Page 321 of Valentino

Everyone’s phone is ringing. Enrico and Giuliano answer at the same time as I do.

“I’m okay,” I pant. “It’s okay. It was close but….”

“Val,” she cries hysterically.

“What?” I hear Enrico growl. “Are the children safe?”

“He’s been hit?” Giuliano stammers. “Are you okay?”

What the fuck is going on?

“Valentino,” she cries. “Oh my God.” She’s hysterical.

“What’s wrong?”

“Your father.” She’s sobbing so hard, everyone is screaming on their phones around me.

“My what?” I stand and walk away from the others so that I can hear what she’s trying to say. “What’s wrong, babe?”

She’s crying, loud heartbreaking sobs.

“Anna,” I yell. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“It’s your father.”

“What about him?”

“He’s dead.”

“What do you mean?”

“He was shot.”

“How do you know?”

“I found him.”

No….

The walls close in.

“Call an ambulance,” I stammer. “No. No. My father can’t die. Call a fucking ambulance.”

Enrico and Giuliano drop their phones, their eyes search mine.

“Val,” she sobs. “It was Carlo.”

ANNA

I sit on a chair in the back garden, wrapped in a blanket, the neighbors from the houses on either side next door are sitting with me, and Luigi and Gino are waiting out the front.

The house, a crime scene, has been taped off. Police are everywhere, the street is buzzing with neighbors.

Valentino’s going to be here any moment, the afternoon traffic coming out of Milan has meant it’s taken him longer than I first thought.

How could Carlo do this?

Franco was such a kind and beautiful soul.