La Sposa (23 page)

“
She’s an
Americana
,”
Lorenzo said, as if the word tasted bad on his tongue.

“
So what? She has something to do
with this place. Capriccio was determined to keep me from finding
out her identity. The people who raised me act like she is some
random whore off the street.” Marietta reached behind her neck and
unclasped the necklace she wore. “Look at this! Look at it
please.”

He accepted the necklace. “I had it made into
a necklace. It was a baby bracelet once. It’s the only thing I have
that my mother gave me before she disappeared. Turn it
over.”

Lorenzo did as she asked, and Marietta walked
over to the switch on the wall. She flipped it up and flooded the
room with light so he could see the insignia. “Del Stavio made it.
Gemma told me he was the private jeweler to the Dons of Sicily. My
mother left this behind for me, so she is tied to this place, or
Sicily, or both. The Capriccios are hiding something other than
money. And you and I both know Caruso Capriccio was never a
Don.”

“
It’s not possible that your mother
had this made. Not even possible she could have received it in
America. Jewelry from Del Stavio was a personal private endeavor.
Makes no sense.”

“
Yet, there is my name. Right
there. Explain it.”

She saw the impatience in his scowl. Marietta
let the sheet she held to the front of her go. It pooled to the
floor. She stepped out of the heap and walked toward him. “I need
your help, Lorenzo. I’ll sign whatever David wants. Like those
factories where you have marijuana stashed…”

“
Your mouth, woman, will get you in
a lot of trouble.” Lorenzo chuckled.

Marietta smiled. “You know I have talents.”
She ran her hand over his chest, and pulled in her bottom lip
between her teeth. Lorenzo responded, as most men had to her since
she was sixteen. His gaze darkened to the deepest sapphire blue
she’d ever seen, and the muscle in the side of his jaw twitched
with restraint.

“
You agree, don’t you? We make a
good team. Who else can help me with the Capriccios to get the
truth of who my mother is? And who else can help you find this
Isabella person? Do we have a deal?”

Lorenzo placed his hands to her hips and
guided her closer to him. She naturally put her hands around his
neck and pressed her face to his chest. “I’ll make this deal,” he
said. “Until a better one comes along. Now will you please dress so
we can go?”

Marietta tilted her mouth up to his and rose
on her toes. He parted his lips as if to welcome her kiss, and she
spoke just a fraction away from temptation. “Since you asked so
nicely, yes, but only if you join me.”

When she stepped back and turned for the
bathroom, he was right behind her.

*****

“
It’s Gio’s rules, Catalina. We
must respect them.”

He kissed her. Soft and sweet. Like a shy
lover. When she spent the night at his place in Naples, he was a
madman in bed. Now he would barely hold her hand. And they had
fucked hundreds of times in her room before. “
Cara mia, ti
voglio bene.
I want to make love to you so bad right now.” The
man could talk her into anything, and right now he was doing a damn
good job of talking her out of her passions. “I won’t disrespect
Gio now that he has given me a second chance. Help me be a good
boy.” He eased his hand down her backside to grab and squeeze her
ass.

“
He won’t know. He never does.” She
tried to bring his lips to hers, but he pulled away from their
embrace. “Domi! We’ve fooled him a hundred times before. Please.
Come inside. We have only a few hours before the sun is up and we
have to be ready for the wedding. I want to lay in your
arms.”

Dominic leaned in and kissed her forehead.
“You’ve had too much to drink.”

“
And I’m horny,” she
pouted.

“
We leave after the wedding. Then
nothing will keep us apart.”

Catalina sighed. With no other choice, she let
him go. He gave her another pat on the ass. A trip to America for
just them would make up for the night she’d spend alone in
bed.

“
Get some rest. I can’t wait to
help you undress tomorrow night.” She felt warm and lovely;
especially after the look he gave her breasts. When he stepped
away, she saw Rosetta in the hall behind him, observing
them.

“
What the hell are you doing?
Spying on me?”

Dominic’s head turned. He was equally
surprised. Rosetta looked like a trapped rabbit. Her mouth opened
and closed robotically but nothing came out.

“
Were you spying on us?” Catalina
shouted.

“
Calm down, Catalina.” Dominic
admonished.

“
No. No!” Rosetta waved her hands
at them frantically. “I wasn’t. I just needed to talk to Catalina.
I didn’t want to disturb but—”

“
Va via!”
Catalina
shouted.

“
Lower your voice, Catalina.”
Dominic said. “Talk to her. I’ll see you in the morning.
Bournasette,
Rosetta
.”

“
Night, Domi.” Rosetta looked to
the floor instead of him. Catalina noticed, as he strolled away
Rosetta did slyly slip a look his way.

“
Don’t you even think about it.
He’s mine.” Catalina crossed her arms.

“
Of course, Catalina.” Rosetta said
sweetly.

Disgusted, Catalina turned to close the door.
But her cousin hurried to throw her hand up and use her body to
prevent it from closing. “Let us talk. It’s very important. I
promise it won’t take long.”

“
You have five minutes, I need to
go to bed.” She walked over to her bed and sat on it. She really
did feel exhausted from the wine, and dancing. She wanted to sleep,
not spar with her sworn enemy. “Go on. What is it you
want?”

“
First, to apologize.” Rosetta
sounded both sincere and humble. Catalina had many wars of words
with her cousin over the years, and even more fistfights when they
were younger. Never had her cousin apologized without being forced
to by an aunt or relative. Catalina looked behind her, then back to
Rosetta, and gave her a snide smile.

“
Are you kidding?”

“
No. I’m not.”

Admittedly, Rosetta was on her best behavior
in Sorrento. However, Catalina knew this was because they were in
Italy and not Sicily. Here, Catalina was queen. In Sicily, she was
a bastard and beneath them all. “Apologize for what?” she asked,
deciding to humor Rosetta before she tossed her out on her
ass.

“
For being such a bitch to you all
these years. I know I can’t take back the things I’ve done and said
to you. All I want for us is to be cousins. I want for us to act
like
famiglia
.”

“
Bullshit!” Catalina choked out
through laughter.

Rosetta’s brows lowered, and her eyes closed
to angry slits over the insult. Catalina readied for the true
Rosetta to come out. But her cousin surprised her by reigning in
her emotion. “I understand your distrust of me. You will make this
hard for me, won’t you?”

“
Damn right I will.” Catalina stood
with her arms flung open. “Take a look around. This is my life. I
have no friends, Rosetta, no sister. And when I was a little girl,
I realized I had no
famiglia
either. It’s not because you
cut my hair when I was asleep, and only six years old, to make me
look like a boy. Or that you, Aurora, Ramona, and Adrianne put dirt
and bugs in food you convinced me to eat. It’s not that you and
those bitches would gang up on me and beat me until I was black and
blue. Calling me
bastardo
, and half-breed. All of that I can
forgive. Hell, I’ve learned to get over it.”

Rosetta shook her head sadly. “We were
kids…”

“
I don’t care. You aren’t better
than me. Get that? I don’t need your apology or friendship. In
fact, I’m tired of you coming around here period! So don’t plan on
coming back after the wedding.”

“
No! Please, Catalina. My husband
is dead, just like Franco. Papa is trying to marry me off again. He
isn’t even cold in the ground and he’s bringing Roberto around.
Remember him? He has no penis!”

Catalina snickered.

“
It’s true! Adrienne told me that a
school chum said it’s so small she couldn’t feel it. I can’t go
through this again. I won’t.”

“
Not my problem.” Catalina
shrugged.

Rosetta smiled. “I admire you. I respect you.
Look at who you’ve become, and now America? Wow! You will design
clothes and meet famous people. I was wrong about you. We all
were.”

Catalina looked at her doubtful.

“
Please. I’ll die in Palermo. I
came here tonight to ask you to let me stay.
Permanently.”

The request took Catalina by surprise. She
blinked at Rosetta, not sure if she should laugh or spit upon her
request. Rosetta stepped toward her, cautiously. “You’re going to
America. You’re about to do so much, become so much. I only want a
chance to do something with myself. You won’t even be
here.”

“
I’ll never let you stay at
Melanzana
!”

“
I’m begging.” Rosetta lowered to
her knees. “Please.” She grabbed Catalina’s hand and rubbed her
face against it. “I beg you.”

Catalina rolled her eyes and snatched her hand
away. “Get up off the floor. Don’t be stupid. It’s not my decision
anyway.”

“
The
Donna
says it is. She
says I can only stay here while you both are gone, if you approve.
Give me your blessing. The moment you think I don’t deserve the
privilege you can send me away. I’m just asking for the
chance.”

Catalina crossed her arms and considered the
power handed to her. She dreamed of crushing Rosetta under her boot
heel as a kid. The best she could do was tease her by having nicer
things than Uncle Vito would buy for her cousin. It was never
enough. The wounds of their childhood war cut deep, and only a few
scars had healed. Now, she had the power to give forgiveness and
take it away. It was too tasty of a proposition to turn down. “You
can stay until I come back from America. Then, we must have this
talk again.”

“
Grazie!”
Rosetta got to her
feet. She put her hands to her mouth. “I am sorry for who we were
as kids. I’ll show you I have changed.” Rosetta headed to the door.
She looked back. “You won’t regret this!”

Catalina smirked. “Oh, but you
might.”

Giovanni opened his eyes. Mira had ordered him
to put on his boxers before she returned to their bed with Eve. His
daughter snuggled under him, between her parents, content. In the
dark, he turned on his pillow and looked at them both. When they
slept, he saw how much daughter resembled mother. He ran his
fingers across Mira’s jaw, and then kissed Eve’s brow. A soft knock
on the door drew his gaze up. Mira’s eyes opened and she looked at
him curiously. He winked, and she settled back to sleep. Giovanni
found his robe and eased it on. Quietly, he left the room. Dominic
waited for him in the hall. Leo was reclined in his position, awake
and alert.

“
What is it?”

“
Can we talk?”

Giovanni nodded, and the two of them walked
away from the door to the far end of the hall near the stairs. “I
got a call tonight. Our friends in New York say that there is a
good chance that Kei Hyogo will be extradited back to
China.”

“
So soon?”

Dominic nodded. “And what’s interesting is
there is a petition in the courts to have his companion Cheung
removed from the jails and sent back to China. I will make sure
that doesn’t happen, Gio. As for Kei, well there isn’t much we can
do with the American courts.”

Giovanni rubbed his jaw. It burned his gut
that Kei Hyogo lived. If he returned to China, he would certainly
be killed by the Triad. Why bloody his hands for the sake of
revenge? “Pay him a visit when you get to America.”

Dominic nodded. “I understand.”

He turned to walk away when Dominic grabbed
his arm.

“
Gio.”

“
What is it?”

“
I want to say that I’m happy for
you. For you and Mira. Tomorrow is a great day for our
family.”

He stared at Dominic a moment, mumbled thanks
and shrugged off his touch, walking away. He looked back once as he
walked down the hall to see Dominic watching. Even now, brotherhood
didn’t soften his heart to Dominic’s betrayal. He had to wonder if
anything would.

He returned to the room and paused. Mira had
moved on the bed. She positioned Eve on the left side and she lay
in the middle. She looked into his eyes and smiled, stroking their
daughter’s back. Giovanni removed his robe. He walked around the
bed and eased in behind her, drawing the covers over them both.
Mira eased back into him and he kissed her head. His hand went down
her thigh in a slow, moving caress. He drew the fabric of her gown
up as his erection drove a tight hunger through his groin that had
him groaning in his throat.

To his delight she wore no underwear, and
Giovanni had no trouble removing his dick from the opening of his
boxers and sliding into her from behind. She let go a soft whimper,
but barely made a sound as he thrust deeper and deeper, until he
was buried inside of her.