Sempre (Forever Series #1)(115)

“Never?”

“Never,” she whispered as Carmine hopped down from the counter to hug her. “I shouldn’t be crying about this to you because you have more reason to grieve. My mama’s alive, and yours is . . .”

He flinched before she could speak the word. She pulled from his arms and tried to apologize, but he pressed his pointer finger to her lips. “My mom lived, Haven. She was free to make her choices, and she did just that. She made f**king stupid decisions, and she died because of it. Your mom has never been able to make a decision, so I think you have more to grieve than I do.”

* * *

Sunny Oaks Manor was anything but sunny today. A storm waged outside, rain steadily falling as gusts of wind bent the flimsy trees around the property. Thunder rumbled as lightning lit up the darkened afternoon sky, making it feel like the middle of the night.

Vincent stood in his mother’s apartment, watching the ambulance parked outside. The EMTs, in their vivid yellow raincoats, loaded the black body bag into the back. Quietly, he made the sign of the cross and whispered a short prayer.

“Don’t pray for that old hag,” Gia said, somehow overhearing him without her hearing aides. “It’s her own fault she’s dead.”

“How?” The staff said Gertrude died peacefully in her sleep.

“She left her window open last week. I tried to warn her, but she wouldn’t listen. That black bird flew in like it owned the place.”

Vincent sighed. “I don’t think it was the bird, Ma.”

Gia waved him off. “What do you know?”

“Well, I am a doctor.”

“Oh, you quacks never know what you’re talking about,” she said. “You always want to give people pills and take their blood from them when it’s unnecessary. God doesn’t make mistakes, Vincenzo. People die when they deserve to. You know that.”

Vincent clenched his hand into a fist at the subtle dig about Maura. “What about Dad? Did he deserve it?”

“As many goomahs as your father had? I’m surprised his heart lasted as long as it did.”

Vincent would never understand his mother’s callousness. Sometimes he wondered why he bothered visiting when she obviously didn’t appreciate his company.

The ambulance pulled away from Sunny Oaks, and Vincent’s eyes followed it to the corner in the storm. His gaze lingered there, his stomach dropping as he took in the dark SUV parked less than a block away. He hoped he imagined things, but his instincts told him it was no coincidence. He’d only been joking when he suggested they were watching him, but he realized he’d been right. He was being followed.

“Are you listening to me?”

“No,” Vincent admitted, turning to his mother. “What did you say?”

“I’m not repeating myself for you,” Gia said. “It’ll suck the breath from my lungs and take time off my life. That’s probably what you want, isn’t it? For me to die? Then I wouldn’t be a burden anymore. Your own mother . . . you treat me like garbage.”

Vincent sighed exasperatedly. “What do you want from me, Ma?”

“Nothing, Vincenzo. I want nothing.”

He glanced at his watch, fresh out of patience. “I should go. Dominic and Tess are waiting.”

Gia narrowed her eyes. “Who are they?”

“You know who Dominic is,” he said, trying to keep calm, but he had had about as much of her as he could take. “He’s your grandson, and Tess is his girlfriend.”

“Is she Italian?”

“No, she’s American. Scottish heritage.”

“Scottish? At least that’s better than the Irish. What about that other boy of yours? Does he have an Italian girl?”

Vincent walked over to his mother and kissed her forehead, heading toward the door without answering.

* * *

The week flew by in a blur as Haven and Carmine were left alone. It was easy for them to forget during those days, when it was just the two of them, that barriers stood in their way. It seemed so simple, their lives merging fluidly within the confines of the house; but the outside world was closing in on them fast. A black cloud hovered in the distance, threatening to burst, but the problem was they didn’t know when, where, or how it would come down. It could be an inconvenient drizzle or a flood that washed everything away. There was no way to prepare for the storm when they couldn’t predict what would happen when it struck.

It was Friday afternoon, and they were in the family room watching a movie, their bodies pressed together on the couch, legs entwined as she lay in his arms. His lips wandered down her jaw, his mouth vigorously sucking on the flesh of her neck.

The sound of Haven’s light moans was cut off abruptly when the alarm beeped and the front door slammed. Panicked, Carmine sat up as his father stormed into the room. Instinctively, he shifted his body protectively in front of Haven’s as Vincent clenched his hands into fists. “My office. Now.”

“Who?” Carmine asked tentatively as his father walked away.

“You.”

Carmine stood and pulled Haven to her feet. “Go to my room and stay there while I find out what’s happening.”

Haven followed him upstairs, but his legs were longer and she couldn’t keep up with his stride. Carmine went straight for his father’s office, thrusting the door open without bothering to knock. Vincent was hunched over his laptop, typing furiously away at the keys. “They’re coming.”