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He keeps pushing me. “So if your lady obsession walked in tonight you’d make a move?”

I think for a moment. The idea of making a move on Giovanna terrifies me. “Honestly? Probably not.”

Desperate to change the subject I delve into a topic I’ve been wanting to bring up with him. “Hey Massi, I overheard something the other night - “

“You need to be careful about repeating things you heard, Cheska. Seriously.”

“I know. I’d only ask you. It’s just that I heard Gio, Matty, and your Dad talking about Elio…”

He tenses and I can tell he doesn’t want to continue this conversation. “What about?”

“Matty said Giovanna would do a better job…”

“You shouldn’t have heard that and you should forget it,” he snaps.

Awkward. Things haven’t been the same between us since I learned he was babysitting me with a hefty dose of manipulation while we were in London. I know we’ve had lots of shit to deal with but I miss my carefree friend. Massimo is way too serious and stressed in Australia.

We fall into a people-watching silence and sip on our drinks. It’s still pretty early in the night so the dance floor isn’t packed yet, but there is plenty of entertainment on offer.

“Are you glad we came back?” I venture a new conversation.

“Mostly, yeah,” he agrees. “Weather is better for a start. Missed my family too. We had fun over there though, didn’t we?”

“We sure did.”Even though it was all a lie.

“How are you doing?” He asks gently.

“It’s been kind of a mindfuck to be dragged back here. On top of everything else, you know, seeing…well, just being in the same room…ashim…”

“I’m so sorry, babe. I’ll never let him hurt you again. I promise.”

I give him a small smile. I believe him. I trust that he would take David out if it came to it. It’s all the other hurt that he can’t help with. All the collateral damage that has torn me up for eight years.

“No one did anything, Massimo,” my voice cracks. “They just sent me away. He had…no consequences.”

“That’s not one hundred percent true,” Massi says cryptically. “Giovanna did.”

I frown. I’ve never heard this before. “What?”

“Yeah…she asked me what happened because our parents were keeping it under wraps. So I, uh, told her and she lost it. This was like two years after you left.”

“She did?”

“Yeah. You know what she’s like. Did you really think she would do nothing?”

Giovanna has always had a strong sense of justice and has always been more than ready to dole it out when the police and establishment fail to do so. Perhaps that’s why I feel so hurt by her apparent inaction in both the David situation and my forced marriage. I expect more from her. More than anything I crave her protection. “I didn’t even know if she knew. For all I knew, they buried it after they put me on a plane.”

Massimo rests his forearms on the table and leans toward me. Lowering his voice he tells me, “Babe, Giovanna broke every single one of his fingers and gave him the beating of his life.”

Stunned doesn’t even begin to describe how I’m feeling. I’m speechless and overcome with a cocktail of competing emotions. There’s pure relief that someone actually did something, anything. Discomfort loiters around the edges as I realise that the knowledge that Giovanna avenged me fills me with warmth. I must be a mafia brat through and through to get warm and fuzzies from such violence.

“Does Sandy know?” I finally ask.

“He was there. Your Dad tried to intervene, but Sandy stopped him and let Giovanna thrash him.”

Bitterness floods my emotional cocktail and I sneer sarcastically, “Cheers Dad.”

We sit in silence, processing our heavy conversation in the middle of a busy gay bar. It’s amazing how much lighter I feel knowing that he suffered just a little bit because of what he did. He wouldn’t have been able to wipe his arse for months. Just imagining Giovanna unleashing on him gives me a boost of strength that I haven’t felt in a long time.