“You have been there for me when I needed you, and I love you. I want to take care of you.” He pauses for a second to sip his drink. “I told him to end it and I wouldn’t tolerate such blatant disrespect. I think he got the point.”
“Do you know who she is?”
He nods, getting up to retrieve his briefcase. Silently, he hands me a brown manila folder.
I skim through it, taking in everything I need to know, before I pass it back to him. “Thanks.”
“The PI will watch both of them, so try to put this out of your mind. Plan for college, and let me handle the rest.”
* * *
Steppingup into the private Mazzone mausoleum, I inhale reverently as my eyes roam over the elevated family tombs. I’m not overly religious, despite my Catholic upbringing, but there is a solemnity, a comforting peace, whenever I visit my parents and my brother.
Papa had this granite mausoleum built after he became a don because he didn’t want his final resting place to be in Italy like the generations before him. Inside, it’s like a mini chapel with its marble walls, stained-glass windows, and triangular roof. Overhead, porcelain statues of the Virgin Mary and some angels rest on sturdy stone ledges. The three ornate tombs lie at the top of the enclosure, leaving adequate space for future additions.
I shiver as the maudlin thought lands in my brain.
Leo moves around the structure, lighting the scented candles.
I take a few minutes with Mama and Papa, setting vases of flowers on top of their tombs, before I move over to stand beside my brother’s final resting place. I place my hand on the solid marble, and sadness overwhelms me. “I still miss him so much.”
“Me too.” Leo stands beside me. “I can’t believe he’s been gone fourteen years.”
“In some ways, it seems like it’s been longer. Yet, in other ways, it feels like it only happened yesterday.”
“I know what you mean.” He scrubs a hand over his prickly jawline and sighs. “I have been so conflicted since we discovered who was responsible for his death. I would rather it had been the Russians. Knowing Mateo died so Ben could come into our lives seriously fucks with my head.”
“Mine too, and I know Ben is tortured over it. That man was like a father to Benny growing up, and for him to do that, even if he believed it was the only way to protect him, weighs heavy on his heart.”
“Yet, if Mateo was alive, I doubt Ben would be,” he quietly adds, confirming what I suspected years ago as I considered that very thing.
I don’t want to continue this conversation. It makes me uncomfortable and upsets me.
And what’s the point? We can’t change the past.
There has been so much needless death, and I’m the last of my original family. “They are all gone now. Mama, Papa, Mateo.” I sit down on the marble bench to the side, keeping my eyes locked on my brother’s tomb. “It makes me unbearably sad sometimes.”
“You have Ben and Sierra, Rowan, Serena, Alesso, your sons. Me.” Leo reaches out, threading his fingers in mine. I look into his handsome face. “You will always have me. You are not alone.”
I squeeze his hand, welcoming his touch. “Would you really have killed Gino?”
His jaw tightens. “Yes,” he says in a clipped tone. “He hurt you, and he has disrespected you your entire marriage. He should pay for that.” He looks away, and when he turns his head back to me, the murderous dark look is gone from his face. “But I won’t do it. For the boys. They are his only saving grace.”
I squeeze his hand again. “Did you hear I’m going back to NYU?”
“Ben told me.” He smiles, and his entire face lights up. I get sucked into his gaze and drawn into his warm bubble. “I’m so happy for you. You are going to be the best doctor.”
“You don’t think I’m too old?”
“Don’t be stupid.” He lightly cups my face with his free hand. “You still look eighteen to me.”
I snort out a laugh. “You clearly need your eyes examined.”
“There is nothing wrong with my eyes.” He leans in closer. “You are still the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.” He brushes his thumb along my lower lip. “Your beauty is timeless,dolcezza. Like your inner strength.”
It would be so easy to cut the distance between us and kiss him.
I want to.
