During a morning meeting with my captains, except for Thomas who had not shown up, to discuss the traitor situation, my phone rang. It was one of the men I had sent to check on Thomas. “Have you found him?”
“He’s dead. We found him only in his underwear on the floor of the living room of his house. His wife got scared for us.”
“Where is he now?”
“Still in hysterics in the kitchen.”
“Take her to her parents.”
I hung up, then called the doctor and sent him to take a look at the body. I knew what he would find. I had never asked Val to hand over the vial of poison that Antonio had given her.
She must have given it to Bibiano in order to kill her husband.
Giovanni, Rocco, and my captains looked at me in curiosity. “T ommaso has been found dead.”
“Did the traitors kill him?” asked Giovanni.
“We don’t know yet. Let’s postpone this meeting. We have discussed the most important aspects of the matter. I have to take care of it.”
I got up and everyone did the same.
I walked out of Rocco’s office and across the hall . Footsteps resounded behind me. I turned around. Rocco. ” Did Antonio or Raffaele reveal plans to kill someone else?”
I gritted my teeth as I pondered my answer. It would have cast suspicion on Bibiana if Tommaso’s death had not been linked to the coup. Val would have been absolutely heartbroken if anything had happened to Bibiana. I would not have hurt her. But she would have been prevented. She would have had to leave our circles at the very least , kicked out of everything she knew.
“They said they planned to kill other loyal followers, but they died before I could extract any more details from them.”
Rocco frowned. I was usually good at getting people to stay alive long enough to reveal all their secrets, but yesterday had been a catastrophic day and even I was not beyond failure. I hoped this would appease him. He nodded, but his eyes remained curious.
On my way home, the doctor called me, telling me what I suspected: Thomas had been poisoned.
The moment I saw Val, anger rose in me. He should have confided in me before doing such a stupid thing. If Bibiana had behaved suspiciously, Tommaso could have foreseen her plan and killed her in anger. She would have revealed Val’s involvement under duress, and then I would have had to deal with Thomas to keep Val out of the line of fire.
Not that the current situation was much better.
“Valentina, I’d like to talk to you,” I blurted out and started toward my office, looking out the window.
Val’s heels clicked on the floor. I turned to face her.
Concern rippled in her eyes. She was an intelligent woman. She knew something was wrong.
“Thomas didn’t show up for the meeting today.”
Val actually pretended to be stupid, which did not suit her at all. She tried to deny everything, which was useless. When she realized that she could not fool me, she finally admitted that she had given the poison to Bibiana without an ounce of remorse. ” 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.”
“I left you no choice? You can’t go around killing my men!”
“He deserved it. 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 Army who treated women badly, I would end up 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 this, and not unleash our anger on them. They know that I do not approve of their actions. That’s all I can do.” It was a sad truth. I despised many of my men for the way they treated their wives.
In fights I usually made sure to save these men for last, but I could not kill them directly.
“But I was given a chance to do something, and I did it.”
“You helped a wife murder her husband. Some men in my position would find it disturbing to be with a woman who does not hesitate to use poison.”
“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 took advantage of Bibi’s weakness. She was given to that old bastard when she was only eighteen years old, and she never knew 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 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 swallowed the way you’ve treated me in recent months, the way you’ve accused me of betrayal. And Bibi never loved Thomas, so…” I had to look away from Val’s eyes for a moment. Her love for me-I didn’t want to deal with it now.
Things were complicated as they were.
“I’m not afraid of you poisoning me. As I said before, I trust you. But I will have to investigate the death of Thomas.”
“You’re not going to punish Bibi, are you? Please, Dante, if you care about me, decree that the murder of Thomas is related to the traitors and that Bibi is innocent. He has already been through too much.”
“There may be people out there who will not believe that Bibiana was not involved in Thomas’s death, for exactly the reasons you said earlier. She was right to hate him. She was right to kill him.”
“Then blame me. I could have done it behind Bibi’s back to help her.”
“Then what?”
“Then punish me and not her.”
“What if the punishment for such a crime is itself death? An eye for an eye, Valentina.”
“Don’t hurt Bibi. Just don’t. Without me, she would never have found a way to kill him. It was my fault as much as hers. I will share whatever punishment you inflict on her .”
As if I had ever hurt Val. My feelings for her would always prevent that. Punishing Bibiana would have hurt Val. They were best friends. Val was fragile in her pregnant state. I did not want to cause her distress, any more than I had already caused her distress with my cold attitude. She deserved happiness and love. Although I wasn’t sure I could give her the latter, I would do my best to secure the former.
Thomas had been a loyal soldier. He deserved my protection. My oath as Chief involved protecting the Outfit and my men. To let others poison them would surely have broken my vow. Val’s eyes pleaded with me. I could not deny her, even if it meant betraying the Outfit. I would keep Bibiana’s secret.
For Val.
After questioning Bibiana and finding her innocent, Val and I were on our way home. Rocco and even Giovanni had been suspicious. Bibiana’s story did not completely add up, but my judgment was final and none of my men would risk my wrath for someone like Thomas. He had left no one who actually missed him. That was my luck.
Val put her hand on my leg, smiling relieved. She was grateful for what I had done. Her eyes shone brightly.
“Thank you for helping Bibi.”
“I did it for you.” I had hidden Bibiana’s involvement for Val, as if I had risked creating discontent among my people when I allowed her to work. I had betrayed the interests of the Outfit for Carla and now I was doing the same for Val. How far would I have gone for her?
Would I have regretted betraying Outfit for Val? I doubted it.
I had never regretted my previous betrayals. It was worth betraying my oath for Val.
During our next meeting, John and I listened to Rocco tell what he had gathered about the current state of mind among our soldiers after finding the traitors. A situation like this could have gotten out of hand because my men considered me exposed to attack or it would have consolidated my power.
Thomas’s death had been an additional risk, a risk I should not have taken. Despite his disgusting nature, he was much loved by the captains and soldiers for his tendency to offer them free prostitutes.
His death had caused more rumors, more discord. He could have divided the Outfit if the truth had come out.
Rocco was still suspicious. He was too smart not to suspect something. He had not been present during the torture, so he was not aware of the details of the conspiracy.
Maybe he would even hide the truth as he had done with Jacopo, but I had absolutely no intention of trusting him with another one of my secrets.
Arturo knew that neither Raphael nor Antonio had mentioned Thomas as part of their plot, but he was very focused on a goal. As long as I allowed him to torture and kill, sometimes even an Outsider who bothered him , he had a lot of fun and was not a threat.
Rocco also would not investigate. He had everything he wanted.
Things seemed to have gone smoothly, yet I could not help but feel a sense of foreboding.
“Help! Help!”
Rocco fell silent. I leapt to my feet without hesitation, drawing my gun as I furiously exited my office. Rocco and Giovanni were behind me.
The moment I saw Valentina cradling her belly, pure fear ran through me. I rushed toward her, pushing the gun away . “Valentina? What’s going on?”
“It’s nothing. I didn’t want to disturb your meeting.”
Valentina’s rocking betrayed her words for what they were , a lie. I steadied her and registered the fluid that was making her pants darker. The baby.
Valentina could have lost this baby before I had even told her how happy I was about her pregnancy. Because of me.
Because of what I had put her through?
John hurried toward us, his face reflecting the worry that threatened to paralyze me. “Valentina?”
“We have to take her to the hospital,” Bibiana said abruptly.
I lifted Valentina into my arms.
“Your shirt. You’re making it dirty.”
As if I cared. I got into the car and told Enzo and T to go ahead, then rushed toward the ‘hospital.
Valentina was in pain and there was nothing I could do about it , only help her as fast as I could. “We should have put a towel on the seat. I’m getting it wet,” he said .
Valentina’s skin was pale, her eyebrows furrowed in worry and pain. “I don’t give a shit about the seat, or the car, or anything else right now. You are all that matters.” I needed to touch her, to feel her warm skin and make sure she would still be there the next day. I squeezed her hand. “We’re almost there. Are you in pain?”
“It’s no worse than before. It’s your baby, Dante. I have never cheated and I never will.”
My suspicion became horrible reality at Valentina’s words . “Is that the reason?”
Val looked at me curiously. “Do you think my water broke because I was angry with you?”
“I don’t know.” I would never forgive myself if Val lost our son. “I’m a fucking bastard, Val. If you lose this child…”
Val squeezed my hand as if I was the one who needed reassurance. The moment we arrived at the hospital, the doctors rushed toward the car. They cast nervous glances at me, knowing full well who I was.
I followed them inside but stayed in the hallway when they pushed Valentina into a treatment room. She gave me another encouraging smile. The moment she was gone, I ran a hand through my hair and let go a sharp breath.
“Fuck.”
Enzo hurried toward me. “We’re watching the doors for suspicious activity, boss.” He paused, looking at me . A hint of compassion appeared in his brown eyes. “Is she okay?”
“The doctors are checking on her now.”
“I’m sure she and the baby will be fine.”
I gave an abrupt nod, not wanting to show how much this upset me. Enzo nodded and turned away. I was glad to be alone, even if it again gave me time to hate myself.
Soon John and Livia rushed down the hall toward me. Val’s mother was crying openly, and John had to support her with an arm around her shoulder. When they reached my side, Livia hugged me tightly. I touched her back.
Giovanni gave me an apologetic smile. “How is she?” he asked .