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“I’m yourenemy?” The mocking sarcasm was dripping down his tongue and the worst part was the smile. I’ve never seen him like this and it was horrifying. “I’ve loved you since you were put in my arms when you were brought home from the hospital. You keep telling me how stupid we’ve been to keep seeing each other when everyone told us not to? I’m not a teenager, Grazia, I know the danger. Any of your brothers would shoot me if they’d know I’ve been sleeping with you under their nose because that’s the orders they have. I fucking know that, but I don’t give a shit. I chose you despite the danger.I’ve lived my entire life for you,so don’t you dare tell me I’m the enemy.”
I felt like Venus. Not the goddess; the statue, frozen in time, gripped by fear. This was not just a fight, it was frustration and anger, anguish and despair, years’ worth of feelings cascading over me. I felt ambushed and put down for no good reason.
“Salvatore, today is not the day.” He was emotional and we both knew that outside of the door he had to bottle everything up, and I was willing to do many things for him, but being a punching bag wasn’t one of them.
I moved back slowly to the table where my gym bag and my phone were forgotten last night, keeping my eyes on Salvatore like he was some kind of wild animal. To be honest, he wasn’t far from it.
When I got closer to the bedroom door, he snapped again.
“Don’t you dare go out that fucking door.”
“I have to leave. You know I have to.”
“You don’t have to do anything, you’re just making a choice,Tesoro, so choose wisely.”
“Are you threatening me?” I hissed.
“Gesù[28], woman, sometimes you leave me stupid with your words. If you leave, I’m done.”
“Done with what?”
“With you.”
The words hit me in the chest like an unleashed wrecking ball. I couldn’t say why. I’ve been waiting to hear them for years.
No, you lied. The treasonous voice whispered from a hidden corner of my mind.When you don’t want someone, you don’t go to them every time, over and over again. But Salvatore and I were like magnets. For years, we defied every piece of the wall that others built to separate us.Abbiamo sfidato il destino[29]. And every step of the way I lied to myself I didn’t want it.
“Salvatore, I have to go back home and you have to go be with your cousins, and your people, and say goodbye to your father. Look at me, please.” He stubbornly kept his head turned, so I walked to him and forced his eyes to look at me. “Today is the worst of your life. Tomorrow it will be a little better. We can talk when it’s a little better.”
“Nothing will be better tomorrow, Grazia!” The howl filled the room. “Tomorrow, I will have more enemies than ever before who will want to see my head off my shoulders. Tomorrow, I’ll get up on a throne I’m not ready for and you should be by my side.”
“You’re asking me…”
“I’m asking you to be mine. For good. Forever.”
“You’re asking me to start a war. A war with my family… my brothers!” I don’t know when the tears start, but they were feverish and thick rolling down my cheeks. “A war where you’ll take your gun and aim it against them.”
“I’d choose you over anyone, over my life. For once, I’m asking you to do the same.”
“Salvatore.” He was transformed, I could hear it in his voice and see it on his facial features.Sasawas gone, now I was speaking to theFiori Don, and he was merciless. “You can’t ask me to leave my family. It’s insane, stupid and heartless, and the Salvatore Fiori I know, has a good heart in his chest and a good head on his shoulders.”
“I don’t care if it’s insane. It’s your father or I.”
“It’s not just my father! I havesevenbrothers, and sisters in law, and nieces and nephews and you’re asking me to just… leave them. You really think I could do something like that? With no warning?”
“You did it to me. When Fabiano ordered you to break the engagement, you just did.”
For him to bring up that part of our life was a low blow. Those were not good days for anyone. It was chaos.
“I tried to talk to him.”
“Sure.” His eyes shifted swiftly to the door. “What’s it gonna be, Grazia Paulina Caputo? Me or them? Whose heart are you willing to break?”
Whose indeed.
“Rebecca is pregnant.” I said, in a weak attempt to plead my case. “Giovani is waiting for a daughter to name her after me. My brothers are my pillars, they keep me standing up straight. For you to think I could…” I didn’t finish. I couldn’t, because I could see every word was carving deep cuts in his already weakened heart.
“Leave.” He didn’t yell, but somehow the severity of that one word echoed through the room; maybe even the house. “Get out and go to them.”
