Chapter 29 Benjamin
Benjamin
Wow, Giani really likes to talk once he gets going. And he really knows how to hold a grudge. No complaints here, though. While he’s bitching about Lorenzo, he isn’t thinking about hurting me. I throw in an “absolutely” and an “I hate him so much” now and then, which has kept him happy so far.
The guy who was standing guard at the door, and is built like a semi-detached house, has sat down and is thumbing through something on his phone. Giani has opened another bottle of wine and I’m sitting here praying I can keep him distracted long enough for Cielo to find me.
I’ve listened to him bitch about Lorenzo, Cielo, my mother, his sons, and his wife.
How the hell anyone can stand to be around him is astonishing.
He’s delighted in retelling stories of times he punished his kids and wife.
He’s a narcissist and also a sociopath. It reminds me of how dangerous life here is.
Being cooped up in the villa made me forget—or at least blinded me to—the reality of Cielo and Lorenzo’s life in Sicily.
All because I haven’t witnessed the seedy underbelly, doesn’t mean it isn’t there.
I know Cielo went to the docks several times.
What happened there? Did he have to deal with someone?
Is there a version of Cielo where he becomes someone closer to Giani?
I can’t imagine it. Yet again, I could never imagine meeting real mobsters.
“I can’t wait to see the look in his eyes,” Giani slurs. He’s said the same thing several times already. I don’t even need to answer. He’s lost in his own miserable world.
The more he drinks, the more confident I become thinking I could escape.
Giani untied my hands a while ago so I could have a drink with him.
Mr Meaty is so engrossed in his phone, I think I could reach the unlocked door before he registered what was happening.
Giani is pissed as a fart, so no worries there.
It’s just the man outside. I’m guessing he’s not drunk and is probably armed.
I’m halfway through a semi-decent plan to run when there’s an almighty thud outside.
The door shakes and then there’s a scraping sound.
Giani hasn’t noticed, but Mr Meaty did. He slips his phone back into his pocket and retrieves his gun.
He can’t be that worried, though, because he hasn’t risen from his seat.
It all happens so fast. The door bursts open and there’s two muted pops.
Mr Meaty falls to the floor screaming, clutching both knees.
My head whips back to the door where Toni is standing, gun raised.
Moving with a grace and speed I didn’t think a bloke of that stature could, he swoops in, slaps some tape on Mr Meaty’s face, and begins dragging him out of the room.
Giani staggers off his chair, but he’s in no fit state to do anything.
I use the opportunity to slip out of reach.
I’ve now got a couch and table between us.
He won’t get to me before Toni gets back, and it doesn’t look like he knows what to do, really.
His head snaps from me to the door and back.
Panic and confusion are outweighing the intoxication of too much wine.
Like an avenging angel, Cielo steps through the door dressed all in black. His hair is scraped back into that ferocious topknot I’ve come to like. Weird how a hairstyle can convey so much power.
Giani finally comes to his senses and picks up the gun from the table. Our little bonding session is, by all accounts, over as he aims the pistol at me. His hands are unsteady and I’m not convinced he’d hit me if he pulled the trigger, but I really don’t want to find out.
“Where is he?” Giani spits.
Cielo grimaces. “Lorenzo is at home, where I told him to be. Tut tut, Giani, you have made a mess.”
He’s so calm, it’s unnerving. I expected him to burst in here with the heat of a thousand suns, but this is worse.
He’s oozing power, and his eyes are dark with malice.
I swallow. Even when Cielo came for me and got angry, he wasn’t like this.
I think I’m finally seeing Don Mannucci, and I’m not sure if I like it.
“How did you find us? I didn’t send the message yet,” Giani growls and then hiccups.
“Giani, you’re as predictable as you are round. It’s astonishing you’ve been the head of your family for so long. Of course you’d take Benjamin to the house you were supposed to live in with Maria. It’s all so dramatic.”
“She was mine!” he roars.
“And Benjamin is mine,” Cielo seethes. “There’s no coming back from this, Arello.”
Cielo still hasn’t looked at me. His statement of me being his hits me in the chest with force.
I’ve never had anyone declare I belonged to them like that.
The proud independent part in me is crossing his arms and scowling, but the other part of me…
the part that wants to be loved wholeheartedly by someone, mewls in pleasure—not that Cielo loves me or anything.
Toni re-enters the room, his gun trained on Giani.
This is going to turn into a bloodbath if everyone starts shooting.
Stepping from behind the couch, I draw everyone’s attention to me.
I watch Cielo scan my face and his eyes darken with anger as he pauses over the bruise I know is developing on my cheek.
“He laid hands on you?” he asks in a voice so low I barely hear him.
“No, I fell out of the van. Giani didn’t hit me.”
“You and me,” Giani suddenly barks. “We finish it. If Lorenzo’s too much of a coward to face me, I’ll be happy to put you in the ground instead of him.”
For crying out loud.
Cielo sneers and steps forward. “Agreed.”
“No!” I scream. “No, that’s enough!” Cielo flicks his gaze to me momentarily. “Cielo, you found me. I just want to go home. Please.”
His jaw flexes and his nose flares. He’s not happy, but I don’t care. I can’t watch him do something we’d never recover from.
“Nico, Franco, and Marco are on their way. Giani’s future lies in their hands now,” he eventually says.
I don’t know what that means, but from the way Giani grips the edge of the seat he’s been using to keep himself upright, I don’t think these men coming here is a good thing for him.
Puffing out his chest in one last attempt to seem in control, Giani slashes his hand in the air and declares, “This has nothing to do with them.”
“You broke the pact, Giani. No family members, remember? Your grudge is over three decades old and you took an innocent. I ignored the attempts on our business dealings, but this? No. It’s time to face judgement.”
“So, you’re a coward too, huh? Just like a Fusaro. He taught you well. It’s a shame. Your parents would turn in their grave at your lack of backbone.”
He’s goading him, and for a split second, I think he’s said enough to force Cielo to react with violence. Cielo’s hand twitches on his gun, but he takes a deep breath and looks at me.
“If it’s any consolation, I hope they spare your life, Arello.”
“Why? I’ll come for you. This isn’t over until I have Lorenzo begging for mercy and you on your knees.”
I roll my eyes. Cielo looks at Toni and then at me, before shaking his head.
“I want them to spare you, so you live to see everything you own taken from you. With the help of Gisto, who it seems has grown tired of your bullshit, I now own everything: your businesses, houses, yacht…all of it is mine.”
He balls his fists. “You’re lying.”
“No, I’m not. If you’d have spent even half the time tending to business and family the way you did this trite abduction, you’d still have a life to live here. But you didn’t, and now it’s all gone.”
I can see his massive hulk vibrating with anger. The cold fury Cielo possessed when he first walked in has now transformed into an evil grin. Just his facial expression is enough to twist the knife in Giani’s gut.
The air changes in an instant and I know what’s about to happen.
My parents would say I’m stupid for putting myself in harm’s way, but when I see Giani shift almost imperceptibly, my instincts take over and I dive toward Cielo.
Our bodies slam together as the deafening thunder of Giani’s gun going off booms through the room.
We’re on the floor and my ears are ringing. I feel hands grab my shoulders and lift me off him. For a moment, I’m scared it’s Giani, but the overwhelming odour of Toni’s cologne settles my nerves.
Stumbling back, I take in the scene. Giani is on his knees, clutching his shoulder.
Red liquid seeps through his fingers. Toni is hauling Cielo up, patting down every inch of his body, looking for a gunshot wound.
He swats his hands away and pushes past him until he’s in front of me.
His hands roam frantically over my body. “Are you hurt?” he asks urgently.
I feel sore but nothing hurts badly. “I’m fine.”
Cars skid to a halt outside and multiple doors open and close. Cielo pulls me into his body and holds me. Noise erupts all around us as men pile in. They’re all dressed in fine Italian suits.
“Get him up,” the older of the men barks. Toni reaches for Giani and pulls him up to his feet.
“Let’s go,” Cielo whispers in my ear. “You don’t want to see this.”
No, I don’t. Giani is an animal, but does that mean he deserves to die?
“Cielo, what would you like us to do?” another man asks.
He shakes his head as he moves us towards the door. “That’s not my decision. You know I cannot pass judgement fairly. I’ll accept whatever punishment you see fit, Nico. Goodnight.”
Tucked into Cielo’s body, I let him lead me to his car. Toni follows moments later. We slip inside without a word. Up to this point, Cielo has looked in complete control. That is, until he meets my eyes in the back of the car and he breaks. He sobs as his hands reach for my face.
Toni drives without a backward glance. The only thing I can do is fold myself into his body. He hauls me onto his lap and buries his face in my neck.
“I’m okay,” I repeat into his ear, but it’s like he can’t accept it. His fingers grip me harder, as though he expects me to vanish.
“I’m sorry—so sorry, Benjamin,” he cries.
Stroking his hair, I kiss the top of his head. Toni pulls the car around the back of the villa. “We’re home,” he says.
I look out the window and see my parents running towards the car. Cielo sucks in a breath and breaks away from me. He wipes his eyes and I see the mask slip back on.
“Go to them,” he says, but I don’t want to move. “Go, Benjamin.” His voice is strong and commanding once again.
The car door is ripped open, and I have little choice but to get out.
My parents envelop me in their arms. Kevin and Penny aren’t far behind.
I’m passed between the group as they cry and hold me tightly.
I try to look back at Cielo, but he’s gone.
A flash of platinum hair entering the house is all I have left of him.
“Come on, pumpkin. Let’s get you inside.”
I’m chauffeured into the kitchen. Lorenzo stands waiting, his eyes wide with alarm, and I know he wants to hug me. I reach out my arm and pull him in. I feel a connection to him I wasn’t aware had been missing.
I know everyone in the room loves me and wants to make sure I’m okay, but the only thing I want to do is leave all of them and find Cielo.
A sense of urgency rises in me. The threat of the Arello family is gone, and therefore, my need to be in Sicily is now gone, too.
I can go home. I can go back to my life—a life without Cielo.