Omerta Book Two Read online

  She turned to go back to her room to do the same when Arielle spoke. “Donna?”

  Mirabella glanced at her.

  “Have you seen this?” Arielle said. Her eyes were red and puffy from a night of crying. Her hands shook from how much coffee she must have consumed. Mirabella realized that Arielle hadn’t dressed, she slept in the same clothes she wore the day before. The woman was a complete emotional wreck.

  “What is it?” Mirabella asked.

  “The police report. Nico got it late last night. It says that the killer is Armenian. Do you think Lo did this? That he sent an assassin to kill my Adara? He was with the Armenians. It could be his fault.”

  Mirabella joined her at the table. She took a seat. She accepted the report. She scanned the information. None of the names registered. How Arielle was able to ascertain that the assailant was Armenian was beyond her understanding. “I don’t know, Arielle.”

  The woman began to cry. “She’s dead. My sweet girl. She’s dead. And the baby—”

  “I spoke to Zia last night. The baby is safe with us.” Mirabella took her hand. “You have to shower, dress, eat.”

  “No!” Arielle snatched her hand away.

  Mirabella glanced to Nico who ended the call.

  “Were you able to reach Giovanni?”

  “No. He’s, uh, out of range. But I’ll continue to try.”

  “Did you learn anything?” Mirabella asked.

  “I think the attack was by one of Tahvo’s kids,” Nico told her.

  “Who is Tahvo?” the women asked in unison.

  “Carlo went to America to visit his woman and got into trouble with the Armenians. Lorenzo fixed the situation. I don’t know much else about it.”

  “See! Right there!” Arielle pointed at Nico. “He said it. It was Lorenzo. He did this! He did this!”

  Mirabella didn’t discount the coincidence. But in her gut she felt there was more to the story. “Arielle. I’ve asked one of my men to take you back to Sorrento.”

  “What? I’m not going anywhere! I want justice.”

  Mirabella took her hand. Arielle allowed her to hold it but struggled to stay focused. She ran down a litany of offenses done to her kids by the Battaglias and this being the worst. Mirabella had to withstand all the accusations and blame that her husband should have suffered, and his father before him. But as his wife, she heard the grievances and acknowledged it. When Arielle was exhausted from her speech Mirabella spoke. “You have to go back and see to baby Carmine. He’s an infant. Arielle. Look at me. Look at me!”

  She did. Her weepy stare was so full of agony Mirabella could barely maintain her own composure. She really did like Adara. Her death pained her deeply. “Shower, get dressed. I swear to you the moment Carlo is released we’re coming home to join you. But that baby boy needs love and protection now. You’ve proven to me that you’re the only person who could give him both.

  ”I have to know that we will get justice.”

  “We have to help Carlo. First,” Mirabella said.

  Arielle nodded that she agreed. She was slow to stand. She staggered away like an inebriated woman. However, it was the pain and grief that made her stumble about unsure of herself. Mirabella waited until she was gone to address Nico.

  “Have you contacted Giovanni’s people?”

  Nico nodded. “The authorities are not moving. The Générale is now handling Carlo’s case personally. He’s been after Carlo for some time, and Adara worked—”

  “I understand,” Mirabella said. “They have no weapon. It was clearly a murder. They can’t pin this on him.”

  “They can keep him. Plus, they are adding charges. Apparently, the Santoro’s were arrested. They could be trouble. They could talk.”

  “Not possible. They’re Camorra.”

  Nico shook his head no. “It is very possible.”

  “Why are the Santoro’s in this?”

  “Don Santoro is here.”

  “Here? Where? In this hotel?”

  “In the lobby with his men. He wants to meet with Giovanni. I tried reaching Domi. Waiting on him to call back.”

  “Arrange the meeting.”

  Nico frowned. “Giovanni—”

  “Isn’t here. And we can’t reach him. We have to contain this since the Générale is on the war path. Arrange it and I’ll buy us some time as the dutiful naive American wife. It’s what he thinks of me.” She stood and started toward her bedroom before realizing the most important thing they hadn’t discussed.

  “We need to send her body to Sorrento. Where is her brother?” Mirabella asked.

  “He’s on his way back from Turkey. I wasn’t sure where Carlo would want her buried.”

  “Oh, that’s right. Where is her father buried?” Mirabella asked.

  “I’ll talk to Arielle. Find out.”

  “Yes. Let’s move fast on this Nico. You saw him. He can’t stay in there. We have to get him out.”

  “COME HERE BOO-BOO,” Eve said. She held the door open for her puppy to walk in and join her. Boo-Boo kept sniffing around the floor. It was as if her nose had discovered a crazy rainbow of smells. “Come inside now.” Eve commanded.

  Her puppy happily pranced in with her. Eve closed the door. Her favorite place to go in her house now was the storage closet. No one ever found her there. And she knew no one ever looked. She sat on the floor and pulled her knees up to her face. She wrapped her arms around them and cried. Boo-Boo came over and sat next to her watching. She didn’t even know where her Mommy had gone, or why she had decided not to take her to school. It hurt her feelings that no one in the house cared.

  Boo-Boo barked.

  Eve looked up with tears clouding her vision.

  “I hate them.”

  Boo-Boo nodded. Eve got up from the floor and walked over to her secret hiding place. She had a pail full of burnt out match sticks. She kept them hidden so the staff wouldn’t discover what she had done. She found her matchbox and got on her knees. Eve pulled out the side compartment and removed a match stick. She swiped it along the box and the flame ignited. Once again Boo-Boo backed away while transfixed by the flame.

  “It’s okay. It’s just fire. See?” She held the flame out for the puppy. Boo-Boo barked a warning at Eve and before the matchstick burned down to the tips of her fingers Eve tossed the flame. It blinked out before reaching the floor.

  She smiled. “It’s magic!”

  Boo-Boo sat on her hind legs and watched with concern as Eve made fire, over and over and over again.

  “DON SANTORO, THANK you for waiting.”

  “Where is your husband?” The old Don barked.

  Mirabella gave him a gracious smile and took a seat at the table without answering. They’d agreed to have their meeting in a small cafe across from her hotel. The Don looked less than pleased over her late arrival.

  “My husband isn’t in the country. I came personally from Sorrento to address your concerns.”

  “I don’t care if you flew in from Alaska! I want Giovanni.” The Don insisted.

  Nico took a protective step forward. Mirabella put up her hand to indicate that she was not insulted.

  “I’ve been told that both of your sons were arrested. We are speaking with our contacts. It’s clear that they were outside of our agreement when they were detained by the Carabinieri.”

  The Don smirked. “Agreement? I told Giovanni from the beginning I am not his lap dog like the men of the Camorristi. My clan belongs to me. This is Neapolitan territory; your empty promises mean shit. My boys are to always be protected. That is the deal.”

  “Not if they are stealing from my family, and from the Russians,” Mirabella retorted.

  The Don slammed his fist on the table.

  Mirabella continued before Nico was forced to throttle the old man and his entourage with his bare hands. “The evidence is clear. They went to that bay and received a shipment of contraband that should have never breeched the shores of the Amalfi. That is why they wer
e caught. That is why they rot.” Mirabella held his stare. “My husband will deal with you and the theft. I am only here to protect the alliance until it’s no more. Are you saying the alliance is over?”

  The old Don said nothing. He continued to leer at her.

  “In two days my attorney will contact you with details of the hearing to have your sons released. In two days you and your wife will appear before the courts to pay the fines and agree to whatever mandates they hand down. And in a week Giovanni will convene with you and the clans to discuss all grievances, including his own. Settle it with him then.”

  Nico put a paper down on the table. The Don looked at her and then Nico. He picked up the paper and read it. His eyes stretched. He laughed. He passed it to the man behind him. “You think I’m going to turn over my territory to you? You’re out of your fucking mind, puttana!”

  “If the deeds aren’t signed before the two days you can go before the court as Puglia not Camorristi. And your sons fate is their own.” Mirabella stood. The Don glared at her from his seat. “As I said, in two days this can all go away. We wish it so.”

  “Tell Giovanni I knew this day would come. He is nothing but a turncoat rat. He eats his own. Tell Giovanni I am prepared for whatever comes next.”

  Mirabella smiled. She nodded to him and the men behind him who looked at her with hate. She left with her entourage. Nico was at her side. He stopped to open the car door for her to slip inside. He came in with her. Her baby was between them in her carrier.

  “Are we going to war, Nico?” she asked.

  “With the Puglia’s?” Nico asked. “Possibly. Giovanni knew of this possibility and prepared. It’s why he wants the territory. He will use it to protect us.”

  Mirabella had spoken to Dominic before she left the hotel and was briefed on what to do to handle the Don. Her heart wasn’t it. It never was. She hated dealing with the men from her husband’s world. She did what she could. She looked into the baby carrier. Her daughter slept peacefully. She ached in her breasts to feed her.

  “We have to get Carlo out of that cell. Today. I don’t care who we must pay or how much. I need him out of there.”

  “Working on it.”

  EVE STOPPED ON HER bike. She glanced back and squinted because the sun was in her eyes. Belinda smiled. She waved from the top step in front of her house. Eve turned the wheel and rode her bike back up the drive. Several of the men who worked for her father, men she called ‘Uncles’, encouraged her to keep going. Eve managed to ride all the way without having to stop for balance.

  “Are you hungry?” Belinda asked. She came down the steps to greet her.

  “No. I eat later,” Eve said.

  “I was thinking you and I can go for a swim today. What do you think?”

  “Is Leo gone?” Eve asked.

  “No. He can’t join us but he can take us for a drive later if you want.”

  “No thanks! I rather make fire!” Eve spat.

  Belinda frowned. Eve didn’t care. She turned her bike and rode it away. She would ride to the gates and back. If no one wanted to be her friend then she didn’t want friends. She didn’t need them.

  “Signorina Belinda, there is a phone call for you inside.”

  Belinda watched Eve for a moment. The comment about starting fire was so out of place she wasn’t sure how to respond. Eve rode into the bushes and two of the Battaglia men ran over to her rescue. She was helped upright and the other gave her instruction on balancing.

  “Signorina? It’s the Donna. She’s on the phone for you.”

  “Oh? Okay. Can you make sure Eve comes inside soon? It’s time for her lunch.”

  Belinda walked back into the house and went straight to the parlor where a phone would be left for her. She had plans to go for a drive with Leo that afternoon, but she hadn’t seen him yet. She picked up the phone and sat down.

  “Hi?”

  “How is everybody?” Mirabella asked.

  “We’re okay. There are some ladies here to help. Not sure who they are?”

  “Yes, yes, it’s a lot I know. Is Eve around?”

  “She’s outside riding her bike.”

  “Is she okay? I was supposed to take her to visit some schools today. I just remembered. Was she upset?”

  Belinda remembered Eve waking her that morning asking about school. It made sense why Eve was upset with her now. But she didn’t want to worry Mirabella. “She hasn’t mentioned it. She’s fine. How is Carlo and Adara? Kyra and I have been waiting for news.”

  “I’ll explain when we get back. Arielle should be there this afternoon to see baby Carmine. Make sure you tell the staff that if she wants to take the baby, she can.”

  “Okay. Will do. When will you be back?”

  “Soon. Tell Eve I’ll call her and her brothers tonight.”

  “Ciao,” Belinda ended the call. She looked up to see Eve marching inside holding the hand of one of the servants. “Eve?”

  The little girl stopped. She looked at Belinda expectantly.

  “Your Mommy called. She said she will probably be home tomorrow.”

  “I don’t care!” Eve shouted and walked off.

  Belinda smiled and shook her head.

  “Little brat.”

  OMERTÁ BOOK II

  ACT THREE

  The Aftermath

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Sorrow

  At Sea

  MARIETTA WOKE BECAUSE a baby was crying. She wondered whose child it was at first. Then she felt the soft fists of her daughter beating against her face. She looked over into Lorenza’s eyes. Her darling girl had the most beautiful brown eyes on any person she’d ever seen. She touched her face and Lorenza settled down. Her daughter dropped her forehead on hers and Marietta too relaxed. It felt like time hadn’t separated them. Somehow her daughter knew and remembered who she was. And though Marietta’s mind felt numb, almost swollen with grief she found the strength to focus on being a mother again. That sweet time shared between them soon ended. Lorenza rolled over to her back and cried out in frustration.

  Something was wrong.

  “Oh, sweetheart, I’m sorry,” Marietta said. She sat up like a woman off a drunken bender and searched the room with her eyes. Her body was sluggish to move and her head pounded. How long had they been in the cabin with her trapped in grief? She had no sense of time. Carefully she brought her daughter into her arms and tried to comfort her. She worked hard to remind Lorenza that she was ‘mama’ not some stranger denying her of affection. But Lorenza stiffened to her touch. She wailed and bucked against any comfort Marietta offered.

  The door to her cabin was pushed open after a small tap. A young woman peered in.

  “Get the hell out!” Marietta screeched.

  “Signora, please, please. I come to bring you this.”

  Marietta held tighter to Lorenza but she squinted through her blurred vision at the young girl and the bag she carried. A baby bag and a travel cooler were set at the foot of the bed. The young woman began to unpack all of Lorenza’s things. Jars of food and a bottle that had been prepared was included. There were clothes and diapers. She also had stuffed animals and a multi-colored teething ring.

  “I hear her crying, so I bring it for you. For Lorenza.”

  “Grazie,” Marietta said. She reached for the bottle and Lorenza’s head turned. Her baby girl stopped crying at the sight of it. She claimed it from her mother’s hands immediately. Marietta felt a small smile tug at the corners of her mouth.

  “She’s a happy little one again, I see,” said the young woman.

  Marietta nodded in agreement. The brief moment of contentment passed. She was once again overcome with the future prospects of raising Lorenza alone. And even worse, he death of the only man in her life she’d ever loved. She dropped her head and started to cry again.

  “I will leave you now,” the young woman said.

  “Wait. Please wait,” Marietta sniffed.

  The woman paused.

&n
bsp; “What is your name?”

  “I cannot say,” the girl responded with deep sadness.

  Marietta frowned. She didn’t care. “Can you tell me. Before the boat blew up with flames did they pull my husband out? Was he taken?”

  “I cannot say,” the girl replied again.

  Marietta blinked. “Does that mean yes?”

  “I saw nothing, signora. Nothing.”

  “Where are we?” Marietta asked.

  “Boat,” the woman said.

  “I won’t tell anyone. I swear. My husband? Is he here? Did he make it off the other boat? Is he alive?”

  “I know nothing.” The woman turned and left. Marietta’s gaze dropped to Lorenza who relaxed against her breast and sucked on the bottle. Lorenzo had only held her briefly. She would never know, or ever believe how much her father loved her. She kept Lorenza close as she wept and wept. There seem to be no end to her misery. No hope in sight. She felt lost.

  Naples, Italy

  “DO YOU KNOW ME, INMATE?”

  Carlo stared into the eyes of the man who had hunted him for most of his life as a man of the Camorra. The Générale offered a sly smile to his blank response. The visit from the Générale di corpo d'armata was expected, but typically it occurred in the courts before or during questioning with attorney’s present. He’d been behind bars for two days. He expected it to come sooner.

  One of the Générale’s men handed over a folder, which he placed flat to the center of the table. The official smiled. “I’m Générale Geovani Altoviti and I’ve been looking forward to this meeting for quite some time.”

  Carlo’s gaze lowered to the folder. He knew the drill. Beneath the cover would lay pictures of the shit show his life had become. Either they would torture him with images of his wife, or they’d share images of his past victims. It didn’t matter. He didn’t give a fuck. His time in Africa had prepared him for such a visit. The irony forced a smile to his face. Abedi had fed his demons to the point that nothing shocked him. Except Adara’s death. That murder had blasted his world apart. Still he would see no evil, speak no evil, and hear no evil against his Don. The Générale could not break that vow.