Chapter 27
Chapter
Twenty-Seven
Isabella
Earlier
“ M om,” I said, answering my phone and closing the office door. I walked back to my desk. “I tried to call you last night.” I sat in the white leather chair.
Her sobs came through the phone.
“I can’t understand what you’re saying.” Panic rose within me. “Are you hurt?” I stood, gripping my phone tighter. “Is it Noemi? Tony?”
“Isabella…” She struggled for breath. “Dario wants to do…He’s a vile, awful man…. He wants your father to…” She continued to struggle. “It’s awful.”
Letting out a long breath, I sat back in my chair. “It’s not terrible.”
“I needed to let you know that Catalina’s brother asked for your hand. It’s unfathomable. I want to plead directly to the capo, but your father won’t allow it. He says this is men’s dealings. I don’t know what kind of deal they made, but Isabella, I will not sleep until we have you back where you belong.”
I looked around Mia’s office. “I think I’ve found where I belong.”
“Here with your family, with your sister and brother—that’s where you belong. I haven’t told them. Poor Noemi. She was happy to hear you were coming home early. And…” She gasped. “Tony will be heartbroken. Izzy, I’m heartbroken. Never did I imagine. Honey, I’m so sorry we agreed to send you out there among those horrible people?—”
“They’re not horrible. They’re not anything like you and Papà assume. You were both wrong.”
“Catalina’s brother…”
“His name is Emiliano.” I held my breath. “Has the capo made a decision?” Tension seized my body, making the space-time continuum slow. As I waited for a response, it was as if the second hand on the clock refused to tick.
“He gave his permission.”
Tears of relief flooded my eyes, streaming down my cheeks. “That’s wonderful.”
“No. The opposite of wonderful. What is wrong with you, Izzy. I think that somehow, they brainwashed you. I don’t know how Arianna can handle both her boys and her daughter being married into that family, but it’s going to stop.”
Boys?
The capo dei capi and his consigliere.
Sure, Mom, boys.
Mia was the happiest I could remember.
I shook my head.
“I don’t want it to stop, Mom. I want to marry Em. I’m in love with him.”
Mom gasped. “Isabella, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but you’re too young to know what love is. You’re simply infatuated. He’s an older man who is paying attention to you. You’re enchanted by the idea of love. You know nothing about the reality of marriage.”
My neck stiffened. “I’m not going to argue my age. I will ask you to remember how old you were when you and Papà married.”
“That’s irrelevant. Things have changed.”
“Did Papà propose?” I asked.
“Your grandfather Vincent spoke to my father.”
I repeated the question.
“We had a family dinner where Carmine presented me with an engagement ring. Tradition.”
“Em asked me. He got down on one knee and asked me.” When Mom didn’t respond, I went on. “There wasn’t a ring because we both knew we needed Dario’s and el Patr?n’s approval.”
“He asked you?” she said quietly.
“He did. And I accepted.”
“That’s not your choice.”
“Why? Didn’t you say things have changed?”
“Your father barely tolerates Catalina. We’ve never invited the capo and his wife to our home. You can’t marry this…Emiliano.”
“Why, Mom?” My voice got louder. “Are you saying that if I do marry Em, my husband will not be welcome in my childhood home, or are you saying that neither of us will be? Because if you or Papà bans Em, you’re also banning me.”
The crying on the other end of the call began again. “I don’t want to lose my daughter.”
“It’s rather simple. Welcome my husband and you still have me as a daughter. That also goes for his sisters and parents.”
“Do you realize what you’re doing to us?”
“What am I doing to you ?”
“You’re beautiful, Isabella, a true treasure. Your father has entered into discussions with the Esposito famiglia in St. Louis. They’re very respected.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know them.”
“Yes, dear, you met them when we went to St. Louis for the wedding of their capo dei capi’s daughter, Emilia. Francesco Ricci is the Esposito famiglia consigliere. You and his son Aldo were friendly.”
That was who Papà mentioned. I recalled the wedding. “I was nine.”
“You’re eighteen now. He never forgot you.”
Inhaling, I decided to put a stop to this conversation. “I forgot him.”
“Do you realize what it would do for your father to be connected to the Esposito famiglia? It would give him clout—leverage over the capo.”
My mouth fell open. “Seriously, my marriage to a man I don’t know would be better for Papà. If we have Dario’s approval, Em and I are getting married.”
“Fine,” she pacified. “Honey, it will take months for me to plan a wedding—maybe we should think Christmas or better yet springtime in the Ozarks. Yes, that time of the year, Arianna’s place would be beautiful.”
Seriously, it was early September.
She went on, “We must consider the guest list. Remember the tension at Dario and Catalina’s ceremony?”
“I don’t want to wait months. I also don’t need a big wedding to outdo Aunt Arianna.” I had an idea. “If we chose to marry out here in San Diego, will you come?”
“Izzy,” she cried.
“The choice will be yours. Do you want me as a daughter or not?” I hit the red icon and tossed my phone on the desk. My attention quickly went to a knock on the door.
I’d told everyone my door would be open.
A quick look at the bottom of the monitor told me it was time to head to Mia’s. I rubbed my temples. After that conversation, I could use not only Mia’s advice but a few laps in her pool.
“Come in.”
The door opened. “Miss Izzy,” Horace said as he entered. “May we talk?”
My smile blossomed at the news my mother had shared. “Horace, el Patr?n and the capo have both approved of Em and I being married.”
His eyes opened wide. “The lieutenant…I didn’t realize.” Pressing his lips together, he nodded. “That makes sense.”
“It’s quick, but that doesn’t mean it’s not real.”
“Congratulations, Miss Izzy.”
I stood and pulled the desk drawer out to retrieve my purse. “I can’t wait to tell Mia—unless she already knows. And Em.” I continued that thought. “He can’t know. If he did, he would have called me.” I picked up my phone to see if I’d missed his call.
No calls from him.
“Maybe he doesn’t know.” I met Horace’s gaze. “I’m going to call him.”
“No, please don’t call him.”
The joy of a second ago evaporated with the tone of his voice. “Why? Don’t scare me.”
He gestured toward my chair. “Please sit down. There have been developments today, developments that must stay confidential.”
“Is Em injured?”
“No, miss. José is speaking to Senora Ruiz. No one else must know what I’m about to tell you. None of the tenants. If any rumors start, you must deny all knowledge.”
My hands began to tremble. “Why are you telling me?”
“Because you’re engaged to Lieutenant Emiliano Ruiz, and he told me to be completely honest with you.”
I feigned a smile at the memory of us agreeing to those terms. “Did he tell you we were engaged?”
“No, miss. He told me to be truthful. You told me you are engaged.”
I gripped the arms of my chair, tightening my hold until my knuckles blanched. “What is happening?”
“I can tell you what I know.”
My fingers didn’t loosen as I listened to Horace share what details he could share about the war. Tonight, there will be a significant clandestine operation against Volkov. With each word, I told myself to breathe. I concentrated on the air entering and exiting my lungs. This information wouldn’t send me into shock. I was past that reaction.
My brain understood my pep talk, but my body was on the verge of another breakdown. The room cooled and at times Horace spoke in slow motion as if his words were distorted.
He spoke of a dangerous life-or-death operation. For me to feel Em’s touch again, his lips on mine, or see his smile, I had to hope for the death of a man I never met. One whose name was a mystery to me a few weeks ago—Volkov.
I reached for my bottle of water and took a sip, trying to fight the sudden dryness. “Will Em be safe?”
“There are no guarantees. El Patr?n made him a lieutenant. That means he has faith in him.”
I started thinking of others, like Em’s cousin Nick and even el Patr?n himself. “Could they be killed?”
“Our lives are in danger every day.”
Was this the life I wanted to live?
Did Mafia wives have the same stifling worry?
Horace went on, “It’s not always guns and wars. Danger comes in all forms. Tripping and falling, a traffic accident, a plane crash.”
Letting go of the arms of the chair, I sat forward and rubbed my temples. “I don’t worry about losing people I care about in a fall.”
He nodded. “Doing so would make it impossible to live.”
I looked up. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that the lieutenant wanted you to know, not so you will worry but so that you will understand if he can’t reach out to you for a while. I won’t lie. Tonight’s operation is dangerous. Honestly, every day in the life of the cartel carries danger. That’s why I’m staying here with you, Miss Izzy, until we get the all clear.”
“We have to stay here? Surely, it’s safe at Mia’s.”
“ Sí . You and Senora Ruiz will stay here. We can’t risk the drive.”
Senora Ruiz—Liliana.
“It’s only twenty or thirty minutes.”
“Miss, Lieutenant Ruiz knows you’re here, safe and secure. Do you want him to worry about you on the streets of San Diego or to concentrate on his mission?”
Nodding, my stomach twisted. “His mission. Liliana knows what you’re telling me?”
Horace nodded. “ El patr?n wants Wanderland to function as usual tonight. No deviations that could set off suspicions.”
“We can’t tell them about the escalation in the war so they’ll be prepared?”
Horace shook his head. “You may not.”
The temperature around me rose. “Being uninformed and vulnerable. That could be dangerous for the tenants.”
“There will be extra protection.”
Names and faces flashed like a slide show through my mind. “Maybe it would be better to close it for the night. I don’t know, maybe we make up a story. We could say there’s a problem with the air conditioning.”
Horace shook his head. “Lieutenant Ruiz recommended that. El Patr?n made the decisions.”
Em had thought of that.
He’s a good man.
I tugged on my lip with my teeth. “El Patr?n could be making the wrong decision, and it could cost these women their lives.”
“That isn’t for either of us to decide.”
“What about Mia? Is she aware of what’s happening?”
His nostrils flared. “I don’t know what she’s been told. You are to be trusted to keep this information here between you and Senora Ruiz.”
“Where will Liliana and I sleep?”
“There are unoccupied apartments. Down hallway five, there is a furnished unit with three bedrooms. You two can each have your own bedroom. José and I will take shifts in the other. You’ll be watched over all the time.”
“Did Em set that up?”
“He told me to keep you safe. I’m doing my job.”
I swallowed “Thank you, Horace.”