I sighed. This woman was for sure loosing what was left of her mind. Alistair hadn’t had any brothers. The only siblings that Alistair Giancomo had had was dead.Talia.I inwardly winced as the thought of her charred body lay in my mind.
“I’m sorry grandmother,” I replied. “I don’t have any brothers. Just Talia.”
She frowned her face up then. “Don’t lie to me boy. I know who your brothers are and so do you. Goddamn that son of a bitch for raping my daughter. God damn it to hell.”
Flavia had slipped into full blown Italian by the point and was starting to raise her voice. Diamond looked alarmed and my heart was ready to explode. I did the only thing I could do then and grabbed Flavia’s hand. Her flesh felt thin and paper like; it felt as though it might tear under my fingerprints.
This got her attention and she calmed down.
“I’m sorry grandmother, I didn’t mean to upset you,” I said. “But who raped my mother?”
She took a deep breath. “I shouldn’t say. But you know. You said the boy and his brother were awful to you last time. You wanted to make friends with them. Tell them you were their brother.”
Fuck,I thought.
“This isn’t going anywhere,” I told Diamond. “Long shot but…”
“Thierry…” Flavia’s voice sounded faint, and she yawned.
It was as if someone had smacked me. “What?”
She was already drifting off to sleep. There was no way I could let her go to sleep now; Flavia Barrone had called my name as clear as day.
“Grandmother!” I spat out. “Wake up!”
Her eyes readjusted. “Ali…you’re back. How was your trip.”
Holy fuck, I thought.
“Yes, grandmother. I’m back. You were telling me about the boys… my brothers?”
She yawned again, nearly closing her eyes. “Yes, Alistair. You said that you wanted to tell them you were their brother. You were afraid to. Thierry… you said he looked like you.”
Diamond grabbed my arm. “Thierry, we need to go. I think someone is coming.”
What?
I couldn’t have been hearing the words that I thought I was. There was also simply no time to process. Diamond was already at the window and slipping through it. The door handle on the door jingled and I had no choice but to jump through the frame, landing with a thud. Someone came into the room, and I could hear them talking to Flavia in a thick Italian accent. They asked her had she been opening the window again and then the window slammed shut again.
The breath that I didn’t know I’d been holding onto, released itself. My breath made fog in the dim light. Diamond and I locked eyes, and she gave me a half smile.
When we were safely back in the hotel room, my chest began to feel as though it was constricting. My hand hovered there, pushing against the flesh. Diamond took notice immediately and came to me.
“Do you think it’s true?” she asked.
Taking a deep breath, I tried to think of anything that might have proven the old woman’s words false. I wanted it to be a lie.
But Vito had been a son of a bitch, I thought.
“My father….he had to sides to him it seemed. He had the world thinking he was one thing and then other’s that knew him, another.”
“My father,” Diamond started. “I could never understand what he saw in Nautica. He let her erase my mother from our house. Maybe it was grief.”
“Oh yeah?” I snapped still massaging my chest, the tightness starting to go away. “What in the hell was Vito’s excuse?”
Diamond looked taken aback by my tone. She stepped back and held up her hands. “You’re angry and upset by the news.”
I let out a roar of frustration and slammed my hand, palm side down, onto a nearby table. Vito Scarpetta had lied to me my entire life. He had lied to Enzo. It was good that he was dead, I decided. He had raped a woman and hidden it.
