Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
Giovanna
T he steampunk clock, which hung on the only bare wall of the kitchen area, rang out its half hour chime as I watched Dante pace around. Once again, he seemed to be at war with himself.
‘Your eldest brother is the bastard responsible for fucking up my whole family’s life.’
‘Dante!’ Mary reprimanded from the stairs she’d just appeared at the bottom of.
Dante, in response, lifted his hand up to stop her talking further and I strengthened my hold on myself. ‘She needs to know who he is and what he’s capable of,’ he offered her.
‘Remember Giovanna is a guest in our home, Nephew,’ she reproached him as she continued to come nearer.
Wrapping my arms tighter around my upper body, I stood and faced the storm I knew was undoubtedly coming.
‘I don’t understand.’
‘And why would you, Gi?’ As he spoke, he rocked his head from side to side and I understood then that Dante had very deliberately and sarcastically called me the nickname Salvatore always used for me.
‘Don’t call me that.’
‘Giovanna,’ he placated, nodding at me, which only helped to stoke the anger I was feeling.
‘Explain then, Dante. Explain what I’m really doing here? Tell me what’s going on?’ I shouted back at him.
‘He has it in his fucked up, revenge-filled head, that my papa stole his mama from his arms one night, and from there she disappeared to her very probable death.’ Dante forcefully began to tap a finger to his own temple as he spoke. ‘I mean, even someone as cossetted as you obviously knows what my family has been accused of.’ I felt a guilty heat fill my cheeks at my earlier accusations. Quickly, I looked once again at Dante’s aunt and offered her an apology with my eyes. ‘Your wonderful big brother,’ Dante speaking again directed my attention ‘sparked the catalyst that ended with my elder brother Zeno’s blood spilling out for all to see. My papa suffered a heart attack that day, from which he has never recovered. Serafina was made to marry him to protect our family, and Mia is hurt because of the thoughtlessness of another De Luca son.’
I tried hard to digest everything he’d just said. Obviously, I knew everything he’d said was the truth, but I’d never thought of its implications towards his and Serafina’s family. He was right, I was a very cossetted, little Mafia princess, and I wasn’t proud of the fact. Especially when our eyes connected again and I could see the pain in his, and even worse feel the pain that resided in his heart.
‘Gabriel never meant for Mia to get hurt. He loves her,’ I offered, as I reached out to take a hold of the back of the chair nearest to me.
‘Possibly.’ His tongue played with his upper front teeth as he thought over my statement. ‘But Salvatore doesn’t care about anyone, apart from himself and of course, you, his precious baby sister.’ The smile he gave me warmed me and chilled me to the bone all at the same time.
‘I’ll keep Giovanna, until I’m satisfied my family is out of harm’s way.’
‘Oh, my God.’ My hand came up to cover my mouth and I took a few steps back until I could feel the strength of the wall against my shoulder blades, as I remembered what I’d heard on the plane. ‘No.’ I shook my head at him. ‘Don’t let it be true… am I the means to get your revenge?’ I stared harder at him, willing him to contradict me, ‘I’ll keep Giovanna, until I’m satisfied my family is out of harm’s way.’ I repeated what I remembered hearing on the plane. And, give him his due, I was sure I saw a momentary flash of guilt attach itself to his gorgeous features. ‘The past few days, everything you’ve said and all that we’ve done.’ My voice faltered with my last sentence, knowing we had an audience. Then I rallied in defiance. ‘Well, let me tell you, Dante Giordano, you needn’t have worked so hard and been so good at it… I was a forgone conclusion just as soon as I saw your blue eyes.’
‘It wasn’t hard work, Giovanna.’ I heard what he said but couldn’t at that minute think too hard about just how he meant it. ‘Far from it.’
‘All I am, is a pawn in your own sick game of vengeance… and you talk about my family,’ I accused.
‘I’m not playing a game, Giovanna, I’m merely showing him how it feels. I’m turning the way he’s treated my family around on him. Did you listen to what I said about him?’
‘I heard you, Dante. I know I’ve been cossetted and might be naive, but I’m not stupid. I’ve put two and two together over the years. I know what Salvatore is. I make no excuses for him. He was born to lead our family after our papa’s death.’ Only that wasn’t going to be the way it worked this time. A stab of pain caused me to stop speaking momentarily as I wondered if my nonno was still of this world. Swallowing down the agony, I carried on. ‘Salvatore is a creation of the position he was born to hold.’
‘Salvatore is also a self-made bastard. Make no mistake about that.’
I knew it was pointless arguing with him, when part of me agreed with what he had said about my favourite brother.
‘I’m truly sorry about your papa if he isn’t the man Salvatore continues to look for. But the other things you’ve spoken of…’
‘My papa is an honourable man. He did nothing wrong,’ he interrupted, and once again he stoked up my anger.
‘Like his sons?’ I wasn’t sure what on earth I was doing. It was becoming evident that I’d been played by Dante, and the anguish that was building inside of me was beginning to intensify with every second that passed. In that pain, I was reacting the only way I knew I could trust myself to do, and that was to attack, even if I placed myself in danger.
‘Alessio is without fault.’
‘Unlike you,’ I added. Now it was coming out that Dante had kidnapped me to get his own back on Salvatore, here I was arguing back when my own life could possibly be at risk.
‘Unlike me,’ he agreed.
‘And Zeno?’ I questioned.
He answered by crossing his arms over his chest. The Omega on his wrist caught the light from the modern chandelier above our heads, momentarily breaking my concentration.
‘Zeno was my brother.’
‘He was. But in any place in the world, not just in the depths of Calabria, Zeno had his death coming to him. Even when we were children, he was cruel and sadistic to any of us that came within his reach. You must remember that?’ I implored.
‘I know!’ Dante shouted back at me, and with a look of remorse he began to move closer, before eventually taking hold of my upper arms once again and staring intently into my eyes, willing me to understand.
‘I’m sorry for your papa. If he is innocent, I agree he didn’t deserve to be debilitated so young.’ I sighed out loud as I struggled with my own emotions. ‘But arranged marriages are the normal in our community and Salvatore loves Serafina.’
I watched him shake his head at my statement.
‘She deserves so much more than him.’ The pain he felt for her was evident.
‘She loves him, Dante.’ I spoke more quietly, trying to calm the situation down. ‘She’s so happy being back with him, even with everything that’s going on… I know their marriage was arranged, I was there the day they got married, but now they choose to be together, because love is there, surely you can see that? Even if you don’t want to. I know I’m not as worldly as you, but I know love when I see it.’
Dante pushed his tongue to his teeth before looking up to the ceiling. He released an audible exhale, before once again righting his head and finding my eyes with his own.
‘If you can see love, then look at me, Giovanna,’ he implored, as he once again tightened his hold on my arms. ‘Look at me and tell me what you find.’
For a few seconds, all I did was look and it was there. In all the things he’d said, and the many ways he’d supported me over the previous few days. It might have started as a way to get back at Salvatore, but I could see what was between us had turned into something more.
The strength of conviction I found within him was scary and just for a few seconds, I dipped my forehead to his chest. Once there I allowed myself to breathe him in. The pain he’d caused me turned to pleasure, as I understood that I meant something to him, and then back to pain as realisation at our situation hit me.
‘I see it,’ I cried out. ‘But oh my God, what have you done?’ Tears once again pricked the back of my eyes, as I looked back up at him. Thoughts and memories flew at me quickly as the sluggishness I’d been carrying since coming to, drifted away. Thoughts of the mess we’d run away from welled up inside of me. The family we’d left behind were in pieces. Now, more than ever, both of our families would need our support. I’d been selfish to think my needs were greater than any of theirs, even though I knew I didn’t understand them. To fight together, to stand by each other, was how we’d both been brought up, and now to add to everything else, Dante had taken me away.
But most of all, my memories were of what we’d said to each other. How I’d opened up to him and let him into my inner most thoughts. And although I now knew revenge had been his first thought when it came to me, I also understood he’d let me in too. When he’d talked about his family, and his hopes and dreams of finally making a life away from Italy. He explained with relish about the wonderful opportunities I, as a musician, would find in London and the places he could show me.
‘We were only going to be gone a couple of days at the most. We were going to meet my professor. I was going to play the piano for you. We were going to walk hand in hand around the Giardini Margherita, and at night I was going to fall asleep in your arms.’ I inhaled quickly as I attempted to keep my feelings in check. ‘It would have been just enough time for them to see we were capable of making our own decision to be together.’
‘If you thought that, Giovanna, then you’re even more innocent than I first thought.’
‘They might have been able to see how much we meant to each other,’ I implored.
‘You misunderstand me, amore mio. A few days of having you, whether for the vengeance I thought was my priority or to have you as mine, were never going to be enough for me.’
‘They weren’t?’ I whispered.
‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘What started out to inflict pain on your brother, backfired. I always knew I would never hurt you, but what I hadn’t taken into consideration was the fact I was never going to let you go.’ His blue eyes bled into mine. They were filled with truth and love, but also vengeance and pain. It didn’t matter how long I stared at him, I couldn’t differentiate which bits were meant for me, or God forbid, if all of it was meant for me. More worryingly was, I didn’t care. All I cared about was that we got to stay together.
‘He’s going to kill you.’ I felt my body sag with the pain of realisation.
Salvatore would kill him.
Salvatore would kill him with his bare hands or bleed him with his grandfather’s knife. I’d heard Gabriel and Romeo discuss my brother’s preferences when it came to taking the payment he felt he was due.
‘What have you done?’ I whispered, as finally my anger burnt out and was replaced with a feeling of hopelessness, and I forced my eyes from his.
Dante released his hold on my right arm and used his forefinger and thumb to tip my head back up, so my gaze met his once again.
‘What was required, amore mio,’ he countered.
‘Don’t you understand?’ I pleaded. ‘Even though I want to be, I cannot be your love. He will never allow it… Not now,’ I replied, as tears began to slowly run down my cheeks.
‘He wouldn’t have permitted it, even if we’d stayed there and pleaded our case. I’d have been sent to the far reaches of our family’s empire, or back to London. I can guarantee he would have paraded several more favourable suitors in front of you to get you to change your mind about me.’
‘I wouldn’t have accepted them.’
Dante closed the small gap between us, and with his body against mine he pushed until I met the wall behind me. As he reached out with his other hand, I saw a hint of the leather wrist bracelets beneath the cuff of his white shirt. He lifted his hand and his fingers gently traced down my tear-soaked cheek. My body reacted instantly to our connection. My eyes fluttered closed for a few seconds at his touch and my breathing faltered, before once again it followed a calm pattern.
‘Not even for the sake of your family?’ His eyes narrowed as he posed the laden question.
I knew what he was alluding to. A good Calabrian woman would always put her family above herself. Guilt ran through our veins. The same guilt that had been used against us for centuries and would be for many more.
‘Serafina could have helped us.’
‘Maybe,’ he shrugged. ‘But it’s too late. We’re not in Calabria, we’re not even in Italy. We’re here in England.’
‘What are we going to do, Dante?’ Shaking my head furiously at our ridiculous situation, I stepped sidewards and opening my arms wide I forced my way out of his hold, just how my brothers had taught me when we were younger. ‘What on earth are we going to do?’ I asked as I threw my arms up in the air and began to walk around the confines of the large space.
‘Marry me?’
I heard Mary gasp from the entrance of the room.
‘What?’ The whole of my body stopped, in a bid to concentrate wholly on him. ‘What did you say?’ I span around on my heels to study him in earnest.
‘Giovanna De Luca.’ He fell to his knees and as my mouth opened wide in astonishment I watched on, ‘Will you please be my wife?
‘Dante, we’ve only been seeing each other a few days. You can’t mean it.’
‘Why does that matter?’
I looked at his aunty for some support at his recklessness, but she offered me nothing in return.
‘I’ve known you for nearly the whole of my life and have always been aware of you, Giovanna, and these past few days have shown me why that is… you are mine; you always have been and always will be. I don’t need months or years to make the certainty I feel any stronger than it is now.’
‘Dante.’ His name left my lips on a whisper of disbelief.
‘I want to be with you, Giovanna.’ His honesty was revealing. I could feel the strength in his words. His reasoning was sincere and heartfelt.
‘Why?’ I’d always wished I was more confident, but never more so than now. ‘You don’t want to marry me. What could I possibly offer you?’ I hated how pathetic I sounded, but the words left me, nonetheless.
‘You—all I want is you.’
‘Me?’ I placed a hand to my chest.
‘I want to marry you, Giovanna… not because anyone is telling us to marry and not for any plan of vengeance. But because I want to be with you.’ He nodded at me. ‘You must be able to feel the rush between us every time we touch?’ he questioned.
‘Yes.’ I felt a blush hit my cheeks.
‘This isn’t ordinary, amore mio.’ He shook his head gently as he tried to convince me of what he was saying. ‘It’s special. I know I’ve never felt it before and I want to feel it for the rest of my life, that connection… with you. I want to be the man you deserve. I want us to walk side by side through life in that union. I want to marry you, because you’re beautiful inside and out, even though you don’t believe it. I want to be the man who shows you just what a gorgeous woman you are, until you believe in yourself. I want to wipe away your tears and be the one who makes you laugh. But most of all, I want to watch you carry and then cradle our children.’
A cry left me as he stood up and closed the gap between us once again. As he reached me, he gathered me up gently into his arms and tightened his hold on my body, before placing his lips to my forehead.
‘I’m waiting on your answer, Giovanna.’
‘Yes, Dante. I’ll marry you. I’ve said before, without you I’m not whole. Without you my life doesn’t have meaning. I’ve loved you for as long as I can remember, and I’ll love you long after I’ve taken my final breath.’
‘Oh!’ Mary exclaimed at hearing our declaration to each other.
‘Amore mio,’ he whispered.
‘Your love,’ I acknowledged.
A noise sounded somewhere behind me. I had no idea what it was, but felt Dante stiffen.
‘Your uncle is calling, Dante.’ Mary answered my unspoken question.
‘I need to take the call. It will be via video,’ he informed me as his eyes searched mine.
‘Okay,’ I replied, trying to sound more confident than I felt.
Dante changed his hold on me, lifting both hands to cup my face. ‘Everything will work out.’
I nodded enthusiastically before he chastely brushed his lips against mine to seal our commitment to each other. He then produced a set of keys from his pocket and pressed a button on a small device which omitted a shrill sound. Suddenly, the media wall sprang to life and doors slid open to reveal a huge screen.
‘Accept the call.’
An older version of Dante appeared instantaneously on the screen.
‘Dante.’
‘Uncle,’ Dante replied in respect. ‘This is…’ he started before being interrupted.
‘Signorina De Luca, I presume. Allow me to introduce myself… I am Graham Thomas.’
I already knew about the Thomas’s in England. Dante’s mama was, I believed, Graham’s sister, and her two brothers ran a very successful business here in London. Although, quite what that business involved I had no idea, but then I also had no concrete proof of exactly what my family did, apart from the export of olive oil.
‘Hello,’ I replied hesitantly, as I tried hard to discern if I was speaking to a friend or foe.
‘Before we start this conversation—I understand you’re in London, but I don’t want to know where you are.’ He held up the palm of his hand. ‘So, don’t tell me… even the powers in Calabria know it would take me a while to find your exact location.’
Still holding me closely, I saw as Dante nodded back his answer and heard the exhale that left him as he prepared himself for what was coming next.
‘I’ve just received a rather irate phone call from Don De Luca.’
‘Don De Luca… oh no!’ A sick feeling threatened to engulf me. Suddenly, I was lost in a sea of pain. It was one I knew was coming, but couldn’t have prepared myself for even if I’d have tried. Pressure against my legs indicated that a chair was being gently pushed against the back of my knees offering me a place to sit. Shaking on the ridiculous heels I’d worn, I gratefully accepted and sat down quickly, almost falling into the padded seat of the chair. ‘Does this mean he’s gone? Has my nonno passed?’
Mary handed me a bottle of water, and as I looked up to thank her, she gesticulated that I should take a sip. The cool liquid hit my throat and it was all I could do to stop throwing it back up. I struggled to swallow the minute amount of liquid down, as my throat tightened with my grief.
Obviously aware of my inner struggle, Dante placed his hand to my shoulder and gently squeezed it to let me know he was with me, and Graham kindly waited before he replied.
‘I’m sorry to say he has, Giovanna. Please accept my family’s deepest condolences. Salvatore said it was very peaceful.’
‘I’m sorry, Giovanna,’ Dante whispered.
‘Then I’m truly alone.’ My thoughts escaped me.
‘Not alone, amore mio. I’m here now and remember, I’ll always catch you when you fall.’ My last conversation with my nonno entered my head, and I knew with absolutely certainty that Dante was the man he’d been expecting to find me. Dante’s hand squeezed my shoulder again, as I understood it had been him who had recognised my need for the chair I was now sitting on. As I raised my hand to find his, he grabbed it and bent his frame to take it to his lips. He placed a soft, lingering kiss to my cold flesh and looked into my eyes, wordlessly saying everything I needed to know, and in that gesture my heart felt a little lighter.
‘I think you’d better start talking, Dante.’ My gaze moved and went again to his Uncle Graham, who was sitting behind his desk and staring at us both with the same brilliant blue eyes his nephew and niece had inherited.
‘Do you still have contacts at Lambeth Palace, Uncle?’
‘You know I do,’ Graham replied, nodding.
‘Good, because Giovanna and I are going to need a special licence—she has agreed to be my wife.’
For a second, Graham narrowed his eyes as he looked at us both while he mulled over what Dante had imparted, and then he nodded.
‘Giovanna, is what my nephew says correct?’
‘Yes, I want to be his wife.’
‘That is your decision? You have not been coerced into making that decision?’
‘It is my decision and entirely of my own free will,’ I answered.
‘Aunt Mary witnessed my proposal, Uncle.’
Again, Graham contemplated.
‘Our families have been joined in union before. It has been a profitable and pleasurable alliance.’ He nodded at us both. ‘I don’t see why this marriage—once your brother has got over his anger of course, should be any different.’
‘Thank you, Uncle.’
‘You don’t need to thank me. You are the son I never had, Dante. I have been grooming you to be my successor for the past few years. Now with Giovanna by your side, as a steadying hand, I think you will mature into the man I know resides within you.’
Dante fidgeted to the side of me, obviously slightly uncomfortable with his uncle’s belief in him.
‘Your impending nuptials are cause to celebrate…’ Graham lifted what looked like a small glass of fortified wine up to us both, before taking it to his mouth to take a small amount. ‘But as soon as I contact Lambeth Palace and reach out to the archbishop you understand your cover will be exposed. I have contacts there, so equally Salvatore will also have his. You will need to move quickly to reach the destination we agree on to take your vows?’
‘We understand.’ Dante spoke for us both.
‘Okay, so I also have other news. Although, I’m not sure where to start with it all.’ Dante unconsciously gripped my shoulder a little tighter as I attempted once again to consume some of the water from the bottle in my hand, desperately wishing it was the fortified wine his uncle was sipping at again. I craved the numbness I knew I’d find in its alcoholic strength, even though I knew that being allergic to it, I’d possibly be sick for days afterwards.
‘I’ll start with the good news. Rosemary has told me that they believe within the next couple of days Mia will emerge from her coma. Serafina has told her that Mia’s vital signs are indicating positively.’
‘That’s great news,’ I voiced, pleased for my friend and soon to be sister-in-law.
‘Good,’ Dante added.
‘Salvatore, your father and Alessio have caught Enzo. He has been taken care of.’ Graham glanced at me, and I could see he wanted to say just how he’d been taken care of, but stopped himself because I was present.
‘Okay,’ Dante voiced, with slight regret that he hadn’t been present in his tone. ‘And the information they got from him… Has papa been cleared?’
‘He has.’
Dante physically reacted to the news. His body slumped with relief, and he exhaled as though he hadn’t properly breathed out in years.
‘Dante, that’s such good news,’ I added as I looked over at him. ‘Salvatore now knows he’s wrong about your papa and your family. It really is the best news for us, isn’t it?’
Dante turned his head to nod at me, and although I couldn’t quite read the expression on his face, I could see he was pleased. Another question flashed across his face and he turned to talk to his uncle again.
‘As a result of Enzo’s death, did they get an answer to who was to blame for Salvatore’s mama’s death, and all the other women and children that were kidnapped over the years?’
‘They did.’ Graham sighed loudly before resting his gaze back on me. ‘Gianni De Luca was killed by Salvatore as punishment for killing many, many innocents, including Salvatore’s mama, Lia Ranieri.’
‘Giovanna’s papa?’ I heard Dante question as he turned to look at me. My world closed in, confining me in a darkness I wasn’t strong enough to fight against.
The last thing I heard was a loud crash as my chair toppled.
Then I felt nothing, because there was nothing I wanted to feel.