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He found one of the empty suitcases he used for their honeymoon, then began to pack his clothes from the dresser drawers.
"Are you leaving me?" Tessa asked as she appeared standing in the doorway.
Matteo pulled some shirts off hangers from the closet, then stopped and looked at her. "Yes! Because if I stay here, I'll blow my fucking brains out!"
Tessa cried out and rushed to Matteo, gripping the front of his shirt. "I love you, Matteo! I always have since the first date you took me on two years ago! I don't care if you have a girlfriend because they come and go. They just want what they will never have - a handsome, charming, intelligent man with a heart of gold. I am your wife, Mrs. Theresa Andolini, and I go wherever you go."
She let go of Matteo's shirt and stepped back when he let out a high-pitched laugh and started to giggle. Then he dropped the clothes in his hands, fell to his knees, and began sobbing. "You don't want to be married to me, Tessa. I'm gay!"
Tessa's brows creased, not comprehending what Matteo had just confessed. Then her hands clamped over her mouth in shock.
"I've been gay for as long as I can remember. I was good at hiding it from everyone, my friends and family. I wasn't out with a girlfriend last night. Salvo found me in a gay bar in Brooklyn. I'm sorry for saying all those horrible things to you last night."
"Shh," Tessa interrupted and knelt on the floor with Matteo, then placed her hands on his cheeks, which were wet with tears. "That doesn't change how I feel about you, Matteo. We can talk about it and take it one day at a time. I don't want to lose you."
Matteo smiled and said, "I love you too, Tessa." As he wrapped his arms around her. "But I can't stay here, or I'll go mad!"
"Why? What happened at your father's house?"
"My father knows now that I'm gay, and he hit me, just as Salvo did last night."
"I'm so sorry, Matteo!"
"I am no longer Enrico Andolini's son. He has disowned me. And Salvatore Falco, the man who was like a brother to me, who I trusted with my own life, just took it all. He swore to my father that he would be his son, carry on the Andolini family empire, and be the next boss."
He grabbed Tessa's arms as she stared at him in disbelief. "I need to get away from here, Tessa. Come with me!"
"But where will we go?"
"I don't know and don't care. We have plenty of cash. Let's pack some clothes and leave this wretched city. Start a new life together somewhere, anywhere."
"But what about my family?"
"It's not like we are going into hiding. Just let your family know we are taking a long vacation for a few weeks."
Tessa nodded and smiled, wiping away her tears.
After packing a suitcase, they left the house, locked the front door, and walked to the car parked in the driveway. Tessa climbed into the passenger side while Matteo put the suitcases in the car's trunk. She smiled, watching him with a little more pep in his walk as he came around the car to the driver's side and climbed in.
He buckled himself in, leaned toward Tessa to pull her seat belt, and kissed her as he latched hers in.
"This will be a new adventure, just you and me, my dear wife." He said, grinning with happiness.
Matteo felt something, and as he turned to look out his side window, a gun barrel appeared.
"Goodbye,fanook," came a man's voice, then the loud bang of a gunshot rang out.
Rivulets of Matteo's blood and bits of flesh sprayed inside the small car and splattered all over Tessa. Then Matteo's body slumped over, and the back of his head landed on Tessa's lap.
The man with the gun disappeared.
Tessa looked down at her husband's dead eyes staring up at her and screamed.
CHAPTER 11
One Week Later
Salvo stood with his hands clasped before him as he looked down at the closed coffin where Matteo's dead body lay. The heavy weight of guilt Salvo felt was overwhelming, and he squeezed his eyes shut, wincing at the pain he felt in his heart.
