Page 236 of Vita Mia

“What are you doing here?” he said and rubbed his eyes.

“He’s here. Isn’t he?” Eve asked.

Gianni stared with a stupid grin to his face. It was evident that he had been drinking, and Eve considered by his half-dressed state he had some naked girl from the village inside. “Go back home Evie! He’s not to be fucking disturbed.”

“Then why are you here with one of your whores?” she demanded.

Gianni shrugged. “I’m protecting him and having a little fun. Papa don’t mind.”

Eve rolled her eyes. She looked at Villa Mare Blu as if seeing it for the first time. This was her mother’s sanctuary. This is where she was when she first learned what liars and deceivers her parents could be. She never forgot that bitter lesson.

“Where is he?”

Gianni stared at her.

“Where!” she shouted.

Even with the gun in his hand, neither of her brothers wanted to test her temper. “You know where,” he mumbled in Italian and went back inside slamming the front door. She walked the path around the villa to the trail. She then took it through the garden of blue roses. She barely noticed them as she headed to the beach. Once on the sand with her feet sinking in the soft hot grains she removed her shoes. She held them in her right hand by the straps and walked closer to the shore where the sand had hardened from the rolling in waves. Then she approached the beach house. Her mother would often stay in the beach house to mourn her father after his death—alone. Or that’s what she thought. Anger swelled in every valve of her heart. She was angry and she was tired of the feeling. Nico’s rejection, her husband’s failed attempts to prove love existed for them to her, the loss of her babies, it had all been too much to bare alone. Why did she have to constantly endure the heartbreak of her life alone? That is what she wanted to know.

Eve climbed the steps to the beach house. She dropped her shoes at the door and then opened it. Inside she found many computer monitors set up. Every room in Bagheria could be seen on the monitors if the voyeur chooses. But the center screen was focused on just one. It was her mother’s room. She was now talking again to MiaBella and that American, Ryder. Telling them her story. The end of her story. The version she wanted.

“Lucciola?” her father spoke.

She turned her head to see him come out of the bathroom. He had promised her to never use that name again when she was a child. But his promises were often broken. Giovanni walked out with his cane. He didn’t need it but she figured he relied on it because of the problem with his left leg when the seasons changed. Even with it he stood tall and powerful. The most striking difference in her father was how soon he greyed after his death. His hair was silver with only touches of black swirled through. And so was his beard with little streaks of black in the mustache. Even his eyes brows had greyed with age. He wore a black crewneck sweater and dark jeans. His clear violet-blue eyes were focused on her.

“This was all your plan? For what Papa?”

“Forlucciola.”

“To tell them you are alive. You’re doing that for me!”

He nodded. He approached her but she took a step back.

“I never asked you to do this. I don’t need it now. I needed it then,” Eve said and pointed to the monitor. “Back then when everything in my world ended because I thought you died in that van on that mountain.”

“I’m late. I know. We healed from my mistakes, I thought.”

“We did until you and mama dragged this all back up again.”

“No,” Giovanni shook his head. “You lost the baby, again. I spoke to your husband.”

“Oh stop it! Stop using me as an excuse!” Eve shouted at him.

“What do you want in replace of this anger?” he asked. “What can I do, to change anything Evie?”

“Nothing!” she said with tears. “Everything!”

“I’ve missed you. You don’t come to visit me in Cuba. Not with your mother and sister. Not with your brothers.”

“I’m busy,” Eve turned away and wiped her eyes.

“I heard what you said, you said it to me. Right? You blame me. You said you hate me?”

Eve refused to look at him.

“I’m going to tell the world I’m alive. I’m going to tell the world I love you. No more lies.”

“Hmpf. Convenient truth? You think the world gives a shit about the redemption of a Don who faked his death and hid from them? The world is different. They will slaughter you in the press. They will slaughter all of us. It’ll be headline news. All the lies will come out and my life will be hell until they find some other scandal to fixate on.”

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