Chapter 13
DANTE
Entering the house, I was relieved to see only Gina and Carlo, the former holding a sleeping Amina while the latter had his own daughter sitting on his hip.
Anna immediately rushed towards the other woman and bundled her daughter into her arms, disturbing her slumber. "Sorry, and thank you for taking care of her."
Gina waved her gratitude away. "Not a problem, we're all family, right?"
Anna grinned but her eyes looked a little glazed. Amina, began to protest at being woken and I reasoned that she was probably hungry as it had been some hours since she'd been fed. "I might take her upstairs to feed and change her."
I turned to Carlo who was giving me the ‘we need to talk look'. "Five minutes and I'll be back.
Following Anna upstairs, I ensured she was settled with a drink, some food, and promises that I wasn't going to rip Gino apart with my bare hands, however, what I didn't promise her was that I wouldn't make him pay in my own way.
"You're sure you have everything you need?"
"Everything," she replied, getting to her feet and landing a kiss to my cheek whilst still cradling Amina.
"Get used to it, mia ragazza."
She smiled, reaching up to rub her hand across my cheek. "I love you, Dante, always have and no matter what happens, nothing will change that."
A ball of emotion clogged my throat making it difficult to speak never mind breathe. "And I you, both of you." I looked at my watch. "I have to meet with Carlo, but I swear, I am going to give you the world, Anna, the moon, the sun and the stars, all of it." Kissing the top of her head, I meant every word and although I couldn't physically give her those things, I would give her all the things she needed. "And you . . ." I leaned down to land the gentlest of kisses to Amina's hand that looked so tiny and frail against my much bigger one. The contradictory image of the soft and innocent hand against mine that had known such violence and bloodshed wasn't wasted on me. I felt unexpected tears well as the baby's hand closed to form a fist around my finger, claiming my heart, just as her mother had all of those years before. "I'll be as quick as I can."
Anna nodded.
My attention was returned to Amina who still held my finger as she smiled up at me. "Quicker than you could believe, okay? Papa will be back."
Amina laughed while I wondered where the fuck those words had come from, but jeez if they didn't sound perfect as they made my heart swell. Panicking slightly, I returned my gaze to Anna who smiled as tears rolled down her cheeks. "Papa will be back soon," she told Amina who at that precise second released my finger, allowing me to go and take care of business.
My brothers were waiting for me and Carlo when we arrived at the compound.
"How's Anna?" Luca asked.
"Yeah, freaked out, but okay . . . look, I know this probably doesn't need saying, but what you all know doesn't leave this room. I don't want people to know Anna and Amina's business unless Anna shares it with them. Amina needs to never know the horror of how she came to be."
They all nodded.
"Carlo, can you arrange for Amina's birth to be reregistered, she needs a father?"
My eldest brother frowned and in that instant I understood his confusion – he thought I was talking about Gino. I wasn't. He would never be known to Amina.
"Me, I am her father."
A couple of them opened their mouths but didn't speak which was a wise decision.
"She is mine, in every way that matters, and to the world she will be mine. She is mine, are we all clear?"
A chorus of yeses followed before Carlo grabbed the phone and began arranging things.
"So, what next, Gino?" Carlo asked.
"I want to kill him, to rip him limb from limb, but that would be too easy, plus, Anna doesn't want that."
"Aldo had the right idea," Tony said.
"Shame he didn't speak to us," Joey said with a shake of his head. "He should have trusted us."
"Anna forbade him. Again, her story to tell, not his."
Joey didn't look convinced. "She chose to have him cast out and a target put on his back."
"I am not discussing this. We need to discuss what happens now, not then."
"Okay, tell us how we do this then."
Within an hour I was knocking at Gino's door. Cara and the children greeted me warmly, although Cara looked nervous, presumably after what happened with Anna. I couldn't help but notice the bruise rising on her cheek, presumably the result of Anna's punch.
"Can we talk?" I asked her and she looked unsettled by my request. "There's nothing to worry about, I want to check you're okay and to explain a few things."
She shooed the children into their playroom and led me into the garden.
"I know you and Anna met this afternoon."
She laughed. "That's one way to put it, Dante."
"I have no issue with you and the kids and you are all welcome to stay here, but Gino has to go." It would probably be easier for her and Anna if she left, but if she didn't want to, then I would honour my offer.
She looked ready to interrupt but I continued with my prepared speech.
"Non-negotiable. He attacked Anna, hurt her and lied to her about me . . . she was pregnant with my baby. Nobody knew, not even me at the time, but he hurt her and when Aldo found out, well you know what happened, but he wanted to protect Anna so remained silent, and he didn't want you and your children to be faced with the knowledge that your husband, their father was a bad man, but he is."
"But where will we go if he can't remain here?"
It was my preference that they all left but I wouldn't put an innocent woman, and she was innocent, and her children out on the streets. "For you, I will buy you a home away from here, and you can either allow Gino to live there with you or if you would prefer, I can arrange for him to remain in a facility where he can be cared for until his death."
Her eyes were wide and a little wild as she tried to work out if I had a time frame on his death. I did. Gino's life expectancy had been reduced by the extent of his injuries and now his actions would reduce it even further, but it would be done in a way that to the outside world it would be an infection he couldn't fight, or more likely a health complication.
"It's hard to care for him."
With a nod, I pulled her in and hugged her. "Then let me know where you'd like to move to and how close you want his facility to be and it will be done by the end of the week. Oh, and Cara, don't worry about you and the children, your allowance is safe, unless you decide you no longer want it, perhaps if you remarry in the future."
I was up on my feet, phase one of the future already executed.
"Thank you, Dante, and please apologise to Anna, for earlier, and congratulations on the baby."
"Thank you, but before I go, I'll see Gino for the final time."
My feet carried me with speed to the room at the back of the house that was now Gino's bedroom. Usually I would knock, but not today, I walked in without a second thought and unlike on previous occasions, I felt no pity or sorrow at the sight of him in his hospital bed. Rage was the only thing I felt, so much so that I had to pause and take a deep, calming breath as I allowed thoughts of Anna and Amina waiting for me back home to enter my head. Gino looked at me and although it was fleeting, fear entered his eyes.
I wasted no time in striding towards him, looming over him. "You absolute piece of shit!" In an instant I was raging. "I should fucking slaughter you, to tell everyone what a cunt you are and the depths you sank to. Anna. She was my Anna. What you allowed me to do to Aldo . . . and all of the time I should have rewarded him for what he did to you. So, what is going to happen now is that you are going to leave here, you and your family."
Tears glistened in his eyes at the mention of his family.
"They are safe and always will be, they don't deserve to be judged because of what you did. You need care that Cara can't, correction, doesn't want to give, especially now she knows just what you are, so while they live comfortably in a nice home, you will enter a facility where you will be cared for. However, one day when you least expect it, you'll die . . ." I pushed my fingers over the thing in his throat that facilitated his breathing and watched as he began to struggle. "And as you draw your last breath, I want you to think of all you had, all you could have had, and everything you lost as you make your journey to hell, you fucking rapist." Not trusting myself to remain as the life dimming in his eyes called for me to continue, I pulled my fingers away. The gasping sounds of him fighting for breath gave me a perverse sense of pleasure, knowing that one day there would be no more breaths for him, but disappointment that my face wouldn't be the last one he saw. Taking a step back, I paused, spat in his face, before turning away for the last time.