Page 110 of Urgent Vows
"Oh, Zio." Tears burn the back of my eyes.
I do grieve my father, but not the one who donated his sperm to create my life. I am grieving the loss of the man in front of me. The only man to ever treat me like a beloved daughter.
I feel no grief for the loss of Francesco Jilani but I'm breaking apart inside at the prospect of what is going to happen to Zio.
Pressing the OS-Alt-Letter combo, I turn the computer so Zio can see the screen. It takes a moment before his eyes focus on it instead of my face. When they do, he gasps and stumbles backward, sitting with a heavy thud into one of the chairs that used to be in front of my father's desk. They are now pushed against the wall to my right.
"Zio tell me you're not the rat." I cannot get my voice above a whisper, but he hears me.
The look he gives me. So much pain.
"Thirty-six years ago, Enzo De Luca decided he wanted Aria Bianchi, but she was already promised to your father."
I nod. I know this.
"Francesco agreed to give up his claim on the most beautiful mafia princess of that generation. But that meant he needed a new bride for himself."
"My mother."
Zio nods, looking as if he has aged a decade in the past minutes. "Your mother. Sara Russo. But she was also promised. To me."
Shock courses through me.
"Her father, the don, made a trade with Enzo's father. Madonna Candilora would become my wife and my sweet Sara would become Francesco's wife. He didn't even bother to marry her until she'd suffered years of humiliation remaining single when all her friends were marrying around her."
"I hated watching her languish, waiting for Francesco to marry her. Of course, if I had known he would treat her like he did, that she would die here…I want you to know that I never blamed you,tesorina."
"My father hit her, and she fell down the stairs. I tried to stop her falling and ended up going down with her."
Fury fills my uncle's features, but it goes away as quickly as it came. "Just one more thing to blame the Jilanis for."
"What do you mean?"
"Your aunt had meningitis as a child. It left her infertile. Her parents knew, but they hid it so she could make a good match."
"Because you didn't have children, your don didn't fight removing you as capo and sending you here to live," I say, so ashamed of my family, I can barely stand it. "You never mistreated her because of it."
Another way that my uncle is superior to the man I once called father.
"No. She was as innocent in all the scheming as your mother."
My father wasn't innocent though. I bet he knew the truth about his sister. My grandparents weren't innocent. Even Don Enzo wasn't innocent. His desire for Aria caused so much fall out for two other families.
"You know, I always suspected your mother's death didn't happen the way Francesco claimed, after seeing the way he treated you."
"You never asked about it."
"I thought if you wanted to talk about it, you would. You were just a child. None of this was your burden to carry."
And yet it has been a weight around my neck since I was ten years old.
"I tried so hard to think of a way to get you out of this house, but Francesco would not hear of arranging a marriage for you. Your aunt always believed that as much as he could not forgive you for killing your mother…" He grimaces, like he doesn't like repeating the lie. "Francesco could not bear to let you leave because you were a living reminder of her."
Zia Lora has never seen her brother in a clear light.
"You do look so much like her,tesorina," Zio Giovi says.
"She was beautiful," I say fiercely.
