Page 90 of When She Unravels
The air around us stills.
I swallow past the tightness in my throat. “The woman was…”
“My mother.” He sits up on the bed, and in the dimming late afternoon light, he looks older than his age. “The version I just told you omits what I consider to be an important part. It’s a shame, really. I think it makes the story far more interesting. What they don’t tell very often is that in that house with the woman were her two children. A boy of eleven, and a toddler of two.”
Horror thickens the air inside my lungs until I can’t breathe. My hand reaches for Damiano’s, but he won’t let me take it. Men like him don’t know how to accept comfort, and maybe this isn’t the time to teach him. I give him space.
“The boy watched his mother pour the gasoline from the shadows of the living room. Her screams woke him, and he ran downstairs to check on her. What he saw in the kitchen… He thought he was still asleep, having a nightmare. When the fire started to spread, he ran to get his sister out of her room, and they managed to escape the house before the entire thing went up in flames. They watched their whole life burn. It’s an image one can’t ever forget.”
I suck in a harsh breath. “Damiano, I’m so sorry.”
He shakes his head as if he can shake off the sorrow of the memory. “I barely remember the weeks that followed, but a few images stand out. Sal inviting me to his new office—my father’s old one—and making it clear that the only way my sister and I would stay alive is if I confirm my father’s body had marks of strangulation on it so as to legitimize Sal’s takeover. You see, the code specifies there must be a living witness otherwise the claim is contested. A photo isn’t enough. His five witnesses all perished in the fire and Mari was too young to talk. I had to stand in front of all the capos—men who had given me gifts and played cards with me—and describe to them what my dead father’s body looked like. I couldn’t really remember, so I made a bunch of stuff up.
“Ras’s parents took us in—his mother is my mother’s sister. They convinced Sal to keep his word and let Mari and me live. They told him over and over again that I was too young to hold on to any anger. But Sal’s always been too paranoid to ever fully believe that. When my business acumen started to earn me a reputation, he decided to send me here, where I’d be isolated and unable to forge any strong connections with the other capos. I agreed, because protecting Mari has always been more important to me than getting my revenge.”
My God, he’s nothing like Papà. He put his family first, even if it meant he had to sacrifice any real chance at gaining more power. No matter how hard I try, I can’t imagine Papà ever doing something like that for me or any of my siblings.
“Is Sal the one behind Martina’s abduction?” I ask.
“Yes.”
“You knew it after we spoke.”
He nods. “You said Lazaro called her a little Casalese mouse. Little mouse is what Sal has always called Martina. He must have said it to Lazaro at some point.”
“Why would Sal do this?”
“To have something to keep me in line. He’s been making more and more bad calls in the past few years, and I’ve started to call him out on it. He needs me to keep making him money, but he wants me to do it with my mouth shut.”
I reach for his hand again, and this time, he lets me take it. Our fingers twine together.
“What are you going to do?” I ask.
“Take back what should have always belonged to me.” The look he gives me makes me feel as if I’m standing on a precipice. “And I want you to help me do it.”
CHAPTER27
VALENTINA
My head spins. “Help you how?”I don’t even feel like I can help myself at the moment.
He leaves my question hanging, swings his legs off the bed, and walks to the bathroom, giving me a view of his sculpted ass. I wish I was in the right state of mind to properly appreciate it, but I’m too rattled by our conversation.
I can’t stop thinking back to that photograph of Damiano and Martina I saw in his office. He told me back then their parents had died, but now that I know how it happened, the bond he has with his sister makes a lot more sense. He saved Martina from what would have been certain death for someone her age, and he’s spent his entire life protecting her. She’s lucky in that way, more than she probably knows. In my experience, it’s rare for people who are supposed to protect us to actually deliver. My father condemned me, my mother abandoned me, my husband ruined me.
He disappears behind the door, and I collapse back down on the bed, rubbing my eyes with the heels of my palms. I can’t believe what he just told me. His motherset herself on firein front of him. How could she do that to her kids? I’m torn between empathizing with her over the pain of losing the love of her life and blaming her for not being strong enough to push through it.
Then I remember I left family behind as well when I ran. My sisters needed me. Do they still need me now?
Damiano comes out of the bathroom zipping up his slacks, his shirt tossed over his shoulder. “Here’s my proposal,” he says, running his fingers through his wet hair. “I need your father to agree to be my temporary supplier. My initial idea was to use you as a bargaining chip, but after further reflection, I’ve identified some flaws with that plan.”
“What a relief,” I mutter as I sit up and pull the blanket up to my bare chest.
“If your father knows I have you, I suspect he’ll go straight to Sal and demand he returns you. Sal will be tipped off that I know he’s behind Mari’s kidnapping, and he’ll make an offensive move before I’m ready to respond.”
“At least you weren’t planning on telling my father you’d kill me if he contacted Sal.”
“He would know it was a bluff. You’re useless to me dead.”
