“Yes, but whatspecificallydid you do to him?”
I had to know.
I had to make sure it was bad enough that Maurizio would leave me alone forever.
“Well…” Giorgio said hesitantly, “I broke his nose… I probably broke at least a few of his ribs… and I snapped the fingers on his right hand.”
I looked at him in shock. “All of them?”
“Yup.”
That sounded pretty bad.
It would’ve convinced anybodyIknew not to come back to Florence…
But I wasn’t sure about amafioso.
Maybe that wasn’t a terrifying warning for Maurizio. Maybe it was just a bad Tuesday.
“You think that’s enough to scare him away forever?” I asked fearfully.
Giorgio winced, like he didn’t want to tell me the next part. “Well… there was one other thing.”
“What?”
He cleared his throat. “I, uh… I put a gun in his mouth and told him I’d blow out his brains if he ever came back.”
I turned my head back to the street and stared off into the distance.
I was filled with conflicting feelings.
Fear that the man I was in love with was capable of such a thing.
But also, strangely, I wassuperturned on.
That the man I was in love with was capable of such a thing.
That he would do something like that forme.
But most of all, I felt relief.
That it was finally over.
Despite being scared of him, I knew Maurizio was just a bully and a coward. He only terrorized me because I couldn’t fight back.
Now that Giorgio had stepped in, I knew beyond a doubt that Maurizio would never bother me again.
As we walked towards my apartment, Giorgio kept talking nervously, like he was afraid of what I might be thinking.
I barely heard him because I was so lost in my own thoughts…
And because of the odd mixture of feelings I had.
Fear…
Relief…
And desire.
