“Nicky,” Domenico whispered.
“Who was on the phone?” Nicky’s voice was sharp as steel.
“Nicky—”
“Who were you speaking to when you said you knew you were fucked because of my knowing your dirty little secret?” she interrupted, her head popping above his shoulder as she tried to go past him and get back in here.
He blocked her way, gripping her shoulders. “Baby, just come with me.”
“Don’t. Baby. Me.” She shrugged away, the shovel in her hand wobbling like her chin. “And don’t touch me.”
“Okay.” He raised his hands in surrender. “Just come with me, and I’ll explain.”
“No. I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what the fuck Leo Bellomo is doing here.”
“Busted,” I sang, and then I laughed again.
“Shut the fuck up! What did you tell her?!” he barked.
She used the moment of distraction to enter the room. “That he couldn’t have escaped Filicudi because he’d never been there. Because you fucking had him all along!”
His head whipped toward her. “Don’t listen to this fuck. He’s lying.”
Am I now?
“Is he?” She spat. “So when we got the news that he broke out of the loony bin on Christmas, he wasn’t here?”
Domenico’s hands clenched into fists as he gritted his teeth, shaking his head.
“Remember when I had to stay in the mansion, in forced proximity with you because of it, and when you lured me back to my place, pretending to be protecting me from him, only to be alone with me, only so you could fucking play your game that forced me to marry you?”
Domenico wiped both hands over his face and then pressed them together under his chin, rocking them in regret. So fucking Italian. What was he really remorseful for? Playing her or getting caught?
“And when you said that he left Italy so you could bring me here and fucking ruin me forever,” her hair bounced off her shoulders and some of it got stuck to her sweaty forehead as her whole body shook with rage, “you didn’t have him chained in your fucking cage?”
“Oh, he did,” I chuckled. “But don’t listen to me. I’m the fucking liar.”
He shrieked, baring his teeth at me. “I’m gonna kill you if you don’t shut the fuck up.”
I managed to shrug. “Is that a promise you intend to keep, sweetheart, or are you just full of shit like you’ve always been?”
“Yes, Dom, what kind of promise are you making now? Oh, I know. The only kind you do. The kind you never intend to keep because it just serves a purpose, and it doesn’t matter who you lie to or hurt or kill to get what you and la famiglia want.”
He took a step toward her, but she held up the shovel as a weapon between them. “Don’t fucking come near me, you lying son of a bitch.”
“Nicky, just drop the shovel and come with me. I’ll explain.”
“I said I’m not leaving here until you tell me the truth. Who was on the phone?”
She was wasting her time, asking the wrong question. She shouldn’t be asking or talking at all. She should be plotting her revenge and taking merciless actions to execute it. She should have just let me out and let me handle that motherfucker she married and all the other motherfuckers he was their bitch. “I think we all know the answer to that question, Nicky.”
She glanced between me and him. “It’s Enzio, isn’t it? You and him arranged for all this.” She pointed at the cage. “Leo’s punishment for breaking the engagement with Claudia is this, and I…” A bitter snort erupted from her throat. “I am Tino’s punishment. The Lanzas make him pay for not keeping his son in check by ruining his sister-in-law.”
Wrong. Legitimate deduction, but no. It wasn’t that simple. Besides, Enzio and my father were two asses in one pair of underwear. The Lanza Capo wouldn’t have played Tino that bad.
“No, Nicky. You were never part of any payback, I swear. I married you because I’ve wanted you from the first moment I laid eyes on you, since I saw you at Tino’s restaurant on Valentine’s Day with your sister, before that fuck even proposed to her,” Domenico said.
“Oh, how romantic. And I’m supposed to just take your word for it?” she mocked.
