Undressed By The Mafia God

So all Vee could do was cry and not cry at the same time. Tears kept gathering in her eyes while some stubborn part of her still fought to hold them back. Her face was wet, her nose was running, her breathing was uneven, and she was far past the point where dignity could be salvaged.

"How am I supposed to do this?" she cried, her red-rimmed eyes fixed on Luca. "I’m supposed to kill her myself?"

Luca’s face tightened. "You don’t have to do it."

"Massimo will not approve, you know that."

"I don’t care what he approves of. Not when it comes to you."

She shook her head, frustrated tears slipping down her cheeks again.

"It is my job, my duty, to protect you," Luca said. "Even from Don."

Vee let out a broken laugh. "Yes, yes, and you do such a good job of it that I have become too comfortable. I cannot even see beyond my own nose." She wiped at her face with the back of her hand, but there was stuff coming out of everywhere now and the attempt was useless. Tears, mucus, all of it. Pregnancy glow was now non existent.

She could barely see her husband properly. "My sister," she cried. "My own sister! Luca!" She stomped one foot against the floor, then the other, the anger and grief tearing through her at once. She was heaving, breathing too hard.

Luca reached for her again. Every time he touched her, the control she had left vanished. "How do I fix this?" he asked.

"You can’t. You cannot," she repeated. "Not this time."

He could not stand it. He could not take seeing her like this and knowing there was no solution he could buy, bribe or bury.

For once, Luca Genovese had absolutely no power. He took a couple of painful steps back, refusing to accept it.

"No. Vee, please tell me what to do. Just whatever you want."

"If you think for one minute I am going to ask you to somehow spare her, you must have one screw loose." She shook her head. "I will not do that. She made these choices. She made them again and again. She tried to take you away from me. I love her. I love her so much that I feel like someone has cut something out of me."

"But that does not mean I pretend this did not happen. I refuse to let this fester, to let this get worse than it already is. Just do what you have to do," Vee said, wiping at her face again. "And get her before she does any more damage."

Valentina had already done enough. Every extra hour she remained out there was another opportunity for desperation to convince her that one more terrible decision might somehow repair the previous ten.

"Tomorrow," Luca said gently. "We’ll get her tomorrow. Then you talk to her. You find out if you truly can do this. And if you can’t, you tell me what you need. Whatever you need."

Vee nodded. That was all she had left in her. She lowered herself onto the edge of the bed before her knees decided to give up on her completely.

*****

Carol arrived like the storm they had all expected. Technically, she planned to kill Marco. That was a given.

The idiot had lied directly to her face, something he had promised never to do. But first, she was going to kill Massimo.

By the time she reached the house, fury had kept her awake through the entire journey. She had not eaten properly.

When Vee opened the door, Carol nearly walked straight past her.

"Carol!" Vee called.

The woman looked like hell. Her hair was dishevelled, her eyes red, her face drawn from exhaustion, and she looked like she might pass out.

"Where is Marco?" Carol asked.

"He’s at Commissioned, I think."

"He’s being held?"

"No... not yet."

That phrasing did absolutely nothing for Carol’s blood pressure.

"Carol, would you calm down please?" Vee said.

"Is Massimo there too?" Carol asked.

"No. He hasn’t come down yet today."

Carol immediately started towards the stairs. "I’ll be right back." She made it several steps before some part of her brain remembered Veronica was definitely hurting too and pregnant. She slowed and glanced back. "Are... are you good?"

"Yes..." Vee watched her go then. She knew there was nothing Carol could do to change the verdict.

Massimo would not yield.

Carol stormed up the stairs. She reached Massimo’s suite, grabbed the handle and threw the door open. "You rock-headed son of a bitch!" Carol thundered.

Massimo barely had time to turn away from the television. He had been watching the news. Carol looked murderous. He knew her well enough to understand that if she had arrived carrying a gun, there was a reasonable chance he would already be discussing this conversation from the afterlife.

"What did I ever do to you?" Carol demanded. "Why have you made it your life mission to cause me pain?"

He let her continue. She marched farther into the room.

"You have done this over and over again. Every time I think perhaps age has given you sense, you prove me wrong with enthusiasm."

Massimo finally picked up the remote and muted the television. "Are you done?"

"I am here to take my son back with me, and you will let me leave with him."

"You know I cannot let you do that."

"You would truly do this?" she asked. "You would break my heart this way?"

"I’m not breaking your heart. I’m ensuring the future of the famiglia."

"They are one and the same!" Carol pointed at him. "Again and again, you have chosen to remain rigid, unbending, unyielding. Every time there is a choice between the people you love and these damned rules, you behave as if love itself is some weakness you need to beat out of us."

"Marco’s wife betrayed the family."

"Marco did not."

"That distinction does not erase responsibility."