Chapter 37
CIRO
“I have a confession to make.” Courtney hung her head and picked at her nail. She’d just settled into her bed in a private room at the rehab facility. It was almost five o’clock. The registration desk was slow as fuck and the delay threw my schedule off.
“Okay. What’s your confession?” Admittedly, I’d heard plenty of confessions from her, but this was the first where she wasn’t stoned out of her mind. I was about to leave, anxious to get to San Francisco and to see Isla, but now I was intrigued.
“Do you remember when we first met?”
“Yes.” This had better not be a stroll down memory lane. Our friendship had never been very deep. At least not for me. The sex was just sex to me. Most men, single or not, would want a chance with a sexy model like Courtney. But I wasn’t ever attached to her.
“I lied to you and many times since that night.”
“Court, everyone lies.” But I sensed I wasn’t going to like what I’d heard.
“Yes, but most women don’t try to trap a man to get revenge against his father.”
“What are you talking about?” I narrowed my eyes at her. “You tried to get pregnant?” Fuck, good thing I always wore a condom.
“She just put so much pressure on me, and I kept failing her, so I turned to drugs. If you would have just gotten me pregnant and loved me, Cara would have left me and my mom alone.”
Cara. Absolutely not. It couldn’t be the same person.
I stood from the chair. “Cara Clemente?”
Courtney’s face turned white as a sheet and she nodded.
“How do you know Cara?” My blood pressure spiked.
“She used to be my mother’s best friend. She wasn’t mentally well. But she wanted to destroy Alessio any way she could.”
“You’re fucking out of your mind,” I hissed at her. “Cara has been dead for many years. We didn’t meet until after her death.”
Courtney gasped in surprise. “It’s not true.”
“What’s not true?” I raised my voice, not caring if the staff heard me.
“Cara isn’t dead.” She started to cry. “She’s alive and well. Knocking on sixty’s door.”
“Not possible.” My sister told me Cara was dead, but I hadn’t confirmed it myself, too busy with Isla and the baby. Jesus, had Padre been wrong?
“She is.”
“Where?” My mind raced trying to piece together everything Courtney was saying. All this time she’d been a pawn in Cara’s revenge strategy against my father. Like what the fuck for? Even if I’d gotten Courtney pregnant, how would that have been a win for Cara?
“What?” she asked through her sobs.
“Where is she at?” I grabbed her by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes.
“San Francisco. Why are you acting like this? I mean, you have every right to be angry but—”
“Cara was behind my mother’s murder.” And if she was alive, she wouldn’t be for much longer. Jesus, Isla and Pippa were in San Francisco.
“I know.”
My blood went cold. “What else do you know? What does she want?” I didn’t care if Cara had manipulated Courtney and forced her to chase after me. She could have told me at the start, and I would’ve dealt with Cara. What made me unhinged was the old bitch could go after Isla.
“Cara doesn’t know what she wants. Her brother killed your mother. Her brother put the hit on Roman and Luca’s mother. He probably had something to do with Rosa’s mother.”
“Why? Because my father didn’t want her? She was a commoner. He was forced into an arranged marriage.” Although, he’d fallen madly in love with my mother.
“She hates him, Ciro. Hates him with every cell in her body.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “Why won’t she let it go? It’s been decades.”
“I told you. She’s mentally unwell, more so than before because of her son’s murder last year. His death rekindled her obsession and hunger for revenge.”
“Jesus Christ. Who was her son?” I felt sick to my stomach for some strange reason.
Courtney’s tears picked up. “Cosimo Clemente.” She reached for her handbag, took out a photo, and handed it to me. “The love of my life.”
I looked at the image and couldn’t believe my eyes. The man at my party last year, flirting and dancing with Isla. What in the fuck was happening?
After Isla had run out of my room, I’d gone off the rails. As the party wound down, and I’d had way too much to drink, he, Cosimo, had gone into my private study. I’d found him rifling through my desk…
“What the fuck are you doing?” I barked at him. “Get out!”
“Where did the blonde bombshell go?” Cosimo asked with a smirk. “Did she dump you?”
“I’ll ask you again. What are you doing in my office?” I moved closer to him, my heart hammering against my ribs.
“Just looking for her phone number. I didn’t want to ask you for it. Thought it would be uncouth.” He smirked again and it pissed me off.
“You stay away from my woman.” I pointed my finger at him and stumbled forward.
“From what I heard, she’s a free woman. Everybody at the party was talking about it. Your breakup was the excitement of the night.” Cosimo stood tall, about my height, and stared at me in the eyes. “I thought I could comfort her.”
I lost it, cursing in Italian that I would kill him for just mentioning Isla. He might have fought back. He might not have. I hadn’t noticed, wholly impassioned.
My hands wrapped around his neck, and I squeezed as hard as possible while yelling at him.
Time lapsed at that point. Cosimo had stopped trying to push my hands off him. His gaze was vacant, but I continued to strangle him for mentioning My-la.
“Ciro, stop!” Roman tugged on my shoulders. “He’s dead.”
It was then that I realized I’d crushed his esophagus.
“Is that the guy who was talking to Isla outside?” Roman asked.
“Yes, but he won’t bother her now.” I got off the floor and kicked the dead man lying on my expensive rug. At least there wasn’t any blood.
“Why did you kill him?” my brother asked. “What was his name?”
“I don’t know. He deserved to die.”
“Jesus, Ciro.” Roman combed his fingers through his hair.
“Clean it up.” I flicked my hand at the piece of shit on the floor and left my office. I would never think about the man who set his sights on my woman ever again…
“Do you hear me, Ciro?” Courtney’s voice cut through my thoughts. “But I don’t know if it’s true or if she was lying.”
“What? Lying about what?”
“That Cosimo was Alessio’s son. He was born the sixteenth of October, a few weeks before you.”
October sixteenth was Pippa’s birthday. This was too fucking surreal.
“I’m sure she was sleeping with other men besides my father.” My knees felt weak. Had I killed my half-brother?
“I’m sure you’re right. I never believed her and Cosimo didn’t either. But that’s why he was at your party last year. Do you remember seeing him?” She pointed at the picture in my hand.
“No. There were a lot of guests. I don’t recall seeing him.” I gave the photo back to her.
“I figured. You’re always so busy schmoozing.” Her sobs had stopped but she continued to weep. “He was supposed to be gone for only a couple of days. But I never saw him again.”
“What happened to him?” I’d left my mess for Roman and Luca to clean up. All I knew was the “intruder” had smashed his rental car into a tree after the party. The vehicle had caught fire and there wasn’t much left of his remains.
“A horrible car accident. The news of his death devastated me, and a week later, I miscarried our baby.” She rubbed her stomach. “I have nothing left of him.”
Jesus, this was all too much. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
She smiled weakly. “This is the last time I’ll do rehab. If it doesn’t work… I don’t know what I’ll do. But after the other night, I made a promise to Cosimo and our unborn baby that I would get clean.”
“Why were you in my restaurant?”
“Cara sent me to distract you, but I didn’t want to. I don’t want to be controlled anymore, Ciro. I just want to live my life in peace.”
Dammit, I felt awful for her. “Get well, Courtney. Now that I know everything, I’ll take care of it.”
“But that’s it. You don’t know everything. None of us do. She’s not well, Ciro. And her brother is still at her side, doing her bidding.”
I covered her hand with mine. “You let me worry about them, and you focus on getting well.”
“Thank you. I hope you can find peace and happiness too, with Isla and your baby girl.”
I bit down on my back molars. “How do you know I have a daughter?”
“Cara told me.”