I decide against pushing for more of an answer than that.
***
Pop music blares from the nearby speaker as my eyes struggle to adjust to the brightness after days spent indoors. Frankie has fallen asleep in the lounge chair beside me, probably inevitable with the sun’s warming rays coaxing many days of tension from her bones. Her pale Irish complexion will be turning painfully pink if I don’t wake her to apply more sunscreen soon.
Meanwhile, Valdo demonstrates his diving skills for me, again and again. I clap on cue, wanting him to have as many positive childhood memories untainted by death and torture as possible. If the girls are my sisters, he is the little brother I never had. A wave of protectiveness sweeps through me at the thought.
Armando is seated by the deep end of the pool. His back is to the grotto-like sculpture behind him so he can watch the house and us this way. He’s wearing sunglasses, but his posture is the opposite of relaxed. Rocco was lurking around Frankie’s door after we returned from my room, like a fox trying to find his way into the hencoop. He slunk off seeing Armando, but it gave me yet another bad feeling about the day, and Armando said we should keep our guard up.
Speaking of guards, there are more of them loitering about than usual, watching us and watching Armando. Most of them are the ones Alessio named as his father’s favorites with evidentdisdain. Is this how a deer feels when it's being stalked? Alessio will be Capo someday, but his fatherisCapo, and these men have all swore their loyalty to him.
Once Frankie marries Carlo, perhaps she’ll be safe.Despite her worries of retribution from New York for her father’s sins, it’s the best solution I can see whether Frankie agrees or not.
When Valdo grows tired of diving and asks me to join him in the pool, I agree. Lying here wishing for my husband to return won’t make it happen any faster. My worries start to slip away in the refreshing water. We splash each other, tell silly jokes and play games with the diving rings. I behave like the child he is, full of high spirits. It’s so freeing after days of turmoil.
“My dad is coming home today.”
All the joy inside me dies in an instant. “He is?”
“Uh-huh. Let’s play Marco Polo next,” Valdo says, his attention darting to a new game.
“Later. I think I need to…”
My words trail off as I look toward the far side of the pool where Armando was sitting just moments ago. He’s not there. Panicked, I turn toward Frankie. She’s not where she was either. Two guards are still out here, talking together with their eyes fixed on us. There were seven of them when I got in. Five have disappeared along with Armando and Frankie. A sick feeling washes over me. Silvio is coming home today, my guard is missing, and my husband is out of the country.
“Let’s get a snack,” I tell Valdo.
He makes a face. “You like healthy snacks.”
“Not always. How about a candy bar? I need some quick energy if I’m to have any hope of catching you when we play Marco Polo.” I force myself to get out and dry off as if nothing is wrong. Valdo decides he’s up for some junk food before our game and mimics my movements.
Taking a calming breath, I touch the gold-dipped tooth hanging from my necklace, remembering my husband’s words -My kitten has teeth.I grab the pool bag I brought outside with me and stroll toward the guards. They stiffen as I approach them so I plaster on my friendliest, most carefree smile. “We’re getting a snack. Want me to bring either of you anything?”
The courteous offer must confound them - or just ogling me in my bikini is working - because they shake their heads and don’t follow us into the house.
“Go to your room,” I tell Valdo the second we’re inside.
His blue eyes remind me so much of Alessio’s as they narrow. “Tell me why,” he says, slowly. I don’t have time to explain my suspicions to the boy. The guards may decide at any moment to follow us, and I need to find Frankie and Armando.
“Please, just go. I think we’re in danger.”
He shakes his head. “If there’s danger, I’ll defend you.” God, I love this kid no matter how frustrated by his stubbornness I am.
I reach into my pool bag. The little knife my brothers gave me is all well and good, but it wasn’t just knives they taught me to use upon my betrothal. Valdo’s eyes grow wide as saucers when I show him the loaded gun I took from Alessio’s dresser. “I can defend myself. Now, go to your room.”
The next second, we hear a muffled scream –Frankie.It sounds like it came from Silvio’s office.
“I’ll go get my gun, too. Stay here,” Valdo tells me. Of course, a De Luca son would have a gun even at the age of nine. Good God.
Not listening to Valdo or the saner instincts telling me to obey, to stay put, to go hide, my bare feet silently pad across the marbled floor as soon as he’s running in the opposite direction. I catch my reflection in one of the hall mirrors, a frightened girl in a bikini with damp hair holding a gun. This is madness but nothing can stop me from trying to help her.“If you must bleed, make them bleed, too,”I whisper to myself.
The door isn’t fully closed, and I see one of the guards from the pool avidly watching whatever is happening within. The others must’ve been ordered to subdue Armando. I pray he’s still alive.
My stomach drops sickeningly seeing Frankie on the office floor with Rocco straddling her hips and hissing vile threats. He holds his knife under her chin. “I’ve waited a long time for this, little cousin,” he says, pinning her down. “I’ve been waiting for the day they’d stop protecting you since you came to live with us.”
Frankie’s eyes are wide with fear but the defiance hasn’t left them. “You can’t have me and you know it. Uncle Silvio would kill you if-”
“Not anymore. Our uncle has decided he’d rather have war again than allow you to be the future Don’s wife. It would be an insult to see you rise so high after what you did and after what your father did. They’ve let you be until now because of your mother but, with your Irish blood, I knew you were always going to betray us. Your coward brother’s days are numbered, too. But, don’t worry. I won’t kill you today. We’re going to have some fun instead.”
