Page 14 of Reign Of Triumph
“We found your ring. When your hand is healed, we’ll put it back on the right finger. You were worried that my parents wouldn’t accept you and your mother. I think today has shown that our families are moving forward,” I tell her.
She looks at my parents. “I’ll do my best to make you proud.”
“We know, cara,” my father says. “We cannot change the past, and we will not dwell on it any further. Let this family dinner be the first of many, and may they be blessed with happy moments.” My father raises his glass, and we do the same, toasting to a new beginning.
Eight
The Meeting
Eros
Luciano told me Serafina and her mother were safe, and I believed him, and still, I had to force myself to leave. The pain medication made Serafina drowsy, so before I left, I carried her upstairs to rest. I can’t understand how Giusto could have been so brutal with his own sister. Serafina’s a sweet thing, perhaps a little too caring for her own good.
Her mother talks about how she loves kids. Her nieces love her dearly. Pictures that the girls drew for her are displayed in her bedroom. Vera tells us Serafina’s an excellent cook and baker, and her daughter blushes profusely whenever she’s paid a compliment.
I can’t understand how Serafina and Giusto grew up with the same parents and yet be complete opposites. My sister and I had different interests and friends, but we both had the same values. Miranda could be stubborn, and I know I am for a fact, but when it came to family, we’d do anything for each other.
Meanwhile, hearing that Giusto was holding out to sell his sister off, and to a man twice her age, makes me want to inflict as much pain as possible before I end his life. Giusto was sentencing his sister to years of heartache because it suited his plan. I guess Vera’s age and health worked in Serafina’s favor.
I’m going to have to summon all my restraint to get through the meeting without wanting to rip Giusto to shreds, if he even shows up. Last I heard, Marco finally got him on the phone and told Giusto that his presence was mandatory. I’m waiting for the call from his wife to tell us he’s ill or has been called away. Giusto won’t make the call himself because he’s a coward. It’ll come down to whether he’s more afraid of the consequences of not showing up over his desire to retain his underboss title.
Either way, he’s a dead man. Normally, if an underboss doesn’t achieve what has been set as his targets, he dies. It’s Marco’s relationship with Egidio that has given Giusto the rope he’s now using to turn into a noose for himself.
My father sits quietly next to me in the car. He’s been like this most of the day. Dad gets quiet when he’s contemplating the past.
“Dad, are you okay?” I ask, glancing at him.
He turns from the window to look at me. “If Giusto can do the damage he did to Serafina, his own sister, there’s no doubt in my mind that he’s the one who raped your sister.”
“Did you ever have a doubt?”
“No,” he says firmly. “But I always wondered if it was a moment gone out of control. Or a misjudgment of strength. I don’t know.” He rakes a hand through his gray hair and blows out a breath. “Egidio was a well-respected man. Vera is a loving wife and mother. I would never forgive Giusto for what he did to my baby girl, but I could at least understand that it happened in the heat of passion. Instead, today showed me that he is a violent man who cares for no one but himself. He always had his eye on Miranda. I figured he’d come and ask for her hand, and our two families would join. But Giusto had other ideas and took what wasn’t his to take. He took my daughter’s innocence, then her reputation, and finally her will to live in a world so cruel that a man could rape a young woman and get away with it.”
“He’ll pay. I swear to you, Dad, he’ll pay.”
“He’s tricky. He doesn’t play by the rules, and who knows what kind of games he has in store for you. I don’t want to lose my son too.” Dad’s voice wavers, then he clears his throat.
“He’s a bastard who can’t be trusted. Nero is having him tailed wherever he goes. Tonight, while he’s sitting in the meeting room with the rest of us, Danilo will put a tracking device on his car. Luciano is going to be with me everywhere I go for a while. Giusto’s not going to last long before he makes his move. I’ll be ready for him when he does,” I tell him. I’m not sure if this makes him feel better or not, but I do get a smile from him.
“I know you will, figlio mio.”
I change the subject because this thought has been weighing on me all day. “I want the wedding date moved up. No long engagement. A month, two at the most. I don’t want Serafina and her mother living on their own. Bodyguards or not, I want them in a house with high security. What happened today will never happen again.”
“Your mother and future mother-in-law are going to lose their minds. They’ll never be able to have the grand wedding they were planning in two months,” Dad replies.
I give my father a sly grin. “That’s what you do best. You can get Mom to agree to anything.”
“This is her only son, and she wants a big affair.”
“She can have it, as long as we can do it soon.”
“Eros, she wants a lavish wedding. Moving up the date will cost a fortune. Vera doesn’t have that kind of money. Egidio left her well, but?—”
“I have money. I have enough money for three lifetimes.”
“It’s not our way?—”
“Vera needs to save face. I get it. I’m going to ask Marco to give her the money and tell her it’s what her husband had set aside for Serafina.”
