Chapter 45 Rafaella
Rafaella
‘What’s this?’ Dante stood in the doorway, pulling off his tie, staring in at the sight of Rafaella and Gina sitting on the bed.
‘Rafa’s staying here tonight,’ Gina said, cradling her bump and resting against the pillows beside her. ‘The children were sent back to their father today and Fon’s working late, so she didn’t want to be at home on her own.’
Dante’s gaze narrowed at the cover story. Rafaella suspected he had just come straight from being with Fon and that he knew perfectly well where his brother was tonight – and it wasn’t working late. He knew exactly why she was here, while his brother went back to an empty house.
Was she supposed to think it a coincidence that on the very same day Dante had threatened her, Fon had come home blind drunk and tried to take what he’d always been happy to do without before?
She’d heard him sobbing in the bedroom as she lay curled up on the bathroom floor.
It wasn’t desire that had driven him. It was his brother.
Why? Why did it matter to Dante so much that they have a child?
Dante gave a small snort, as if women baffled him, and continued on to his bedroom.
Gina looked over at Rafaella. The fear in her eyes was only visible close up. She was well practised in handling her husband and wasn’t afraid to argue with him – they had a code of sorts in their relationship – but lying to him was something she never did.
But she had had to choose on this occasion, and she had chosen Rafaella.
She had seen the marks on her friend’s body and listened as Rafaella had recounted last night’s events – how Cosimo had stolen in under cover of darkness and made love to her, how Fon had returned home unexpectedly, with one thing on his mind.
Only a stray kick between his legs had disabled him long enough for her to get away and lock herself in the bathroom.
Gina, without hesitation, had helped her pack the suitcase that was now hidden under Rafaella’s own bed. ‘I think he bought it,’ she murmured.
Rafaella nodded. Her friend didn’t know the full truth about Dante’s threats against her but, in the end, it had been the lesser of two evils, choosing to spend the night here: she was safer in a full house with him than an empty one with Fon.
Dante wouldn’t leave Gina’s bed to come to hers and risk her screaming the place down.
He was a dangerous man, but not a stupid one.
She looked at her oldest friend, wishing it could all be different, but they both knew there was no way either brother would let Rafaella walk into the sunset with Cosimo. She had been naive to think Fon would let her go after all. Escape was their only chance of happiness.
‘I’m going to miss you,’ she whispered, clutching Gina’s hand.
‘You have no idea,’ Gina replied, squeezing her back.
She was mere weeks from her due date and losing her best friend.
Ever since Romola’s death, they had grown even closer, marrying the brothers and moving here to live, their houses just a street away from one another.
But the men they loved – really loved – were sworn enemies, and this was the fork in their road, finally.
Rafaella didn’t worry for Gina’s safety. As the mother of Dante’s children, she was uniquely protected.
‘Papa!’
They looked up as Lorenzo dashed down the hallway, past the door towards his father.
‘My boy!’
Rafaella could imagine the scene occurring in the other room: Dante swinging the little boy in the air, a proud father and not a monster. The sound of their laughter travelled down the hall.
‘You need to be careful tomorrow,’ Gina murmured, taking advantage of the distraction. ‘You know that, don’t you? He’s got people everywhere.’
‘People?’
‘People who report back to him.’
Rafaella frowned. ‘Why? He’s a businessman. Why would he need to have people reporting my movements to him?’
She saw Gina regarding her, as if trying to evaluate her.
‘He’s successful because he’s ruthless, Rafa.
We all know he’s got fingers in many pies, but surely you suspect some of those pies must …
taste funny? No one gets rich this quickly without cutting corners.
’ She squeezed Rafaella’s arm. ‘And if he finds out you’re deserting his brother … humiliating him …’
Rafaella fell still. Like Icarus, Dante had always flown close to the sun.
He had been handsome, cocky and ambitious in his youth and he had somehow played that combination to devastating advantage.
There had always been an element of menace to him, but outright danger …
? Until yesterday, she would have said not, but then he had stood in her own house and threatened her.
A floorboard creaked outside the room, making them both startle and look up. Flavia rounded the door a moment later, carrying Lorenzo’s clothes from the bathroom.
‘… Ciao,’ she said nervously, seeing how they were both frozen and staring at her. ‘I shall put Lorenzo to bed, yes?’
‘Si, thank you,’ Gina murmured, her eyes sliding over to Rafaella’s as the young woman sidled out of the room. ‘… Think she heard?’
Rafaella shrugged, but a thought had come to her. What if Flavia herself was one of Dante’s spies? Did that explain Dante’s sudden agitation about their barren marriage – could the young woman have been reporting to him about Fon’s prolonged absences from the house and, by extension, her bed?
She shook the idea from her mind. Flavia had been nothing but a friend to her in the past few weeks, helping out with the children. Paranoia was making her crazy – she couldn’t live a life second-guessing everyone’s motives and actions.
She told herself that by this time tomorrow, she would be gone.
For the first time in her life she would be truly free to live on her own terms with the man she loved.
But if, as Gina said, the walls really did have ears and strangers’ eyes would be watching her, then just walking out of her own front door was beginning to feel like an impossible dream.