Page 42 of Beguiled and Broken

“Vinny, don’t. I can’t.” Her eyes were full of tears when she finally looked up at me. “We gotta talk about this and I can’t focus with you being so close to me. Will you please sit?” She pointed to the couch across from the one she would be sitting at.

“Ok.” I walked over and sat on the couch feeling miserable that my wife didn’t even want to be touched by me. Could I blame her though? She thought I did the unimaginable.

She sat back on the couch and asked, “Did you read the book?” Her arms were folded across her chest. The afternoon light was shining in through the window behind me, making every little speck of dust glow. The light only added to how angelic Bianca looked, even though she was upset.

“I did. I left it in the car, but yes, I read it. I read a book full of lies.”

“Vinny...why would she say those things? And why did she say she watched us get married?” She leaned forward, her right knee bouncing up and down. I stared at the eyes of the woman I would die for, filled with hurt and confusion sitting across from me.

“I need to explain a lot. But baby, I need you to hear me out on all of it. Promise me. Promise me you’ll hear me until the very last thing, no matter how mad it makes you.”

“Vinny, what the hell? So thereissome truth in there then. It’s notall lieslike you said it is?” She stood up.

“Bianca, please sit down and listen to me. I’ll explain everything from beginning to end.” She huffed and sat down again, bouncing her knee while she picked at her nails. “Right after I proposed to you, I went and told my Ma about it. She loved you, and still does, but apparently my family had a secret agreement that I didn’t know about until after I had proposed to you.” I paused trying to gather the strength to tell her everything. She was going to flip.

“What secret, Vinny?!” She tossed her hand in the air.

“I was promised to someone else. Our family in Vomero made a marriage arrangement with another powerful family in order to keep the peace. My family has mafia ties, Bianca. Ties I never wanted anything to do with. It wasnota life I chose, or knew much about until my mother told me about the arranged marriage. Sophia Romano is the name of the woman I was supposed to marry.”

“Areyoufucking kidding me right now?”

“I’m not, and I wouldn’t kid about something like this, Bianca. I told my mother I wasn’t marrying anyone but you. You were my life. You were all I wanted and I wanted to take you far away from New York. Far from whatever fucking shit my family was involved in. That’s why we moved to Illinois. I knew no one would look for us here. And then...” I paused feeling sick over the next part.

“And then what, Vinny? I can’t fucking believe this shit.” She shook her head and folded her arms again.

“Bianca, please calm down and let me finish.” I took a breath in, blowing it out before I continued. “Before the ceremony, my grandfather came to me and told me to take you far away from New York, and to be careful because no amount of miles would be far enough. I thought he was just being overprotective Nonno and talking about the Romano family trying to force me to make good on the arrangement.

“I don’t know if you remember, but when our wedding ceremony was over, and we were greeting everyone in the back of the church, a woman came up to us and something felt off about her, but I wasn’t sure what. I didn’t know who she was. We knew everyone at the wedding but she didn’t look familiar at all. She said her name was Caty.”

Bianca’s face started to look pale. “Caty? As in Catarina?”

I nodded my head and said, “Yeah, and Catarina, according to what Cole found out about her past addresses...is Sophia. We think she moved here ten years ago and changed her name shortly after that.”

Here eyes squinted with rage. “Vinny...are you telling me the woman I’ve let take care ofourkidsis the woman you were supposed to marry?! I can NOT believe you didn’t tell me about any of this.”

“Baby, I thought I could take us away from all of it. We would start a new life here and that life would never even touch us. I was wrong.”

“Did you fucking sleep with her, Vinny? And don’t you fucking lie to me. I swear to all that is holy...if you lie to me...”

“Bianca, no! I didnotsleep with her. I never even fucking touched her. She was living that out in her head as some kind of sick fantasy. She spied on our intimate moments and wrote the damn entries in her crazy diary, putting herself in your place! Listen, this is how sick she is. One night, I heard noises and I thought maybe someone was breaking in through the basement or something, so I got up to go down and check. It was the night when everyone came over for dinner.”Fuck!I knew I had to just spit it out. “Anyway, I went downstairs and walked in on Cat with some guy. When I realized I wasn’t supposed to fuckin’ be there, I turned around to leave and...”

“Shit, Vinny. What?”

“That’s when she yelled out my name. She was fuckin’ that guy and moaned the nameVinny.” I stood up at that point and started pacing. “I knew it was fucked, but I wanted to forget it. I convinced myself that the guy’s name was Vinny. It had to be, right? Because otherwise, it would be weird as fuck.”

“Vinny! She knew what she was doing. Yeah,itwas‘weird as fuck’! And you did nothing!Youshould’ve told me.” She held her hand close to her chest.

I pleaded and begged her, saying, “I know, baby. I know I should’ve. I fucked up. I’m sorry. I know I fucked up.”

“Yeah, you fucking did. That bitch is certifiable, Vinny.” She paused and then looked up at me. “I wasso angrywith you, that I forgot to tell you that I went to the Police Station after they called me in and watched a security video from the store across the alley from the boutique. I saw who broke in and made those fraudulent orders, Vinny. It was Catarina...or Sophia or whatever the fuck her name is!”

I grabbed the back of my head with my hands and said, “Fuckin’ figures.”

Bianca was still in a rage and asked, “So what else, Vinny? I know there’s more. You realize, she’s the reason I couldn’t come to New York for Nonno’s funeral?” I nodded my head and stayed quiet while she went on. She was pacing frantically and biting her nails. “I’m so fucking angry right now and I’m so fucking angrywithyou. No lies! Me and you, Vinny. What do we have if we can’t trust each other?”

“Don’t say that, please. I know I messed up but I thought I was protecting you. I thought I could take us away from all of that shit. I would never cheat on you, Bianca. You and the kids are my whole life.” I kneeled down in front of her, grabbing her waist, leaning my head into her stomach. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I did this to us. Please don’t give up on me, on us. You’re my whole reason for existing.” She was hesitant, but then she reached down and caressed my head with her hands, running her fingers through my hair. I never craved her touch more than I did in that moment.

“Vinny...I don’t...I don’t know what to do here. I know in my soul you would never cheat on me, but I don’t know where to go from here.” I looked up at her and she was looking down at me. “Please, let’s just talk this all through some more. We’ll come up with a game plan for everything but I need to know you’re not leaving me. Please, I’m so sorry.”

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