46. Final Farewell
Final Farewell
My family’s plot sat at the highest point of the cemetery, where rows of cypress trees stood like giants against the pale blue sky. A horseshoe of polished white Carrara marble enclosed generations of Buccinis beneath beautifully carved headstones.
I’d visited this place so many times in my life, changing the flowers on my papi’s grave, a man I never truly knew.
I’d never told anyone how detached I felt from it, because I was the only one in my family who didn’t remember him.
I felt guilty whenever my siblings talked so easily to his headstone, telling him about their daily lives and how much they missed him.
I never spoke to his headstone. I never knew what to say.
I couldn’t see the point in talking to a block of marble.
But as I stared through puffy, tear-filled eyes at my brother’s coffin, I knew that was about to change.
Fresh lilies and ivory roses spilled from the enormous urns around the graves, their sweet scent drifting through the crisp morning air. Hundreds of smaller bouquets had been arranged around Giovanni’s coffin, making it look as though he were about to be lowered into a sea of petals.
At the centre of the family mausoleum stood a towering marble crucifix, almost four metres high. This place was less like a cemetery and more like a museum of legacy. I always thought it was an eyesore, but beneath it, on a huge gold plaque, were old engraved names sitting beside new ones.
Vincenzo Buccini
Salvatore Buccini
Giovanni Buccini
One day, my name would be on there too, as would everyone I loved. The thought made me look away and study the faces around me. My family. Buccini soldiers. Barbieri soldiers. Friends of Giovanni’s. Faces I’d never met.
Everyone was dressed in black, sitting in neat rows of chairs beneath a canopy of white silk meant to soften the sun’s glare beaming down on us. On days like this, you almost resent it being such a beautiful day. But then again… Gio hated the rain.
On the other side of the coffin, more mourners stood, heads bowed, hands clasped, forming a wall of black suits. Soldiers, associates, and allies.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about the Russians being there.
Aleksandr stood stoically with a dozen of his men, all in immaculate black suits.
He didn’t have his head bowed like everyone else, though.
I followed the line of his gaze to Lili, a few chairs down from me.
He was watching her. And only her. I wasn’t sure what to make of it, or of his presence at a family funeral.
Was he here to support his soon-to-be-wife, who hates him?
To pay his respects to a man he barely knew?
Or as a reminder that we still owed a debt?
I shook the thoughts away as Maddox squeezed my hand and the priest began the ceremony. I rested my head on his shoulder as the emotion poured out of me. When Olivia took the stand, I completely lost it.
“I once asked Giovanni, ‘What was the point of living if you aren’t really living at all?’ He didn’t give me an answer at the time, but months later, when he got down on one knee, he told me in a letter that it was love that made life worth living.
The love for your family. The love for your friends.
The love for the world we all share. He promised me then that he would love me for the rest of his life. And he always kept his promises.”
Maddox pressed his lips to the top of my head as I burrowed my face into my hands, ugly, fat tears gliding down my cheeks. How Olivia was making it through this speech with such determination and strength, I’d never know.
“I don’t think anyone can truly prepare for a day like today. How do you say goodbye to the one person you had promised to grow old beside?”
Olivia’s lips trembled, and she sucked in a breath.
“Giovanni was many things to many people. A devoted husband, an incredible father, a loyal son, a protective brother, and a man respected by everyone who had the privilege of knowing him.” Olivia exhaled slowly, taking a moment to steady her emotions before continuing.
“But those words don’t feel big enough. To me…
he was everything. He was safety. He was home.
He was my heart. He could make me laugh when I wanted to cry; he could calm every fear with just his eyes and somehow make even the most ordinary moments special. ”
I felt Sani’s hand on my shoulder, where he was sitting behind me. That only made me cry harder.
“Gio loved fiercely. If you were lucky enough to be loved by him, you never questioned it. He protected his family without hesitation. He carried burdens so no one else would have to bear them. He’d do anything for the people he loved.
That was my husband. I keep thinking I can hear his shoes on the marble floors, smell his cologne in every room, or hear him whisper Bambola before I fall asleep.
” She wiped away the rogue tears from her cheeks.
“I’m not sure how to do life without him.
But I will try, because I know that’s what he’d want. ”
Olivia swallowed and looked up from her paper, scanning the sea of black-clad figures in the rows of chairs.
“While life feels unbearably cruel right now… I know he would hate seeing us drown in grief. He’d tell us this is enough.
To spend the rest of our lives holding each other tighter, laughing a little louder, and loving even harder. ”
I nodded, knowing it was true. He’d let us have this, but then he’d say enough was enough. Celebrate me. Keep me alive. Live for me.
“Even though he’s not here in person, he lives on in his children and the legacy he leaves behind.
And I know he watches us with pride, a glass of whiskey in one hand and a cigar in the other.
I hope he’s with his beloved Papi, Vinny, a man he adored and missed every day.
They’re reunited now.” She walked off the stage and crouched by his coffin, placing a single white rose on top.
“Gio, thank you for choosing me. Even standing here, I know I’m one of the lucky ones because I got to experience the deepest, truest love.
You are the love of my life.” Her voice cracked, and her hand shook as she placed it on the coffin.
“I’ll love you always. Rest now, baby. Until we meet again. ”
One by one, each of us added our own rose to the coffin as it was lowered into the ground, while a string quartet played softly from behind a line of olive trees.
Everyone except the immediate family dispersed, heading back to their cars and giving us a moment for a final goodbye.
Maddox held back as I stood between Sani and Elle, the three of us hugging tightly as Raff and Lili embraced Olivia.
Walking away was the hardest part, especially when Olivia fell to her knees after a few steps, sobbing that she couldn’t leave him there. That reopened a wound, a memory of having to leave Maddox in that warehouse. I remembered the soul-crushing feeling as if it were yesterday.
Falling to my knees next to her with Elle, we hugged her and let her break down. She’d been so strong, but she needed this. She needed to let it all out.
“We will stay for as long as you need,” Elle soothed, her voice trembling with emotion.
The men hovered nearby, forming a protective wall around us to give Olivia a safe space to fall apart.
After a few minutes, her sobs softened to quivering cries, and she wiped her face with a tissue beneath her black veil. All of us were wearing them.
“Okay,” she shuddered, getting back to her feet. Lili took one of her arms, and I linked mine with the other. We strolled towards the cars.
I’d only just got Olivia inside one with Elle and Alessio when there seemed to be some sudden commotion.
I looked to my left to find Liliana storming towards Aleksandr. The man was leaning against his car, hands in his pockets and watching her rampaging towards him with an expression of slight intrigue.
Her bodyguard was trailing after her when Maddox appeared at my side.
“Want me to go with her?” he asked, watching the scene play out.
Lili’s hands flew everywhere in animated gestures that showed just how irritated she was with him, while he gave her absolutely nothing back, which was probably only annoying her more.
“She’s okay. Ferro is with her. She can handle it,” I said, watching the exchange with interest. Lili was holding her own against a tyrant. Or he was letting her. I wasn’t sure which. She stormed off, heading back to us with rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes. She looked alive, albeit furious.
“You okay?” I asked as she grabbed the door from my hand and climbed inside. I got in beside her, shuffling to the middle so Maddox could climb in, while she stared out of the window.
“Who the hell does he think he is? Just because he’s some powerful Slavic prince, does that mean he can show up at funerals uninvited and put a ring on my finger?
And then he has the audacity to pretend to be a ‘nice guy’?
Pay my respects. Bullshit. He can shove his respect up his ass and choke on it. ”
“How would he do both?” Maddox asked. I subtly elbowed him in the ribs.
“What?” she snapped, looking past me at him.
“How would he shove it up his ass and choke on it?”
She frowned, huffing back into her seat. “I don’t know. He can do both. Extra pain.” She lifted her veil over her head and looked back out of the window. “And he just stands there! Doing nothing, except staring. Trying to intimidate me. Like… like a big-eyed, stacked scarecrow.”
Maddox raised his eyebrows, trying to hide his amusement.
I pressed my lips together. I never thought I’d have to suppress laughter on the day of my brother’s funeral.
But Lili was so bad at being mad. She was even worse at insults, since she’d never really insulted anyone in her life.
It was kind of hilarious, but I knew I shouldn’t laugh.
A small giggle slipped through my lips anyway. Her head snapped towards me, eyes wide with disbelief.
“A big-eyed stacked scarecrow? I love you, Lili, but you need to get better at being mean.”
She folded her arms across her chest and huffed. “Well, I have thirty-five days left to learn.”
The rest of the day was truly beautiful. We had a huge family meal, drank Gio’s favourite whiskey and shared our favourite memories. We laughed, cried and danced to his favourite music before the day’s emotional exhaustion finally took its toll on most of us, and people started heading to bed.
Maddox and I lay on our backs on the pool deck, swinging our legs through the water and sharing a bottle of wine. It felt surreal. So much of my life had changed in such a short time, and it must have been even more overwhelming for Maddox.
“I didn’t know funerals could be like that,” he said as we stared at the stars against the black sky. “It was a nice send-off.”
“It was,” I breathed, finding his hand and threading my fingers through his. “I think funerals should be a celebration of life, not of death.”
The corner of his mouth twitched. “It’s mad to think that after all the death that surrounded me, that was the first funeral I’d ever been to. It makes me think differently about death.”
“How so?”
“Death used to make me think life was pointless. It could all end so easily or so quickly. I didn’t value anyone’s life because I wasn’t livin’ mine.
I was merely survivin’ it. After today, seein’ how much your brother had built for himself and how loved he was, I realised it’s only what you make of your life that matters.
What you do with the time you have. It’s only pointless if you don’t live it the way you want. ”
I smiled, leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. “So we live it.”
He nodded. I twisted onto my side, propped myself up on one elbow and stared down at him.
“What do you want, Maddox? You’re a millionaire now. You can do whatever you want with your life. What do you want to do?”
He shook his head slightly, staring at the stars. “No one’s ever asked me that before.”
“I’m asking you.”
He looked at me. “I just want to be with you, wherever you are. I want to stay here in Italy with your family. I want to help you with your mamma and Olivia. I want to teach Raff how to defend himself. I want to get the help I need to deal with my trauma so I can get on a flight to visit my sister in Australia with you. But first, I want to kill McKenna.”
I placed my chin on my hand, resting on his chest. “Are you ready?”
“It was never a matter of being ready.” He met my gaze. “It was a case of priorities. You needed me. You before Sean. You before revenge. That’s how it is.”
I smiled. “Grazie.”
He lifted his tattooed hand to my face, brushing a curl away from my eyes.
“You never need to thank me, Darlin’. Just kiss me.”
So I did.