Chapter 19
NINETEEN
Adriano
When we arrive at the house, Benito drops me at the gate.
He claims it's because he has somewhere to be but it would take less than a minute to take me to the front door so I know that's bullshit.
He wants to give me time to compose myself.
It's not likely to happen. If I didn't calm down during the six hour delay before we could take off or on the plane after hearing the full story of what Bruno did to Eliza, the three minute walk up the driveway isn't going to do the trick.
One of our newer recruits, Tomasso, opens the gate for me.
I'm glad to see it's shut now but I'll be having words with my security team about how Bruno was able to get in here last night and how Eliza got out.
I still can't believe she ran. More to the point I can't wrap my head around the fact she almost made it to the safety of the village and chose to come back.
People down there don't like me much. Someone would have helped her.
When I realize how close I came to losing her, my chest tightens.
The house is quiet when I get inside. I find Simone in the kitchen, sitting at the table with Rosa.
He stands when he sees me and she makes a discreet exit, no doubt thinking I'm about to punish him for last night's failings.
I'm not. He saved Eliza, dealt with Bruno and brought her back.
I'm grateful for that. Actually, I'm not entirely happy he put Bruno down.
I've wanted to do that for so long I feel like I've been robbed of a moment that would have brought me joy.
Still, it couldn't be helped. Bruno grabbed a gun and Simone had no choice.
"The doctor confirmed nothing's broken," he says.
"I know. You already told me."
"But the bruising is significant and it's worse this morning than it was last night."
"Yeah, that happens. You said she was in her bare feet?"
"Her socks. They protected her feet a little but they're still torn up. The doctor bandaged them."
"Did she give you any trouble about seeing a doctor?" Knowing Eliza she probably tried to tough it out.
"No, actually." Simone sounds surprised so I guess he's got the measure of her fast. "She wanted pain meds and we only had ibuprofen on hand. She was quite sassy about the whole thing. She called me a snitch several times."
"She didn't want you to tell me?"
He shakes his head. It makes sense. Eliza probably expects me to redden her ass for running but I won't punish her for that. I was a bastard to her before I left. She had no good reason to stay here. That's something I intend to rectify.
I look at Simone for a moment. He's been with me for four years and this is the first important task I entrusted him with. Considering how he handled himself, it won't be the last.
"You did well," I say.
He nods and I turn and go upstairs.
When I get to Eliza's room it's in semi-darkness. The curtains are closed. She's sitting up on the bed propped up by pillows.
"Can I put the light on?" I ask.
"No, but you can open the curtain an inch or two. The natural light should be fine."
I cross the room to open the curtains a little then sit on the edge of the bed and look at her face.
Knowing about the bruising and seeing it are different things.
The bruising has come up badly across her left cheekbone and there's a cut at the edge of it that's been closed and dressed.
Her nose is swollen. I want to dig up Bruno's worthless corpse and kill him all over again for daring to slam her beautiful face into a door.
I want to make this all better but I don't know what to say to her. I’ve never been shy about expressing exactly what I’m thinking but I can’t find words for this. There’s nothing that will convey the depth of anger and regret I feel right now.
"Are you angry with me?" she asks.
"No." How can she even think that? "I'm not angry with you."
Reaching out, I put my hand very carefully to the uninjured side of her face. I lean forward and kiss her, then pull back. She pulls in a deep breath, steadying herself.
"I lied to you," she says. "About the man at the gala."
"I know."
"I thought you might." She runs the edge of the bedsheet between her fingers. "Why didn't you say so?"
"Because I wanted you to tell me in your own time."
She's quiet for a moment, processing that. "His name is Marton Vida."
The name is unfamiliar. "Vida? Hungarian?"
"Yes."
"Tell me how you know him."
She looks at the ceiling. "My brother owed him money. A lot of it. The kind he couldn't pay back."
Her voice breaks. I put my hand on hers.
"You don't have to do this now."
She's been through a lot and I've waited this long for answers. Another day or two won't kill me.
"I do."
I wait while she composes herself. She can take as much time as she needs. I won’t press her.
"Vida's men came to my apartment. I was nineteen and I was alone. They told me they'd kill my brother and send me to a brothel if I didn't give them what they wanted." She draws in a shuddering breath. "They wanted Gabriele."
"So you gave him to them?"
"Yes. I arranged to meet him at the Taverna Regina and didn't show up."
The room is quiet. I don't move.
"Why didn't you go to Gabriele?" I ask. "Tell him what was happening."
"I was too scared. I didn't fully understand who Gabriele was, that he could help me. He was sweet, kind."
"You didn't realize there was a ruthless side to him."
She shakes her head. "I still have trouble believing he could kill someone. He's sensitive."
I get that. Gabriele presents one face to his enemies and the men under his command and an entirely different one to his loved ones. Given that Eliza was younger than him, he was probably even gentler with her.
"They told me they just wanted to frighten him. I was stupid to believe that."
"You weren't stupid. You didn't know how this world works."
She shakes her head and sinks back on her pillow. She closes her eyes and I think we're done here. Then she sits up again.
"There's something else, Adriano. Something I never told anyone. Something I tried to forget."
"What is it, cara?"
She lets out a sob. "You'll hate me, Adriano."
"I won't." It's not possible for me to hate this woman. Not for something she did when she was scared to death and trying to navigate a world she knew nothing about.
"I went there, to the restaurant." She closes her eyes and lets out a mirthless laugh. "Ten minutes after I was supposed to meet Gabriele I realized I'd made a mistake. When I got there…."
The tears start to flow. I pull her into my arms, careful not to hurt her, and hold her tight.
Whatever happened she feels terrible about it.
If I doubted it before, I know it now. She's sobbing her heart out, expunging all the guilt and sorrow she's been carrying.
I let her soak my shirt. Then when she's ready, I gently ease her back onto the pillows, ready to hear whatever else she has to say.
"I found him in the alleyway. He was bleeding and barely conscious. I could see what they did to him."
"What did you do?" If she tells me she turned and walked away this might be the thing that breaks us.
"I called an ambulance. Then I waited in the shadows watching to make sure he was still breathing until I heard the sirens. That's when I ran."
Relieved to hear she didn't just abandon him there, I close my eyes and take a few breaths. Then I open them again. Waiting in the shadows for the ambulance, not knowing if my cousin would suddenly stop breathing, how must she have felt?
"Why didn't you stay? If you'd told Gabriele all this, even after the attack, he'd probably have forgiven you."
"Perhaps," Eliza says, "but would you have? His brothers? His men?"
I have to admit it's unlikely. Though I don't know exactly what any of us would have done to a nineteen year old woman who betrayed one of us, I can't imagine we'd have let it slide. She offers me a wry smile that tells me she knows all that.
"Anyway, it wasn't just you. Marton Vida was worried my brother or I would talk. He wanted Gabriele to think the attack was some street level thing. He didn't want anyone coming after him."
"And you and your brother could say nothing to connect it to him?"
"Exactly. You heard what they did to Marco. That would have been me too if I hadn't run."
The room goes quiet again. I think about the horrors she's carried for three years, all by herself. She was young when it happened but she's still only twenty-two. A woman like her shouldn't have been put in that position.
"It's not my place to forgive you," I tell her. "Only Gabriele can do that. But I understand what you did and I don't think any less of you."
Her lip trembles and she looks as if she'll cry again. I grab her hand and hold it tight, offering her as much reassurance as I can give.
"There's something else I want to know."
She looks at me expectantly. "What?"
"How did you get away? I mean the money, the passports?"
"My parents. My dad's a lawyer, family stuff mainly but when he first graduated he worked for a firm that specialised in criminal law. He had a contact who makes fake IDs." She presses her lips together. "Don't ask me his name because I won't tell you."
"Okay, cara. Your forger is safe from me. What about the money?"
"My parents gave me that. It was the money they put aside for me to go to college."
"Did your parents know where you were this whole time?"
If they did I'll need to work on my powers of deduction because when I went to see what they knew they swore they knew nothing about Eliza's whereabouts and I believed them.
"No. I phoned now and then but I always used burners."
We talk for a little longer about her time on the run, how she found jobs that paid in cash and apartments where the landlords asked no questions. By the time she's finished I conclude I was very lucky to have caught her. My girl knew what she was doing.
"So," I say eventually. "I'll need to know everything you remember about Marton Vida."
"You're going to go after him?"
"Yes. It's time he paid for what he did."
Eliza nods. "He sent Bruno, you know."
"I figured as much."
Bruno had no other reason to come after Eliza. He may have been demoted in our organisation but he didn't have the brains to consider getting to me through her. It had to be something else and with everything Eliza told me about Vida and seeing him at the gala, it was a logical conclusion.
"So what happens now?" Eliza asks. "With us, I mean."
"You and I are both going to get some rest. Then tomorrow, or the next day, I'm going to go to Gabriele and tell him everything.” The revelations about Vida and Eliza’s role in the attack are new to me, but there’s a conversation I’ve been putting off having with him since Edinburgh, perhaps even before. It’s time I laid my cards on the table.
"Everything?"
"Yes." I lean forward to carefully kiss the top of her head. "Now sleep. I'll stay a while and watch over you."
As she closes her eyes I'm resolved. I'll tell Gabriele the truth about Eliza, about me, everything. Whatever he decides to do with that information, I'll just have to live with it.