Revenge.
I'm familiar with it. You have to be when you're the firstborn son of a notorious mafia leader. Death and vengeance have been the very foundations of my life.
So who in their fucking mind would be stupid enough to cross me?
My brother and...
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The front door opens and Mariana comes in. I stand up instinctively and she notices me, surprising flickering in her eyes before they move to the couch in question. Did I sit here the whole fucking day waiting to see if she would come back? Yes. I did.
She looks miserable. Defeated. Anxiety makes my gut turn, wondering if she found it or not. I hold her stare as she walks over to me and retrieves something from her pocket. She drops it on the table in front of us and her expression looks as dead and cold as mine usually does. Only I don't like it on her. Not one fucking bit.
I break our eye contact and glance down, my shoulders tightening at the sight of a small velvet box. I don't have to open it to know what's inside but I lean down and do it anyway. My knees give out on me and my ass hits the couch again a moment later.
It's the charm. The second half of the broken dove. I haven't seen it whole since that day. Mother wore it incessantly when Father gifted it to her.
"So that's it," Mariana croaks and I look up. She swallows hard, eyes red-rimmed. "Your face is confirmation enough. That's the charm."
I nod slowly and a defeated whimper leaves her mouth. She sinks down on the couch across from me and pushes her hands into her hair. She looks as miserable as I feel.
"I knew it," she whispers. I have to strain my ears to hear her. "It's such a faint memory. It was after Mom died and I found my father in his study, drunk like I've never seen him. He had this charm in his hand and he was talking to it. Saying...I don't know. I thought it belonged to my mother."
She doesn't need me to tell her she was wrong. I stay quiet, sensing she's not done yet.
"Why her?" She finally asks after a long moment of silence. She looks up at me and I can practically see the goddamn walls rising around her, as if I never broke them down. "Why your mother? Why did he do it?"
"She was betrothed to him." I fill in the blanks and watch her face flash with shock. "Until my father came in the picture. He was a powerful man. Even though my mother was promised to Ferrera, my father made sure that didn't happen. He took my mother away and made an enemy for it."
She says nothing, seemingly stunned into silence. I give her the rest.
"My father never let my mother out of sight or without protection. He knew Ferrera was dangerous. Didn't like the feel of him at all, especially in regards to his wife."
"But how could you know all that? You were so young when he died."
"I found his journals. Cavallo helped me retrieve them from a safe with personal belongings of previous Capos. Only he has access to it and I had a hunch my father left behind some form of evidence against Ferrera. He was too smart not to."
"Cavallo helped you? He knows about this?"
"No." I look away from her. I can't watch her face for the next part. "He thinks he's helping me prove that your father murdered my mother, which is also true."
