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Romero frowns. “La Signora Barone was meeting someone for coffee or something.”
“What?” My blood runs cold, and my heartbeat slows. She mentioned last night that she may visit her mother today and go shopping with Louisa for baby things, but she didn’t mention anything about meeting anyone for coffee. She was travelling in the opposite direction from her mother’s house if she was going to the Westside. Then I remember. The first report Vance did on her detailed her meetings with Thomas. A small café in the Westside.
My heart shatters, but I don’t let it show. “Okay. Go on. What happened next?”
As Romero explains, the hurt spreads across my body until I’m numb. Francesca was going to see Thomas when the accident happened. She was going to have coffee with Thomas with my baby in her belly?
“Then another car appeared from the side and tried to ram into us; I swerved, and they missed. They missed a few times before they finally hit Signora Barone’s side of the car.
“Dutch, sweep Westside city and get me CCTV footage; we’ll need it to identify the vehicles.”
“Yes, Boss.” He slinks away.
“Vance, put together your fucking best team. I want Sal dead today.”
“Right.” He walks away.
I turn to Franco. “I will get divorce papers drawn up to end my marriage to your granddaughter.”
“What?”
If my heart weren’t hurting so badly, I would have laughed at the shock on his face.
“You heard me.”
“Is this about the little rat she was meeting with,” he asks.
I laugh darkly. “You’ve always been a smart man. It makes up for all your other shortcomings.”
Franco Barbieri grunts. “What do you want to say to me, Valentino? You orchestrated this whole mess so you could divorce her at the first hurdle? I didn’t peg you as the type of man to get jealous of a useless piece of shit.”
“Yes, Franco, I’m jealous. I burn with jealousy. But you know what? I’m done being jealous of that little maggot. I’m done letting Francesca turn me into an insecure mess. She wants Thomas so badly, let her have him.”
“You know you love her,” he says. “We both know you do. You always have. Don’t deny it to me.”
I purse my lips. “That doesn’t change anything.”
“Are you going to let go of someone you love so easily?”
There is no point in trying to explain a thing like love to Franco. He has never experienced it. I shake my head. I’ve endured this marriage with the ghost of Thomas lurking in every corner. Francesca brings him up in every disagreement, and it kills me.
Just three nights ago she fucking apologized to me. She said I never have to worry about Thomas again and that she’ll never bring him up. I believed her. I thought it was for real. But she was still seeing him in secret. She accuses me of cheating on her all the time, but she’s the one who is cheating. No wonder she’s so quick to point accusing fingers. I should have known.
Franco opens his mouth to speak, but I raise a finger to stop him and turn to my car.
“I want her out of my house as soon as she’s well. Also, the divorce process starts as soon as she can talk. I’m done with this.”
Before he can say anything else, I slip into my car and pull away.
Chapter Forty-Eight
VALENTINO
Thanks to Vance’s impeccable hunting skills, we get Sal’s location in under two hours and I’m in a vehicle on my way to him, my blood boiling with the need to avenge my child.
Roberto is beside me, while Dutch and Vance are in the front seats. Either Sal dies today, or I do.
I keep thinking about Francesca’s carelessness. Obviously, it’s not her fault that the accident happened, but if she hadn’t secretly gone to see that worthless maggot behind my back, it would never have happened. I can’t help blaming her for the death of our child, and it makes me so angry and hurt that I swear I never want to see her again.