#42 - Failed

#42 - Failed

Luca Benedetti

My head felt heavy. I didn’t know if it was stress or the silence that made the air grow thicker as the drive continued. Inside the car it was only Victoria and me. I think she was still replaying what had happened, the shock on her face refusing to lie.

Then the tears started, quiet crying, no hiccups or the kind of drama that the situation didn’t allow. It was just that, raw, soundless, slow thick tears falling down the cheek marked by the slap she had taken.

I knew the stare fixed on the window wasn’t watching the city pass. It wasn’t the soft rain that had begun. It was a mind lost in thought, maybe in regret, if she felt the same as I did. And I knew she did.

Caterina Bellini had been left there, alone, with that lunatic. I felt flawed and powerless, and I knew for Victoria, leaving her best friend in that situation was a thousand times worse.

But I had no idea what to do or say to make things less disastrous. Comforting someone was never my strength or something I could boast about.

I knew control. I could map routes, close deals, even break a few bones now and then. My work was my life, and I gave it one hundred percent mastery.

Consoling a woman was different, something I definitely had no experience with, except for Lara, Vincenzo’s sister, whom I had come to care for like a sister for a while.

I looked at Victoria again. I wanted to touch her, hold her, tell her that Caterina would be fine because she was clever and would handle the situation better than all of us together. But my hand stayed stuck, as if glued to my thigh where it rested.

My whole life I never wanted distractions, since my role didn’t allow them unless I was willing to sacrifice something.

My loyalty to Vincenzo had been enough for years. But now something was forming inside me.

Victoria Marino had stunned me from the first time I saw her. She changed everything I thought I felt.

At Rosa Nera, when I went to pick up Lara Leone, I saw her. She was dancing, wearing a white leather jacket, her blond hair waved, and a red lipstick that took my breath away.

I heard the guards with me saying she was bold, didn’t follow mafia rules, and for that she wandered between the famiglias, making allies where she could.

I realized that was one of the rumors around her when I met Caterina.

She was fiercely loyal to the Bellini family, even though she wasn’t technically born into the mafia. That gave her value in my eyes.

When I saw her again at a ball, we were in Washington. I was doing a boring job for Vincenzo and I saw her in a red dress that made her stand out from everyone. Smiles, laughter, effortless charm. She was magnetic and fierce.

She was a commanding presence, someone you couldn’t ignore wherever she went.

I watched her talking to a judge known for his bad temper. No flirting, just pure friendliness and smooth talk. She could uncover anyone’s secrets with that pliable personality.

She moved among those people as if she had always belonged.

I introduced her to Vincenzo that day. He saw what I saw, he always admired someone who stood out by their own merit.

So I asked her to work for me. She accepted, tired of the dull life of a doctor next to the flashy life the mafia offered.

She gathered secrets, so Adrian wasn’t completely wrong. But he forgot to see that the famiglia she worked for wasn’t just any famiglia. The Leones were stronger when it came to weaponry.

Now, watching her dissolve into tears, I realized none of what I felt was professional.

My instincts, the ones I kept chained, screamed, make her feel safe. And that’s why I messed everything up.

I ignored Vincenzo’s orders, he told me not to get involved with Caterina without his knowledge. But that night, when Lara called asking for secrecy, I couldn’t hold back.

I added that to the fact that Victoria had been missing for a day, and I understood the nervousness Lara had reported from Caterina.

Just knowing Victoria and Caterina were in danger, I found a way to tell the Don I would need to help them. He, stuck in a meeting, trusted me to arrange everything and bring them back safely.

But he was clear that the priority was Caterina.

I disobeyed.

I was betraying Vincenzo’s trust for the first time.

When the car stopped at the Leone mansion gate, the price was already waiting for me on the porch. Vincenzo had returned by helicopter, leaving Boston the minute I learned what had happened. It was time to pay.

I saw his face harden when only Victoria got out of the car, visibly hurt. It must have been during the struggle between her and that coward Adrian.

He looked at her, then at my face. He checked the car interior, finding only empty seats, and I understood that maybe someone was already dead.

The Don brought his right hand to his forehead, the worry lines forming before an angry expression took over.

He came to me, grabbing my shirt. I didn’t even care, I knew I had failed.

“Where is she, Luca?” His voice was too calm, I knew that was a bad sign.

“Don, the situation was… it was complicated, Adrian was with Victoria, Caterina…” I started.

“I didn’t ask about Adrian,” he cut in. “I gave you ONE order, protect Caterina, and you left her alone in that nest of snakes?”

He let go, punching the side of the car, denting the metal.

Victoria’s eyes widened, frightened. I tried to speak, but everything I said only made him angrier, and I blamed myself as much as he did for not keeping my promise.

I acted selfishly.

“She saved me, Don Vincenzo,” Victoria said, pulling me out of my self-reproach trance. “It was a trap. Adrian used me to draw out Caterina. Nathalia Ferrari orchestrated everything. Caterina used your name to get me out of there. And she stayed behind to make sure I got out alive. She gave me her choice, Vincenzo. She swapped places with me.”

He ignored that and grabbed his phone, he seemed panicked. That unhinged me.

“Shit, Caterina, answer,” he said.

And then someone answered.

Vincenzo stood motionless, his knuckles white around the phone. Whatever he heard there changed his face. The anger turned into something darker.

He hung up slowly. “It was him. Adrian Monti.”

“What did he say?” I asked.

“He said Caterina couldn’t speak, that they had just reconciled. He said they were trying to have a child, that she needed to rest.”

A dirty hit, like all the ones he tried.

Vincenzo hit the car again, the joints of his hands bleeding raw. Then he said,

“If anything happens to her, Luca, the blame will be yours.”