I couldn’t tell by the look on Donato’s face how this was going to play out. Lothario had his choice of “games” he could choose from. Rocco thought that he was going to go with a boxing match. But not just a regular one. We’d wear metal gloves to fight against each other. If I could get one good hit on him, he’d be dead, and any future problems along with him.
Rocco wiped sweat from his brow. “Don’t keep us in suspense,” he said to Donato.
The soldier shrugged. “His man said we will find out when we arrive.”
Guido hardly finished his drink of water, almost choking on it, as it splashed down his chin. “That is against the rules!”
Donato shook his head. “It is not. A man should be trained for all war, is what is believed, so…here we are.”
I shrugged. “Give me the time and place.”
“Day after tomorrow.Firenze. I know it well.” He met Rocco’s eyes, and the two of them stared at each other, a silent conversation taking place.
Tito cleared his throat, and all eyes turned toward him. “Our place is ready,” he said, standing from his seat. “Lola will be glad to have the company.”
He walked out right after, keeping his feelings to himself. There was nothing else to say. He knew it and so did I. He’d told me earlier that morning that there were worst things than being labeled a coward, but if my mind was set, and if my death would come, he prayed it would be quick, for my sake. He wasn’t allowed to help or save either of us—it was against the rules.
I didn’t plan to lose. I had too much to live for, and vengeance was not the soul of winning.
The biggest problem I faced was my wife. She was suspicious. I didn’t want to worry her, but I couldn’t lie to her either. So I told her that I had family business to take care of. She’d be staying at Tito and Lola’s villa until I got back.
After we arrived in Florence, she refused to take her eyes off of me. She’d done that before, plenty of times—look at me as if she could see straight through me—but this time was different.
It had been a while since she slayed me with her piercing stare. She shattered the newest protective wall I’d put up and got directly underneath my skin. Her worry went straight to my heart, like adrenaline: a warning.
The night before the games, she and I were bathing Mia together. She didn’t mind a bath, but she hated when Scarlett put cream on her.
I took her from Scarlett, bringing her close, kissing her tear-stained cheeks. “Ah,il mio bambina.Vieni a papà, cuore mia.”
Scarlett took Mia’s clothes from her counter, preparing to dress her, her eyes gazing into mine. Whenever I did something she felt was touching, like calling Miamy heart, I pulled out a seat for her. She got weak in the knees. Then she’d laugh at me for doing it.
Mia looked up at me, her eyes wide, waiting. Or it seemed like she was. I almost laughed. She and I played a game—mangiare le tue guance, oreat your cheeks.
I loved nothing more than kissing her cheeks, to her extreme delight. Scarlett called them Italian kisses, loud and with a lot of smooching lips. I started playing the game with her, and she laughed so hard and so loud that before long, everything I did to her was funny. She was having trouble catching her breath.
She forgot about what she didn’t like, and soon after, drifted off to sleep with a grin on her face.
“Brando?”
I turned to find Scarlett watching me. I was staring at Mia, sleeping in her portable bed. The urge in me to do this, to rid the world of someone who could hurt my family, was strong.
“Why are we really here?”
We stared at each other for a long minute.
“I know, you told me. But not everything.” She sighed. “If I thought I could stop you, I would have refused to leave. I can’t…stop you, from doing whatever this is.”
I shook my head. “It’s done,” I said.
“Ah,” she breathed out. “An unbreakable tradition in the Fausti family.”
I pointed to my lips. “Come,” I said in Italian. “Kiss me.”
She did, and then she placed a hand on each of my shoulders, moving back a little to look up at me. “If I felt anything other than what I do now, we wouldn’t be here,” she said, her voice hushed but full of conviction.
“Tell me what you feel,” I said.
It took her a minute, but she finally squeezed my shoulders. “Secure, and as soon as we’re home, at our villa, at complete peace.”
