Page 74 of Ti Amo

“Everything okay?”

“It is now,” he said easing under the covers with her. Mira slipped down under the blankets and moved in close to him. Giovanni folded his arms around her. She rested and soon let his embrace lull her back to sleep. A smile settled over her face. She appreciated the fact that he was such an active father. Giovanni truly valued his role in their daughter’s life. It was good for them both.

****

The ringing phone drew him out of his thoughts. Kei rose from the sofa and answered. “Why haven’t you called?”

“It takes time.” Cheung replied.

“No! Time is something we don’t have!” Kei kicked the chair in front of him.

“Something happen I should know about?”

Kei wiped a hand down his face. He spent every hour on the hour with a gun in his hand. He’s had to answer too many questions from the authorities. Just this morning the F.B.I. visited him and asked a few questions about the Verseci family out of Brooklyn, and somehow that conversation turned to Mira. One agent in particular by the name of David Muntz has had a hard-on for him since Mira’s supposed death. The tall burly man with greying temples and hard features didn’t buy his home invasion tale. Lucky for Kei the code of silence that mafia pig took made it easy to craft. He sat in a cell with a bullet in his leg, silent. This only meant Giovanni Battaglia would send someone else to finish the job.

“What is it?” Cheung asked.

“A hit. On me.”

“Interesting.”

“No! It’s not fucking interesting! You’ve been in Italy for several days now and not a word. What the fuck is going on?”

“Things are complicated. We have an ally. Tomorrow there is a meeting in Naples with Giovanni Battaglia. He will be dead before that meeting ends.”

“Then do it fast! I want Mira and my baby here by Christmas day!” he slammed the phone down. Kei sat in the chair and rested his .45 in his lap. He dropped his head back and released a deep sigh.

Chapter Thirteen

Giovanni barely had time for his morning shot of espresso before walking out of the door. He left his soon to be wife in bed asleep. To wake her would only delay him. Every morning he managed to make love to her before they started the day. Now with Christmas near he felt even more nostalgic about their ritual.

“Buon giorno,” Lorenzo said in a gruff voice as Giovanni slammed the door to the car and reclined the seat. Lorenzo drove around the parked cars in their drive and headed south. Two cars followed with four of his men in each. “Change of plans. I arranged for us to meet near the ruins of Trajan in Benevento. Tourism should be light, enough to keep the meeting civil.”

“Why there?” Giovanni asked.

“I can control the meeting when our enemies are unprepared.”

“You think he’ll fumble because of the change in location?” Giovanni asked.

“Don’t they always?” Lorenzo chuckled.

“Perfetto.” Giovanni nodded.

They travelled in silence along the narrow roads circling the cliffs out of Melanzana. Giovanni’s gaze remained fixed on the clear sky ahead. He couldn’t keep thoughts of Catalina from his mind. Every memory they’d shared as brother and sister surfaced. How could her life be reduced to this? Widowed, pregnant, in love with her stepbrother, the mere thought of it made him sick. Where did he fail her?

“I hear your thoughts.”

“Mind the road and not my thoughts.” Giovanni said bitterly.

“She will be okay, Gio.”

He closed his eyes. As hard as he struggled to believe what Lorenzo said, he could not. Catalina was sheltered, pampered. She never truly knew or understood the scorn they were subjected to being born Evelyn McHenry’s bastards. His leadership after his father’s death was constantly challenged. The Cammora afforded him the liberty to be his own man outside the traditions of the Mafioso. But he could feel that control fraying over the past two years. Now this family betrayal could ruin his credibility and weaken them all.

“Listen to me cousin. She’s strong. We should have seen this coming. You and I both knew she had a crush on Domi. We just never admitted to what we saw.”

He nodded. “True. If I think hard on the past years, I remember her crush, but I never believed he would encourage her.”

“Have you looked at her lately?” Lorenzo asked.

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