“That makes two of us. Now, the truth.”
She sighed over the speaker. “Carlo was in love with the tramp. He wanted to marry her.”
My heart stopped, and Castello took his hand off mine.
“Your father refused. He said she wasn’t good enough for the man who would run this family and that Carlo needed to find himself a strong Italian woman. Not a filthy American snob.”
Castello sat back down and picked up the phone, holding it in front of him. “What happened?”
“Carlo was angry, of course. So he went straight to her father, telling William his plans to marry his daughter. Like us, William wasn’t thrilled. He contacted your father, and an agreement was made to keep them apart.”
I stood, unable to sit still any longer while I heard this woman talk about Carlo and how he wanted to be with me forever. Every word gnawed at my heart, breaking through my chest.
Castello glanced up at me, and I knew he hated hearing every word. “Go on.”
“We couldn’t keep him from seeing her. Carlo was adamant, kept telling us how much he loved her. William saw it as your father breaking the agreement and took matters into his own hands.”
Oh my God.
My knees went weak, and I felt myself fall to the ground. But two arms surrounded me, keeping me from collapsing into a giant heap of despair. My heart was shattered, my body aching as the truth slammed against bone. How could our fathers have conspired to keep us apart? Was my father really capable of cold-blooded murder in a bid to manipulate my life?
Castello tightened his arms, and I leaned back, biting my tongue, fighting the urge to cry out loud as my heartache threatened to rip me open from the inside out.
“Castello?”
“I have to go,Madre.”
He killed the line then tossed the phone aside, and I let loose. I screamed and wailed, the truth breaking through my chest. Castello was right. His mother was right. I—my family was to blame for Carlo’s death, and I fucking deserved to be here. I deserved this family’s wrath, their hate. All this time, I sat in that goddamn room feeling sorry for myself, thinking the Fattores were monsters, when in fact it was just karma being a bitch, exacting due payment…from me.
“Tatum, listen to me.”
I couldn’t. I was too busy listening to my soul crack into pieces.
Castello gripped my arms and spun me around, shaking me. “Listen to me, Tatum. She’s lying. My mother is lying.”
My body went stiff, my eyes searching his face. “How do you know?”
He cupped my cheeks in his palms, his thumbs wiping away my tears. “If he really planned on marrying you, why did he lie to you? Why did he tell you his surname was Mancini and never mentioned me, his twin brother? It doesn’t make sense.”
“Maybe he planned to?”
Castello let go of me and stepped back. “No. Nothing about what my mother just said makes sense. I’m telling you, she’s lying.”
Tears still slipped down my cheek, but I wiped them away with the back of my hand. “If she is, how do we get to the truth?”
His gaze pinned me on the spot, the intensity of his dark eyes knocking the breath out of me—and I knew I wasn’t going to like what he was about to say.
“By handing you over to my mother.”
Chapter 24
CASTELLO
Like Vico said before, “This shit is about to get real.”
Uncle Gino had messaged me to say he was here at the house with a few other men of the family he had managed to get on his side. Not everyone was in favor of spilling blood for blood. He also warned me that the Fattore household was packing some serious ammo right now since everyone was on edge. He also confirmed that neither Vico nor my mother had shared the news about Nicollo’s murder with anyone. My guess was they were saving it for when they made their final move to put me in checkmate. I had no idea how I was going to handle that little tidbit of information yet, but of one thing I was certain—our family had been divided, and no matter what happened today, we would never stand united again.
I pulled on my suit jacket and straightened my sleeves. I looked up into the mirror and watched Tatum’s reflection as she sat on the bed staring down at the floor.