137

The next morning, when I left the house before breakfast, Dante was not there. I hadn’t expected him; he hadn’t laid down beside me when I woke up either. Yesterday I had forced him to leave me closer than he was comfortable with, and now he was going to move away until we were barely civil again. I motioned Taft to come closer, and he immediately approached. “I need you to take me to Bibiana,” I said as we entered the garage. He took the keys, got into the car, and then we were already on our way. Time was important. “Hurry,” I added as we drove away from the house. Taft did not ask why.
As soon as we parked in front of Bibiana’s house, I got out of the car and ran to the front door. I rang the doorbell. I knew that Thomas was still at home because there was no guard sitting in the car on the street. I hoped so .
I could hear Tommaso shouting angrily and then there were quick footsteps and Bibiana opened the door, still in her bathrobe . Her eyes widened in confusion when she saw me . “Val? Tommaso told me what happened yesterday. Are you okay?” There was a hand-shaped bruise on her cheek, which made my decision easier.
I pulled her close to me in a hug and slipped the vial with poison into her palm. “No one knows I have this. It is poison, Bibi. If you really want to be free, put it in her breakfast today. Tomorrow it will be too late. Today we can still blame the traitors. No one will ask questions.” I straightened up with a smile, my face the mask I had learned from Dante. Bibi returned the smile, but in her eyes were surprise, disbelief and gratitude.
“Bibiana, what is taking you so long?” cried Thomas as he laboriously descended the stairs. He stopped when he saw me . Bibiana quickly hid the vial of poison in her bathrobe.
“I’m sorry to disturb you,” I said. “I just wanted to make sure Bibiana knows I’m okay. I don’t have much time though. I have to get home.”
“Dante called a meeting of the whole Corps. I just got the ‘e-mail. I guess you can’t give me the details of what happened ?”
I shake my head. “I really should be going.” I turned a smile to Bibiana, then turned on my heel and walked back to the car.
The last thing I heard was Bibi telling Tommaso that she would make him a quick breakfast before leaving.
This was the second man I condemned to death. This time, however, there was no guilt.
*** “Valentina, I’d like to talk to you,” Dante said before disappearing into his office. I hesitated. This was the first time Dante had actually invited me into his office for a conversation. All the times before, I had to look for him .
Worry gnawed at my insides as I entered his office and closed the door behind me. Dante was facing the window but turned back to me. For a long time his blue eyes scanned my face. “Thomas did not show up for the meeting I had called.”
I forced my face to remain expressionless. “THAT?”
“The men I sent for him found him dead in his living room. Poisoned.”
“And Bibiana?” I asked, trying to sound worried and shocked. She had not texted or tried to call me. It would have been too risky anyway.
“She’s with her parents now, but now I’ll have to go there for questioning.”
I froze. “Why?”
“Because as Chief I have to investigate when one of my men is killed.” Dante slowly advanced toward me. “Sure, I’m pretty sure I know what happened.”
I lifted my chin as he stopped in front of me. “Fairies?” I sustained his gaze, anything else would have looked guilty to me, though it was probably too late for that anyway.
“You are Bibiana’s best friend and you wanted to help her .” I didn’t say anything but he didn’t seem to expect me to. She continued in the same quiet, calm voice. “Antonio gave you poison when he asked you to kill me, didn’t he?”
I thought about lying to him, but I needed him on my side and he would not take kindly to being lied to. “Yes,” I said softly.
“You didn’t tell me about it because you knew it was your chance to help Bibiana, so you told her and told her to blame it on Raphael.”
“Did she say that?”
“She said Raphael went to see them yesterday when my men took her to her parents, but she was too hysterical to say much.”
Was Bibi regretting what she had done? Or had her breakdown been just a show? “Then why don’t you think it was Raphael?” Dante’s eyes narrowed. “Because he would have mentioned it when I questioned him.”
I nodded. “So what now?”
Dante shook his head. “Damn it, Valentina. You should have come to me.”
“I came to you. I asked you if there was anything you could do against Thomas, but you said no.”
“You asked me to kill him, and I told you I couldn’t because he wasn’t a traitor.”
I scoffed. “As if that matters. You are a murderer, Dante. You can kill whoever you want. Don’t tell me you’ve never killed for reasons other than protecting the Organization.”
Dante grabbed me by the shoulders, bringing us even closer together. ” Of course I have. But I told you no, and you should have listened to me.
“Because your word is law,” I said mockingly.
“Yes,” Dante said in a low voice. “Even for you.”
“I would do it again. I don’t regret freeing Bibi from that cruel bastard. I only regret that I had to go behind your back, but you left me no choice.
Dante’s eyes flashed. “I left you no choice? You can’t go around killing my men!”
“He had it coming. You should have seen what he did to Bibi.
You should have wanted to kill him for the way he treated an innocent woman, wife or not.”
“If I killed all the men in the squad who treat women badly, I would be left with half my soldiers. This is a life of brutality and cruelty, and many soldiers do not understand that as Made Men we should protect our family from that and not unleash our anger on them. They know that I do not approve of their actions. This is all I can do.
“But I was given a chance to do something and I did it.”
“You helped a wife kill her husband. Some men in my position would find it disturbing to be with a woman who does not hesitate to use poison.
My eyes widened. “I gave Bibi a chance, a choice. That does not mean I would kill you. I would fight you if you ever treated me the way Tommaso treated Bibi. Thomas played on Bibi’s weakness. She had given herself to that old bastard when she was only eighteen and had never known how to defend herself against him. He had four years to be a better man, to treat her decently. He failed. Our marriage has nothing to do with theirs. You don’t need to beat me and rape me to feel like a man, and I wouldn’t let you. And anyway, I’m not vindictive, otherwise I wouldn’t have digested how you’ve treated me over the past few months, how you’ve accused me of betrayal.
And Bibi never loved Thomas, so-” I interrupted myself, closing my lips. The last part was not to escape.
Dante’s fingers on my shoulders loosened. I looked away from his piercing gaze, unable to bear it.
“I’m not afraid that you might poison me. As I said before, I trust you,” he said after a while, dropping his hands from my shoulders. “But I will have to investigate the death of Thomas.”
“You’re not going to punish Bibi, are you?” I asked, terrified.
“Please, Dante, if you care about me, you will declare that ‘Thomas’ murder is related to traitors and that Bibi is innocent. He’s been through too much already.”
“Perhaps there are people who do not believe that Bibiana was not involved in the death of Thomas precisely for the reasons you said earlier. She had reason to hate him. She had reason to kill him.
“Then you blame me. I could have done it behind Bibi’s back to help her.
“Then what?” asked Dante in a low voice.
“Then punish me and not her.”
“What if the punishment for such a crime is itself death? An eye for an eye, Valentina.
I stared at him, tears in my eyes. “Don’t hurt yourself, Bibi. Just , don’t. Without me, he would never have found a way to kill him . It was my fault as much as his. I will share whatever punishment you inflict on her.
“I’m afraid you say that because you know I won’t punish you,” Dante said, with a grim smile on his lips.
“You won’t?”
Dante kissed me hard, then pulled back and lightly brushed my abdomen. Was it because of our baby? Or was I reading too much into the gesture? Or maybe he had touched my stomach by mistake. “As long as I rule the Outfit, you will not be harmed.”
He took a step back. “Now I have to go talk to Bibiana.”
“Let me go with you,” I said quickly.
“Your father and my Counselor will also be there, so don’t interrupt me. I don’t want them to suspect you. Your father would ignore us, but I would hate to have to force Rocco into silence about this.
*** It had been a while since I had been in Bibiana’s childhood home. I never liked her parents very much. The situation had not changed when they had forced Bibi to marry an old man. My father and Rocco Scuderi were waiting for us at the door.
When we approached, Father hugged me, kissed me on the temple and pressed his palm to my abdomen. “So how are you?”
I could feel Dante’s eyes on us. Scuderi was also watching with hawkish eyes. I wasn’t sure if he knew about my pregnancy. It was not yet public knowledge, but soon it would be hard to hide. A closer look was already enough to arouse suspicion. “I’m fine,” I said in a whisper. Dad nodded, then stepped back. “Are you here to support Bibiana?”
I nodded to him, but was distracted when the door opened and Bibiana’s parents welcomed us into their home.
Bibiana was in the living room, wrapped in a blanket. I rushed to her and pulled her into a tight hug. “I did it.
I really did it,” she whispered in my ear.
“Shhh,” I murmured, patting her back. When I pulled away, Dante, my father and Rocco Scuderi were standing beside us. Bibi stiffened, her eyes fearful as they darted between us. Her parents lingered in the doorway. If Bibi had been my daughter, I would not have left her by her side at a time like this.
“I am here to question you because of Thomas’ death.
It’s standard procedure. Everything will be fine,” I told her.
Dante approached us. “It would be better if we could have a word alone with Bibiana,” he told me. Bibiana’s parents left without a word of protest. I got up but did not move.
Dante’s pleading look made me back away a few steps.
Bibiana stood up, then looked fearfully at Dante who was standing in front of her. She was practically cowering, which brought out my protective side, but Dante gave me a warning look. He wanted me to trust him, to let him handle the situation, and I knew I had no choice. After an encouraging smile at Bibi, I walked out of the living room, but didn’t go far. I leaned my ear against the door, trying to listen to their conversation. They were speaking too softly, which would have been a good sign under normal circumstances. No raised voices should be a good thing, but Dante was more dangerous when he was quiet.
Fifteen minutes later, I heard footsteps approaching the door and quickly stepped back. Dad opened the door and motioned for me to come in. “Everything’s fine,” he said seeing my worried expression. I entered. Bibi sat on the sofa, her cheeks wet with tears, while Dante and Scuderi stood by the window, talking in low voices. I rushed over to her and sat down. She immediately grabbed my hand and I shook it.
Her parents entered when Dante turned to us. “The men most likely responsible for Thomas’s death are dead.
There is no punishment to hand out, so I declare the case closed.” I almost keeled over with relief.
“Does this mean we can look for a new husband for our daughter? Lately the habit of waiting a year has been loosening, ” Bibiana’s father said, obviously referring to me. That bastard. Bibiana had just gotten rid of a husband they had chosen for her and they were already anxious to find a new one.
Dante’s grim look in response made the other man lower his head . “Bibiana is pregnant with Thomas’s child.”
My eyes flew to Bibi, who gave me a small, happy smile. “I suspected it for a long time, but this morning I got confirmation,” she whispered .
It looked like her parents had been punched. They could hardly marry a pregnant widow. It would be in bad taste. Bibi faced their disappointed looks head-on. “I will not move back in with you.”
“I give you my word that your daughter will be safe in the home she shared with Thomas,” Dante said.
I had to hide a smile. Bibi’s parents could not discuss it . After that, Dante and I took Bibi back to her home.
Although we did not talk about what had really happened, Bibi’s relieved expression left almost no doubt. She tried to look solemn whenever she remembered herself, but most of the time her relief was too strong.
I was glad that Dante knew the truth. He would have understood it anyway. When Bibi got out of the car and we were driving home, I put my hand on his leg.
Dante’s eyes revealed surprise. I usually honored his reluctance to publicly show affection. “Thank you for helping Bibi.”
“I did it for you,” he said simply. It was probably as close as I could get to a statement of what – love? Affection? I would never get from him.
“Thank you.” I pulled my hand away again and rested it in my lap, but Dante caught me by surprise when he took it, brought it to his face, and kissed me on the knuckles. My breath caught in my throat and immediately tears came to my eyes. Such a small gesture should not have meant so much, but it did, and the pregnancy hormones did not help. Dante did not let go of my hand and gave me a questioning look. “Valentina? Are you okay?”
“It’s the hormones. I’m sorry. Just ignore me.”
Dante placed our intertwined hands on his thigh and guided with one hand. He did not comment as I wiped my eyes and pressed my free hand against the small protuberance of his stomach.