Page 71 of Secrets of the Brother
“He knows.”
“Knows about what?”
“He knows Renata was never pregnant. He knows it was all a marriage trap.”
She leaned in close. “You stupid bitch! You betrayed your family?”
The scent of her perfume mixed with the cigarette smoke and her stale breath made me want to vomit. “I didn’t tell him anything. He already knew. That’s why he followed me into the church. To confront me.”
She released my arm and paced away, puffing on her cigarette. “What else did he say?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re lying.”
I sighed. “He made some crazy accusation about Renata trying to hurt Milana before she died.”
I watched her closely.
Her arm froze halfway to her lips.
The cigarette ash lengthened as she just stood there and stared at me. “Milana Carbone? We heard what happened at the villa was just an accident.” The cigarette ash fell onto the tip of her designer shoe. She didn’t even notice. “They know it was Renata?”
I stepped back, tripping over a small table and falling against the bookcase. I rubbed my elbow where it caught the edge of one of the shelves as I stared at my mother. “You mean it’s true?”
She stubbed out her cigarette. “I’ve told you before. Renata was willing to do whatever it took to help this family. She was loyal. Unlike you.”
“Are you insane? What could Milana have possibly done to deserve Renata wanting her dead?”
“That is none of your concern. Obviously, we need to do damage control.” She paced back and forth across the library carpet. “The Cavalieris won’t let you marry into the family now, not even the cousin, even if we could get close enough to drug him.”
“Why? Why did you drug Enzo like that, trap him into thinking Renata was pregnant? He was my boyfriend! I loved him!”
She lit another cigarette. “Love? Oh, don’t be so middle-class. You were never going to get a man like Enzo Cavalieri to the altar. Renata tried to lure him away, but he wouldn’t take the bait, so we had to use… other measures. It was for the good of the family.”
There had never been a chance I was going to marry Matteo but at least now that my mother knew it, she would stop pushing me. Maybe they would change their minds and let me return to my studies in New York?
“I’ll have to talk to your father. It seems we’ll need to move forward with our other plans.”
“Well, keep me out of them.”
She grabbed my chin and squeezed my cheeks. “That will be hard to do since you’re the bride.”
I pulled away just as she blew another cloud of smoke in my face. “You just said the Cavalieris won’t allow another marriage between our families.”
“That doesn’t mean there won’t be a wedding. And we still need the Cavalieri connection. In fact, we’ll be attending a party at the villa tomorrow night. They may not want us there, but they need to keep up appearances as much as we do.”
“I’m not going.”
“Oh yes, you are. And you’ll have a date.”
I frowned. “Who?”
She smirked as she leaned over to crush out her cigarette. “Your future groom, of course.”
I gripped the back of a chair, afraid I would pass out. “Why can’t you just let me return to New York? I want nothing to do with any of your plans. What you and father and Renata did to Enzo was despicable!”
“You will do as you’re told.”
