Chapter Fourteen
Vittoria
Last night had been incredible, and I lay like a boneless fish in my bed, reliving all the delicious things my husband had done to me. I was thinking about getting up and showering when my burner phone rang.
Quickly reaching into my nightstand, I pulled it out. “Carlo?” I answered.
“It is. Listen up. Today is the day. I heard through the grapevine that Romeo and Massimo are in the air, and they took a large contingent of their men with them. Antonio has been tasked with staying at the estate and keeping an eye on things. Apparently, your husband doesn’t trust you to not get into trouble.
We need to act after he’s arrived and checked in with the security at home.
It will be the first thing he does, and then he will let his guard down a bit.
That is when you will make your quiet exit. ”
Before I could ask a single question, the phone went dead. I guess he would be calling me back with exactly how I would be making a quiet exit.
Moving from the bed, the plushness of the area rug grabbed my attention and my focus on my surroundings became hyper-aware. The birds outside. The way sunlight slanted across the bedroom and spilled over our bed.
How many mornings had I crossed those Italian marble floors? The smells of citrus, and bergamot — Romeo, and the scents of my body care intertwined — mango and vanilla… assaulted more than my nostrils, but also tugged my heart.
In the past few months, against all reasoning, Romeo and I had become a couple.
Maybe not like normal couples, but wasn’t that overrated anyway?
But more than expected in a mafia forced marriage situation.
Where there was often no love, no passion, and oftentimes, a lot of abuse.
I could hardly call what he did to me abuse, not when I enjoyed every second of it.
Those thoughts followed me into the shower, washing off his scent and maybe for the last time, ever.
An argument raged inside of me: do I, don’t I?
What do I really want? Every insecurity I’d ever faced paraded around in my head, making things worse.
My inner little princess was shaking her head at me, but what did she know anyway?
My tiny toddler brain created her, and my childhood sustained and grew the fantasy of the perfect man right into adulthood.
Whereas the woman I’d become wasn’t as committed to a man as she was to her freedom, her autonomy.
I wanted to escape the tower, even though it had proven to be a safe haven, to lead an independent life.
That’s what the other voice said, but if that was the correct one to listen to, then why were my guts twisting into knots at the idea of leaving here, leaving him?
Out of the shower, I grabbed my phone and called Gia.
“Hot stuff here, how can I direct your call?” she answered.
I burst out laughing. “And everyone thinks I’m a brat. You’re so much worse!”
“You are a brat, Vittoria, a sneaky one. I’m more of an in-your-face kinda brat.”
I rolled my eyes, even though she couldn’t see me.
“So why did you call?”
“I need your help,” I answered in a quiet voice. The danger of my situation settled in the pit of my stomach like a lead weight.
“Is this about our talk at the beach?” Her voice had lost the bratty sarcastic tone.
“Yeah. I need to ask you a question. If someone offered you freedom, would you take it? What I mean to say is, if you could choose between what your family wanted you to do and what you always wanted to do, what would you pick?”
I held the phone like a lifeline waiting for Gia to give me her answer, and when she did, I was a little surprised.
“Vittoria. No matter what, life is a choice. You can stay, you can go, you can dress as a drag queen or become a cliff diver. Whatever you choose, remember that it is your choice, so make it wisely.”
Well, what do I do with that? “Not what I was looking for, but thanks just the same.”
“Wait, Vittoria. Whatever you decide, I’ll be here.”
That helped a little. To know that whatever happened, Gia at least would be on my team.
“Thanks. I gotta go. Later.” I hung up and lay back on the bed looking to the ceiling for answers that weren’t coming. A knock on the door sometime later brought me back to the present.
“Vittoria?” One of Romeo’s brothers, but I wasn’t sure which one by his voice alone.
“Yes?”
“It’s Vinny. I’m making lunch if you would like to come and join us.”
What was he doing here in the middle of the day? “Uh, sure. I need about half an hour, I just got out of the shower.”
“Okay. See you in the kitchen when you’re ready.”
Half an hour later, the sound of laughter reached me as I traversed the long walkway to the kitchen. Vinny, Tony, and their mother, Isabella, stood around the island while Vinny busied himself making lunch.
The afternoon light streamed through the huge bank of windows, framing the domestic scene in a halo of sunshine. All three looked up when I entered.
“There she is.” Isabella came and kissed me on each cheek like she always did. The woman was so warm and friendly. Then she held me at arms’ length. “Are you well, daughter?”
I buried my angst and turned on the charm. "Never better, but I'm starving, and heard we have a 5-star chef making lunch today."
Vinny dropped the wooden spoon he’d been stirring a sauce with and pulled me into a hug. Tony growled at him, proving once again why everyone called him The Beast, but Vinny just laughed.
“Don’t be so grumpy, Antonio.” He quickly took a selfie with me and Tony who looked less than impressed. Isabella chuckled and shook her head muttering something about boys being boys and took up stirring the sauce on the stove.
Vinny laughed about something. Then grabbed me and told me to wink and snapped another picture. “Rom’s not happy,” he chuckled.
“Are you trying to get me into trouble? You know I do that well enough on my own.”
Vinny laughed harder but Tony only offered a slight nod. I tugged my phone out of my pocket and texted my husband.
“Sorry, he made me.”
I didn’t expect a reply, but my phone beeped and I opened it to see this. “Do you think that little excuse will save you from il diavolo?”
Holy hell! Desire zipped through me and settled deep inside my core. I started to answer eagerly only to remember I was leaving him. For a long moment, I could not think or feel anything but pain, but I couldn’t just leave it at that.
“I hope not.” I answered lamely and added a red heart.
His response made me laugh.
“Good girl. Behave yourself and you have my full permission to tell Vincenzo to go fuck himself.”
“Was that Rom? What did he say?” Vinny asked from his position back at the stove.
“I can’t repeat it in polite company but basically, to screw off!”
A gruff chuckle from Tony and a beaming smile from Vinny.
After a delicious lunch, Tony excused himself, kissing Isabella and telling Vinny to behave himself. I left too, saying I had some things to do, and beelined back to my room to listen for my burner phone to ring.
Not five minutes later, it went off. Taking a deep breath, I answered the call.
“I’ve changed my mind. I’m staying.” Silence stretched across the line. Carlo’s breathing changed.
“That’s unfortunate,” he said quietly. A long breath hissed through the line. “Don’t make up your mind until you have all the information. There are things you don’t know, Vittoria. Things I’ve learned about Romeo. You may change your mind once you know what kind of man he really is.”
That was unexpected. “What kind of things?”
He responded with images of Romeo getting blowjobs and lap dances, photo after photo, so many different women. I scrolled over them in rapid succession, dizzy and sick to my stomach. Surely these couldn’t be current, but I looked at the time stamps and they were all taken since we’d been married.
Son of a bitch.
My stomach dropped.
This changed everything.
Or at least it should have.
The problem was that despite the photos, despite the proof sitting in my hands, my heart still wanted to hear Romeo’s side of the story.
When Leo and Carlo arrived at my door, I repeated myself, even after the full glossies were pulled from the manilla envelope.
“I get it, and I thank you. And maybe I’m an idiot, but I’m not leaving before I give Romeo a chance to explain.
” A rogue tear escaped and tracked down my cheek.
I barely had time to take a step backward before Carlo lunged.
A cloth was shoved over my nose and mouth and then nothing.