Giovanni POV:
She wasn't joking when she told me that, she wasn't as literal as she had sounded but she did intend to torture him before he would die. It was as if I was in some out of body experience, I saw the fire in her rage looking into his crimes getting evidence from the business owners he had pressured and statements. I wanted to tell her to stop, to calm down, not to let this consume her but how could I say that, I was consumed long ago.
She now looked at everything through the lens of how this could help her get the one up on her father. As scary as it was seeing this shift in her I was also impressed, I would never say it to her, but she was very much her father's daughter. She was clever, ruthless, and determined.
"I don't think you should go to the office tomorrow," I told her after three days of her scrounging up evidence and information.
"Why not," her face scrunched in ire.
"You are not yourself," I told her.
She began to fold her arms and get haughty but I grabbed her hands and sat beside her. "I agree that your father deserves all the pain coming for him, to have done such a despicable act. I just don't want you to lose yourself to this, you are doing nothing but work, and you haven't taken a single moment to digest what you've heard," I comforted her and saw it on her for a second that sadness that must be welling in her under the steel she had wrapped herself in. "Take it from someone who knows, it doesn't help you, it doesn't stop the pain, it only delays it,"
She took her hands from mine and went back to typing. "She spent her last moments protecting me Giovanni…" She looked up at me her eyes so bleak. "I can't just slow down,"
"I'm not asking you to," I closed the laptop and she grabbed it up from the table. "But do you honestly believe your mother would want you to live like this?"
I had her there. She stopped in her tracks and slumped her shoulders, turning to look at me. "What am I suppose to do then, lay in bed and cry I doubt she would want that either,"
"We'll go somewhere, go out of the city, take a walk or something," I tried and it seemed the right answer as she set down the laptop and came over kissing my forehead before leaving.
I made all the arrangements that night she and I would go out to a beach house I had acquired, once owned by a business partner of the Caputos. It was remote, but not remote enough from me. Now I would give her the time there to accept the unacceptable.
I made her pack a bag for which she seemed very upset with me, still, she did it. Sadly we're heading towards winter so I wouldn't see her walking on the beach in a sundress. In a better world, I would be taking her on a lavish weekend away just because, and she would be smiling from ear to ear as we drove. Instead, she held the same somber expression she'd had since she saw the photo.
I don't blame her I thought of my own mother safe at home probably cooking in her kitchen, unaware of the demons her son was fighting. She knew what I did, and who I was up against, but she didn't know of these recent developments. Again that distant better life we would never reach haunted me, Arianna meeting my mother the two cooking together and getting along, smiling. I chased the thought from my head continuing the drive and my watch over the hollow beauty beside me.
We pulled up to the house and she stayed in the car staring at it, I'm sure she did not believe this would help her in any way and was only humoring me to get back to her work, but I intended to help her through this with every fiber of my being.
I grabbed the bags and we walked into the house I saw the corner of her mouth quirk up and her brows scrunch together. "Giovanni," She drawled. "Whose house is this?"
I grinned at her. "An acquisition in recent years, it was too pretty not to keep," That much was true, the house was beautiful. An old colonial-style home, with pastel colors here and there, it was not my typical style but it felt so cozy and was a good retreat from the battlefield when needed.
She went to her room, I expect to avoid me and my determination to help her, but it didn't last long as she slunk down hungry.
"I know a place in town, come on it's a short walk," I told her grabbing our coats. She wanted to argue but again I saw her rationalizing placating me.
We headed out in silence, not for long though.
"You know my brother was always at my feet when we were kids. I hated it," I told her. "He never wanted to leave my side, I was two years older and more mature, or so I thought. I wanted my own friends, my own adventures, I didn't want my baby brother there with me getting in the way and spoiling all of my fun,"
She listened intently, I didn't ever talk about my brother, and I knew she was curious.
"One night I was out with friends grabbing a smoke and a drink, we were going to go find a club and try poorly to hit on girls," I chuckled. "We mainly just stared at them from a distance calling out to them how beautiful they were, never getting up the courage to go near them,"
She laughed at that, how she would have reveled in my awkward days.
"I didn't know it, but he followed after us that night," I sighed remembering how pissed off I was when I spotted him. "I had seen him hiding off behind a corner, waiting to join in on the party at some point. I was furious, I grabbed him by his collar and walked him off telling him he was to young and stupid to be around us, that he better un off to Mama before he got into any trouble," I wish I was joking but I wasn't, if I had known then how little time I'd have with him, I don't think I would have been so angry to see his face that night.
"He still followed us answer got into the club, I don't know how but he did too. There was this woman, she was-" I paused for a moment remembering the blonde I had once coveted, in her strappy dress, blown-out hair, made up face. I turned to Arianna, her face not an ounce of makeup and her clothes simple, but she was all the more beautiful than that woman had been. "What all young boys wanted, like fools. I had somehow had enough to drink or lost my brain cells on the pavement but I went and spoke to her, to my astonishment she spoke back. We joked. She was having fun being ogled by the little boy, but her boyfriend," I clicked my tongue and Arianna grimaced.
"Oh no,"
"Oh yes," I shook my head. "He didn't find it quite as amusing as she did, he picked me up by shirt lifting me off the ground, he slammed his fist into my face and I waited for the second punch but it never came. Enzo had hit him over the head with a bottle, a wine bottle, the man went out in a heap. His girlfriend screeching at us, we ran from the bouncers like wild dogs," I finished the story. "I never left the house without him after that,"
She nodded along. "So when died and I thought of how horrible it was for me to have put him in harm's way I remembered, even if I had told him to stay home, he would have been there anyways,"
She looked away from me.
"Will you tell me about your mother?" I asked her but she shook her head.
"It's only fair, I told you," I berated her softly and she looked over at me annoyed but relenting.
"She was the best mother, you know. Some people are born to be doctors or lawyers, but my mom, she was meant to be a mother. So kind, understanding, playful. She would bake with us and read us stories underneath the cherry tree in our yard. Make zoos for our stuffed animals, play pirates, write plays," She reminisced the memories washing over her. "She loved us so much, she would hold us until we fell asleep every night one girl under both arms,"
She stopped walking. "The night she left him, she came into our room packing our clothes shoving them in bags as quick as she could. I kept asking her what was wrong, Guilia was still asleep. She didn't ay a word until she grabbed me and woke up Guilia telling us we had to go, right then and there,"
She moved again looking at the ground as we walked. "I agreed to get my clothes on it made sense I trusted my mom, but Guilia she started crying and wailing asking for our dad," She explained. "My mom tried to calm her down, begging her to be quiet but Guilia wouldn't budge, my mom tried to grab her and run but she kicked and hit her, refusing to go without him,"
"Eventually someone heard the noise and my mom had to take just me," SHe sighed. "She cried for weeks, using any money she had to get a good lawyer, so she could get Guilia, but when the court came, Giuilia asked to stay with him,"
She wiped away a tear. "Mom kept a picture of her on her nightstand, and never stopped reaching out for her trying to talk to her, but my dad he wouldn't allow it, or Guilia turned her down," She scratched her head. "I never got it until now,"
We finally made it to the restaurant, the best comfort food I'd ever had sitting down.
"Sounds like she loved you both with everything she had,"
"Yeah," Arinna sniffled. "Yeah," her voice sounded much more content than it had when we started our walk.