Chapter 18
It was the mid morning hour, and Lucrezia sat in the backyard trying to enjoy the sunny, spring day.
She tightened the warm blanket that Romero brought her out here with each time she heard anything even remotely like the engine from that night.
It had been nearly a month, but the emotional wounds were all the same.
Lucrezia was thankful for the tall fence that Romero had built. The timing of the construction had to be a world record. It bordered the yard like a fortress, keeping the outside world away.
She felt comfort in the extra security Romero posted, rotating each hour on the dot both inside the yard and out.
Feeling uncomfortable making small talk, she wasn’t sure that she was even capable of doing so anyway. Tony was the only exception, who slowly walked back and forth in the lush garden, puffing his cigar and skimming the morning paper.
While the other guards offered her sympathetic smiles that read ”poor thing”, Tony made an effort in restoring some normalcy.
”You read about this? That car guy, Henry Ford, his factory workers have to put in forty hours a week now.”
”Hm.” She nodded in response.
”Oh, and the king and queen of England just had another granddaughter. Look at that, huh?”
He passed her the paper with a smile.
”Really?” Lucrezia read through the article.
”Oh, yeah.” He pocketed his hands, shifting his weight on the balls of his feet.
”Maybe she”ll end up being the queen. I don”t care much for the prince.”
Lucrezia smiled at the special section, announcing the birth of the baby. She brought a hand to her stomach, contemplating a child of her own.
The baby-centered gifts from the wedding were still in the extra room upstairs. She and Maria hadn”t been through them again, as she still regularly bled up until last month.
Wait-what day was it?
Lucrezia folded the newspaper back to the front page. When she calculated in her head, it turned out that she was about two weeks late. How had she not noticed?
Stress could have delayed her cycle...perhaps.
But could it be?
Lucrezia thought back to breakfast, only picking at her eggs when she barely got two forkfuls down before she was fighting nausea. Romero had pressed the back of his hand to her head, puzzled at her sudden symptoms. Lucrezia assured him she would be fine, and it would surely pass by lunch. But she had trudged on for the rest of the morning, almost depleted of energy.
Her moods, come to think, weren”t normal these days, either.
She seesawed between misery and sheer disgust at the simplest things, thus Romero had threatened her with a spanking should she continue with her blatant poor attitude.
The paper fell in her lap as the realization hit her, getting Tony”s attention.
She needed the doctor-now!
”You okay, ma”am?” Tony cocked his head, seeming disturbed by her sudden silence.
”What? Oh, yes. I”m fine. I”m just...not feeling well.” Lucrezia handed him back the paper.
”You want me to get Romero?”
Before she could respond, her Daddy”s voice startled them both.
”Get me for what? What”s wrong, perla?” He was at her side in a second, kneeling and pressing the back of his hand to her forehead again, dragging it down her cheek.
“You haven’t been yourself today. I’m starting to get worried.” He frowned.
”I”m okay, Daddy,” she spoke quietly so as not to let anyone else hear her special honorific for him.
Romero wasn”t calmed as he was sporting a scowl that sent chills down her spine.
”Lucrezia, I need you to go upstairs to our bedroom.”
”Why?” She sat up, instantly concerned.
He exhaled, bringing his hand to the side of her throat and stroking her cheek with his thumb.
”They found him. The person who shot at us.”
”What?! How? Where is he?!” Lucrezia shot up, gluing herself to his front.
”He won”t be a concern to us after today, but I need you to go upstairs while I handle this.”
Romero petted her head and attempted to usher her back inside, but Lucrezia dug her heels into the cement patio.
”No! I don”t want to!”
Tony sheepishly appeared at her left.
”Ma”am, for your own safety, I think that”s the best decision.” He held out his hand for her to take, but Lucrezia halted, refusing to move.
”No, damn it! Not until you tell me how they found him, and where he is, and why you”re shooing me away like an insect!”
She crossed her arms and scowled at her husband.
Tony wisely went into the house.
”Watch your tone, little girl.” Romero stepped close, touching her toes with his. ”I told you to do something, and I need you to listen.”
”Don”t treat me like a dog. I”m not moving. Tell me what”s going on or I”ll find out myself.”
Lucrezia released the tension in her jaw, realizing she was grinding her teeth together.
Romero”s broad chest calmly inflated and deflated at her insolence. The way his pupils exploded sent a thrill through her belly.
”Feeling bold today, piccola perla?”
”You said so yourself, I”m the lady of the house. I deserve to know what”s going on.”
She knew she backed her Daddy into a corner by repeating his very words. But he still didn”t look pleased with her demands.
”You”ll be taken over my knee for this, you do know that?”
Lucrezia tried not to be affected by the way his shirt stretched over his torso as he peeled his jacket from his shoulders. She licked her lips.
”Fine. But I still want you to tell me what”s happening. I won”t say it again.”
Romero tossed the jacket on the lawn chair, exasperated.
”All right.”
She smirked, knowing she’d won.
Even though she knew she”d be sobbing over his lap later.
”My soldiers found the motorcycle a few miles outside of town. He tried dumping it in a salvage yard. When they asked where it came from, the owner told them he saw someone matching the description of who shot at us sneaking it in. He fired a shot at him, and all they had to do was follow the blood trail down the road. But because I want him alive, they fixed him up, and now he”s here.”
Lucrezia swallowed the lump in her throat.
”He”s here in this house right now?”
”Yes. Which is why I told you to go upstairs while your Daddy deals with him.”
”I want to see him.”
Romero”s eyes bulged. ”Absolutely not. No. Out of the question.” He shook his head.
”Please. I need to look him in the eye!”
”What in God”s name do you need to do that for? I will not risk re-traumatizing you, Lucrezia. I won”t see you like that again!”
He grasped her upper arms, lightly shaking her.
“Come on, now, don’t fight me on this.” Romero pulled her inside by her elbow, determinedly directing her toward the staircase.
”No! This is something I need to do. I can”t be scared of a nameless, faceless boogeyman in the night anymore. I won”t live in fear.”
She wrenched free, outright refusing to move any further when she clutched his sleeves in desperation.
”Lucrezia, you don”t have to live in fear. I promised that I would always keep you safe-”
”And you”ve kept that promise. But this still happened. You could”ve been taken away from me. I could”ve been taken away from you. If something like this could happen again, I have to know what we”re up against.”
Romero”s jaw clenched as he turned away, but Lucrezia halted him with a hand on his cheek, forcing him to look at her.
”Daddy...please.”
◆◆◆
Romero held her hand tightly, tugging her to his side the closer they got to the den, the first room she entered when she came to this house. It seemed smaller now, being over-crowded with men that she both did and did not recognize. Some of the opulent furniture had been moved out of the way to clear space.
Lucrezia”s chest rapidly rose and fell, but she held her head high.
This was something she had to see for herself.
When they entered the room, a man was slumped over in a chair in front of the fireplace.
A blood-soaked bandage was wrapped over his upper arm and shoulder. The other arm was stretched over his chest, clutching the injury in pain.
He took shallow breaths with his head down but grunted when one of Romero”s men took a fistful of his scraggly, long hair and forced him to look up at herself and Romero.
”You look at Mr. Mancini when he enters a room, vigliacco,” The young soldier spat.
Lucrezia didn’t recognize him but noticed that all the rough-looking men surrounding the gunman were young, possibly just out of high school. They eagerly swayed back and forth while smoking their cigarettes, like overzealous children who wanted to show off what they had done.
When all in the room realized that Lucrezia was with him, the energy in the room shifted.
Johnny and Charlie were there as well, watching from a shadowy corner with murderous glares on their faces.
”Boss?” Johnny cocked his head toward her.
”My wife stays for now,” The simple but unchallenging command addressed all in the room.
Before letting her go, Romero leaned in toward her ear.
”You will get no closer than this. Do you understand me?”
Lucrezia agreed with a slight nod, deciding that she should push him no further.
She could physically feel his skin grow hotter underneath her fingertips.
He began undoing his cufflinks, and out of instinct, Lucrezia held out her hand.
Romero placed them in her palm, closing her fist and kissing her knuckles.
”Will you keep these safe for me, perla?”
She silently agreed again, and any shred of softness left her husband”s body as he approached the gunman, who, apart from the wound, was mostly un-maimed.
The way Romero stalked to him like a predator made it clear that would not be for much longer.
He began unbuttoning his dress shirt one handed as he surveyed the shorter man, who looked as if he knew he was staring death itself in the face.
Romero removed his shirt, neatly folded it, and placed it on the couch.
”Stand up,” he commanded the man.
Unwisely, he didn”t comply.
The entire room seemed to hold their breath as they anticipated what Romero would do.
”Stand. up. now,” Lucrezia could hear him say through clenched teeth.
Even though his back had been turned to her, she could almost certainly imagine the horrific glare.
The gunman obeyed, grimacing in pain.
”Straighten yourself. I won”t speak to a man who won”t stand erect before me.”
With some difficulty, he obliged.
But he was promptly delivered a swift blow to the face by Romero and knocked to the ground.
”Get up,” her Daddy ordered him again.
This, he could barely do. His left eye was already swelling shut, and he could barely find his footing.
”I said get up.” Romero patiently waited until the assailant did as he was told, not allowing the young soldier standing by to simply pull him up.
Once he did, Romero delivered another impossibly horrific punch.
This went on until the man pleaded for Romero to stop, holding up trembling palms.
Lucrezia was squeezing the cufflinks so tightly the material bit into her hand.
She”d feel sorry for the man if she didn”t know any better.
Romero balanced on one knee as he loomed over the writhing man on the floor in front of the fireplace. The flames flickered over his back like demonic spikes.
”Who do you work for?”
Once again, the man refused to talk.
”Boss, if you just let us handle this-” the soldier began to speak but was silenced by her husband”s hand in the air.
”Who do you work for?” Romero repeated his question as the man struggled to open his swollen eyes.
”Are you bound and determined to make this more difficult than it already is? Because I promise you, I can make it so much more difficult for you.”
Either too scared to speak or having taken a vow of silence, the man stubbornly kept his mouth shut.
Romero sighed, snapping his fingers.
Immediately, the handful of soldiers closed in on the gunman.
One swiped everything off the coffee table and forced the man to kneel in front of it. Another planted the man”s fist on the mahogany. One by one, he pried the gunman’s fingers out and flat on the table, holding his wrist like a vice.
Yet another approached from behind, crossing the assailant’s shins and sitting on them while keeping the other arm pinned painfully behind his back.
Lucrezia felt her stomach lurch, but it was like a trainwreck she couldn”t look away from.
Romero opened a display case of shiny knives of varying brands. He plucked a few from the case, testing the blades on his arm hair before finally deciding on one.
Calmly, he closed it and advanced toward the terrified man.
Once he knew what was going to happen, he began to violently thrash and cry out, pleading with her husband.
”No, no, no, I don”t even want to hear it. I gave you a chance to talk. Now, I have to ruin my nice coffee table because you won’t give it up.”
A string of desperate ‘no”s’ and ‘pleases’’ exploded from his throat while Romero replaced the soldier and clamped his hand over the man’s wrist, his own knuckles turning white as his victim fought him every step of the way.
For a brief moment before the exchange, the petrified man stole his hand back, but Romero’s nostrils flared while he smashed his victim’s fist back down on the wood, prying each finger open himself.
“I’d say this will hurt me way more than it’ll hurt you, but who the fuck am I kidding? I’ve thought of nothing but this since the night you tried to kill my wife and I.”
He and the other soldiers held the screaming man in place as Romero lowered the blade toward his fingers, agonizingly slow until the blade barely touched the skin.
”ESPOSITO! I WORK FOR LITTLE SAL ESPOSITO!
The man hyperventilated in relief as he was released.
Romero”s fist turned purple as he clenched the knife handle.
”Junior? Salvatore Esposito”s son?”
Each man in the room exchanged horrified looks to one another, with Lucrezia being left out of the loop.
”That”s impossible. He isn”t the boss. He has no authority to order a hit.”
”Big Sal died about a year ago! Junior”s in charge now!” The man did his best to put as much distance between him and Romero as possible. Difficult to do when you”re being held by others.
”Jr. kept it out of the press so he could quietly take over. He hired me to find you....”
Romero”s eyes darted from the left to the right as he circled the room, still clutching the knife.
”Why?”
When the hitman didn”t answer quickly enough, Romero pounced on him.
”WHY DID LITTLE SAL ESPOSITO HIRE YOU?”
He pressed the tip of the blade in the man”s throat, letting a small rivulet of blood flow.
At this time, Tony took her elbow.
”Ma”am, I think it”s time you went upstairs.”
But Lucrezia couldn”t bring herself to look away. This was something she needed to know.
In broken up words, the gunman managed to croak out a confession.
”H-he wants revenge for what y-your uncle did to h-his father!”
Romero”s uncle? Tomasso? The mysterious figure that no one seemed to want to talk to her about loomed over the room as if he were here.
Romero shoved him to the ground with a hard thud.
”The debt between Salvatore and my uncle was settled before he died. I would hear no more of it then, and I”ll hear no more of it now. I have half a mind to send you crawling back to him to pass along that message. Albeit, while missing a few digits.”
He tossed the knife in the air.
”And I would, too. If it weren”t for that woman over there.”
Romero pointed in Lucrezia”s direction with the knife. A single drop of blood fell from the blade.
”LOOK AT HER.” Her husband”s booming voice made everything in the room rattle.
The man raised his head up slowly and looked her in the eye for the first time.
”You see her? That”s my wife. My wife. You could have taken her from me that night. And believe me, had you succeeded, you would wish for something sweet as pain once I got my hands on you. What does Jr. want with my wife?”
He kneeled beside him, hissing in his ear. The man winced, tears rolling down his cheeks as he whispered how sorry he was, how he was just carrying out orders.
”I didn”t know...I didn”t know who she was...I swear to God! I don”t know what he wants!”
Lucrezia almost laughed at herself. This cowering man was what she was afraid of for these past few weeks? He could scarcely look her in the eye, not to mention Romero.
Not so big and bad anymore once you take away the gun.
He pressed his hands together and began to pray as Romero took a moment to consult Johnny and Charlie, who were still watching from the shadows.
They muttered in Italian, giving her an opportunity to survey the person who nearly ended her and her husband”s lives.
Looking at him now, he barely looked capable of hurting an insect.
If anything, she felt pity for what she was sure Romero was about to do to him. Since it was abundantly clear he would not leave these premises unhurt.
Her husband finished his conversation and turned to her, slowly sauntering to her side and pressing his face into hers.
The brief moment of tenderness was all the more sweet.
His hand cupped her cheek, sliding down her jaw and the side of her throat.
”It”s time for you to go upstairs now, piccola perla. I want you to play a record. Whatever you hear, you will not come downstairs. I will come to you when we”re through here. Tell me you understand.”
Lucrezia was frozen under his piercing gaze, still clutching his cufflinks.
”Yes. I understand, Daddy,” she whispered against his lips.
A growl escaped his throat, and he rewarded her with a claiming kiss that set her ablaze along with the fire.
”I love you,” he groaned after separating.
”I love you.” She returned the words before exiting the room, almost too afraid to turn her back.
His presence illuminated the doorway of the den in front of the fire, watching to be sure she would leave.
Once her heels hit the railing of the staircase, she scurried up and rushed to her room, slamming the door to make sure that her Daddy knew she had obeyed him.
Lucrezia finally let go of his cufflinks, letting them clatter on her vanity.
True to her word, she began playing a record. Lucrezia assumed he instructed her to do so as to drown out the sound of the poor man”s suffering under her husband”s hands.
Shutting her eyes and ears from the world, she let her body slowly sway to the eerie yet comfortable music, just waiting for her Daddy to return to her.