Diavolo (Devil’s Playground #1)

28. Chapter 28

28

Elyse and Alessandro arrived at his father's home at a quarter to three. The Vitales' ancestral villa was built in a traditional Sicilian Baroque style with a highly decorated facade made of local volcanic lava stone. Husband and wife walked through the main courtyard. Dappled in the afternoon's sunlit golds, the garden was beautiful even though it was slightly unkempt, filled with decaying statues and aged fountains.

They entered the house. Two elderly gentlemen in black and gray suits led Elyse and Alessandro down several hallways. The tall, thin man introduced himself as Tommaso while the shorter, portlier one was named Bernardo. They entered a shadowy chamber together. Even though the sun was still shining outside, the curtains were drawn in the bedroom. It made the room feel stale, dim, and dark. A sense of inevitability permeated the air.

Vincenzo Vitale was resting on a plain four-poster bed in the middle of the room. Thin, graying hair framed a gaunt skeletal face. Elyse saw traces and hints of her husband's features in the shape of Vincenzo's nose and the cut of his jawline.

Yet, Alessandro was a vision of health and virility while every breath his father took sounded staggered and strained. Cancer had eaten away the old capo's vitality, giving his flesh the appearance of being smaller and frailer than his actual height and frame. Little more than a breathing corpse, he was a withering bag of bones. A fallen king waiting to meet his maker.

Elyse's heart went out to this man who, in a cruel twist of fate, had somehow become her father, too. Death was the ultimate unifier. It didn't pick and choose favorites. The reaper came whether or not souls were ready to depart. No rhyme or reason necessary. Out of respect for their new bond as family, she prayed that Vincenzo's final moments would pass in comfort, so that he might be relieved from the agony of his disease. Elyse was mostly a woman of science, not really one of God, but she felt quite certain that, if there was such a thing as an afterlife, a murderous felon like Alessandro's father was going to hell. The old fucker deserved a bit pf peace before he burned.

Alessandro cleared his throat." Questa è mia moglie, padre. " This is my wife, father.

A haggard voice croaked back, "La ragazza Graviano?"

Vincenzo was referring to her as the Graviano girl . Elyse stepped forward. "My name is Elyse Romero. This meeting feels long overdue."

Vincenzo opened his eyes. His dark gaze drifted around the room like a lost child for a while before settling on Elyse. "Come... closer... so I may see you."

Hesitantly, she shuffled over to the side of his bed. Vincenzo grunted his approval," Molto bella. " Very beautiful.

Alessandro's jaw clenched. Elyse muttered, "Thank you."

"Give... me... your hand."

Alessandro protested sharply, "Padre!"

"It's alright," Elyse said as she gave a look of reassurance in her husband's direction. She offered her hand to Vincenzo. He clasped it tight between thick, knobby fingers.

"Soon," her father-in-law stated in low, hoarse tones, "I will not be here."

Elyse swallowed ruefully. "I... understand."

Without releasing her hand, Vincenzo motioned to Bernardo. The roundish man brought forth a small red velvet pouch. From it, her father-in-law removed a delicate gold necklace with a small gold medallion attached to the chain. A coiled serpent wound between two swords was imprinted on the coin. The very one that was tattooed on her husband's chest. He dropped the necklace in her palm. "This is for you."

Graciously, she accepted the gift from the dying man. "Thank you. It's beautiful."

"This heirloom bears the Vitale family crest," Vincenzo explained. "You are one of us now."

The consequence of his words left a weighty feeling upon her chest, but Elyse forced a smile on her face. "I'll do my best to uphold the Vitale name."

"You must not let Alessandro fail," Vincenzo gasped at her anxiously, "our clan must not fall. There is much to be done. He is not up to the task—"

Elyse squeezed his cool, clammy hands in hers, partly to comfort him, partly to warn him. In a soft but firm voice, she interrupted, "Alessandro is your son, isn't he? You must have faith in him. I know I do."

Vincenzo's dark brown eyes tightened into straight and narrow slits. It was clear he didn't appreciate being cut off or reprimanded. "Know your place, nuora. " Daughter-in-law.

"Respect my wife," Alessandro growled, " or else ."

Vincenzo cast a derisive smirk at his son. "O cosa? Mi ucciderai?"

Alessandro reached inside his blazer to remove his Beretta from its holster. He placed the weapon on a nearby table, aiming the barrel at his father, without removing his finger from the trigger. "Do not tempt me."

Tommaso and Bernardo immediately pulled their pistols on Alessandro.

Gingerly, Elyse took her hand back from Vincenzo. She returned the necklace to the crimson pouch and tucked it inside her pocket. With a cool expression, she remarked, " Enough , gentlemen. This spike in testosterone is giving me a headache. Show some respect. There's a man on his deathbed. Put your guns away."

Reluctantly, scowling, Alessandro did as she requested, sliding his Beretta back in its holster. Tommaso and Bernardo followed suit with slow, cautious movements. Vincenzo drawled, "Is this how you allow your woman to speak in front of men?"

"Elyse is not Carmen," Alessandro retorted, "I do not intend to treat my wife as you have mistreated yours."

Her husband's comment prompted a shared look of unease between Tommaso and Bernardo. Elyse wondered what secrets they were keeping about Vincenzo and Carmen.

Vincenzo demanded, "Where have you taken your stepmother, by the way?"

"Salemi."

"What about Valentina?"

"With Carmen, of course."

Vincenzo sighed weakly, "A mother-daughter reunion. Heartwarming. Is the old bat guarding them for you?"

"Do not disrespect Malina. She is family."

Malina had advised them to remove Valentina from Palermo. The housekeeper felt as though his stepsister would be too much of a wild card, and Elyse agreed with her wholeheartedly. Valentina knew Alessandro too well and, therefore, might see through their plans before they could take root.

"Do you intend to kill them when I die?" Vincenzo asked point-blank.

"That will depend on them," Alessandro spat, "and how much they piss me off."

Vincenzo closed his eyes. His energy seemed drained. "I wish it was you who died. And not Renata. Sei una delusione per me, figlio mio, in ogni modo. "

Who was Renata? A question to be addressed later, for sure. Elyse turned her eyes upon her husband. His olive-toned complexion had gone pale with rage.

" Il sentimento ,"Alessandro bit back coldly," è reciproco ."

Elyse returned to her husband's side, placing a steadying hand on his shoulder. Tension thrummed from his entire body. She could sense the bad blood between Alessandro and his father boiling to a fever pitch. Elyse wanted to say something, do something, anything that might help pacify this simmering storm, but she didn't feel as though it was her place to intervene. Alessandro's history with his father seemed too fraught with unforgivable grudges, and what little she knew of it was volatile and twisted as hell. Still, she didn't want her husband to live with a lifetime of regret. Vincenzo's time was so limited. Blood was blood. Alessandro's every moment with his father felt numbered. Every word might be their last.

"Maybe we should say our goodbyes and take our leave," Elyse suggested, "your father probably needs to... rest."

Alessandro's fists clenched at his sides. He drew in a deep, shaking breath as though to calm himself down. "Can you give me a moment alone with him?"

"Of course."

She followed Tomasso and Bernardo into the hallway to wait for Alessandro. They closed the door behind them. As the three of them stood by, there was no shouting or gunshots from the other side of the wall. Elyse took this as a good sign.

Her husband emerged ten minutes later. Elyse's alarm levels rose at the sight of Alessandro. His mouth was tautly drawn, and his eyes held no shine. He didn't look right at all. She wondered what might have transgressed between her husband and his father to warrant such a reaction.

"We must go," Alessandro muttered under his breath, "if I stay any longer, I will sink a bullet in that man's skull before his illness takes him."

Alessandro held Elyse's hand in a death-like grip on the car ride home. He didn't utter a word. She didn't press him. Elyse understood Alessandro well enough by now to know that her husband needed time to withdraw within himself before he'd open up to her.

When they arrived back at the palazzo, Alessandro dragged her to their room, slammed the door shut, and locked it without a word. Swiftly, urgently, he swept her into into his arms. Alessandro whispered brokenly, "I need you."

Elyse's gaze softened. Her heart ached for him. She began to undress as well.

"Take me, then," she murmured back, "and let me help you forget."

It didn't take long for Elyse's cream-colored blouse and high-waisted pants to slip away, wisping down her curves in a rustle of silk and linen. Her bra and panties stayed on, though, as she stood before Alessandro. All golden skin and lush femininity. He watched her with dark, feverish eyes. He began to disrobe as well. Elyse strode toward him, wrapping her arms around his broad shoulders and rising to her toes to kiss him. Alessandro's lips caught hers in a desperate struggle for reprieve, for solace. Elyse melded every ember of love and tenderness that she felt for her husband into their kiss.

She wished to chase away Alessandro's sorrows, his anguish, if only for a short time, pushing them both with all her might toward a breathless state of lost-ness and found-ness. Alessandro groaned his pleasure as his hands drifted up and down her near-naked body. Elyse pulled away a moment later to tease a path along his neck and chest and stomach. She sank down, down, down to her knees until her lips were level with his cock. His heavy shaft thickened and twitched alive. Elyse gazed up at Alessandro with large green eyes framed by long, dark lashes.

"Hard and fast?" she offered huskily. "Or soft and slow?"

Alessandro's fingers tangled into her hair, winding and gripping her dark strands tightly, possessively, into his hands.

Her husband gasped with need, "Everything, cuore mio. I want it all."

Elyse's lips closed around his reddened, rounded tip. Alessandro moaned and shoved himself deeper into her mouth. She sucked him in. Her tongue swept along his hard, solid length in circling, swirling motions, stroking him to higher and higher levels of excitement. His large hands anchored themselves on either side of her head as he started fucking her mouth in earnest. Hard, deep, fast. Her eyes watered at the impact of his forceful thrusting. She couldn't swallow him whole even though the head of his cock was now hitting the back of her throat.

He pulled out of her mouth right as his shaft began to throb with an impending climax. Elyse fumbled with her bra clasp, stepped out of her panties, and threw aside her undergarments. Alessandro slipped a condom onto his veiny, throbbing dick and proceeded to throw Elyse over the edge of their bed with her breasts crushed to the mattress and her ass in the air. He took her from behind, positioning his cock at her pussy with all the eagerness of a beast in heat ready to mount his bitch.

Not even a second had passed when Alessandro drove into her. Elyse gasped and groaned as his girthy shaft split her walls, as her sex was forced to stretch and strain to accommodate his size. He pounded her in this rough, fraught manner for several minutes, grunting, panting, and muttering dirty, devilish Italian into her ear.

" Sei mia, mia, mia, da amare, scopare, adorare con il mio cazzo... "

"Alessio!" she whimpered as her mind spun with bliss, " oh, Dios, oh, Dios... "

Then, as suddenly as Alessandro had removed himself from her mouth, he slid out of Elyse yet again and flipped her around to face him. He picked her up from the bed, arms looping under her thighs as her legs wrapped around his waist and her arms snaked around his shoulders. Alessandro rammed his way back inside her.

He stood up to fuck her even deeper, harder, than before, as she clung to him in midair like a helpless ragdoll. His angle of entry was sharp and steep, and her clit kept rubbing against his lower abdomen as he pummeled in and out of her. Heavy, heaving breaths and the wet slapping sounds of their most intimate flesh coming together again and again echoed through the room.

In time, Alessandro laid Elyse back onto their bed. He climbed on top of her and re-entered again in good, old missionary.

"This is my favorite way to fuck you," Alessandro grunted as his cock pushed in and out of her in slower, more sensual movements.

"Why?" Elyse gasped in a cloud of lust.

He leaned down to kiss her. "Because."

"Tell me," she begged as he reached between their bodies to thumb her clit.

Her pleasure spiraled alongside every flick of his thumb and every piston of his cock.

"From here," Alessandro muttered with a semi-awed expression, "I can watch your breaths quicken and your eyes burn with need knowing that I am the one driving you to madness."

"You're right," Elyse whispered, "I'm mad for you."

" Dio ," he cursed softly, "I did not know what kind of man I wished to be until I met you."

She let out a slow, unsteady chuckle as her body continued to jolt in time to his thrusts. An overwhelming wave of love and joy bloomed within Elyse, but she didn't possess the courage to share such strong emotions with him. It would only muddy up their relationship even more, and the stakes already felt too high. What ifhedied before their plans came to fruition? Elyse didn't know if her heart would be able to weather such a tragedy. At least, not in a way where she might ever feel whole again.

"You would've found your way," Elyse mumbled, "with or without me."

His plunging cock slowed to a sweet, sluggish rhythm as he dragged himself in and out of her sheath inch by painstaking inch. Pleasure coiled and unfurled through her body like the world's most potent high. Bliss sang in her veins.

" No , cuore mio , I have been lost all my life," Alessandro said, "but I do not feel this way anymore. Because I have you at my side."

Her hands reached up to draw his face down for another kiss. She admitted, "I don't know if I ever want to leave you, Alessio, I don't know if I could bear it."

Her confession seemed to strike him hard. His brown and blue-gray eyes brimmed with a beautifully breathtaking emotion that she had never witnessed before. Alessandro began to fuck her with renewed vigor, thrusting, thrusting, thrusting at a quickening pace as though he couldn't contain his passion. Elyse soon came undone, her climax exploding from her core like a supernova. She cried out in helpless abandon. Her pussy milked her husband's cock in tight, gripping contractions, and Alessandro quickly groaned and shuddered and came as well in one of the longest and most intense orgasms she had ever seen him undergo during their lovemaking sessions.

Moments later, they lay together in a heap of post-fuck glory, skin beautifully slick from sweat and sex, minds hazy with bliss, hearts beating in perfect harmony. They napped for a while. Once they awoke, Elyse and Alessandro went to shower together and fucked some more. Hard and fast. Then, slow and sweet. Their games continued when husband and wife washed each other with soap and water. Afterward, Alessandro dropped to his knees in the wet, steamy stall and made love to her cunt all over again with his mouth and tongue and fingers until she came apart for the fourth time that day. Her pussy felt deliciously raw and wickedly overused, and her heart had never felt fuller.

When Elyse and Alessandro emerged from their bathroom, she wandered over to her husband and wrapped her arms around his waist from behind, pressing her cheek affectionately against his back. His voice rumbled happily at her touch," Cuore mio... "

Alessandro's spirits seemed slightly improved at the moment. It felt like a good time to approach him. Never had Elyse felt closer to another human being, and, foolishly enough, she desired to get closer still. Elyse longed to pick his brain, to learn his heart, so that she'd know how to instill him with strength for the trying times to come.

"Alessio?"

"What is it?"

Elyse hugged him tighter. "I'm sorry."

He asked, "About what?"

"Your father."

Elyse thought back to their turbulent meeting with Vincezo Vitale hours ago. Her father-in-law had been so full of spite and disdain even in his final fading days. A life of crime had hardened him too much to soften his demeanor in the face of death. It couldn't have been easy for Alessandro to be the son of a father like Vincenzo.

"Do not be sorry. I hope he dies soon. Painfully . And full of regret."

She grimaced. "Your feelings are… understandable. He's not an easy man to love."

Elyse reflected on her father. Robbie Romero had been a deeply flawed man, but he wasn't, at his core, an evil or hateful person. He had always loved her and taken care of her to the best of his ability. Unlike her husband, Elyse knew she would miss her father deeply whenever his time came. It was the reason why she had yet to pull the plug on his comatose state. Her heart wasn't ready to let him go even though her mind knew that he was most likely never going to wake up again. Familia seemed to dictate everything about their lives. Family.

Hesitantly, she inquired, "Can I ask you something else?"

Alessandro turned around to face her, his hands fell on her hips, as his brow creased with curiosity. "What troubles you?"

Elyse started in a bumbling manner, "You were talking to your father today about someone named... Renata."

Sadness filled brown and blue-gray eyes. He didn't say anything.

"Who was she?"

Her husband seemed to withdraw even more. Elyse probed again, "Alessio?"

A few more seconds ticked by. Elyse's question about Renata had now formed into a theory that she hoped to confirm, "Was she your mother?"

" Sì ."

Elyse's heart drummed once, twice, then in heavier and heavier beats as Alessandro's response set off a chain reaction of revelations. Renata was, as suspected, her husband's mother. The woman was dead, and her passing was obviously a sore spot, still, for both her husband and his father. To the point that Vincenzo Vitale had used the grief from his late wife's death to strike at their son.

Her father-in-law was a cruel hijo de puta .

Elyse felt as though she understood Alessandro's suffering deeper now, and she loved him more for it. She moved forward to seal the sorrowful space between her and her husband, sliding both arms around Alessandro's waist to embrace him while nestling her head against his chest. His arms came around her in response, tucking her smaller body to his larger frame in a way that was beginning to feel very much like second nature for the both of them. Her husband had looked so defeated after their visit with his father. He looked so sad about his mother. Elyse wanted to offer him some comfort, a quieter kind than fucking could provide.

"We'll get through this, all of it , together," she murmured.

"You think so?" he asked softly.

A shadow of doubt flickered in his eyes. Elyse assured him, "You and I will find a way to overcome the impossible. I'm not someone who gives up easily. Neither are you. Our enemies can't defeat us as long as we refuse to surrender."

"But I am not my father," he grumbled as his mouth pressed into a flat, straight line. "Everyone believes I will fuck up the moment I try. They are ready to slit my throat and steal my crown."

Elyse's expression dimmed slightly. She sensed her husband's diffidence. Alessandro wasn't his father, and he assumed their differences made him inferior. Too flawed to lead as capo . What her husband failed to see, however, were the strengths in his so-called weaknesses. They made him human and not a cold-blooded monster. Like Vincenzo.

"That's a good thing, I think."

"Is it?"

"Absolutely."

Alessandro scowled down her, unconvinced. "Sadly, you may be the only one who admires me."

Elyse eyed him with loving concern. "Can you tell me what the two of you talked about when I stepped outside?"

He sighed, "I do not want to say."

"Then," she replied, "you don't have to share anything at all."

Alessandro's eyes widened by a fraction. "You will not push me on this matter?"

"No," said Elyse, "but I'm here for you. If you need me."

Alessandro bowed his face to plant a kiss on the top of her head. He held her tighter still and expressed gruffly, "Thank you, wife."

Elyse and Alessandro parted ways a short while later. Not by choice, though. It was out of necessity. Alessandro had made plans to meet with Aberto De León later that evening. They were to discuss a new business proposition, one that might very likely whet the combined appetites of the Berlusconis and Morettis and Trevisanos. The proposition was, in essence, a mousetrap disguised as an opportunity, a big block of cheese for three bloodthirsty rats to fight over.

Meanwhile, Elyse had also made plans of her own. She invited her grandfather over for a very small and intimate dinner. Elyse's main objective was to develop a closer relationship with her grandfather, for the sake of their plans, but, in truth, there remained a small, hidden part of her that genuinely wished to bond with Benedetto Graviano. Blood was blood, after all.

Elyse also extended an invitation to Mariposa De León, using the excuse that a trustworthy translator was required to help her communicate with Benedetto when, in reality, she was angling to rally the dark-eyed girl to their cause.

Elyse instructed their cook, Signora Bianchi , to make a full-course Italian meal featuring their guests' favorite dishes. For Benedetto— pasta con le sarde , which was a rustic and robust pasta dish served with sardines, wild fennel, pine nuts, saffron, and olive oil. And for Mariposa— pesce spada alla ghiotta , or thick, meaty steaks of swordfish laid on a bed of tomatoes, olives, capers, raisins, and anchovies.

Around nine o'clock in the evening, Benedetto arrived first with four of his men. Mariposa arrived later with two of her bodyguards. They were all seated at a long mahogany table in the palazzo's lavish dining room.

"Thank you so much for joining me this evening," Elyse welcomed her guests with a warm smile.

Mariposa coughed with an insolent gleam in her eyes. "I had no choice. Papà made me come."

Elyse readily humbled herself before the younger woman. "Nevertheless, it's a pleasure to have you in my home. As you know, my Italian is still a work in progress. Your help tonight is truly appreciated."

This seemed to rub Mariposa the right way. She smirked and tipped her glass of wine at Elyse. "The pleasure is all mine. Alla salute!"

Benedetto picked up his glass and toasted, "Alla salute!"

Elyse raised her glass as well to join them. "Alla salute!"

One of the maids brought out the antipasti . They were served a classic Sicilian starter dish called caponata with eggplant and octopus, seasoned with olive oil, tomato sauce, celery, olives, and capers in a sweet and sour agrodolce sauce. Everyone began to eat.

Benedetto glanced over to Elyse." Hai gli occhi di Gianna ."

Mariposa translated in bored tones, "He says you have your mother's eyes."

Elyse nodded in acknowledgment. "Yes, I think Alessandro mentioned it to me once before."

The primi came next. Benedetto's pasta con le sarde . Elyse smiled at her grandfather. "I heard this was your favorite."

He took a large bite of the pasta and grunted in approval," Sei una ragazza premurosa. Come Gianna ."

"Your grandfather is praising you for being thoughtful. Like your mother," Mariposa supplied.

"Thank you," Elyse murmured to the younger woman. "Do you think you could ask my grandfather to tell me a little more about my mother?"

Alessandro had once claimed that Gianna was her grandfather's favorite child. Certainly, Elyse was very curious about her mother as a person, but, more than anything, she wanted to understand why Benedetto had loved Gianna so much. It would give her more insight as to what her grandfather valued in a daughter and granddaughter so that she might be able to mold herself in Gianna's image to worm her way into Benedetto's good graces.

After Mariposa conveyed her wishes to Benedetto, his grizzled face darkened with sorrow, but he didn't deny Elyse's request. Elyse learned more about her mother in the next ten minutes than she had in her entire life. As her grandfather recounted his memories of Gianna to Elyse, she felt like a child listening to a sad fairytale.

According to Benedetto, Gianna had been a shy, sweet child who grew into a shy, sweet woman. She never lost her temper. She never caused trouble. She always placed her family's needs before her own. Gianna also loved music. She had been a very talented pianist. Chopin and Vivaldi were her favorites. All her life, Gianna had been a dutiful daughter until—

The maid re-appeared with the secondo , and, suddenly, the flow of Benedetto's storytelling was disrupted by Mariposa's pesce spada alla ghiotta .

"This one's for you," Elyse said to Mariposa with a wry look.

Elyse's thoughts, though, were still lingering on the stories her grandfather had told her about her mother. Dutiful. Obedient. Virtuous. These were the qualities Bendetto had esteemed in Gianna. Her mother sounded like the perfect woman for a man in the mafia. Elyse didn't embody the same qualities. However, Elyse intended to convince her grandfather that she was her mother's daughter in every way.

Mariposa pursed her lips as she eyed the pesce spada alla ghiotta as though it might be poisoned. "Your grandfather was right. You are being very thoughtful tonight. But why? I wonder."

Elyse tilted her head innocently. "You seem suspicious."

Mariposa snorted. "That is because I am suspicious! What do you want from me?"

"Friendship."

"My loyalty is not free."

"I wouldn't expect you to do anything for free. I intend to make it worth your while."

Mariposa's eyes glimmered with interest. "How?"

Elyse offered demurely, "Let's talk more. In private. I'll be going to the shooting range tomorrow. Would you like to join me?"

Mariposa's dark eyebrows rose in surprise. "You shoot guns now?"

"I thought it would be smart to learn how to handle a firearm," Elyse explained, "especially after what happened at your party."

" Bene, bene, bene! You have captured my interest," Mariposa murmured with a low chuckle, "I will go tomorrow just to see if you are a better shot than me!"

At this time, the dolce was served, cassata siciliana , a round sponge cake that was moistened with liqueur and layered with ricotta cheese and candied fruit.

Elyse spent the rest of the evening doing her best to charm her grandfather by acting the part of a dutiful, obedient, and virtuous granddaughter. She couldn't tell if her efforts were successful. Benedetto was a hard man to read. Her grandfather didn't seem to warm up to her any more than he had during their first meeting at the wedding, but he did end up asking Mariposa to check on her weekend plans.

"He is inviting you to his villa," Mariposa said, "for chess."

Elyse blinked in surprise. "Chess?"

"Yes, chess."

"Ah." Elyse hadn't played the game since she was a young girl.

"Your grandfather told me that he used to play with your mother," Mariposa continued, "and now he wants to play with you."

She could barely recall the rules of the game, but—

"Please tell my grandfather," Elyse responded with a genuine smile, "that I'd love to play with him."