Como Vero reached over to the bedside lamp and when he turned it on, the room was bathed in warm light. And the older man blinked at me. “Scala?” He seemed confused. Weren’t we all. “What are you doing here?”
Flick, flick.“You and I need to have a little chat.”Flick, flick.
“About what?”
Flick, flick.“Boundaries.”Flick, flick. Pause.
The pad of my thumb rested along the hinge of my lighter as the irony of what I’d just said settled over me. And once it had, I reached into my pocket, took out the nondescript USB and tossed it at him. He didn’t bother to catch it.
My anger simmered as I began to speak. “You stand in front of that girl on her wedding day, in a room full of the only people she had left in the world and you tell her she’s dead to you.” My head tilted as I continued to stare at the man. “And now you feel it’s acceptable to put her to work?”Flick, flick. I shook my head. “No. That’s not happening.”
“What’s it to you?” Como, the moronic fuck, had the balls to ask.
“What’s it to me?”Flick, flick. My gaze hooded on him. “That’s my wife.”
“Oh, please,” Como returned heatedly. “You didn’t want this marriage.”
Flick, flick.He wasn’t wrong there, but I hoped what I said would soon sink in. “Yeah, well, she didn’t either and I’m the husband she got. So, when I say this shit isn’t happening, itisn’thappening.”
The thin ice he was walking on got even thinner when he actually tried to defend himself. “Vittoria has always done this.”
Flick, flick.“Not anymore.”
My anger became molten fury when he said, “She’s the only person I trust to run the books.”
The next flick of my lighter had the flame dancing in my hand. My gaze dimmed when I snarled, “And now she’s dead to you.”
For the first time since I arrived, Como picked up what I was putting down and then, he looked frightened. “Listen to yourself, Scala. You’re acting crazy.”
“Crazy?” The laughter that left me dripped with acid. “You haven’t seen me crazy… yet.”
Como ran a hand through his messed-up hair. He looked me in the eye when he admitted, “Look, I didn’t mean what I said. She’s my niece and I love her, but I would have said anything to diffuse the situation. I would have said anything to appease you.”
Did he think his show of reverence would win me over?
All I saw was a coward, shaking in his sheets. “Including breaking her fucking heart. Right?”
Como’s chin dipped, he lowered his eyes and the only thing filling the long silence that passed between us was the flicking of my lighter.
And then, I thought about my wife and her desperate need to maintain a familial connection. I thought of a way where both Famiglia Vero and Vittoria got what they wanted. “Okay,” I began. “You want Vittoria to do your books? Come by the house to discuss terms and payment.”
The man’s head shot up in disbelief. “What?”
He heard me. “IfVittoria wants the job, you’re going to pay her for the work she does.”
The asshole had the nerve to say, “But we’re family.”
A laugh shot out of me. “Yeah? That’s funny, Como. That’s real funny.” I sobered quickly. “You disowned her.” When I leant in close, he backed away from me. “I’m her family now and when you hurt one of mine, I feel it. A direct cut to my flesh. It’s my job to protect her, even from pieces of shit family members like you.”
Knowing the situation demanded one, he caved with a shaky, “I’m sorry.”
But I was not impressed. “I’m not the one you have to apologize to.” My cold glance passed the space around us. “Tonight. 7 o’clock. You’re going to host dinner for us, as a family.” The last word in that sentence dripped with disdain. “I’m going to tell my wife that you called me andbeggedto see her. I’m going to tell her this because I think it will make her happy to believe you care. I’m sure she misses the house she was raised in. No doubt she probably has things here she’d like to bring home with her.”Flick, flick. “She doesn’t need to know the truth and if she does find out,” my eyes narrowed on the man, “I will make you hurt. Do you hear me?”
Como Vero watched me closely. “You really do care about her.” A statement. A skeptical one, at that. Then he conceded defeat. “I already lost a brother to you. I don’t want to lose anyone else.” He sighed, “Bring her home.”
Right then, with his shoulders drooped, he appeared smaller somehow, and I realized then that the only Vero who was capable of holding a seat at the high table was Vittoria’s father. Como was too weak a man for the role. And the thought of Vincenza in that seat… it made one shudder.
Without another word spoken, I stood tall and walked out of his room. I then drove home and woke my wife with kisses and breakfast and good news. Her initial shock turned into a quiet laugh and wide smile, and then, it all fell away. Heartbreak, mourning and intense longing broke through the forefront. I held her as she cried softly into my throat, and it told me I’d done the right thing in disregarding my every instinct to destroy Como Vero.