20. Ravenna
Ravenna
C ian takes my advice and sets up a meeting with my uncle Davide, Papa’s younger brother and next in line to be don.
While my uncle is cut from the same cloth as my father, he’s not a bully.
He’s never been wicked or cruel for the fun of it, as far as I know.
If anything, he seemed to live in fear of Papa just like everyone else in our family.
Hopefully, he’ll let Cian explain and they can come to an understanding instead of starting a new war.
While Cian’s on the phone sorting out details, I’m in our bed, exhausted. I swear this has been the longest day of my life. Tomorrow might be just as long, but for now, I let sleep take me.
At some point Cian comes to bed. The unfamiliar sensation of having a man beside me temporarily jolts my senses into high alert. But then he pulls me into his bare chest, his spicy and whiskey scent enveloping me, and it’s like I never left the comfort and security of his arms.
Like this past month never happened. I doze off.
The next time I wake, it’s morning and I’m alone. Cian will have already left for the meeting with my uncle. I cross my fingers that it all goes well. Somehow. God, give us a miracle today.
I shower, then reapply the ointment where needed.
Most of my bruises are nearly healed, except for the new ones Papa gave me yesterday when I refused to willingly go along with his plan to sell me.
Those ache, and my split lip and eyebrow throb.
Even so, I’ve certainly been in much worse condition than this.
And I’ll never be hurt like this again, will I?
I can’t believe he’s dead. Matteo is gone, and now Papa is too. Both of my tormentors have forever been erased from my life.
I’m free.
We’re free.
I throw on a pair of comfortable wool pants and a cashmere sweater, then sit on the bed and call Elena. She needs to know what’s going on. I’m sure she thinks we’ll never see each other again. Did Mama tell her how Papa sold me?
“Ven, are you okay?” she answers. “Where are you? Did a man buy you?”
“I’m fine. Cian bought me. He came for me after all. But there’s something important you need to know?—”
“Papa’s dead.”
“Yes.”
There’s a long pause on the line. “Mr. O’Rourke did it, didn’t he?”
I hesitate to tell her the truth because the more people who know the more at risk we are of exposure. But she’s my twin and she deserves to know what happened.
“He did, but he was protecting me. He’s meeting with Uncle Davide right now, so you just stay put until this is all ironed out. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“How’s Mama taking the news of father’s passing?”
She must be devastated. Or perhaps she feels the same kind of freedom that I do, now that he’s gone. He can never hurt her again.
There’s another long, weighted silence on her end. “She’s okay now.”
“That’s good. Then?—”
“I found her body this morning at the breakfast table. There wasn’t any blood, so I think she did it with sleeping pills.” Her tone’s calm, almost neutral. Distant.
Shock twists through me. Mama’s dead? No, that doesn’t make any sense, I just saw her yesterday.
Devastation settles like a heavy weight on my chest. She’s gone. She took her own life. I try to wrap my head around this information, but it doesn’t seem real.
Mama’s free now, like me, why would she do this to herself—to us? Both of our parents dead in one night?
Alarm flashes through me, my grip tightens on the phone. “Elle,” I say carefully, “are you all right?”
The idea of her being alone in the house with our deceased mother twists my gut. I need to get her out of there, but I can’t go anywhere until I’m certain that neither the Irish nor my own people want me dead. Or to use me for leverage against one or the other.
“I’m fine.” Her voice drops to a whisper. “I don’t know why but right now I don’t feel a thing. It’s like there are no emotions left in my body. I’m just numb.”
“You’re in shock, Elle. Just hold on. I’m going to send our cousins to get you out of there.” I can’t lose her too. It’s all too much.
“No. I don’t want to leave. It’s safer in here than it is out there. Please don’t make me leave. Please .” She whimpers.
“Shh, hun. You just stay right there. Okay?”
“O-okay.”
With a heavy heart, I hang up. My emotions twist and swirl through me at a nauseating speed. I’m so relieved that Papa can never hurt me again, but Mama… Yes her last act toward me was unforgivable. But I don’t feel the same hatred toward her that I do for my father.
She was his victim just as much I was. Now she’s gone from our lives forever.
I need to get Elena out of there.
I call my cousin Sophia. She answers on the first ring.
“Soph, I need you to go get Elena. I’m sure you’ve heard that my father’s dead. Mama killed herself this morning and Elle found her body.” Those words still seem unreal. “She’s in shock. I don’t want her to be alone. But I can’t go to her right now.”
Thankfully Sophia doesn’t press for more details or further explanation.
“Oh my god. Of course. We’ll go there now.”
“Thank you. Text me when she’s with you and safe.”
“I will.” She hangs up.
I blow out a long, slow breath. Even though I’m Cian’s wife, I don’t dare leave the safety of this room until he returns.
I’m sure all the Celts out there are just waiting to rip me to pieces, given half the chance.
Cian may have forgiven me, but will they?
Or do they still think I’m a threat to them? I won’t risk it.
With a sigh, I settle in for a long day of worrying and waiting. And trying to process everything that’s happened. There’s nothing left that I can do except hope and pray.