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She opened the door to walk out, seething with rage.

“Signorina Mira.” Flavio called after her. She stopped and glanced back at him. He still sat with his back to her sipping his cappuccino. “I wouldn’t confront Giovanni with what you know. After all you do know what kind of man he is.”

Mira left the bastard. Her heart hammered in her chest. How could Fabiana do this? Why?

Lorenzo paced. Angry, ashamed, and bitter he ignored the murderous glare Carlo fixed on him. He had no time to deal with the rift between them. He and Carlo kept no secrets, but this thing with Calderone he had done solo. He knew his friend was hurt and confused by his actions. All of it would have to wait. Angelo Calderone had a bullet with his name on it, and he itched to pull the trigger to unleash it. How dare he come to their home on Catalina’s wedding day and disrespect his family this way? How dare he? He paced more. They’d been waiting for an eternity. He was on edge.

“Where’s Domi?” Lorenzo checked his watch.

Carlo twirled the toothpick in his mouth but didn’t answer. Nico and the others sat around in silence. They all watched him. The door opened and more of the topcapusin the family entered. Dominic wasn’t among them. He was now underboss, so he should be leading the troops to the General. It burned Lorenzo’s guts that Dominic had details Lorenzo felt he should rightfully know.

“Is it true?” Carlo asked.

Lorenzo paused. He looked up at his friend. “Is what true?”

“That all this time you were Giuseppe’s cowardlyputtana!”

“Vaffanculo!” Lorenzo seethed, his teeth clenched.

Carlo chuckled and a few others did as well, furthering his humiliation. He took a step toward Carlo, and his friend rose from his lean against the wall. The dark malevolent smile spreading across Carlo’s lips indicated he thirsted for the fight. Giovanni and Dominic entered the room and both paused at the rigid stance of both men. The others fell silent.

Giovanni’s gaze volleyed between Carlo and Lorenzo. Both men backed away. He turned his attention to Dominic. “Where’s Flavio?”

“He should be here shortly.”

“Find him now. Everyone needs to hear what I have to say.”

“We need to talk!” Mira took hold of Fabiana’s arm. She dragged her from what appeared to be a polite conversation between Fabiana, Aurora, and a few other women in the Battaglia family. She marched toward the only door available to them, the double stone and wood carved ones that led out of the front of the estate. Battaglia family members were saying their goodbyes and loading up in their cars.

“What on earth is wrong with you? Ow! That hurts!” Fabiana backed away on the gravel circular drive with a look of confused intolerance on her face. Mira struggled with her anger. She was caught between tears and outright rage. She marched down the front steps and Fabiana backed away. The few men outside around the parked cars all stared at them.

“You lied to me didn’t you? Didn’t you? You’ve been lying to me for weeks!”

“What are you talking about?”

“Never, ever would I believe you would do something like this. Which is probably why it was so easy to feed me this bullshit.”

“Would you calm down and tell me what has you so crazy right now? What have I done?”

“Did you or did you not conspire with Giovanni and Lorenzo to convince me that the Italian Republic had my store closed?”

Fabiana’s eyes stretched. “Who told you that?”

“Answer me dammit! It was all a lie. Was that man who came here an officer of the courts or just some clown in a suit? What did Giovanni give you to sell us out of our business so he could get access to those cellars? What? Did my fucking him become part of the deal too?”

“Stop.” Fabiana shouted, she looked around at the others watching then stepped in close to Mira. She spoke with a lowered but exact manner that made Mira a bit wary too. “Don’t say another word. We can’t have this conversation out here. People are watching. Do you understand me?”

Mira summoned control, but the angry disappointment caused tears to fall. Fabiana spun and looked around at those watching. She marched to one car to yank open the door then another, but most if not all were locked. Ahead was a tow truck, on the back of it a shiny sports car that was dropped from its platform. Fabiana grabbed Mira’s hand and dragged her to the car. The men looked a bit confused when Fabiana began to speak to them in an angry loud manner. They exchanged looks, unsure of her request. Fabiana snatched the keys from one and opened the door. “Get in Mira. Now.”

“Where are we going?” Mira demanded.

“Get the hell in so we can talk. In private.”

Mira got in the car, and Fabiana slammed the door then walked around the car and got in on the other side. The men stood outside observing. The younger one eventually signed whatever paperwork before him and walked off.

“I want to explain.”

Mira dropped her head back and sighed. “I’m such an idiot. This man was playing me from day one. He told me he wanted that store, and I just fell in bed with him, believed his bullshit.” She glanced over. “Why Fabiana? Why lie to me?”