Chapter 31 #2
Murmurs circle around us, low and questioning. Giovanna’s crumbling, sad look disappears when she brings her attention to me.
“Step away from my son,” she orders me.
“No.”
Her eyes flare. Now, knowing who she is, I see the similarities he once spoke of. The greens and golds in her eyes. The high cheekbones. I stand my ground as I find more resemblances of him on her face.
“You should not be here at all,” she says, straightening herself as she gives a tone only a disappointed mother would give. “I advised—”
“Advised me?” I interrupt. “Before or after you insinuated I was a whore? No, I think you were disrespecting me when we met…Giovanna.”
She slowly looks me over, disdain on her face. When she looks at Leo again, her expression changes into a grief stricken one that I want to slap off.
“Leonardo,” she says softly. “Come here, mio figlio.”
Nothing.
The wind picks up, clouds blotting the sky out as the sun becomes more covered.
“Leonardo, she is still your mother,” Renato intervenes.
“Is she?” Leo’s voice is rough behind me. “The mother I remember wouldn’t have left me with that tyrant. Wouldn’t have faked her death, hiding from me for over twenty years.”
Giovanna talks, switching to Italian swiftly.
There’s little guilt in her tone, and I’m assuming she’s explaining her side of the story.
Leo doesn’t ease, his breathing still just as shallow.
I reach back for his hand, and he takes it without moving from where he is behind me.
Giovanna continues, and I catch words for Fiorella, his father, and Leo.
I take another step back, allowing Leo to fully place his hand upon my back and his trembling stops.
Finally, she ends her explanation, I presume, looking almost pleased with herself as she smiles sadly. Once more she holds her hand out to him. He doesn’t move.
I guess her story held as much water as a plot twist in a M. Night Shyamalan movie.
“Leonardo, per favore—”
“No,” he interjects. “You lied to me for over twenty years, both of you. To Matteo, making him believe you were Fiorella. How long were you planning to stay hidden? Forever? Or were you waiting for the right moment to return as if leaving your children behind wasn’t sinning enough? What mother would ever do that?”
Her hand drops, and that smile warps into a quivering frown. Renato comes forward as she steps back, placing a hand upon his sister’s shoulder as she seems to cry. He scowls at Leo, as if what they did wasn’t wrong. Wasn’t cruel.
“Do not speak to your mother—”
“She is not my mother,” Leo rebukes, stepping to the side of me as his hand remains on my back. Leo asks in a rough voice, “Does Gabriel know?”
There’s no change on Renato’s expression. But Giovanna’s shifts, chin quivering again. Not quite guilt, but maybe some for lying to her youngest son.
I almost feel sick, fully understanding Renato’s actions. Because it wasn’t all him—it was her. She pulled the strings to protect her sons in her own twisted way, but specifically her eldest son. It somewhat explained Gabriel’s cockiness, too.
“I see,” Leo murmurs.
“You left behind the family. Disappeared,” Renato argues. “You walked away—”
“Yet, she walked away first, but when I returned, no truth came. All of you lied. The only one telling the truth was Matteo, even if he didn’t know it wholly. A boy you scorn for his existence—”
“He is not Luciano or Salvadori,” Giovanna interrupts. “He is your father’s abomination, a bastard and that whore’s—”
“Do not call her a whore when she died tragically while you lounged here in solitude. She was a better mother than you.” Leo’s voice snaps. She flinches, eyes widening at his outburst.
“He is a Marchetti! That monster’s child!” She yells back suddenly. “He deserves nothing from our lineage.”
“Then what of me?” Leo argues, hand beginning to shake against my back. “I am Riccardo’s son, whether you like it or not.”
“Oh, I can see that, because you have the same rage,” she abruptly states.
Gone is the grieving mother who cried a moment for her son, replaced by a horrid, narcissistic woman.
There’s so much vitriol, it’s agonizing to listen to as she purses her lips at him.
Discontent rife on her face. “How often do you strike her? Make her bleed on your floors like your father had?”
She did not just compare him to Riccardo like that, not after his fucking brother sent me a damn head in the mail.
I step forward, anger boiling in my veins, ready to punch her. Leo wraps his arm around my waist, keeping me back. Giovanna sneers at me hotly, while Renato looks at me like I’m a disappointment. And then Giovanna calls me, “Puttana irrispettosa.”
So, I throwback in Spanish, “Pinche perra.”
Blazing hazel eyes meet mine, and I give her the same. She won’t shake me. And I’ll call her every insult I can think of in the four languages I know.
From the corner of my eye, I see Ringer and Animal have come closer. Owen’s pulled out his gun, but so has one of Renato’s men.
“You chose quite a disrespectful child, Leonardo, making you forget your place,” Renato says, and then snaps his fingers at someone. They come over to finally collect the fingers on the table, wiping it down.
Giovanna continues to glare at me, stepping back.
So much for the hope that she would’ve loved me.
Renato sits down, suddenly, smugly gesturing for Giovanna to do the same.
We remain where we are as he replaces the coffee where the fingers had been.
I grimace slightly. Leo’s hold on me loosens, moving his hand back to its place upon my back.
“Such as?” Leo finally asks.
“You may have left, returning from curating your own financial success, but if you cut me out, then you’re only a Marchetti. Since you so wish to remind us that you’re Riccardo’s son. Then inherit his legacy on your own.”
“Meaning?”
“The Luciano estate and fortune, in my mother’s will, must be overseen by the matriarch of the family.
Her dying wish and final testament as you might remember.
” Renato gestures to Giovanna, and a vile smile crawls over both their faces.
“Your mother, my sister is still alive. So, it seems, you’ll have to convince her to keep any of the Luciano fortune you’ve received through mama. ”
“And I’ll agree to nothing while you’re attached to…her,” Giovanna adds smugly, flicking her gaze at me.
“Did Nonna even know you were alive?” Leo asks.
“No.”
“You even lied to her?” The condemnation in Leo’s voice, almost makes Giovanna’s smugness crack.
“It was for the best,” Renato interjects.
“To make sure Riccardo wouldn’t find your mother.
Unfortunately, we could not tell mama of Gigi being alive.
But she wanted the Luciano name headed by a matriarch as she and her mother before had.
And if you were to marry…this one, well, you’d have to be approved and blessed by the current.
” He gestures to Giovanna and smiles. “Given the circumstances, I don’t think that will ever happen. ”
It’s quiet as I look up at Leo, who meets my gaze. His brows furrowed.
“If you want to keep the Luciano empire, you’ll have to find another bride, I’m afraid. Rethink your options, Leonardo,” Renato adds.
Leo’s hand moves as he brings it up to brush his knuckles across my cheek. I feel the metal of his wedding ring as he looks at me with certainty; no longer hiding the ring behind me.
Giovanna and Renato little merriment in thinking they won falters when they notice how calm he is.
I smile, realizing how in awe I am of Leo’s planning.
The waiting for right moments and all his back-up plans.
He knew Renato had an ace up his sleeve for months, and today he revealed it was Giovanna.
That’s why Renato and Gabriel were cocky in their attempt to control Leo.
If they didn’t get Leo to fall to his knees to his mother, then they’d just take away the Luciano name, what he built with it. Agree to them or lose everything.
Except, Leo wasn’t his mother, his father, his brother, or even his uncle. No, he was Rafaella Maria Luciano’s prodigy. Because damn, she was right about her own children.
“You’re very behind,” I say, breaking the silence. “Because he won twelve moves ago.”
“Meaning?” Renato asks.
“I was here just before Rafaella died,” Leo explains slowly.
“I was here in Italy without you knowing. Unsurprisingly, she didn’t trust you, Renato, or any other in the family to care for the Luciano estate.
Her legacy.” He looks over at Giovanna’s paling face.
“Although…I wonder now if it was you controlling the strings this entire time, revenge not just against the Marchettis, but your parents for arranging the marriage you’d come to hate and run from.
I wonder how you’ll make your brother pay… mother.”
Renato sneers at Leo silently, while Giovanna’s eyes widen.
“Nonna changed her will.” Owen steps forward enough to hand Leo a folder.
“It states when I married, my wife would be solely in charge of the Luciano name and fortune. You likely never noticed because we had to share the estate until I would. She trusted only me. Believed in me. Even when I told her the likely-hood of me marrying at all was a fool’s errand.
” Leo pauses, looking over at me. “I planned to just give it all back after I helped Matteo become the Mafia Don. I would’ve walked away completely, taking what I built only.
But Nonna, as always, was right. Much like my wife. ”
The chairs scrape on the stone patio. Movement snaps all around us as Ringer moves closer, guns drawn. I keep my attention on them before us, while Leo’s posture changes to his more commanding presence.
Renato spits, “Liar!”
Leo suddenly tosses the folder, papers flying out towards them. “Read it yourself.”
Giovanna sputters, “Impossible, you are not married—”
“We were married before God the night before. Our marriage is recognized by the church,” Leo says calmly.
“Whether with your approval or not, Autumn is the main proprietor of the Luciano name, and everything owned by it.” Leo turns to Renato.
“I wondered if those arranged engagements were because of the will, but no, you were just greedy.”
Renato sneers, scowling in disdain and then mutters something in Italian.
“She will never be part of this family,” Giovanna rasps, staring at me in horror. “It does not matter—”
“You’re right it doesn’t,” Leo continues low. “Because you’re still technically deceased. Why would I need permission from a dead woman? Your approval means nothing.”
She gapes and Renato sputters, face turning red.
“Let me finally introduce myself,” I state, letting go of Leo as I move towards her. The sky darkens, storm incoming as I approach Giovanna, who remains in her spot. I smile.
“I am Autumn Watson Luciano, your son’s wife. And there’s one thing you and I have in common.”
“A last name you stole?” She hisses.
“No. Remember you died as Giovanna Maria Marchetti, unless you got a divorce beforehand.” Her eyes darken. I come closer, and whisper, “You’re not the only bitch who came back from the dead.”
I step away as her face reddens with anger. There are footsteps as Leo takes my hand, leading me back to him.
“You have until the end of the week to decide, Renato,” Leo states as his uncle is too fuming to respond. “I’d like a final week with my wife before we leave for the states. Your time is up after that. Both of you.”
Leo turns away with me, hands gripping the other.
My heart pounds, thundering through my body as the wind picks up from the storm.
There’s yelling behind us as Giovanna screams. For a moment, I think she’ll chase after us to drag Leo back from his she-demon wife, but she doesn’t.
Neither of us look back, disappearing into the courtyard.
My hand squeezes his and he does it back as we approach the cars. The Crew splits away, getting the vehicles ready to make a run for it before Renato or Giovanna decide on any rash retribution before we leave.
Leo opens the car door for me, and the engines turn on. I flash my gaze to his as I get into the car, finding only furrowed brows and a stern expression. He starts to follow me into the car, but pauses when Giovanna shrieks again in the distance.
“You owe her nothing,” I say.
He meets my gaze, and gets into the car, shutting the door as the wind howls.