Chapter Eight #2
Diego gripped the back of his neck, and he nodded his head. “You know what, yeah, I do. I love my wife.” He chuckled and turned to look at the screen to see all four women gathered around. “She’s a wild one, and I love that. She’s also ... hurting.”
“Because of the shit you called her?”
“No, because she lost her mom when she was a child, and she doesn’t know what the hell she is doing, and took advice from the only people she trusted. All of them are young, Giovanni. You calling Mia a child probably hurt a lot.”
Giovanni sighed and sat back. “You know what fucking sucks?” he asked.
“What?”
“I fucking love that she loves this stuff. She didn’t help me organize any of this, and I didn’t know what I was doing, and I just got everyone to make this work.
It was so exhausting, but she wanted this.
Before she heard the shit I said, she had been telling me her plans.
I even found a fucking event planning book.
” He shook his head. “It is thick and extensive with plans. I don’t know how she does it. ”
“And you love that she loves this?”
Giovanni sighed. “Yeah, I do. She makes life seem fun, and it’s not an endless cycle of shit.”
“Yeah, well, my wife doesn’t even talk to me,” Lorenzo said. “She has said less than ten sentences to me, and her being drunk doesn’t count.”
Emilio entered the room. “I don’t have a mistress.”
This surprised Diego. “Why the fuck did you say that?”
They watched as Emilio shrugged. “I’ve told Tatiana, but she doesn’t believe me.
” He dropped onto the sofa. “How the fuck did I fall in love with this woman? I mean, they’re women, and I’ve enjoyed my share of a lot of women, but Tatiana was just so .
.. she was ... I can’t even describe it, and right now she wants nothing to do with me. ”
Diego looked over to the television to see the four women in chairs, and they were all drinking soda.
“I can’t believe you’ve got cameras everywhere. Don’t you think you’ve gotten us all into enough trouble?” Lorenzo asked.
“You got a problem, leave. I’m not forcing you to watch.”
Diego was tempted to leave, but Giovanni turned the sound up.
“Do you think I should go and put that stupid costume on?” Mia asked.
“Do you want to?” Liana asked.
Mia sighed. “Yeah, I do, and I hate myself for it. What is so wrong with wanting to enjoy stupid stuff like this? I’ve done my duty.
My parents told me I had to marry, and they put me with Giovanni and I didn’t make any waves.
So, I like to dress up and have dinner parties, organize stuff, and just have fun.
Life sucks if you don’t make it fun.” She pouted.
“It’s hard,” Tatiana said.
Emilio perked up.
“I mean, he was so sweet and kind, and there are things I can’t say, but he made me feel so precious, and to know that all that time he was with someone else and I meant nothing to him.
” Tatiana shrugged. “Sometimes, I try to forget about it, but I can’t get the image out of my mind of him with another woman.
He told me he lied, but how can I believe him? ”
“I can’t help being boring,” Clarissa said.
“My sister was shot right in front of me. All we were doing was walking to school. Just doing stuff kids do, and this guy just pulled out a gun, and he shot her then ran off.” Clarissa sniffed.
“I was ten years old. She was fifteen. He killed her because to join a gang, he had to kill an innocent girl. That is what I overheard. Being boring is not a bad thing.”
Diego was aware of what happened to Clarissa. It was a rising street gang. A group of thugs had started to terrorize local neighborhoods, and that had spread to blackmailing businesses and attempting to turn them against the Colombo Mafia.
Francesco had told him to handle it. The man who killed Clarissa’s sister didn’t know who he had messed with. It had taken him one week to rid the streets of that one gang, and since then, whenever he got a sniff of anyone thinking they could run riot on the streets, he stamped them out.
“I had no idea,” Lorenzo said.
Diego wasn’t about to admit he did know.
“Fuck me,” Lorenzo said. “She’s so fucking quiet and she had to witness that shit.”
“Her sister died in her arms,” Diego said, finally admitting the truth. “No one came as she begged and screamed for help. They had taken a shortcut, and because of it, it cost her life.”
“You knew?”
“I thought everyone knew,” Diego said, and looked to Giovanni and Emilio, who both nodded that they knew.
“Fuck me, I was out of the country back then. I was back in Italy dealing with the bullshit between my grandfather and father.” Lorenzo sighed. “How do I win her back?”
“What about you and Diego?” Mia asked. “How are things going with you and him?”
They all went silent and Diego looked toward the screen. Liana was silent for what felt like the longest time.
“I ... I don’t hate him,” Liana said. “And I know this is a lot, but I have missed my cycle. I’m a week late and I know that could mean I am pregnant, and...” She paused, frowning. “I lied to him as well.”
Diego sat up.
“How?” Mia asked.
“Because I wasn’t myself,” she said. “I lied about who I was. I had no idea how to be a wife. I know how to be a daughter and sister, but my dad and brother are amazing. They never tried to change me, and were always there. Being a wife, I don’t know what I’m doing.
Diego was never cruel and we’ve seen the way some husbands treat their wives, and he is supposed to be a monster, but to me he’s not.
I didn’t know how to be me, and now I am me, and it’s like this barrier between us is gone.
So, I don’t hate him, and if I am pregnant, I don’t want to spend the rest of my life hating everything. ”
“Why don’t you just admit it?” Tatiana asked.
“Admit what?”
“That you love him, and that even though he said the things he said, it wasn’t even about the true you. There is nothing wrong with loving him.”
Diego felt his heart pounding inside his chest.
“Loving him is not the problem, but I do think it is time I learn to forgive him. I mean, he’s different and so am I.
We’re finally figuring this out together, and that is what I want.
” She put her hand on her stomach. “Especially if I am going to be carrying his child. I mean, that is a lot to process.”