“You were fired, Una,” I remind her, and Giovanna turns to me in surprise. She’s not the only one with secrets. “Given all that you’ve been doing the past few years, coming here was definitely a big mistake.”
Gi touches my arm gently, her eyes shining with gratitude and trust. Too bad I can’t trust her. I kiss her softly, then brushmy lips by her ear. “Bring me the purple ropes I have in the back of my closet. Top shelf.”
Giovanna hesitates, confused, but nods and heads back to the bedroom.
I turn on Una, my voice low so Gi doesn’t hear. “You are going to tell me everything that you’ve been keeping from me. Everything about Lorenzo. Everything about the fucking jewelry you apparently ordered in my name. Everything about you and Antonio, including why you did it and why you’re still lying. What you told him about me or Giovanna. What he told you. I want to know every time either of them was in my office, every time they were in my house. And don’t fucking lie to me.” I pull out my knife and hold it under her chin. “I don’t know what the fuck you think your place is in my life, but it is never to tell me anything about the mother of my child. Sit the fuck down.”
“I have nothing to tell you, Tommy, except that the so-called mother of your child was inseminated by another man. That’s not your child! It’s an Abbiati baby.”
I pull my phone out to text my security team, but Giovanna is standing in the hallway holding the purple rope. Her eyes are wide and wet, and she’s staring at Una, shaking. She looks like she’s about to pass out. Sliding my phone back in my pocket, I close the distance between us.
“Baby? Are you ok? Do you need to lie down?”
But Gi isn’t looking at me. She’s staring at Una.
“Say that again,” she croaks, her voice hoarse.
Confused, I turn to Una, who looks at me questioningly.
“What did I say? That you’re carrying Antonio’s child? Because you are,” Una scoffs.
Giovanna nods, short and fast, almost robotic. She on the verge of losing her shit.
Gi repeats herself, her voice rising. “Say again what you just said to Tommy about another man.”
“That you were inseminated by him?” Una laughs. “Do you like the sound of that?”
Gi closes her eyes. She looks sick. “Say ‘should we inseminate her?’”
“What? I don’t—” Una throws her hands up, but I lunge toward her menacingly.
“Fucking do what she says.”
“Should we inseminate her.” Something crosses Una’s face as she hears herself say the words. Something like panic.
Giovanna opens her eyes, stricken. “Holy shit. It was you.”
I’m staring at Gi. “What, baby?”
Gi’s lip twitches at the corner, her eyes flashing with fury. She slams the purple rope into my chest, and in one motion, she grabs the bag she brought from Matti’s house and slams it across Una’s face.
My jaw drops, but I don’t move to stop her. Una reels, clutching her cheek, and opens her mouth to retort in time for Gi to slam her bag across the other side of her face.
Giovanna grabs Una’s chin and gets in close. I move quickly, standing right behind my girl, rope in hand, in case she needs me.
“You were there! You talked to the nurse and asked her if I was pregnant yet. You suggested I be inseminated. You told her Antonio would bring in samples to do it.”
The apartment shifts beneath me, and a wave of vertigo hits.
Una bares her teeth, but I step forward, knife still in hand. “Don’t.”
Una shakes her head. “This is nothing but a ploy to—”
Gi slaps her across the face with a cracking sound that makes even my eyes water. “You don’t speak to me. You don’t get to say a fucking word. I fucking know it was you!”
She clenches her fist and slams it into Una’s jaw once, twice, then pulls back with a cry and slams it into her face a third time.
When she steps back, Una is out cold. Giovanna breaks down, sobbing then screaming, her fists raining a hurricane down on Una.
