Battaglia Mafia: La Famiglia Part 39

Mira stared at the necklace. She turned it over. Marietta watched as Mira ran her finger over the insignia to the back of the clasp. "That right there is the stamp of the jeweler. His name was Del Stavio," Marietta said.

"What is this about?" Mira frowned.

"Me and you. Our connection. One we've had since birth," Marietta replied.

"Is this some kind of joke?" Mira asked.

"No. Or maybe it's the biggest joke of our lives. Before I made this charm into a necklace it was a baby's bracelet. I have a twin sister who has one identical to it."

"Okay I've heard enough. Stop," Mira demanded.

"Your husband has been lying to you from day one. So has mine. We're sisters, and those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds knew it and conspired together to keep us apart."

"That's not possible. I don't have a twin sister. Here take it!"

"No! Look at it dammit. It is possible!" Marietta said. "Our mother dated a man named Marsuvio Mancini. He's a Sicilian mobster who lived in Philadelphia. He didn't want us. She separated us to keep us safe from him. I think. I know this sounds crazy but look at the necklace. We're twins. Giovanni and Lorenzo have been trying to keep us apart because his father Tomosino Battaglia is the man who ordered the hit on our mother. His father killed our mother."

"Get out!" Mira said. She tossed the necklace back at Marietta. "Out of my d.a.m.n room!" she shouted.

Marietta flinched. "Haven't you heard what I said to you?" she asked. "Yesterday when I was in Palermo with Catalina a woman who I knew since I was a little girl gave me this letter." Marietta handed it over. "I didn't believe it either at first. Until I read this letter. When I came to Italy I did so to find my father. I was always told my mother was a wh.o.r.e who slept with my adoptive father and left me on the doorstep. A lie. I knew that evil b.a.s.t.a.r.d who raised me wasn't my blood. So Gemma told me a man named Capriccio was. Another lie. So many d.a.m.n lies I can't keep up. And all of them were told to keep you and I from knowing the truth." She forced the letter on Mira. "Read it. Giovanni knows the truth. He sent me away with Lorenzo to keep the truth from you. That's why we were gone for months. Read the d.a.m.n letter!"

Mira's hands shook. Tears bordered her wide stretched eyes.

She accepted the letter and opened it slowly.

* B *

"You two look and smell like s.h.i.t!" Giovanni chuckled. He sat down and put Eve on his lap. For some reason she was very clingy. She refused to sit forward. Instead she turned and clung to his neck, resting her face on his shoulder.

"We barely got out of Armenia with our lives," Lorenzo said.

Carlo sat down next. "It was pretty intense, Gio," Carlo agreed.

"So tell me about Varo. Is what you said true? He's been buying my guns through the `Ndrangheta and Mottola?"

"You need to bring Dominic back in. Santo too. No one is safe. The fool led us to his a.r.s.enal. I had to take off his head," Lorenzo chuckled. "Then I walk out to a small army with nothing but guns facing us. Turns out it was Yeremian's men. They were tracking us. Using us to bring them into Varo's compound. While we were killing Varo the crazy b.a.s.t.a.r.ds nearly wiped out all of his men. That's why they had to put us on a plane. To get us out of there before the authorities discovered what we'd done. We haven't slept."

"Or showered," Carlo said.

Giovanni rocked back in his chair. "And Santo? Did Varo name him?"

"No," Carlo said. "But do you really think he's clean in this?"

The news was a lot to digest. How many enemies were in his midst now?

The door flew open.

Mira and Marietta arrived together. The men shot to their feet. Giovanni couldn't stand fast enough. Mira charged straight at his desk.

"The truth! I want the truth!" Mira seethed.

Eve was startled. Giovanni could feel her tiny heart beat rapidly in her chest. He too was stunned beyond speech. Mira's face was wet with tears. Her eyes stretched wide with horror and he was her sole focus. She slammed down jewelry on the desk. Her bracelet and another item that looked just like it. "Did you know this?" she asked pointing a finger at him. "Any of it!"

"Carlo!" Giovanni said. Carlo reached for Eve who fought to stay with her father. He walked out of the room. Lorenzo grabbed Marietta who immediately started to shout and fight back for control or at the very least a voice in the confrontation. He picked her up by the waist and carried her out of the room. None of it mattered. Giovanni could only hear and focus on his wife. He walked around the desk aware of how dire the situation had become. The doctor had just told them only minutes ago she was to remain calm. "We'll talk about what I knew later. First you have to go back to bed."

"Don't touch me!" she screeched. She backed away from him. Her hand protectively covered her tummy. She kept the other one out to make sure he didn't come closer. "You did this. I didn't believe it. Not a word. Until I looked into your eyes. Until now. You did it!"

Giovanni grabbed her wrist and she s.n.a.t.c.hed back creating a tugging back and forth. "Let me go!"

She touched her side as if she felt a pain. Panic and fear sliced like an ice spear through his gut and he had to summon all of his strength to not drag her a.s.s back upstairs by force. What was more important the truth or her life?

"How could you do this to me? To us! Sweet Jesus! How could it be true? Any of it? I don't understand why you would hurt me like this."

He let her go. She backed away from him with both her hands to her mouth, and tears streaming. She stood there with eyes stretched wide and in visible pain. She couldn't speak. He feared she wasn't even breathing. What could he say? Another lie? Now? Her eyes warned him against it. It was her eyes that hurt him the most. So much pain and disbelief there it made him desperate.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. So sorry," he pleaded.

"Oh G.o.d what have I done? What have you done?" she shouted at him doubling over. "My mother was murdered by your father? I have a twin sister and you knew! You b.a.s.t.a.r.d. Did you have Fabiana killed too?" Mira wept. She wiped her tears and snot from her face with the back of her hand.

Violent spasms seized her pelvis. She felt like the air was squeezed from her lungs. She gasped. Mira knew instantly something was wrong. Through the discovery of her sister and her husband's undeniable lies she had forgotten the most important thing. Her babies. "Gio-something, it hurts," she went to her knees.

Giovanni caught her by the elbows to make sure she landed softly.

"What is it?"

"Pain," Mira wheezed. She clung to him. "I can't breathe," She gasped, and tried to catch her breath. "Help me," she begged.

"I got you." He brought her up into his arms. "Get the doctor! Help me!" he yelled to his men who Mira saw had gathered in the hall. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut as another monstrous bolt of pain speared her pelvis. And that was when she felt her water break.

"Giovanni, my..."

He looked at her with horror as he laid her on the sofa outside of the hall. At first she wasn't sure why until she looked down and saw the blood stain at the bottom of her dress. "Noooo! No G.o.d please!!"

He caught her face. "Calm down, Bella. Look at me. We're going to take you to the hospital. The only thing you concentrate on is being calm. Do you understand?"

She panted breaths and contractions came again severely swift. She nodded and worked on her breathing. Giovanni looked around with tears in his eyes. "Bring him. We're going to the hospital. Now!"

He picked her up again. When she looked back she saw the bloodstain she left on the sofa and felt weak. She closed her eyes and forced herself to concentrate on breathing. She was put in a car with Giovanni. In his arms she pretended he was still her sweet caring husband who would never destroy her heart the way the lies have. She had to. It was the only way she could find some peace.

He kissed her face and whispered in her ear that he'd protect her. She nodded that she believed and clung to him. Too afraid to speak or argue. She'd never argue with him again if G.o.d would spare her babies and her life.

Mira began to cry. "I'm so scared," she wept.

Giovanni clung to her. "Me too, Bella. I need you to breathe. For our sons, breathe, Bella."

Mira nodded her head and practiced on her breathing.

* B *

"Put me down!" Marietta screamed.

Lorenzo threw her into the library. "What the h.e.l.l have you done? Are you f.u.c.king insane!" he shouted at her. He put his hands to his head and began to pace. "What the f.u.c.k has happened? How did you find out? f.u.c.k! Holy f.u.c.k!" Before she could answer Lorenzo swung and put his fist into the wood of the door. "d.a.m.n it, Marietta!"

"Yu-yu-you... you lied." Marietta backed away. "You tricked me. You used me. You lying dog!"

He dropped his hands to the door and lowered his head trying to calm down. "What you've done could cost Mirabella her life, Marietta! Do you understand!" he glanced back at her. "Do you?"

"Nooooo." Marietta shook her head hard. "I just told her the truth."

"They're taking her to the f.u.c.king ospedale!" Lorenzo turned on her. He was so full of rage that for the first time since that violent fight they had months ago in her hotel room she feared him.

"I didn't mean for her to flip out like that. I swear. I just wanted to talk to her. She started screaming and crying. She went to her dresser and got the bracelet. I couldn't stop her! Things got of control."

"Things? Things! You should have never said any f.u.c.king thing to her!" he shouted with a finger leveled at Marietta. "You should have come to me!" he slapped his chest.

"How? How can I come to you when I can't even trust you!" Marietta yelled back at him. She wouldn't stand for him blaming her when all of it was his fault. He advanced on her. The look in his eye, the panic in her heart, the tension coiled tighter between them and her instinct was to escape. She'd seen this rage before. She'd seen it every time Octavio came after her. Every time he'd punish her. "Stay away from me! Stay back!" she said shaking all over.

"Enough of this s.h.i.t, Marie. Come here..."

"Stay away!" she screamed and started throwing things at him from the desk behind her. Whatever her hand landed on she threw it. "Stay back!"

"Marietta, stop acting f.u.c.king crazy! Stop it dammit! What the h.e.l.l is wrong with you?" He lunged for her. Marietta grabbed something round and hard from behind her. She was barely aware of her surroundings when her hand connected with it. When Lorenzo grabbed her arm and his nails bit into her skin she swung and hit him hard to the side of his face. Lorenzo dropped to an unconscious state.

Breathing hard with her hand gripping the weapon she stared down at him. Her tunnel vision cleared and her thoughts became muddled with confusion. She looked at the weapon in her hand and at Lorenzo who lay sprawled out on the ground. How did he get there?

"Lorenzo? Lorenzo, are you okay, baby?" She dropped the large globe paperweight. It hit the ground with a thud and then rolled away. She went to her knees. There was blood in his hair. She touched his face. Did she kill him? Was he dead? "Lorenzo, please wake up." She shook him. She looked down to the blood now on her fingers and struggled to breath. "Lorenzoooo? Wake up! I'm sorry. Wake up. Please. I'm sorry."

He lay still as a corpse. She had killed him. She had murdered him. "I didn't do it. I didn't." She scrambled to her feet and fled the room. The house was in a state of chaos. Men were shouting. Catalina, Rosetta, Cecilia, Eve, all of them were crying. Blinded by tears she raced out of the villa and tried two different cars before she found one with the keys inside. She turned over the engine and sped away.

* B *

Lorenzo groaned.

He touched the side of his head in response to the pain.

"Merda!" he spat. Not sure of what happened he tried to rise from the floor but was brought back down by a wave of dizziness. "Che palle!"

"What the f.u.c.k happened to you?" Carlo walked in. He reached down and brought his friend to his feet. "Who hit you?"

"Marietta, she's gone f.u.c.king crazy," he groaned. His vision was blurred and the pain made it hard for him to open his eyes. "Where... where is she?" Lorenzo staggered toward the door. Carlo kept him from dropping again.

"Maybe you should sit down," Carlo said.

"f.u.c.k no!" Lorenzo shoved Carlo off. He had to drop a hand to the wall to keep standing.

"I thought you had her in here? What the h.e.l.l happened?" Carlo asked.

"Find her... we got to. Now!" Lorenzo stretched his eyes to regain sight. "Motherf.u.c.ker! What the f.u.c.k did she hit me with?" Lorenzo groaned.

"This." Carlo picked up a marble paperweight. "She could have killed you," he chuckled.

"None of this s.h.i.t is funny!" Lorenzo turned on him. "She's having one of her fits. We have to find her."

"What kind of fit?" Carlo asked.

"Rage. You know the f.u.c.king kind. When she's backed in a corner she gets like this. She fights. It's complicated." Lorenzo dragged down a breath. He dropped a hand to the side of the door to steady himself. "How did she and Mirabella find out the truth?"

"I don't know. Gio has left. They are driving the Donna to the ospedale. She bleeds. It must be the babies," Carlo said.

"d.a.m.n it. This is bulls.h.i.t. What the f.u.c.k has Marietta done?" Lorenzo groaned.

"Is this Marietta's fault or yours?" Carlo asked.

"What did you say to me?" Lorenzo asked.

Carlo stepped closer. "You lied to her, brother. She's special and you f.u.c.ked it up."

Lorenzo shoved him. "Special? She's my f.u.c.king wife. I'm the man that knows how special she is. Capice?" He took a step toward Carlo. "Unless you have eyes on my woman? Do you-brother?"

Carlo glared but backed off with his hands up. "Of course not. I only want to help you."

It took a moment for Lorenzo to calm himself. He trusted Carlo with his life, but not with Marietta. He trusted no man with Marietta. He closed his eyes and breathed through his nose slowly. "We have to find her before Giovanni does. You want to help, then help me find her." Lorenzo marched out of the room. In the hall he ran directly into Cecilia who carried a screaming and hollering Eve in her arms.

"Where is Marietta?" he asked her.

"I don't know," Cecilia said and hurried off.

Lorenzo and Carlo split up. He went straight for the bedroom and Carlo went in search of her on the lower level. No one understood Marietta the way he did. To her his lies were proof of something inconceivable to him, that their love was false. And he couldn't let her go another minute believing that. When he entered the room he froze. He couldn't believe the destruction wielded by his lady. She trashed everything she could lift or throw. Marietta wasn't fragile. She'd take a man's b.a.l.l.s if he turned his back on her. And that made her even more dangerous.

Carlo rushed inside. His eyes stretched at the destruction. He shook his head. "Spoke to the boys, she took Leonardo's car. He had just stepped out of it and left the keys inside. He said when he saw her speed out of the drive he couldn't catch her."

"Where the f.u.c.k could she go?" Lorenzo demanded "How the f.u.c.k would I know? She's your wife. Remember?" Carlo replied.

Lorenzo paced. "How did she find this out? What the f.u.c.k happened here? What am I missing?" Lorenzo put his hands to his head. "You head toward Carini. I'm going towards Palermo. Page me if you find her," he said.

"Wait." Carlo stopped him. "I can't bring her back here, Lo. You saw the scene with Gio. He'll be out for blood for what she's done. If I find her I'll take her to my mother's in Capaci. You go there as well. I'll call ahead to make sure the house is empty for you two."

"Thanks." Lorenzo panted. "About what I said earlier. I didn't mean to say..."

"Forget it. I understand," Carlo said.

"Grazie. She means a lot to me. She's my life," he said.

"You can trust me, Lo. I... I like Marietta," Carlo said.

"Andiamo."

* B *