CHAPTER 24 JARED #6
Not long afterward, we leave the store with a signed delivery contract for the furniture we'd chosen. Silvio paid for everything. It's a beautiful set in soft green with birch accents, its surfaces decorated with delicate floral patterns.
I fell in love with its woodland colors the moment I saw it, and Silvio wholeheartedly approved.
The entire drive home, I stay quiet, staring out the window while Silvio glances at me from time to time with a faint, knowing smile. My mind keeps circling the same questions, and no matter how hard I try, I can't push them aside.
When we get back to the house, Mauro isn't there, so the momentum I'd built up for our conversation has to be put on hold.
Instead, I take my seat at the table for lunch, trying to act as though nothing is weighing on my mind.
Emilio asks about the furniture set, and Gianni suggests we stop by a toy store because he saw some great educational activity tables there.
The conversation is light, and soon it turns toward the upcoming mayoral election. Renato has held the position for many years, and everyone expects him to win another term without much trouble.
After lunch, I go upstairs to my room and stand by the window, patiently waiting for Mauro. Around two o'clock, his Jeep finally pulls into the driveway.
He gets out and heads straight for the front steps before disappearing inside. I remain where I am, facing the door, waiting for him to come.
Instead of coming to my room first, Mauro slips into his own room for a moment. I hear his footsteps, then a knock on my door.
He walks in carrying two things. One is his phone, and the other is a small wooden box, the kind people keep jewelry in.
I've seen it sitting on his desk before, and I can't help wondering why he brought it with him now. His face is completely serious, and the look in his eyes tells me this is the moment when the truth is finally going to come out.
I stay silent, waiting. He types something on his screen, and the voice synthesizer reads it aloud.
"You deserve the truth, Jared. I should've told you sooner, but I'm ashamed to say… I was simply afraid I’d lose you."
His words sound almost surreal. They don't fit Mauro at all. He doesn't seem like someone who would ever be afraid of anything, especially showing himself in public, or being honest with me… and somehow that only makes me twice as frightened.
"You were afraid?"
"Yes, Jared. I was." He types the words, sadness saturating his energy.
"So it has to be serious. Can you please tell me what's going on?" I ask, my voice trembling as he just stands there without typing anything else, looking like he's struggling with what he has to say.
Finally, Mauro types a single sentence.
"This will explain more than all the words I could ever say."
Then he hands me the little box.
My hands shake so badly I struggle to undo the tiny clasp. Swallowing hard, I slowly lift the lid.
At first, nothing about it seems extraordinary.
Inside, I see a gold chain and what looks like a gold pendant.
I can't make it out right away because it's lying face down with its engraved side against the bottom of the box, but then I carefully pick it up between my fingers and raise it to eye level.
I stare at it, but my brain still hasn't caught up. The pieces haven't come together yet. I still can't see the whole picture.
The pendant is identical to mine.
Except… it's the other half.
The matching half…
Put together, the two pieces would almost certainly form a heart shaped like an ornamental leaf.
"Where did you get this?" I ask, because there's still one thin veil of uncertainty standing between me and the answer.
Mauro types a single sentence.
"My dad gave it to me when I was seven years old, after Uncle Renato had gifted it to him. It was the same day my parents died."
I swallow.
"But…" I whisper. "But… how?"
How could he possibly have that necklace?
My trembling hand rises to the one hanging around my own neck, and I clutch it tightly.
There’s only one fucking possibility.
"Are you… him?"
The question tears itself out of me in a shaking, breaking voice as my entire world begins to spin.
Mauro slowly nods.
Darkness crashes over me in the very next instant.
I collapse, but Mauro lunges forward fast enough to catch me before my head can hit the floor.
◆◆◆
I come back to myself little by little, emerging from a fog so thick it feels almost sticky.
The truth is, I don't think I want to wake up. I don't want to face everything that's just come crashing down on me.
But eventually I have to, because my body insists on living. I slowly open my eyes and find Silvio's face leaning over me.
Mauro is right beside him. Both of them are watching me with obvious concern.
Everything slams back into me in a single heartbeat.
So Mauro isn't simply the heir to a man who owns lumber mills and a construction company…
He’s a mafioso.
I knew before that Renato's omega brother married someone in the mafia and had four sons. But that knowledge was somewhere in the back of my mind, vague and distant. Now it hits me on the head.
What is he, exactly? A soldier? An associate? Or something even closer to the crime family? There are different mafia families in the States, but as for Sicilian ones… I’ve heard of only one, the most famous and powerful.
The Ferros.
The thought nearly freezes the blood in my veins. I pull myself free of Silvio's arms, sit upright, and clench my jaw.
"Sweetheart, how are you feeling?" Silvio asks softly. "I know this must be a terrible shock. And the way we've acted from the very beginning, as though we already knew who you were and had been waiting for you, must have been incredibly confusing."