dark hair. I think
she’s Sicilian. She sounded Sicilian. She wanted access to
Giuseppe’s offices, and I let her because she paid me. Giuseppe’s
debt could not be liquidated from assets in the time you gave me.
How the hell do you think I was able to raise the money I paid to
Gio? We’re broke! That’s the truth.”

“
Liar! You think I’m fucking
stupid?” Lorenzo asked.

“
There’s a safe, Boss. I found him
covering it up when I came in. Over there, behind the picture of
the horse.”

Lorenzo turned around. He walked over to it.
David kept begging for his life in Italian. Lorenzo lowered the
picture. He saw the keypad and his heart beat faster. “What’s in
this safe?”

“
Money, contracts to land deals
that belong to my father’s legacy. I came here to get the papers so
I could try to salvage what’s left for the family. That’s all
that’s in there. Check for yourself.” David gave him the
combination. Lorenzo keyed in the digits. He dropped the handle and
drew the steel door open. At first, he pulled out exactly what
David said he had. A few contracts he wanted to hide from Giovanni,
but nothing incriminating.

“
See, that is all I have! I swear
it to you. She’s real. I never lied to you. It is Isabella you
want.”

Lorenzo looked deeper in the safe. An envelope
was pushed all the way to the back. Lorenzo reached inside and
withdrew it. Inside, were the negatives and two cassettes. “So
she’s real. You weren’t lying? Explain this.”

Carmine and David both stared. Lorenzo folded
the contents and tucked them to the back of his pants under his
trench coat.

“
The money you have is from the
Nigerians, for the drug pushing you did for the
Calderones…”

“
No!”

“
You created Isabella to throw me
off.”

“
No!”

“
You wanted to use me as your gun
to kill Marietta Leone.”

“
No dammit! I swear. I don’t know
where that envelope came from. I don’t even know what’s
inside.”

“
Did he have a gun on him when you
arrived?” Lorenzo asked Carmine. The kid didn’t answer. He stared
at Lorenzo with a strange look of suspicion. He’d heard and learned
too much. Lorenzo remembered that look. It was the same look
Carmine gave him when The Fish accused him of committing the same
sin the Capriccio rat had.

“
Please, Lo. You know me. Why would
I have you kill my father’s daughter? It was his dying wish that I
protect her. That she never looked to meet Mancini.”

Lorenzo frowned. “What did you
say?”

“
He wanted her to take the money
and go back to America. To not ask any questions.”

“
Why Mancini?”

“
I don’t know. My father worked for
him. He feared if she didn’t get what she wanted from us about her
mother, she might seek him out. He was adamant that I protect her.
I’ve been trying to help the bitch!”

“
Liar.” Lorenzo fired three shots
from his gun. Two to the chest and a kill shot between the dumb
bastard’s eyes. Pap, pap, pap, they went off, rapid fire. He,
however, never took his eyes off of Carmine. The kid opened his
mouth to speak and Lorenzo fired three more shots. Dropping Carmine
where he stood. In a matter of minutes, both men were
dead.

He looked upon his bleeding body with pity.
Lorenzo made the sign of the cross before him. He really did like
the kid and his bad jokes. He would have made a valued asset. But
there could be no witnesses, no loose ends. The truth about
Tomosino’s death would end here. He stuck the gun to the back of
his pants where he tucked in the evidence. He put his foot to the
center of the chair; David’s dead body slumped over and kicked it
back so he was now flat. He then went over and turned Carmine’s
body so the gunfight looked plausible. Retrieving Carmine’s gun
from the floor, he put it closer to his hand. It took him several
minutes but he found a gun David had stashed in the office. The
scene would not fool the cops. But he prayed it fooled one man.
Lorenzo took a seat. He removed a pack of cigarettes, firing it up.
He dragged on the smoke and waited for Carlo to arrive.