Page 7 of Death Of A Sinner

That’s not an option. We don’t go behind each other’s backs, and we do not go against direct orders from the boss. There is a hierarchy in this family for a reason. And although I don’t get involved in any of the illegal shit anymore, I’m still a made man. I’m still a De Bellis brother. That will never change.

* * *

“You can’t be fucking serious.” Gio’s voice echoes off the walls of his office. I knew he wasn’t going to like what I came here to say. I also knew that this was a conversation for all five of us to have together. Which is why I had everyone meet us here.

Vin was the last one to turn up. He was fifteen minutes late, and even after he arrived, he took his sweet-ass time making sure Cammi was comfortable with El before he’d leave her side. Sometimes I worry about their relationship. Those two are too dependent on each other. Don’t get me wrong… I’d be fucking lost if anything happened to my wife. But we have a son. We have another reason to live if, for some reason, we were torn apart.

Cammi and Vin are each other’s complete world. Anyone can see that. And with Cammi’s heart condition, well, I don’t ever want to have to watch another sibling lose themselves again… if the worst were to happen…

“I’m serious. And this isn’t a business matter, Gio. It’s a family one. This needs to be something we all live with,” I tell my brother, after suggesting we set up a meeting with our mother.

“Mary De Bellis is dead,” Gio states calmly.

“Except she’s not,” Marcel counters.

“I can fix that,” Gio mutters under his breath.

“I have a question for her,” Vin chimes in from where he’s standing by the door.

“What question?” Santo tilts his head in our baby brother’s direction.

Vin lifts a shoulder. “Just a question. Set up the meeting, Gio. As soon as it’s over, you can kill her. Or not. I don’t care. I just have one question for her.”

Gio looks from Vin to me, then over to Santo, and lastly at Marcel. He shakes his head and sighs. “Fine. Get your questions ready because I’m only doing this once. That’s more than the woman fucking deserves.”

“It’s not for her, Gio. It’s for us,” I tell him.

I couldn’t give a fuck if he kills her right in front of us. I just want answers. I want to know what could possibly make a mother leave her children. Because you’d be prying my dead, cold hands away from my son before I’d ever leave him. And I know my wife feels the same way. Daisy would never leave our son. Not for anything. So what made it so fucking easy for our mother to leave all five of us behind, as if we never existed to begin with?

ChapterSix

The past

He’s having one of his episodes again. My husband. Each morning, I wake up and pray that today will be different. Today will be the day that he comes back. The man I married. Because the one lying next to me right now… he is not the sweet, gentle man I knew.

Am I naïve? To think that he’s still in there. That there is still hope he’ll come back?

When I first met Giovanni, he was everything I could ever dream of. Handsome, caring, attentive… and, like I said,gentle. He showed me love. I’d never had anyone show me the kind of love this man used to show me.

Then something happened. It wasn’t overnight. It wasn’t instant. But he changed. And eventually, my husband became someone I didn’t recognise. Someone I feared.

I lie still. If I don’t move, he won’t wake up, and I can have a few more minutes of silence. The boys are all sleeping. The baby kept me up late last night. Vin’s fussy and very attached. More so than my other four boys ever were.

“Mummy, are you awake?” my eldest son whispers as he pops up beside my bed.

I look over at him. I don’t know how he gets in here without me noticing. Kid is like a little ninja. I place a finger over my mouth, indicating for him to be quiet, and slowly slide out of bed. Because now that Gio’s in here, Ireallydon’t want to wake my husband.

I know I’ll pay for this later, for leaving the bed beforehim. But better me than my son.

I take Gio’s hand and we both tiptoe out of the room. The door creaks as I open it. Which has me wondering how the hell he sneaked in here all over again?

I look back over a shoulder and see Giovanni stir. “I’ll come find you. Go hide,” I whisper to my son and shut the door as quietly as I can.

It’s too late, though. By the time I make it back to the bed, Giovanni is awake. He sits up and narrows his glare at me. And I know today is not the day I get my husband back. I sigh. I’m stupid for even thinking that I’m ever going to see the man I fell in love with again. Whoever he was, he’s gone. He’s not ever coming back.

“What are you doing?” he grunts at me.

“I needed the bathroom,” I lie. I will not tell him that Gio was in here. I won’t let anything touch my children.

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