“They mentioned that they had planned to kill more loyal followers but they died before I could extract more details from them.”
Rocco frowned. I was usually good at making sure people remained alive long enough to reveal all their secrets, but yesterday had been a catastrophic day and even I wasn’t beyond failure. Hopefully that would placate him. He nodded, but his eyes remained curious.
On my way back home, the doc called, telling me what I’d suspected: Tommaso had been poisoned.
The moment I saw Val, anger rose in me. She should have confided in me before doing something this foolish. If Bibiana had acted suspicious, Tommaso might have anticipated her plan and killed her in a rage. She would have revealed Val’s involvement under duress and then I’d have to deal with Tommaso 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 gritted out and stalked into my office, glaring out of the window.
Val’s heels clicked on the floor. I turned around to her. Worry swam in her eyes. She was a clever woman. She knew something was off.
“Tommaso didn’t show up at the meeting today.”
Val actually played dumb, something that didn’t suit her at all. She tried to deny everything, which was futile. When she realized she couldn’t fool me she finally admitted to giving Bibiana the poison without a flicker of remorse. “I would do it again. I don’t regret freeing Bibi of 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 how he treated an innocent woman, wife or not.”
“If I killed every man in the Outfit who treated women badly, I’d be left with half of my soldiers. This is a life of brutality and cruelty, and many soldiers don’t understand that as Made Men we should protect our family from it, and not unleash our anger on them. They know I don’t approve of their actions. That’s all I can do.” It was a sad truth. I despised many of my men for how they treated their wives. In fights I usually made sure to save these men last, but I couldn’t outright kill them.
“But I was handed the chance to do something, and I did.”
“You helped a wife murder her husband. Some men in my position would find it unsettling to be with a woman who doesn’t hesitate to use poison.”
“I gave Bibi a chance, a choice. That doesn’t mean I would kill you. I would fight you if you ever treated me like Tommaso did with Bibi. Tommaso preyed on Bibi’s weakness. She was given to that old bastard when she was only eighteen, and she never knew how to defend herself against him. He’s 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 vengeful, or I wouldn’t have swallowed how you treated me the last few months, how you accused me of cheating. And Bibi never loved Tommaso, so…”
I had to look away from Val’s eyes for a moment. Her love for me…I didn’t want to be confronted with it now. Things were complicated as it was.
“I’m not worried that you’d poison me. As I said before, I trust you. But I’ll have to investigate Tommaso’s death.”
“You won’t punish Bibi, will you? Please, Dante, if you care about me at all, you’ll rule that Tommaso’s murder was related to the traitors and that Bibi is innocent. She’s gone through too much already.”
“There might be people out there who won’t believe Bibiana wasn’t involved in Tommaso’s death, for exactly the reasons you stated before. She had reason to hate him. She had reason to kill him.”
“Then blame it on me. I could have done it behind Bibi’s back to help her.”
“And then what?”
“Then you punish me and not her.”
“And what if punishment for such a crime would be death in turn? Eye for an eye, Valentina.”
“Don’t hurt Bibi. Just don’t. Without me, she would have never found a way to kill him. It was as much my fault as it was hers. I will share whatever punishment you inflict on her.”
As if I’d ever hurt Val. My feelings for her would always prevent that. Punishing Bibiana would hurt Val. They were best friends. Val was fragile in her pregnant state. I didn’t want to cause her distress, not more than I had already caused her with my cold demeanor. She deserved happiness and love. While I wasn’t sure if I could give her the latter, I’d do my best to ensure the first.
Tommaso had been a loyal soldier. He deserved my protection. My oath as Capo entailed protecting the Outfit and my men. Letting others poison them most definitely broke my vow. Val’s eyes begged me. I couldn’t deny her, even if it meant betraying the Outfit. I’d keep Bibiana’s secret.
For Val.
After my interrogation of Bibiana and finding her innocent, Val and I were on our way home. Rocco and even Giovanni had been suspicious. Bibiana’s story didn’t completely add up but my judgment was final and neither of my men would risk my wrath for someone like Tommaso. He hadn’t left anyone behind who actually missed him. That was my luck.
Val put her hand on my leg, smiling in relief. She was grateful for what I’d done. Her eyes shone brightly.
“Thank you for helping Bibi.”
“I did it for you.” I had hidden Bibiana’s involvement for Val, like I’d risked discontent among my men when I’d allowed her to work. I’d betrayed the Outfit’s interests for Carla and now I was doing the same for Val. How much further would I go for her?
Would I regret betraying the Outfit for Val? I doubted it. I’d never regretted my previous betrayals. Val was worth betraying my oath for.
* * *
During our next meeting, Giovanni and I listened as Rocco recounted what he’d gathered on the current mood among our soldiers after we’d found the traitors. A situation like this could either spiral out of control because my men considered me open for attack or it would solidify my power. Tommaso’s death had been an additional risk, one I shouldn’t have taken upon myself. Despite his disgusting nature, he’d been well liked among the Captains and soldiers because of his tendency to offer them free whores. His death had caused the most rumors, the most discord. It could have split the Outfit if the truth had gotten out.
Rocco was still suspicious. He was too cunning not to suspect something. He hadn’t been present during the torture so he was unaware of the details of the conspiracy. Maybe he would even have hidden the truth like he’d done with Jacopo but I had absolutely no intention of trusting him with another of my secrets.
Arturo knew that neither Raffaele nor Antonio had mentioned Tommaso as part of their plot, but his focus was very single-minded. As long as I allowed him to torture and kill, occasionally even an Outsider that rubbed him the wrong way, he was well entertained and not a threat. Rocco, too, wouldn’t investigate. He had everything he desired.
Things seemed to have gone smoothly, and yet I couldn’t help but feel a sense of foreboding.
“Help! Help!”