“So?” Maybe it was a vigilante move, but she didn’t blame him for his ruthless tactics.
“You’re too smart to allow yourself to be used.”
Pia wished she could claim Angelo had married her because he loved her, not that her mother would see any value in such a declaration, but Pia would. No such words had passed their lips, however. And now, all kinds of doubts were prickling to life inside her.
“Do you insist on staying married to him?” her mother asked stiffly.
“Yes.” She wished her voice had come out stronger.
Her mother’s mouth pinched. “Very well. Let’s find our best path forward.”
* * *
Utterly drained, Pia was trying to recover with the cool weight of a lavender eye pillow across her brow. A chamomile tea steeped on the table beside her, but she’d chosen to rest in the front parlor so she would greet Angelo the moment he turned up.
She was snapped out of her doze by the chirp of brakes. Raised voices caused a commotion in the courtyard. It sounded like Angelo and Rico.
She stood up too quickly and had to grasp at the back of the sofa to catch her balance as her head swam. As soon as she was steady, she hurried out the front doors.
Angelo had arrived in a car she didn’t recognize, and Rico had parked behind him on the circular drive. They were standing between the bumpers, car doors open, locked in a
heated exchange.
“It’s my house,” Rico spat. “My wife spent the last year turning it into a home. How dare you jeopardize that?”
“Rico!” Pia trotted down the steps, afraid they would come to blows. “What’s wrong? What happened?” She inserted herself between them.
“His brothers are trying to renege on their sale of the estate,” Rico barked. “Because he’s making a claim on their proceeds from it. And because he stole property they left there. Thanks to you,” Rico added in a sideswipe at her.
“I took what belonged to my mother. Her share of the family fortune, bequeathed to me.” Angelo took Pia’s shoulders to set her aside as he tried to step forward into combat.
Pia slapped her hand onto his chest, keeping him from advancing, but the ire in him nearly bowled her over.
“Make them a settlement for it. Make this go away,” Rico demanded, gaze locked with Angelo’s.
“I don’t want it to go away. I want them to rot in hell. If you don’t think they should, you can rot there with them.”
“At the expense of my wife and children?” Rico was outraged.
“Angelo, please,” Pia begged, as caught between them emotionally as she was physically. “Please calm down and let’s discuss this rationally.”
“Oh, there’s a surprise, coming from you.” He brushed her off him, taking a step back so the verbal and physical rejection was equally devastating. “Let’s be rational then,” he said to Rico with scathing sarcasm. “You bought that estate at a bargain price in a backroom deal. You pay the settlement they want.”
“Angelo.”
She was genuinely shocked and appalled at the vindictiveness spewing out of him. Distantly she understood that he must have been through a lot today, but her mother’s comments seemed to hold more water as she saw how much thirst for punishment was in him.
“That’s not fair. Listen, I’m not saying your brothers are innocent, but don’t confuse their crimes with your father’s. Should they be held to account for his actions? Do you want our child judged on the way you’re behaving? That means you have to pay for your father’s crimes, too. Don’t be like them,” she pleaded. “Stop this cycle of hatred.”
“Why? Because it’s inconvenient for you? So you can go on living in your damned ivory tower, ignoring what my mother went through? You’re all the damned same! Of all the women on all the rooftops, I had to get the one who thinks preserving this—” he flung a hand toward the villa “—is more important than common decency.”
“Who the hell are you to talk about decency after the way you targeted her to pursue a vendetta?” Rico demanded.
Angelo choked out a humorless laugh, his gaze careening into her own.
As their gazes caught and clashed, his stare hardened. He seemed to search into her soul, seeing all the insecurities and doubts her mother had planted inside her. Now Rico was making the same accusation and Pia knew she shouldn’t give those charges any weight, but she was looking for reassurance in Angelo’s expression and seeing only a flinch of angry contempt.
And a flash of hurt that was so profound it speared her like a paralyzing poisoned dart.