Page 50 of Urgent Vows
CATALINA
My alarm goes off, waking me from a deep sleep and I groan. I reach out blindly to tap the phone to turn off the obnoxious noise. I'm tempted to go back to sleep, but if I don't take my pain meds, I'll regret it in the morning. Also, I don't want Emilia getting in trouble for not administering them.
I gingerly roll to my side and push myself up into a sitting position. I touch the base of the lamp on the bedside table and soft light illuminates the room. I grab the pills and toss them to the back of my throat. Then I pick up the water and gulp some down so I can swallow the pain relievers.
The need to pee has me standing and walking gingerly toward the bathroom. I'm making my way slowly back to bed when the door to the outer room opens.
Severu crosses the floor before I can even get a greeting out. His hand comes around my waist. "What are you doing walking by yourself?"
"I had to use the bathroom."
"You were supposed to call Emilia."
"Don't be ridiculous, Severu. I've been much worse than this and made it to the bathroom on my own."
He tenses beside me. Then he says, "Your father was in an accident on his way home from the reception. He did not survive the crash."
What? No. That wasn't possible. Then I realize what Severu is trying to tell me. "Did you kill him?"
"What do you think, Catalina?"
"I think that's where you went when you left me here."
He doesn't confirm or deny my supposition.
"Will you have trouble with the other made men over this?" I ask, worried.
"He tried to dupe me in front of representatives of all Five Families and the rest of the Cosa Nostra. The insult could not go unpunished."
In other words, no. Only, Severu went to a lot of effort to create the impression that it had been him who changed his mind at the last minute. I can't help worrying his men won't be nearly as accepting as he thinks.
Unless he told them. "Did you tell your capos that my sister ran away?"
If they knew, their wives would know. Maybe they wouldn't all talk, but it would only take one before they all knew. Carlotta's reputation would be shredded.
"They know that your father tried to trick me. They do not know it is because Carlotta ran."
"But they can guess. Why else would he do it?"
"Some assume Francesco was trying to get more money forthe most beautiful mafia princessin this generation."
I feel an unfamiliar spark of jealousy when Severu uses that title. Even if the whole Five Families consider my sister that, I don't like that my husband agrees. Carlotta couldn't be more well known if she'd been named Miss New York. Whereas there are plenty of people in the Genovesefamigliathat don't even know I exist.
My father saw to that.
Regardless. "My father would have had to be unforgivably foolish to have done something like that."
"You mean as unforgivably idiotic as what he did this morning?" Severu shakes his head. "His betrayal cost him his life. That is all they need to know."
"I need to tell my aunt and uncle about his death. Can you have someone take me to the house in the morning?" I can get some of my things as well.
"That will not be necessary. My new consigliere will inform Lora and Giovi of Francesco's accident and instruct them on how we are handling your sister's disappearance."
I don't argue. My aunt will cry and expect me to grieve my father's death, but I can't. "How are we handling it?"
"They are to tell anyone that asks that she has been sent away for a while to minimize gossip over the change in brides."
"But there will be gossip, speculation that she ran."
