Married To The Mafia: Book II

20 - Raging. Ranting.

It was the first time she ever looked him in the eye and lied - well, for the little time they had been together.

Fiona had always been the trustworthy one, the one he could always depend on to tell him the truth when he was young and for the one week since he'd rediscovered her.

But today she lied to him, straight to his face, unblinking, and unbothered. It disturbed him.

The days leading from Timothy's engagement party, Devlin had gotten a condo close to the Chernyshevsky mansion and had started the process of getting the rights to the company and the Chernyshevsky house. He started by hiring lawyers and holding meetings with some shareholders in the company. He was also in the process of tracking down his dad's lawyer. The man could be dead for all he knew. But he had started the process and that was all that mattered.

For those six days, He hadn't let Fiona or anyone else know except Pamela, who had done nothing but complain on and on about how he was making a huge mistake and how inheritance battles could lead to a blood bath. He'd told her she watched too many movies.

Today, he invited Fiona to the house to tell her the plan. She'd given him a reaction he hadn't expected. Anger.

"I thought I told you in clear terms last week to stop those plans a once?"

Devlin rested into the sofa. "And why should I?"

"Because I want you to!"

"But you're the real owner of the house and company, mama. It's yours. You should be glad I'm fighting for you."

"I don't care. I don't want it. I want you to end those plans at once."

"But why? What is your problem?"

"What is your problem Leo? Why can't you leave everything the hell alone?"

"Because I don't want to!" He stood and paced the width of the sitting room. "Vivian is one cruel bitch who has been messing with our lives from the outset. Why can't you see that she needs to pay? Why don't you want to pursue this? Are you scared of her?"

"Just leave her alone."

"Don't tell me -" he scoffed. "Don't tell me you feel indebted to her. Don't tell me you feel grateful."

Fiona raised her chin defensively. "Yes, in fact, I do."

"What did you just say?" Devlin asked incredulously.

"Did I stutter?"

"What the fuck? You owe her nothing!"

She stood and walked to the high window over looking the parking lot. "That's what you think. That's what the whole world thinks. But despite it all, I owe Vivian a lot. I owe her my life," She turned to face him, one hand on her stomach. "I owe her you."

"Mom, she left me for dead! She abandoned me. I admit, it was foolish of me to have run off but she should have moved heaven and earth to find me. That's what a real mother would do. Tell me, do you owe her the heartache you went through when they came back without me?"

Fiona turned to stare through the window. Then she said with a small voice, "I don't want Vivian to suffer. Why do you think I never left? Because of you? Yes, that's partly true but also because I feel like I have a responsibility to your father to take care of her -"

"That is the shittiest thing I have heard in my life. That woman is pure evil. She let her husband molest my sister, even as a child! And the son of a bitch not in jail. What more do you need?"

Fiona nodded. "I admit, she was wrong on that. But Lily is another reason I stayed. To protect her. To protect anyone that needs it. That's my job."