Vincenzo came down the stairs into the hall. “She’s been like that since the news. She wouldn’t let me call the doctor.”
“I’m fine. I was just worried.” Marta switched her gaze back to Enzio. “Now that you’re back, I’m sure everything will be all right. Did you find out who did it?”
Enzio’s gaze traveled among the family and paused when they met Alfio’s wife and his girls. “I won’t sleep until their throats are under my shoe and my knife.” His good arm linked with mine as he nodded for me to go upstairs. Lucy followed us into the elevator, pushing Mario’s stroller.
“You hungry?” I asked Enzio as we reached our room. “I’m gonna make something for Mario and myself.”
“No.” He got his cigarette case out of his pocket, a reminder the good part of our deal was over.
I couldn’t help thinking of what had happened and what would happen to me in the next few weeks.
First, someone in the family was going to kill Enzio, and maybe me, too, but we survived. It meant whoever did it wasn’t going to stop until they finished their mission. It meant we were still in danger.
Second, Enzio was a sick, psycho son of a bitch, and I’d given myself to him to do with me however he pleased, body, mind and soul, for weeks.
Third, the way Marta glared at me when I mentioned Alfio’s name confirmed what I’d gathered from Enzio’s hallucinating mumbles after he was shot. He said his father was dead, and then he breathed parts of Alfio’s name; Alfio was the Lanza twins’ real father, and Enzio knew.
No wonder Enzio had serious mommy issues.
I used to think he was after her approval and validation, seeking the love she gave his brother and not him. Now, I was sure that was not it. He hated Marta for cheating on Giovanni and lying to him about his kids. For making Enzio live a lie and carry a burden that wasn’t even his to carry.
Who knew what else that serpent did? What she had to do to stay at the top, to hide it from Giovanni so her boys would inherit the kingdom? She had no problem killing her own son, who else had she killed?
Did Cosimo know, too, his mother was a murderous, cheating bitch? Did someone else?
I bet someone else found out Marta’s dirty little secret, and they were responsible for yesterday’s hit. Neither Cosimo nor Enzio were entitled to be Boss. But Cosimo was loved, so they didn’t mind.
Except when he no longer played along.
And this whole thing with Enzio killing him in exchange for his place… What if Marta was being played all this time, and this whole plan she thought she well-plotted was only a distraction, an illusion of winning when she was nothing but a pawn in someone else’s game? A game all of us would lose?
“Lucy, can you please start in the kitchen? I’ll come in a minute,” I said.
“Sure.” She was about to set Mario in his crib, but I motioned for her to give him to me.
I gave him one of his toys as I waited for her to leave. “Enzio, who didn’t agree to Cosimo leaving his seat to you?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Just curious. How many of them are still alive?”
“Well, there were four of them. Frankie, Severino, Morrone…and Vincenzo.”
“Vincenzo?”
He nodded, taking a cigarette and putting it between his lips.
“The other three are dead?”
“Yes. Cosimo killed them.”
Something inside me wouldn’t believe that part. “You sure about that?”
“Bianca…don’t go there. It’s a closed page.” He fished out his lighter. “I’m going on the terrace for a smoke.”
Closed? How could it ever be closed? Enzio wasn’t stupid. He must have had his doubts, and they were growing with every treacherous blow we’d been taking. He just wanted to keep that page—that wound—closed because opening it could mean killing Cosimo was a mistake, and the guilt would tear him up.
The rest of the day passed uneventfully. I tried to prepare myself mentally for the night. I had no clue what he had for me, but I was sure it wasn’t nice or easy.
