12. Chapter 12
12
Over the next twenty-four hours, authorities scrambled to keep the crime scene quiet as they cleaned up the leftover mayhem. Mountain roads leading up to the church were shut down. During this time, passing vehicles were sent on a detour. The public was barred from entry while bodies were removed and evidence vanished into thin air. The police and fire brigade did their job so well that, by the time they were done, Elyse began to question if the bloodbath at the funeral had been a mere figment of her imagination.
If curious eyes from the neighboring towns had witnessed the smoke rising from the mountains, no one seemed alarmed enough to voice their concerns out loud. For now, the truth was only known to the unlucky guests who’d attended Vincenzo’s funeral. Elyse’s thoughts swerved toward Gaspare. Had he reached out to Mariposa? Did she know her father was gone? Or that her other brothers were dead?
Elyse was scheduled to meet with Mariposa soon. Dread ate at her. She refused to run from confrontation, though. Aberto, Soren, and Orlando De León might be dead, their blood on her hands, but she was no coward. Mariposa deserved an explanation, face to face, woman to woman, for the violence committed against her family.
On Tuesday, Elyse visited the younger woman at Monte's apartment. He let her in and stepped to the side. Elyse greeted both Monte and Mariposa. The younger woman’s countenance tensed up the moment she saw Elyse.
Did she already know?
Monte cleared his throat. Elyse glanced over for a moment. His gaze was honed on Mariposa. The scarred man's signature scowl—the one that screamed fuck around and find out— had wavered at the sight of Mariposa's discomfort. With a flicker of surprise, Elyse took note of how her husband's toughest bodyguard appeared to be developing a soft spot for Mariposa.
“The look on your face makes me nervous,” Mariposa observed anxiously.
Hesitation clouded green eyes. With a downcast gaze, Elyse tried to break it to her gently, “I have news to share, and it won’t be easy to hear…”
"Sounds ominous,” muttered Mariposa.
A beat of tension passed between them as Elyse revealed, "There were some casualties at the funeral."
“Who were they?”
“Ronaldo was the first to go.”
“What a shame,” Mariposa commented without a shred of grief.
“Then Domenico killed Carlo.”
Mariposa shrugged. “To be honest, I never liked him.”
“But Domenico didn’t make it out alive, either.” Elyse took a long pause, not knowing how to continue.
Mariposa seemed to misread her silence. The tension in the younger woman’s shoulders eased slightly. “Only three dead bodies? That is not too bad.”
Intently, Elyse stared at Mariposa. “There were more than three, but I don’t know if you’re ready to hear the rest.”
"Tell me.”
“Are you sure?”
“I am ready, and I want to know.”
There’d always been an unflinching directness to Mariposa's attitude. Elyse had noticed it during the first time they played poker together. The De León girl possessed spunk and mettle in spades. But did Mariposa possess the capacity to forgive? Elyse felt uneasy. Alessandro and Valentina had shot and killed Mariposa's closest kin. She didn't know how the younger woman would react.
"Your father is gone," Elyse finally confessed, keeping her gaze locked on Mariposa, "Orlando and Soren are dead, too."
The girl's complexion turned ashen. "Dio santo..." Oh, my God...
"I’d extend my condolences, but it feels insincere considering how they lost their lives," Elyse mumbled in distress.
The younger woman seemed to catch her drift. Dark eyes narrowing, Mariposa demanded, "How did they die?"
Guilt weighed on Elyse's tongue, but she forced herself to answer, "Alessandro shot your father. Then, Valentina took out your brothers."
She wanted Mariposa to hear it from her instead of another source .
Fists clenching at her sides, the younger woman demanded, "I understand Valentina has always been a wild card. But why did Alessandro betray my father? Our clans are allies, no?"
"Your father betrayed him first."
Mariposa's jaw locked. "What did my father do to Alessandro?"
Elyse studied Mariposa closely. Had the younger woman been aware of the hit her father put on Alessandro? She searched for flashes of awareness on Mariposa’s face while letting the cat out of the bag, "Not too long ago, Alessandro discovered that Aberto hired an American hitman named Tommy Wilkes. Tommy put a bullet in Alessandro's stomach when he was in New York."
Mariposa looked genuinely shocked. "Manache! Cane non mangia cane. Mio padre dovrebbe saperlo meglio." Oh, hell! Dog doesn't eat dog. My father should know better.
Elyse pretended not to understand her. "The only reason my husband didn't die that night was because I saved him."
Mariposa gave a troubled frown. "How do I know this is true?"
"Your father went through the Santos brothers to hide his hand in the matter. It took a bit of careful digging, but our men found proof. I can show it to you."
Almost unnoticeably, Monte squirmed and shuffled behind them. His face stayed emotionless, but a troubled flicker appeared in his eyes. Never one to wear his heart on his sleeve, only Elyse picked up on his unease. If they hadn’t spent so much time together in the past few months, she would’ve missed it, too. What was bothering him? Monte had been assigned to prove Aberto’s guilt. Perhaps, he didn't wish for Mariposa to know about his involvement in her father's murder?
Elyse couldn't be sure.
Mariposa remained oblivious to Monte's strange mood. She appeared lost in thought, falling silent for a stretch. She appeared to be struggling to process everything. It took her a while to respond. "I would like to see the evidence later, but, for some reason, I think I believe you already."
With a touch of skepticism, Elyse cocked her head to the side. "How come?"
Bitterness seeped into Mariposa’s voice as she shared, "As you know, only my brothers were welcome in my father’s inner circle. They liked to keep me in the dark. But I am not stupid. Even though they did not tell me much, I learned to use my eyes and ears to fill in the blanks. My father has been taking out his rivals behind their backs for as long as I can remember. It is not in his nature to shoot enemies in the face. He finds other ways to kill them."
“You seem to know your father well even though he hid everything from you.”
“He always underestimated me.”
“A fatal mistake.”
Mariposa scoffed, but she looked quite pleased with Elyse’s remark. "What about Orlando and Soren? How did they die?"
"Valentina took out Orlando and Soren when they pulled their guns on Alessandro. They were about to avenge your father's death."
"I see."
Elyse winced. "I know this must be a lot to take in."
Mariposa looked visibly shaken, but her voice didn't waver when she stated, "Do not get me wrong. I am distressed by the fact that they are all gone. But their deaths do not come as a shock.”
Elyse eyed the younger woman with trepidation.
Despair darkened Mariposa's eyes as she continued with a broken expression, "I knew what might happen when I asked you for protection. I may have even been praying for it."
Elyse wasn't entirely surprised by Mariposa's admission, but she didn't know quite how to respond.
Resentment seemed to war with self-disgust as Mariposa asked, "What do you think of a woman who wishes death on her own family?”
Green eyes darted toward the bruise on Mariposa's cheek. It remained very visible. Back in Queens, she’d been knocked around by Mikey quite a few times. Sometimes, he struck hard enough to leave a mark. Other times, no evidence could be found on her body. Mikey loved to use violence as an intimidation tactic. The memories still made her sick. She’d felt so small and helpless because of his bullshit. But the abuse he put her through was nothing compared to the nightmare Mariposa’s father had trapped her in.
"If a girl was given a safe, loving home," Elyse shared quietly, "she wouldn't grow into a woman who wants her family to die."
“Do you think I should have forgiven them?”
Ruefully, Elyse thought of her father. “Forgiveness must be earned.”
“So they deserved to die?”
“I don’t know if they deserved it,” Elyse answered with a grimace. “But I'm not the kind of woman who turns the other cheek when a man threatens to hit me. I don’t think you’re the type, either.”
“Maybe that is why we are becoming friends.”
“Are we?”
“Maybe.”
Elyse laughed quietly.
"It is strange," Mariposa mused, her voice growing softer, "I have dreamed of escaping my father since I was a child, but, now that he is gone, I still do not feel free."
"How come?"
"Because I am a traitor," Mariposa whispered with haunted eyes. “I hate myself for hating my family.”
The magnitude of her hurt could be felt. It made Elyse's chest tighten with strain as well. She countered gently, "One could argue that your family betrayed you first."
"But they are dead," Mariposa mumbled, "and I am alive."
"Better them,” Elyse reminded her, “than you.”
"Yes, better them than me, I suppose,” Mariposa echoed sullenly. She then smiled a strained smile. “Want to know something terrible?"
"Only if you wish to tell me."
The girl's face turned even more brittle. "My father had my mother beaten to death when I was twelve. Everyone thinks she died in an accident. I believe I would have eventually suffered a similar fate. Orlando and Soren were every bit as violent and cruel as my father. I do not think they would care if my father let his men kill me."
Sorrow filled her as she listened to Mariposa. Dios , why did women in the mafia always meet such tragic ends? Elyse couldn't take away Mariposa’s pain any more than she could change her own fate. All she could offer was support and, hopefully, protection as her influence expanded and grew.
They were all trapped in a system designed to fuck them over. Papá’s debts and her mother's blood had locked Elyse in place. Meanwhile, Mariposa had been suppressed by Aberto and his brutality.
It broke her heart.
In a voice seething between restraint and fury, Elyse asserted, "You and I may never be free from family. Blood is blood, after all, and it’s almost impossible to escape. The roots hold us in place like chains, but, even in a prison, thoughts can’t be caged. Our minds remain our own. We can choose to let fear silence our power. Or use the rage to unfuck everything that feels fucked up about our world.”
Mariposa's dark eyes flickered before she sighed wistfully, "There is nothing I want more than to find my own power."
"Then help me rewrite the rules," Elyse urged, "until we no longer have to be afraid of anything or anyone."
Mariposa looked intrigued, but she continued to protest, "How do you intend to change traditions have been set in stone for generations?"
"Money is king," Elyse replied. "Control enough of it, and anything is possible."
“You paint a rosy picture.” Mariposa scowled. "Too fucking rosy, I think."
"It won’t be easy, but I must try.”
“I still think you are delusional.”
Elyse wasn’t ready to back down. She felt that Mariposa could help them transform Alessandro's dream into a reality. Something within desperately wished to make a true ally out of the younger woman. After the deaths of Aberto, Orlando, and Soren, she couldn’t afford to let Mariposa turn against them. Elyse needed to convince the girl that the impossible was possible and win her over through respect instead of force.
Together, they could rewrite the rules for everyone who’d been trapped by the mafia. Women like her and Mariposa. Men like her father and Alessandro. Even bitches like Carmen and Cara. All of their lives had been wrecked in one way or another by shitty circumstances that had been out of their control.
Green eyes grew bright as she spoke with renewed determination, "Maybe it wasn’t possible before because there has never been a capo like Alessandro. There have never been many women in power, either. We can do things our way from now on. We’ll invest in new industries while pulling away from others and show our allies that millions can be made in less violent ways."
"Do you truly believe in the impossible?"
Elyse nodded without missing a beat. "I do."
For the first time since Elyse's arrival at the apartment, Mariposa's mouth spread into a sincere smile. She gazed at Elyse with admiration. "Then I want to be fucking delusional as well. Tell me what must be done. I wish to help you make the impossible... possible ."
In the background, Monte’s gaze was on Mariposa. A rare smile lifted the edges of his mouth.
After Elyse returned home from Monte's apartment, she looked for her husband in their palazzo. There was much to discuss. She eventually located Alessandro in his study. The door was closed, but she could hear his voice on the other side. It sounded like he was on the phone with someone. Elyse caught the tail end of his conversation as she was about to knock on the door.
"Se necessario, prenderò la caduta." If needed, I will take the fall.
What was he talking about? Elyse frowned slightly. And who was he talking to? She listened for a moment longer, but there was only silence. It seemed Alessandro had ended the call. Elyse knocked on the door.
"Come in," he said.
She opened the door. Alessandro was seated behind his desk in an executive-style leather chair. Once Elyse came within arm's reach, Alessandro drew her to him. His hands flirted down her back, caressing the dip in her waist and the flare of her hips.
"How are you, cuore mio?" her husband murmured.
Her mind lingered on his strange statement as her body reacted to his touch. Elyse felt distracted when she replied, “I’m… fine.”
Elyse wanted to ask Alessandro what he meant about taking the fall, but she wasn't supposed to understand Italian as far her husband was concerned. Not to mention, Elyse didn't want to give away the fact that she had been eavesdropping outside his study. She decided to circle back later and, instead, focus on Mariposa. Elyse went on to fill him in about their meeting. She told Alessandro about Mariposa's reaction to the murders of Aberto, Orlando, and Soren De León. She mentioned Monte's growing attachment to the girl.
Once Elyse finished summarizing the key points, Alessandro's fingers tightened around her waist. Her husband snapped, "You told Mariposa about our plans to legitimize businesses?"
"I did."
"I did not realize you trusted her so much.”
"The reward outweighs the risk. Don't you want her as an ally instead of an enemy?"
Alessandro warned, "This could backfire. We still do not know who set fire to the church roof, which means everyone is a suspect until the culprit is found."
Elyse hummed in agreement.
He added darkly, "For all we know, Mariposa might be hiding her hatred for us. Just waiting for an opportunity to strike us down. In case you have forgotten, her father and brothers are dead because of Valentina and me."
Again, she understood her husband's reservations. Elyse didn't fully trust Mariposa, either. What she trusted was the girl's instinct for survival and desire to improve her circumstances. Mariposa had been a victim of horrific abuse, and she deserved a better life than the one her family thrust on her. Elyse was willing to take a calculated gamble on Mariposa. She believed it might be possible to protect the girl as they furthered their agenda. Did this make her manipulative and opportunistic?
Probably.
But Elyse also meant every word of what she said in Monte's apartment. Two truths could exist at the same time. It was true that she wanted to shield Mariposa from harm and help the girl find independence. It was also true that she wanted to rewrite the rules of their world. To Elyse, this was what it meant to live honorably in the gray. It was necessary to be self-serving even while performing a righteous act.
She countered, "I trust Mariposa as much as you trusted Valentina when you brought her back from Salemi."
Her husband arched an eyebrow. "I see you are still upset with me."
Elyse smirked. "Not really. Just wanted to give you a taste of your medicine.”
A scowl weighed on his face. "I see.”
"Anyway, I didn't reveal anything specific about our plans," she said, circling back to Mariposa, "I simply shared the direction we're heading in, and I think Mariposa want to helps us."
"If Mariposa rats us out, I will be met with opposition from the other clans. The men I know do not like surprises. I planned to ease everyone into these changes. Slowly ."
"I doubt the men you know will take anything Mariposa says too seriously. In their eyes, she's a girl who turned her back on family. Even if Mariposa chooses to betray us, I don't think she'll inflict any lasting damage. She has no clan to back her."
"You do not seem to have a high opinion of Mariposa," Alessandro noted dryly .
"You misunderstand me, Alessio," Elyse muttered. "Mariposa has my respect."
"Really?"
"It's the men that I'm criticizing here. Admit it, your little boys' club would gladly take your word over Mariposa's simply because you possess three things that she doesn't—"
Alessandro eyed her with intrigue. "And what might those be?"
Elyse paused for effect. "One dick and two balls."
Staying quiet, he looked both annoyed and amused with her.
"Besides,” she continued, taking a page from her grandfather’s playbook, “this is meant to be a test. If Mariposa keeps her mouth shut, we’ll know that she can be trusted with more responsibilities. If she lets this secret slip out, we'll know exactly where she stands."
Elyse gasped as her husband's arm suddenly snaked around to haul her onto his lap. He pressed his forehead to hers and whispered, "Has anyone told you how fucking attractive it is when your mind works in this wicked way?"
She smiled in spite of herself. "I take it that you no longer have an issue with the way I'm handling Mariposa?"
Alessandro grunted, "You have my approval."
Elyse shifted to face him while straddling his lap. There was a definitive tent near his crotch. She cooed in his ear, "You seem distracted, Alessio."
"I cannot help it, everything about you is a distraction," Alessandro groaned softly. “ Dio , I have missed you. Fuck being capo . I just want to fuck you.”
She felt the same way. The stupid music box in their bedroom had definitely put a dent in their sex life, and it left her feeling desperate and wanting.
"You won’t be able to stop being capo anytime soon," Elyse murmured as she leaned over to kiss him, "so you might as well fuck me—”
His phone began to ring. He glanced at the screen. “Shit, Gaspare is calling me.”
Her lips trailed down his neck. “ Right here .”
“But I am supposed to meet with—”
She nipped his ear playfully. “ Right now .”
Brown and blue-gray eyes turned pure black as he tossed his phone aside. "Fuck it. Gaspare can go to hell.”
Elyse wrapped her legs around his waist. “He’s going to be pissed if you make him wait. ”
With a groan, his large hands settled on her thighs. “I will tell him it was your fault.”
She rocked against him. “You’d throw me under the bus?”
Alessandro pulled her even closer to grind himself against her cunt. “In a heartbeat.”
Heat pulsed between her legs even though she growled, “Do it, and find out just how violent I can be.”
He laughed happily as she dug her nails into his shoulders. “Do not threaten me with a good time.”
Elyse warned, “I'll draw blood and sink my teeth into you.”
Smirking, Alessandro promised, “You will beg and scream, too. God’s name and mine .”
His words were going to be the end of her. Desire pulsed, low and heavy, between her legs. She gave in to it, unable to resist anymore. Elyse helped Alessandro undo his trousers. His cock sprang out. He snapped on a condom. She reached under her skirts to push her panties to the side. There was no need for foreplay. She was dripping. He was throbbing and hard. She sank down onto him. They started fucking right away.
Even while his dick rammed into her pussy over and over again, her body still ached for him. She wanted him so badly. Chaos and danger ruled their lives. Elyse wanted to feel connected to her husband, anchored to him, at least, physically, before the world spun away from them again.
Elyse kept her gaze on him while riding his cock. Her hand trailed down her body to find her clit. She flicked and rubbed and teased the sweet little spot as her cunt slid up and down the length of his cock. The stretch felt exquisite. The friction was intoxicating. Elyse moaned and whimpered in bliss. The chair creaked and strained beneath the rhythm of their lovemaking.
Alessandro tried to keep his gaze on her, but his brown and blue-gray eyes kept darting downwards, glimpsing the blur of her fingers, her clit, and the pretty folds of her cunt as it gripped his pulsing shaft. He mumbled and gasped naughty, sweet words of encouragement as she continued to pleasure herself.
"I love you, baby," she gasped.
"Ti amo, mia luce, mio amore, mia vita," he returned in thick, hoarse tones. I love you, my light, my love, my life.
It was the first time they had spoken these words to each other since the funeral. The bond between husband and wife now carried the weight of their recent near-death experience. Life had never felt more fragile. Love had never been more precious.
Minutes later, Alessandro found his release.
His muscular body seized up beneath her, eyes squeezing shut, breaths hitching, as he drove his cock as deep as it would go. Tears hit her eyes as he filled her to the brim.
When her husband finally finished, chest still heaving, he demanded, "Get on the fucking desk. We are not done .”
Without waiting for a response, Alessandro shoved all of his shit aside—papers, books, and pens scattered to the floor—and hoisted Elyse onto the edge of his desk. Anticipation coursed through Elyse as he splayed her legs open. She sighed as his head dove forward, sucking and kissing her cunt. He ate her out like a mortal man worshipping his one true goddess. His tongue lapped at her clit, hungrily, desperately, as though he was drought and she—the rain. Soon, two fingers thrust into her pussy, rubbing knowingly, perfectly, against the trigger point tucked along her upper walls.
It didn't take long for Elyse to come, too. She begged and screamed, “Oh, Dios , Alessio! Don’t stop, please, don’t stop!”
Afterward, Alessandro pulled her back onto his lap to cradle her in his arms. She felt limp and dazed and utterly satiated. He held her for a while, and the solid feel of him, the familiar woodsy scent of his cologne, made her heart swell with a beautiful fullness and calm.
Her husband's low, husky voice drew her from the euphoric stupor, "Are you happy, Elyse?"
Elyse blinked a few times in confusion, still lost in her afterglow. "Of course, you were amazing as usual."
Alessandro chuckled lightly. "I was not talking about sex. I was referring to our life together."
Her brain felt sluggish and slow. "Our life... together?"
He nodded.
"I—"
Her husband's handsome face turned dark and somber when he asked, "After all that has happened to us, don’t you want to escape this hell?"
Elyse tossed Alessandro a funny, furrowed look and kissed him on the mouth. "Not really. You're stuck with me, Alessio. I'm not going anywhere.”
Her words seemed to bring some light back into his eyes, but his voice remained pensive. "Do you truly wish to stay?”
“I do.”
“You could have died on Sunday, though. I would have never forgiven myself for it."
"I said it then, and I'll say it again," Elyse murmured, "you and I stay together, or we die together."
He scoffed through his smile, "For such a brilliant woman, you make a foolish wife."
She smirked. "We're perfect for each other. Two fools in love."
He looked into her eyes with a fervent helplessness on his face. "I am your fool in every way, Elyse. I love you, I love you, I love you."
Alessandro's words should've filled her with sweetness. However, the way her husband confessed his love felt different. This time, it seemed sad. His tone set her instincts on edge because each word sounded too much like a— goodbye?
Elyse replied with a slight frown, "I love you, too."
Surely, she was being paranoid? Yet, the snippet she'd overheard from her husband's earlier phone conversation flared up.
If needed, I will take the fall.
Fucking hell, what was the bastard up to now?