Page 228 of La Dolce Vita

The next image in front of Francesca’s boutique showed the arrival of Armando Mancini.

Pulsing knot buried beneath his temples thumped faster and faster. His brain demanded he view the rest.

The third image was of Armando touching Catalina’s cheek in Mondello Sicily at his mother’s grave. It was night time so that he could see little else, but the camera lens had made sure to focus on the moment.

The next image was of Armando pulling Catalina by the hand to a door at some fashion event. The cameraman captured her going into a room with him.

Giovanni felt his heart stressing. The muscles in his chest hardened beneath his shirt. The unwelcome tension seemed to stretch up along his forearms and then to the back of his neck. Anger coiled tighter and tighter within him. He flipped to the next photo

An image of Catalina in a hotel room. The photographer had to be taking the shot from another building. The windows of the hotel were open. Armando and Catalina kissed.

It was all he needed to see. He tossed the photos and they scattered over the top of the desk. He dropped his head and let go a deep breath. He closed his eyes and tried again to breathe. This time, he could not. He panted harder, and faster, struggling for breath. And like a spring wound too tight, all of the hurt and disappointment exploded. He flipped the desk. Threw the lamp against the wall. Grabbed something heavy, some piece of art his wife had bought and began to smash and destroy everything in the room.

Catalina could hear the destructive crashing noises outside ofvilla Rosso.The explosion inside caught them all by surprise. She shoved past the men who tried to keep her out and rushed inside the villa. Explosion was the only word that came to mind. The office her brother held all meetings in was demolished. Giovanni had hammered against everything glass and wood, leaving devastation everywhere. He turned and glared at her when she entered. He tossed the broken statue in his hand and stared at her.

“What... what happened?”

“Boss, we told her she shouldn’t come in,” Michal said.

“Leave,” Giovanni said, and his mouth curled into an angry smirk. “I want to talk to my sister alone.”

The men looked at each other and then her. They obeyed and left. Catalina stepped inside. “Gio?”

He kicked over some of the destruction as if searching for something at the bottom of the pile. And then he found it. He knelt and picked up a photo. Catalina had no idea what it was. And then he turned it around and showed her. The last fragile lining of hope she had snapped.

“Explain this to me,piccoletta.”

Catalina shook her head sadly.

“EXPLAIN IT!”

***

Mirabella stood at the sink. She drank down the water fast and then put the cup under the tap to take another drink. She tried to settle the panic welling in her, but she couldn’t. She didn’t seem to know how. Her body had not physically recovered from the twelve hours of travel she put it through, and the lack of sleep. She was there, but not there. Thinking, but not thinking. Breathing, but not breathing. There was no hope and no ending.

The glass slipped from her hand and clanked loudly when it dropped. She gripped the edge of the sink and cried. She didn’t need Kei’s ghost or Fabiana’s to torment her now. The hell that had been trapped in her mind was her reality. No pill or doctor could fix it.

“Donna?”

Mirabella looked back. She could barely see the person through her tears.ZiaJosefina stepped to her. She hugged the old woman and wept into her shoulder.

“Tell me what it is?”

“ I’m tired. I’m going to bed.”

“No. There’s something wrong. The tears. Everyone is crying. You and Catalina? Where is Marietta? I don’t understan—“

“It’ll be fine. I broke a glass. Nothing to distress about.”

“But I am distressed. Do you know Catalina is upset? Hysterical?”

Mirabella had forgotten about Catalina. Giovanni had taken all the mental strength from her. She wiped her tears. “I will go upstairs and talk to her.”

“She isn’t there.”

“What?”

“She left, out of the back door. She said she was going to see her brother.”

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