Chapter 11
L EILANI
The house looks like a temple of genuine hope with moonlight shining through the windows, a quiet solitude that I never thought I’d enjoy more.
My heart pulses with the frantic exhilaration of someone who’s never had a good moment in their life.
Cosimo walks before me, opens a door, and points around a large bedroom with all the comforts of an old yet well-maintained house.
The bed is wide with big pillows, a soft duvet, and a wool throw for cold nights, which hardly happen now.
A vanity with an oval mirror for those mornings when I feel like running my fingers through my hair and pondering what to wear leans against a wall.
As if he reads my mind, he leads the way to the bathroom.
“You have a couple of bathrobes here, and we’ll get you some clothes tomorrow morning when the shops open.”
He walks to the sink and opens the cabinet above it.
“You have everything you need in here.”
He pivots and points to the shelves.
“Towels over there.”
Footsteps alert us that someone is in the other room.
“Food is here,” a man calls from the other room.
“Leave it on the table,” Cosimo says, inviting me to walk ahead of him.
I enter the bedroom, and a delicious smell of warm sandwiches comes to me.
A tray of food sits on the table.
Sandwiches, fruit, dessert, and a bottle of water.
“If you need anything else, you just ask. He sleeps on the same floor as you. We’re all downstairs.”
“All right,” I murmur. “Thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome.”
“And,” he says, moving away from me. “Here you also have a patio.”
He pushes the patio doors open.
“You can see the sea from here. And you’ll hear the birds in the morning.”
I move my eyes to him, still needing to pinch myself. I can’t believe all this is happening to me.
But no matter how excited and relieved and enthralled I am, I can’t say I’m not worried.
I know Callum O’Hara is a powerful man, perhaps even more powerful than I imagine, but still, he is as vulnerable as any of us.
Any weak link in his organization could create chaos, a disaster. Not to mention the chain reaction the decision he had made tonight would most likely trigger.
I don’t know how he plans to ride the storm he just created. Right now, things are quiet, uneventful.
No one back at the house knows that I’m gone, but come tomorrow morning, they’ll look for me.
They’ll know something happened.
They’ll alert everyone.
They’ll put a bounty on my head.
Julian will not come forward and speak.Nona and Rory know nothing.
Perhaps Callum plans to confront my family, and I wish I were a little fly and had witnessed that exchange.
I hope it works.
I truly hope it works.
But even if it didn’t, I’d still be beyond thrilled.
This is the best experience of my short life, and I plan to enjoy every minute of it.
“Have a good night,” Cosimo says before leaving my room and closing the door behind him.
I let a few moments pass before I silently walk to the door and check to see if it’s locked.
If I’m a prisoner.
The door is open. I’m not locked up.
But I swiftly push it back and close it, afraid that this wonderful dream might get shattered.
I dedicate the next few minutes to exploring the room.I open drawers, look at old photographs, and read about the history of the house.
It’s incredible to think that centuries ago, a family, a normal one perhaps, lived in this beautiful place.
They had meals together, and maybe children on the floor, playing. They went to church, walked on the promenade, and dined out.
They lived a life impossible to imagine, and now I’m here, getting a sense of it, living it all in my head, inspired by some memories that don’t belong to me.
Perhaps a young woman like me fell in love here, walked the sinuous paths of uncertainty, and, when her lover said the words she wanted to hear, she said yes to his proposal.
They must have grown old together, had children together, and then grandchildren. And then they went the path of the stars, becoming a long-lost memory, a palpable one to me, a stranger, two centuries later.
Embalmed with that feeling that I’m breathing in a lot of history, I shift my focus to the patio and walk out.
A big moon smiles at me. The water stretches in the distance, the moonlight woven in its darkness.
It’s a beautiful space. I can tell. Peaceful. Soothing. Something to hold on to.
I wish my place, my life, could be something like this. Even a small percentage of this. To my right, I see the patio where he stood some time ago.
Who knew when I looked up at the man on the terrace that I’d be joining him and become his protege?
Not me, for sure.
Never in my wildest dreams would I have believed that something like this could actually happen to me.
I’m the only one out here, as the town seems to have fallen asleep. The man I stared at this evening must be inside his quarters, discussing important business matters.
The words he said to Cosimo sounded ominous, although neither of them seemed to be frightened by the prospect of a war.
They must’ve thought a lot about it, and I was just the missing piece, the thing that brought it all together.
I can see why Callum has a strong interest in what happens to me.
I can see why Stefano Varela is his mortal enemy.
I can also see why Giorgio is right there with Stefano Varela, and the fact that he tried to exploit Callum only makes him even more vile than I thought.
I can also understand why Callum O’Hara lingered and stayed in our family. He was waiting for a clarifying moment, and that moment came in the shape of me.
Life works in mysterious ways, and what happened tonight just proved it.
A weight lifted off my chest as the ugly truth started to peek through the cracks of this abhorrent story when he talked to me.
I don’t know how life outside the perimeter of this abject world really is.
I said what I said to my grandmother because I believed life could be different, despite the struggles so many face.
From the glimpses that I got, I could tell that people can experience good things in their lives despite their economic status.
I can’t say the same about myself, and to be frank, I’m stunned that I’m not like them, like my family.
There must’ve been some error in the making of my soul. How could I not be like them when my own mother had followed the mold?
The thing with her was that she hadn’t had a moral bone in her entire body.
She had the freedom to do whatever she wanted and never be bothered by the consequences of her actions or by what happened around her, even when it involved me.
That’s what I hated the most about her.
She couldn’t be bothered with those details or the fact that I had lived with the consequences of her bad decisions.
She was just like Sylvia and Giorgio.
At least her parents put in a little effort into pretending they were someone else and fooled me for a moment.
That illusion is now gone, shattered into the wind.
Yes, it’s truly a miracle that I didn’t turn out like them.
Had I been like them, I’d be more than happy right now to become the wife of one of the most notorious gangsters in two countries.
But what about Callum? He is a gangster after all. Why isn’t he like them?
Maybe he is, or maybe he has a code of honor that he follows.
Isn’t that ironic? Even a mobster can have principles, a kernel of morality in him.
My family couldn’t even muster that.
Is it possible that he might be only an illusion? Prove me wrong, and let me down?
Absolutely.
I’m ready for that moment if it ever happens. But for now, I’ll follow my heart and trust my instincts, since they both tell me this is the path to follow, and he could help me get to the other side.
Several scenarios play in my head.
If he’s ready to start a war, people will die, and some of those might be people I know.
As long as it’s not him, Callum, I don’t care.
All I want is my freedom and him in this order. I can live without him, but not without my freedom.
I can also lose my freedom to him if he is the man I think he is. I’m willing to make that trade.
Am I ready for a life of crime with him?
Yes.
So maybe I’m like them, after all, the rest of the bunch. I just want different things.
I move closer to the handrail, rest my elbows on the cold metal, and stare at the water.
These next two weeks will determine the rest of my life. They give me the chance to turn into the strong woman Callum wants.
They are a crossroads in my life, a huge opportunity for me to change things for myself that I won’t let go to waste.
With that, I glance at his balcony one more time, notice that the lights have been dimmed, realize that he’s probably still downstairs, and decide to go back and make the most of my first night in his house.
An hour later, I walk out of the bathroom, smelling like wildflowers with my hair damp and my body warm inside a plush bathrobe.
I eat my food, drink water, brush my teeth, and go to sleep.
Before long, I sleep like a baby, imagining that I have his arms around me, which to me is the best feeling ever.
CALLUM
The following day
“Has she woken up?” I ask, noticing that Cosimo is walking past the open door.
He turns around and enters the room.
“Not yet.”
“Good,” I say, rising from my seat and sliding my suit jacket on. “They must be aware by now she’s no longer in their house, so let’s get going. Half of the men stay here with her.”
He nods.
“They’re all set. The cars are ready.”
Moments later, we make the trip to the Gallos’ property.
Although they may be aware she’s missing, they may not know whom to turn to and ask about her whereabouts.
That’s the perfect moment for me to step in.
I have their precious granddaughter.Their little treasure. The woman Stefano Varela so much wants to marry after killing her mother.
There is no doubt in my mind that he put a hit on her.
Bianca would’ve never agreed to marry him. Besides, he was still married when I married her.