45. Massimo
Chapter forty-five
Massimo
I observe with mild amusement as Alessia and Tullio go back and forth with their ongoing dispute.
Their hands flailing around, and my gattina red in the face from anger. He began laying into her as soon as they parted from their embrace.
Finally, they both take a breath. “Why don’t we sit down to eat, huh?” I suggest, standing up.
They grunt their last words under their breath and take my lead into the other room to sit around the dining table. Alessia avoids looking at either of us, and Tullio’s scathing look alternates between us. Leaving me guessing who will be the recipient of his next tirade.
He still harbors resentment towards me for the communication delay. So far, only Tullio has seen Alessia. Her other brothers were responsible for retrieving the remaining Bonetti women. I anticipated they would return to demand a meeting with Alessia, but according to Tullio, they are too enraged to face her.
So, she has yet to reunite with the rest of her family, and I know it hurts her. She can act tough all she wants, but I know her family still means everything despite all her begrudgery.
“I haven’t told Mamma yet,” Tullio mutters once the first course has been served.
“What are you going to tell her?” Alessia replies meekly for once, showing some guilt.
“I don’t know yet. I should probably tell her the truth so you can get a scolding from her as well, but I don’t want to hurt her.” She scoffs. “What?” he snaps.
“Nothing.” She thins her lips.
“No, no. Say what you have to say.”
“I have nothing more to say to you.”
“Why am I the bad guy here? You’re the one who went out and fucked with the wrong people and almost got yourself killed.”
“No.” Her eyes are brimming with fire. “You did this! Assuming any of you could dictate my life, you sent me away, breaking my fucking heart!”
I’ve already endured her guilt trips several times. Not to mention I’ve been haunted by my own regrets ever since she left. Eating away at me and driving me mad. She wasn’t the only one thirsting for blood out of resentment. So many have received the wrath of my longing, but I can’t do anything about what has already been done. All I can do is focus on this day forward.
Tullio’s demeanor softens as I remain silent. “We weren’t trying to break your heart, Alessia. I swear, we were only trying to protect you while we took care of the Russians.” She scoffs again and rolls her eyes as her arms fold in under her breasts. “It wasn’t right the way we went about it.” Alessia’s attitude mellows, surprised by his candid admission of regret. “I’m so sorry for sending you away, piccolina . I’m not always going to make the right decisions, but from now on, I won’t make them for you.”
“You really mean that?” Her voice is gentle, and I envy the way she’s quickly giving into her brother. Possibly even forgiving him.
“I do.”
“Then can I come home now?”
“No,” I answer for him, and she snaps her head in my direction. “You are home, cara mia .” I sip my glass of whiskey.
She looks back at her brother. “Tullio?”
Scratching the back of his head, he sighs. “I think you should stay here for the time being.” I grunt my disagreement, and he throws me a look.
“What! So, all that not making decisions for me was bullshit?” she shouts.
“You still have a hit on your head, and until Massimo and I have tracked down the rest of The Organization and—”
“Wait.” She looks between the two of us. “You two are going after The Organization?”
“Yes.” Tullio looks at her tentatively then looks at me. “You didn’t know?”
“No.” She looks at me in disbelief. “I cannot believe you guys! And you guys say I’m the stupid and reckless one?!” She throws her arms in the air, for once taking something seriously.
“We know what we’re doing,” her brother argues.
“No, I don’t think you do. Do you even know who the head of it is?” Neither of us respond. “Exactly. No one does. And they have the Black Widow under their control!” We both frown. “Black Mamba. The Lynx. The Wolverine. The King Cobra. The Russian assassin!”
I’m cognizant of what she’s talking about and think back to my conversation with Komodo. “We aren’t ignorant, Alessia,” I speak up. “We are aware of who we’re dealing with.”
She shakes her head in dismay. “You two are going to get yourself and a lot of people killed. Me included.” My fists clench. “He hasn’t sent his assassin here yet, but if you provoke him, he will. And there will be no way to protect me or any of us.” She downs the rest of her wine, draining her glass.
I look over at Tullio and he looks at me. Is she at all right in any way?
The rest of dinner is quiet, and we only make some small talk. I let Tullio and Alessia have a moment as she walks him to the door, and I go ahead up to our room without her. I know she has too many questions to try and take the opportunity to run. I feel like I’ve aged several years since she’s been back in my life. I’ll be lucky if I make it past the age of sixty married to her.
I’m sitting on the edge of our bed when she comes in. I loosen my tie after peeling my jacket off and kick my shoes off, preparing for a confrontation over everything, but her actual topic of concern surprises me.
“Why didn’t you tell me about Vita?”
“What’s to tell?” I respond flatly.
“Um, that your sister is missing. The fact that you haven’t been able to find her should be disturbing. Aren’t you afraid that she’s dead?”
“I know where she is.”
“What? But Sarita said—”
“Sarita doesn’t know. She thinks we can’t find her.”
She stops a few feet in front of me and crosses her arms. I’m longing to reach out and touch her. “Why are you lying to her?”
“If I tell Sarita where Vita is, she’ll go and try to bring her home.”
“So? Maybe that’s what she wants.”
“Of course, that’s what she wants.”
“I don’t mean Sarita. I mean Vita.” I frown and she rolls her eyes. “Do you know her at all?” She sighs and drops her arms when I don’t answer. Then she comes to hop up on the bed next to me leaving too much distance between us and letting her shoes drop to the floor. “Vita is constantly crying out for attention. Are you trying to tell me you never saw that?” I still don’t respond out of fear of what I might say. I honestly do not want to talk about this, but she’s finally talking to me and not yelling. “The girl was constantly getting herself into trouble desperately trying to get your attention.”
“Mine?”
“Yes, yours. Or Sarita or Ezzo or even your mother. Hell, even your father.”
“She could care less about our father.”
“Not from what she told me,” she utters under her breath.
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing.” She exhales loudly. “It was stupid and in the past. Point is, Vita is most likely doing this to see if any of you will come after her. Try to bring her home. Want to bring her home.”
“Is that what you were trying to do?”
She narrows those brown eyes at me. “I didn’t run away. And if I were trying to get your attention, I would’ve gotten married to the president of a biker gang or someone of a rival family.”
“You’ve thought about it,” I muse.
“I’ve thought about a lot of things, Massimo. I had a lot of time on my hands.” There’s no amusement in her tone.
“You could’ve done anything with your life.”
“ My life. Yes. It was my life, and it was taken from me. So, I chose another one because it was mine to choose.”
We’re quiet as we stare at each other for a heated moment. I’m pleasantly surprised when she doesn’t react as I reach up and tuck some of her dark hair behind one of her ears. She claims she isn’t who she used to be, but it’s a complete lie. It’s still her. Only a few years older and wiser with a chink in her armor.
“You really didn’t know what I was doing?” she asks quietly.
My body goes rigid. The sight of her standing in the center of her home in ruins, untouched and unscathed, sent emotions swarming inside of me. Part of me saw her as a goddess standing in the middle of a tornado, unmoved. Another part of me felt like I had failed her.
“Tullio assured me he would have some kind of eye on you to make sure you were okay. If I kept an eye on you, I wouldn’t have stayed away.”
Her eyes dart to the floor and I can see her walls shoot back up. “I wasn’t doing it for attention. I needed an outlet, that’s all.” She looks at me again, face hardened. “I don’t think I can ever forgive you, Massimo. In order to survive in this world, I cannot give second chances. Just because I cared for you and even loved you doesn’t make you an exception.”
“You’ve forgiven Tullio.”
She looks away again. “I’ve forgiven him because he didn’t play me. You did.” She stands up and heads into the closet.
The conversation is over for tonight. If I try and defend myself and tell her that she couldn’t be more wrong, it’ll turn into an argument ruining the tiny bit of progress we’ve just made.
Going to bed without yelling is a success and I’ll take what I can.