Chapter 62

Domenico POV: 

Pack of vipers that lay below my feet you would think one of my daughters, my flesh and blood, the fruit of my loins would have any amount of loyalty for the man who gave them life. No, not only did my eldest have to be bewitched by that Italian fuck, but my youngest in her naive stupidity had gathered evidence on me to put me in jail. The only pride I took was in their vengeance, even though I was their father they saw me as a threat and both didn't hesitate to take care of it. Should I ask that they know better, of course, but what parent doesn't want their child to defend themselves? 

It bothered even me, a man who had raked innocents over the coals to build my empire, to strike my child. I wish hadn't had to do it, but she'd left me no choice, but to turn me in to the feds. I thought of that little neonazi blondie boy who'd been trailing us for years now. I could see the smirk on his Hitler youth face, as he put cuffs on me. Made me wanna hurl giving him the satisfaction, what a little toy soldier he was. Oh, I looked into him, top of his class, straight A's, 6 years in the Air Force, and applied to the FBI right away upon discharge. Earned two distinguished service medals for his efforts in aiding comrades under fire. He didn't even have a speeding ticket, which made me uneasy someone that good. I know I was the monster underneath the bed, but for someone to have no flaws he had to be a psychopath. 

To think my daughter might give that creep information about us. It was unfortunate, but it did explain a few things. I'd gotten word from the bank someone had been caught looking into accounts. Guilia must have sent someone to spy on us. It also explained why Hector had been picked up by the Fed, I think I'll let him rot for a couple of days. Normally when one of my longer-standing men gets in trouble I get them out with a snap of my fingers, but Hector wouldn't betray me. He knew better than to give up the account, and it wasn't like the cops knew anything about it.

 I had to focus on getting those two apart somehow, at least Guilia hadn't failed in getting the photos together. She had done one thing right, it still baffled me how she could believe she could take all this from me. I laughed to myself as I thought of it her in her little heels and sparkly outfits trying to boss around these louts. 

I sighed at how I failed her, I indulged her wishes and whims when she was younger in an attempt to keep her happy while I was busy at work. Then she became useful to my operations, but by that point, I had realized she didn't have what it took. I had spent years trying to punish Vanessa for leaving by dragging out the custody battle, even trying to intimidate her. We had made a deal to spend our lives together, and I did everything to give her the life she deserved. Then she stole our eldest in the middle of the night, she'd have taken Giulia too if she hadn't begged to stay. 

Regret swept over me as I thought of her so little in her nightgown sniveling as my man handed her over to me. She gripped onto me so tight as she sobbed about her mother's desperate escape, now I had struck that same little girl. 

Another part of me ranckled with anger, how far she betray me like that. I was the parent she code and now she changes her mind just as her mother did. Perhaps they were more alike than Giulia would care to admit. Only play the game when it suits them, but if the second thing doesn't go their way they want to run away. 

I had to figure out what to do with her. She was a nuisance, but her fiance. He still had a part to play, I could use him against his cousin. The one thing Giovanni cared for was his flesh and blood. 

All this started because that little brother of his opened the crate instead of him. If Giovanni had died like he'd supposed to I never would have been here. 

That still didn't solve my problem, what to do with Giulia. 

I moved the whiskey around in my glass pondering the possibilities. She'd been quite the issue ever since she put a bullet in her mother's head. I hadn't realized how much it had affected her until then. I sent her to watch over the interrogation, but she came back silent as the grave. 

Hector explained how she'd snapped and shot Vanessa, after hours of Vanessa holding out to protect Arianna. When Vaness started profusing her love for both of her daughters it drove poor little Giulia to the edge. I could understand it, she had left her so scared and alone. Then she fights to teeth for her sister, how much that must have stung. 

It brought Arianna back to us anyway. I don't think I'd ever have the nerve to do it myself, I can still picture Vanessa in the courtyard at college. Her hair was in the autumn wind before hiding her face in my arm to protect herself from the cold. She was such a realist I thought she'd stay the course. 

"You truly got the better of me," I toasted my wife wherever she'd ended up. 

Not only did Arianna have her brains and my ruthlessness, but Giulia had her wavering heart. Both of them are beautiful enough to start wars over. 

"What would you do my dear?" I asked her as she sat across from me staring blankly at me. 

No answer from the ghost of my past. Every time I drank her memory rose from the grave and tormented me, staying just out of reach. 

"I had to, darling. This was a step too far," I defended myself to the image that hung in the air. 

I could send her away, but then what about Marco? I could force her to participate but she's too loose of a canon. I could have her arrested but she'd tell the Detective everything. 

Oh, the troubles I faced. "It's all your fault you know," I smiled at her as she sat there still never speaking, only in my eyes. Disgusted with me for all I was, all I had sacrificed for our family, all I would hand over to our children. 

What to do about Guilia? 

Something had to be done, she couldn't stay here, she had to go. She hated to be on her own, hated to be locked up. She knew she deserved it though, knew she'd messed up. 

Perhaps this time you, she'll learn her lesson. It couldn't be here though, Marco would do what he could for her. I do believe he loved her, the devotion he showed her. It was the same one I gave Vanessa. What a sweet little fool he was, if he wasn't so useful I'd feel some sympathy for him. 

No, no this time Giulia would be sent away somewhere special.