“I see,” Brando said. “Vincenzo will take care of you.”
“No! No one will take care of me. I’ll take care of myself! You forced my hand. That’s the only reason I said it.”
“Vincenzo will take care of you,” he repeated, like automation.
“Fratello, it is my fault. I have been—”
“He’s been miserable!” I almost screamed, attempting to take the heat from Romeo.
I felt sick from guilt. All of this trouble rested in my hands. If it weren’t for me, none of this would be happening. But itwasbecause of me. I had to make Brando see that if something were to happen to him, I needed no one else. Though it came from a good place in his heart, it was the wrong sentiment to act on.
“I will take care of her,” a voice from behind me said. Vincenzo chose that moment to declare his intent, no matter if both of his cousins were looking murderous or not.
Oh Lord.I slapped a hand to my forehead, feeling another vicious headache coming on. If trouble existed, these men would find it without a doubt.
“It’s like that,” Brando said. There was coolness to him that seemed to make the temperature drop, before it rose up from the ground, fire spewing everywhere.
Vincenzo nodded. “Your wife is right. Romeo cannot take care of her. His heart belongs to someone else.”
“Tell me of your heart,” Brando said to his cousin in Italian.
“In my chest.” Vincenzo glanced at me. “Unless circumstances demand more.”
“Tell me how you feel about this, Romeo,” Brando said.
“I want to kill him,” Romeo said, low voiced, almost a growl. He was in an offensive position, head lowered, crazed eyes on his cousin. If he had hackles, they would have been raised.
“Why?” I asked Romeo. “Why?”
Romeo refused to look at me. Brando knew exactly what he was doing. Dangling bloody meat in front of a starving carnivore.
“You feel that way because the truth hurts!” I almost screamed at him. “Take it back, Romeo. Do what makesyouhappy. And you.” I turned to my husband. “Release him from his word! I’m yours. Not his. Not anyone else’s! I belong toyou!”
Brando’s lip curled up and I stilled. Vincenzo stepped in front of me, in a position that meant he was prepared for the challenge. I was there but not totally involved in the program. I came at them like the tiny voice in the cavernous pit.
“I will prove to you that I can take care of her,” Vincenzo said.
No, no, no, no,no! I had never dealt with men like this before—men who had to prove themselves to rise up in ranks, who behaved like wild animals, staking out territory and marking it for their own. It was kill or be killed in their world. Though Brando was never raised in their wilderness, he took to it with instincts that scared even me.
“Brando,” I whispered, but my voice was lost on the surge of wind when two hard bodies collided in fight. Without much thought, I went forward, Romeo’s hand just short of catching me. They were so wild that neither saw me coming, and before I knew it, I caught a reckless swing.
I was thankful that I blacked out before I rolled down the hill.
* * *
“God?” I blinked at the light, as faded as it was. It washed my entire world gold, the streets of heaven right beyond my reach. I had never noticed how peaceful the color was, how calming. I wanted to bathe in it, float in its tenderness.
“No,” a deep, rich voice answered. “Your husband.”
“Oh,” I said, blinking some more, attempting to bring him into focus. He was leaning over me, one hand under my head, the other to my jaw. He must’ve been moving my face back and forth.
I felt the cold seeping through the layers of the costume. I caught the last remnants of blue in the sky and saw rolling pastures all around me. Mount Etna in the distance. The gold dust that encompassed us came from the setting sun. Though my head hurt, I felt like a girl in a painting. Then I wondered what had caught me—an iron fist?
“No,” Brando said again. “Elbow. Not mine.”
“An elbow?”That’s it?I could still feel the force of the blow, since reality was setting back in, and how it had rattled my teeth. If it wasn’t for all of my obsessive brushing and flossing, it might have knocked a few loose.
“Don’t try to sit up,” he said. “Take a moment to be still.”
