Destino (48 page)

“Is it true?” Carlo asked.

Lorenzo paused. He looked up at his friend. “Is what true?”

“That all this time you were Giuseppe’s cowardly
puttana
!”

“
Vaffanculo
!” Lorenzo seethed, his teeth clenched.

Carlo chuckled and a few others did as well, furthering his humiliation. He took a step toward Carlo, and his friend rose from his lean against the wall. The dark malevolent smile spreading across Carlo’s lips indicated he thirsted for the fight. Giovanni and Dominic entered the room and both paused at the rigid stance of both men. The others fell silent.

Giovanni’s gaze volleyed between Carlo and Lorenzo. Both men backed away. He turned his attention to Dominic. “Where’s Flavio?”

“He should be here shortly.”

“Find him now. Everyone needs to hear what I have to say.”

“We need to talk!” Mira took hold of Fabiana’s arm. She dragged her from what appeared to be a polite conversation between Fabiana, Aurora, and a few other women in the Battaglia family. She marched toward the only door available to them, the double stone and wood carved ones that led out of the front of the estate. Battaglia family members were saying their goodbyes and loading up in their cars.

“What on earth is wrong with you? Ow! That hurts!” Fabiana backed away on the gravel circular drive with a look of confused intolerance on her face. Mira struggled with her anger. She was caught between tears and outright rage. She marched down the front steps and Fabiana backed away. The few men outside around the parked cars all stared at them.

“You lied to me didn’t you? Didn’t you? You’ve been lying to me for weeks!”

“What are you talking about?”

“Never, ever would I believe you would do something like this. Which is probably why it was so easy to feed me this bullshit.”

“Would you calm down and tell me what has you so crazy right now? What have I done?”

“Did you or did you not conspire with Giovanni and Lorenzo to convince me that the Italian Republic had my store closed?”

Fabiana’s eyes stretched. “Who told you that?”

“Answer me dammit! It was all a lie. Was that man who came here an officer of the courts or just some clown in a suit? What did Giovanni give you to sell us out of our business so he could get access to those cellars? What? Did my fucking him become part of the deal too?”

“Stop.” Fabiana shouted, she looked around at the others watching then stepped in close to Mira. She spoke with a lowered but exact manner that made Mira a bit wary too. “Don’t say another word. We can’t have this conversation out here. People are watching. Do you understand me?”

Mira summoned control, but the angry disappointment caused tears to fall. Fabiana spun and looked around at those watching. She marched to one car to yank open the door then another, but most if not all were locked. Ahead was a tow truck, on the back of it a shiny sports car that was dropped from its platform. Fabiana grabbed Mira’s hand and dragged her to the car. The men looked a bit confused when Fabiana began to speak to them in an angry loud manner. They exchanged looks, unsure of her request. Fabiana snatched the keys from one and opened the door. “Get in Mira. Now.”

“Where are we going?” Mira demanded.

“Get the hell in so we can talk. In private.”

Mira got in the car, and Fabiana slammed the door then walked around the car and got in on the other side. The men stood outside observing. The younger one eventually signed whatever paperwork before him and walked off.

“I want to explain.”

Mira dropped her head back and sighed. “I’m such an idiot. This man was playing me from day one. He told me he wanted that store, and I just fell in bed with him, believed his bullshit.” She glanced over. “Why Fabiana? Why lie to me?”

“I didn’t know the first time the store was closed that Giovanni Battaglia ordered it. That he tricked us when he did the favor for reopening it. I really thought they were trying to help us. I swear that to you.”

Mira exhaled a pained breath. “That’s right. It was a lie from the beginning.”

“Things got complicated. We were given a lease that put us between two very powerful families. The Sicilian businessman I told you about, Mancini, he wasn’t supposed to give us that building. Lorenzo explained it to me. It’s
Cammora
territory and it’s used for… for things you don’t want to know. They couldn’t let us stay in there and conduct business.”

“Business. So you know their business now?” Mira asked.

Fabiana burst into tears. “I’m sorry. Okay? I should have told you. I felt like shit. I only did this because we were in the middle. To not do what they wanted just wasn’t an option.”

“Why would we care about what they want? What is it you aren’t telling me?”

“Lorenzo has killed a man.”

As if struck Mira drew back, the right side of her body pressed to the door, “What?”

“A man named Giuseppe Calderone. He confessed it to me. He killed a man and now he’s in trouble with a very powerful Mafia family and his own. I’ve been trying to help him.”

“How the hell could you? How deep are you in this?”

“We’re in this. Trust me Giovanni Battaglia is far worse than Lorenzo, Mira. Whatever Lorenzo has done, it comes down to those cellars and the deliveries they take in and out of them from the Amalfi coast. He’s not going to tell me the dirty details but you can put it together. We can’t have people that work for us in that kind of danger. I… I had to do something, that kept it contained. To remove us from it altogether.”

“Then why not come to me? Why let me think this man cares about me when he was just using me? For Christ’s sake, I moved my things in here. We shouldn’t be here!”

Fabiana shook her head sadly. “I love Lorenzo. That’s why. And you already said you’ve fallen for Giovanni.”

“Stop it!”

“It’s true! I love him. And I think he loves me. It’s how they are. Secrecy and lies is who they are. When you said we should leave for New York I figured it would be best, especially since we now have to go. Lorenzo told me this morning that things here are going to get intense. So it’s time to go.” Fabiana nodded, wiping at her tears. “I figured I wouldn’t have to tell you all of this. Let them work through their shit, and we could see them outside of this world. Maybe…”

“Stop it. You did this for Lorenzo. Plain and simple. And now that you know he’s killed someone you’re in danger too. Do you think that man is going to let you walk out of here with that knowledge? He didn’t tell you that secret without some motives. He sure as hell isn’t going to let you in and out of his life with that kind of information. You put us in the middle of this and now we’re in so deep neither of us will be able to walk away.” Mira put her hand to her forehead. “Want to know what scares me?”

Fabiana’s teary gaze slipped to her.

“I think you knew from day one what they were into. I think you brought us here on purpose.” Mira closed her eyes. “Trapped here with them is exactly where you want us to be.”

Giovanni laid it all out for everyone. Sharing with his men his failures was not an easy task. Flavio arrived half way through his announcement. Even the old man couldn’t counsel him against what he was to do next. “We’re closing in ranks. Collect every dime that’s owed. The gambling houses in Naples are too close as well. Be prepared for anything. Angelo Calderone hasn’t made the first move so…”

“We have to.” Carlo nodded. “We know what this is.”

“Do you?” Giovanni said. “Because every one of our business interests is to be heavily armed. The Calderone’s like to firebomb, and plant bombs. It’s how they strike.”

“Boss?
Scusi
?”

The men parted to reveal the young one who had entered. Carmine was only eighteen, and a protégé of Carlo’s. He’d seen the boy around a few times. Carlo’s face deepened into a red angry scowl. He appeared incensed over his arrival. Only high-ranking men in the family were to attend this meeting.

“There’s trouble.” Carmine said, to the men glaring at him.

“Trouble? What kind of trouble?” Giovanni asked, sitting upright from his slouch in his chair.

“The women. They’re out front—fighting.”

Lorenzo looked up from the chair he was seated in and his eyes met with Giovanni’s. Carlo threw his hands up and began cursing, shoving the kid toward the door. The other men laughed.

“Wait!” Giovanni ordered. “Let him finish. What women?”

“Your women.” Carmine said, pointing to him and Lorenzo. “They’re fighting inside your Ferrari,” he leveled his finger now at Lorenzo.

“My car is in with the mechanic.” Lorenzo said.

“It was brought back. I signed for it.” Carmine said.

Lorenzo shook his head. “No, that’s not possible. I spoke to Gino and he said it would be weeks before he could look at it…”

Giovanni frowned. Lorenzo glanced to him with a confused furrow to his brow. Without a word they both bolted out of the room.

“How could you say that to me?”

“From day one you knew what Lorenzo was. Didn’t you?”

“I suspected but—.”

“You knew! And when he offered to dig in to our affairs you rejected it. Why did you change your mind? A wink, a kiss, what the hell made you think dealing with him wouldn’t lead us here?”

“Mira, please, don’t be angry with me. I made a call, a bad call…”

Mira’s hand shot up to silence her. She then wiped the tears from her face. “We’re leaving. Now. I don’t care what the hell your motives are for helping him, and betraying me. We’ll deal with it in New York. I’m getting you the hell out of here before something bad happens. Now dammit!” she opened the car door and tossed angry words back at Fabiana. “I can’t trust you. When we get back to the states I don’t want you managing Mirabella’s business affairs anymore.”

“What?” Fabiana gasped.

“I know you’re a partner, and we’ll work it out, but if you could do this to us, it means I don’t know you at all.”

“I love you.” Fabiana pleaded. “I made a mistake.”

“Bullshit. You knew exactly what you were doing. It’s time I start taking control, hell for both our sakes.” Mira got out of the car and slammed the door. She began to walk away but her legs felt like she had anklets carved out of lead strapped to them. She was possibly too harsh, too quick to judge, but dammit lies weren’t a part of their friendship. She glanced back hoping her friend was behind her. Fabiana remained in the car. Her head pressed to the steering wheel as she wept. Mira lost her conviction at the sight of her pain. Fabiana was in trouble. Lorenzo confessed to murdering someone, and she was helping him, how? Was she going as far as to cover it up?

Dammit. In all her anger she hadn’t truly digested what her friend told her. “Fabiana!” she said about to approach the car. Loud shots erupted behind her. Confused, Mira’s head turned to see Giovanni and Lorenzo running full speed out of the villa toward her. Mira froze, not sure of why they were coming after her, she panicked.
Was it because she knew about what Lorenzo had done?

She turned and started to run toward the car away from the men in pursuit of her when a bright flash exploded in front of her face, a hot white light that blinded and rendered her deaf by its force. Her body felt as if it were on fire. In a wave of heat she was airborne for what felt like an eternity. She sailed backward then crashed hard. Darkness.

They didn’t have to speak a word to each other. They knew.
They knew!
Giovanni and Lorenzo ran through the house shoving family members and staff out of the way. The men were behind them, still they couldn’t run faster, and they both tried. They nearly crashed through the door together. Outside in the sunlight the cars were parked in an intricate arrangement making his head spin. Precious moments ticked by before his sweeping gaze located her. Mira was walking toward Lorenzo’s car. He yelled her name. He shouted for her to get away from the car, but didn’t realize he did so in Italian. Her head turned. In that brief moment of recognition, he thought he saw fear in her pretty eyes. He yelled again, with Lorenzo yelling for Fabiana. His Bella shocked him by running away from him. He chased after her but it was too late. The car exploded. She was thrown across the lot and landed hard on her back. The explosion knocked them all on their asses. The roof and hood of the car shot through the air, caught in a bright orange and reddish yellow fireball. Every window of every car in his drive was blown out and shards of glass rained on them. Giovanni, stunned, struggled to rise on his hands and knees. He could hear Lorenzo’s groaning at his side. His head lifted, and he noticed Mira lying still on her back, just four feet in front of him.

He literally crawled to her as Lorenzo called out for Fabiana over and over. Men running with extinguishers rushed the car. Something was wrong with his hearing. It made all sounds a bit muffled at first, and then the noise level skyrocketed sending a piercing pain through his skull. One of his men shouted that the other woman was in the car. His cousin ran for the fire, and they had to tackle him to the ground. He yelled Fabiana’s name over and over.

Giovanni reached Mira. Her eyes were closed, her face red and swollen, her lip bleeding and blood spilled from one of her nostrils. The sight of her sent a shock wave of guilt and grief through him. “
Bambina, Mirabella,
wake… wake…” Giovanni shook her hard. She didn’t budge. He gathered her in his arms and pressed her face to his chest shouting for help.