She blinked and studied him, knowing he was right, then stepped around to address our visitors. “Will you come and talk?” Elenora gave a nod. “No guns.” Elenora nodded again.
“All right.” Sienna turned her gaze to me, and I took a moment before I finally nodded. “All right,” she repeated and turned to take my arm. We walked back to my car. It was still running and was parked in the middle of the road. Her hand shook as she gripped her purse, no doubt reeling from what the hell just happened.
“Vinni, take Wyatt with you,” I ordered over my shoulder for him to take Sienna’s best friend, who still seemed to be stuck in a trance.
“Yeah, boss.”
“Are you okay, Sienna?” She nodded but didn’t speak. “Don’t check out on me.” I kissed the top of her head. “I have a feeling another storm is about to hit us.” I opened the car door and helped her inside.
Francesco came up next to me.
“What the hell is going on here?” My rage still idled at the surface, ready to blow at any moment.
“Let’s take this to your uncle’s.” He glanced over at Elenora, who was getting into her car. “Mariano is at the Hill House.”
“Are you insane?” My jaw nearly dropped to the ground.
“Trust me on this.”
Normally, I wouldn’t ever question Francesco, but taking strangers to my uncle’s home to hold an unplanned meeting was just not how we operated. Especially without background checks on any of them.
I cleared my throat and rubbed my jaw as I stepped closer to him and spoke quietly. “I have always trusted you, my friend, but this makes me very nervous.”
“I know.” His eyes pleaded with mine.
“Fine.” I nodded once, unsure what else to say to him at this point. The whiplash from the last fifteen minutes had done a number on my head.
I eased behind the wheel and left Sienna to her thoughts while I slipped into a memory of my own.
“Ah!” I sent the ceramic sculpture across the room, bursting into a billion pieces as it hit the marble floor.
“Elio!” Aunt Noemi came racing in the room with her hands on her mouth. I saw my Nonna in the doorway behind her saying a silent prayer and grasping her rosary beads.
“It’s okay, Mama.” Niccola directed her out of the room before turning to face me.
A fierce storm whirled inside my chest. My heart fought to contain itself as hot blood coursed through it like the blast from a stick of dynamite.
“Cousin,” Niccola stepped further into the room, “I know you’re suffering, and I won’t even pretend to know what you’re going through, but this isn’t good for you. Your heart can only take so much.”
“I know that!” I shouted and whirled to face him. My fingers itched with the need to hurt someone as my anger raged. “I know my heart can’t take it.” I used my fist to bang on my chest, and tears stung my eyes, “I know this isn’t good for me. I never asked for any of this!”
“You didn’t, but sometimes it’s just not in the stars.”
“What about the moon?” I shouted louder. “What about the gods? Do they have no sympathy for love? No sympathy for the souls that walk this Earth?”
“Niccola.” Francesco had appeared and motioned for my cousin to leave. He approached my Nonna, who still stood near the door, and assured her everything would be all right. He quietly closed the door and turned to me.
“No.” I held up my hand, not needing anyone else inside my head. I breathed heavily and tugged at the top button of my dress shirt, needing more air. There wasn’t any.
I kept picturing what her face must have looked like when she discovered the house was empty and we had left her.
“Son,” he stood in place, knowing better than to approach me, “what happened that has you this upset?”
The room tilted, and I felt a sharp hit to the stomach as my anger surged again.
“Ah!” I swept the glass knickknacks off the table next to me. The sound was deafening. “I left her with those wolves! I left the only person I truly loved behind because I didn’t want to subject her to this life. What’s so bad about this life?”
“You were being selfless, Elio. It was noble of you.”