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.