For Your Sake (36 page)

              Through a large, heavy wooden door, Antonio led them into a room which looked a cross between a library and an office.  Floor to ceiling bookshelves surrounded one side, while a large picture window flanked by burgundy drapes drawn back on either side and hooked with tie-backs, overlooked a lake illuminated by flood lights.  There was nothing in front of the window.  Nothing to obstruct a view.  To the right, a man in his forties sat on a couch.  A gleaming, mahogany desk sat in the center of the large room under a gorgeous, tapestry area rug.  A leather chair was facing the bookshelf behind, a gray head visible at the top.  This was his lair.  That was him in the chair.  It had to be.

              When all were in the room and situated as if lined up for a firing squad, Antonio walked towards the chair, leaned over and whispered towards the gray head.  Slowly, the chair swiveled around and Eva was…….surprised.  She expected an imposing, intimidating John Gotti type.  Instead, a man wearing what was black, silk pajamas under a belted black robe with the letters
‘CC’
embroidered on a breast pocket sat before her.  A tube ran from his nose to an oxygen tank she hadn’t heard hissing upon entering.  Lung cancer.  Ben did tell her that – as well as the fact he was not anticipating fighting the disease much longer.  He looked thin, frail, face gaunt and hands veined and thin-skinned.  His hair was thick, though, no doubt from re-growth following treatment.  But what gave this man the look of power – even in bed clothes and breathing assistance – was his eyes.  They were a shocking, piercing, vibrant blue.  Just like the man sitting on the couch.

              Just like hers.

              Waving Antonio away, Carmine pulled the oxygen tube from his nose and tossed it on the desk. Rolling forward, he folded his hands on the desk.  Ignoring the seven men in leather, he looked directly at her.  “It
is
you.”  For several moments he just stared while Eva remained silent.  “All these years.  I had no idea.”

              “Nor did I.” She wasn’t sure if it was her place to speak, but Eva was about done with having the last three hours of her life orchestrated for her.  “Why am I here? What do you want from me?”

              Carmine tilted his head towards Vic.  “How much does she know?”

              No formal introductions had been made.  They didn’t have to be.  The Caprese family did their due diligence on every member of the Skulls and, well…..Carmine needed no introduction.  “Enough,” Vic answered.  “No names, though.”

              He rose from the chair and tightened the belt of his robe.  Walking around the desk, he stopped in front of it and leaned for support.  One woman, seven un-armed Skulls and five armed men behind them were his audience.  “Your mother kept you from me.”

              “I was never yours to take,” she confidently shot back, then caught herself. 

              He nodded as if agreeing.  “After Michael died this past March, she finally confessed to me.  Enough time went by and I’m, well,” he motioned to the oxygen tank, “as you can see……not well.  Trite way to describe lung cancer.  I fought.  I had one lung removed, chemo, radiation – the works.  But it wasn’t enough.  It spread and I’m letting God take over now.  Carol waited just long enough, seeing my weakness as her safety net.  She told me of her deception, that I fathered a daughter our first night together, that she kept it from me the following six years we saw each other.”

              “You……
saw
each other?  You mean it was more than once?”

              Carmine smiled.  “Oh, yes.  Every year she made it to whatever insurance convention or business travel she could beg for.  I knew she was married.  So was I, at the time.  But she despised me.  Carol gave me what I had lost.”

              Eva screwed her face up.  “So basically, she was your…….
whore.”

              “She knew what getting involved with me entailed. I was a powerful man who took what I wanted.”  He paused, then looked from Ben to her.  “You understand that now.  The pull of a dangerous man.  Like mother, like daughter.”

             
“I….am…..nothing….like…..that…..bitch
!” Eva seethed out each word individually.

              Carmine nodded.  “No, I suppose not.  When she told me, I turned her from the house.  She’s lucky I didn’t do worse.  Oh, we’re still married, but when I soon die, Carol Caprese will find herself completely shut off.”

              Another man who drew the line at betrayal, Eva thought.

              “As for me, I’m done fighting this disease.  But, in doing so, I……let things go.”  He motioned to the young man seated on the couch.  “My son – your half brother – Adamo.  I let him down by letting go.  In doing so, I allowed the future of this family to be snuck out from under us.”  Those blue eyes of his narrowed and suddenly this frail, ill man scared the daylights out of her.  “But, we found out.  And before I leave this earth, the person responsible is going to hear from me one last time.  I’m taking back my family –
and
its business.  And from what I understand,” he eyed the bikers, “the Mountain Skulls have become entangled with this common enemy as well.  I can make that go away as well, Eva.  All I ask is one thing in return.”

              She took a deep breath.  “What’s that?”

              “That I get to know you.  Spend time with you.  Find out who you are.  Who you were.”

              Eva stood back appalled.  “You have
got
to be kidding me?  It was bad enough you pulled my mother out of my home.  Now you pull me out of mine and want to be a…..a
father
to me as some kind of trade?”

              “I never said anything about being your father.  But I do want to get to know my own daughter.  Considering the stage of my cancer, you won’t have to endure my presence for long.”

              The breath caught in Eva’s throat.  “How can you do this to me?  How can you force this choice on me?”

              “I think, Eva, the choice has already been made.”  He motioned Ben to step forward then gave a hard, blue-eyed stare at Eva.  “Do you love him?”

              For the first time since the scene in the bathroom, she looked Ben square in the eye.  His accusations, his threats, his fingers digging into her arms, the reality of who he really was didn’t erase the fact that she was in love with him.  He had been generous towards her since they met, giving of himself selflessly and didn’t push for anything in return except honesty.  Now he needed her.  Whether that hung in the balance or not, she couldn’t deny the truth.  “Yes,” she whispered, her eyes squeezed shut.  “Yes, I love him.”

              “Then you do it for him,” Carmine gently told her.  “Do it for his sake.”

              Her eyes flew open, the charm bracelet cool against her wrist.  If ever there was a full circle moment, it was right now.  She was learning what it was like to sacrifice yourself for someone – perhaps the way her mother did all those years ago.  She left Eva in order to keep her safe, to keep Carmine from finding out the truth and leading Michael to believe she was his true daughter.  But that selfless act didn’t exonerate Carol from the fact that she put herself in that position.  Eva had a chance to prove she wasn’t her mother’s daughter.  That she was the young woman Michael Sinclair raised.  That she was capable of doing something for the sake of a man she wasn’t quite sure where she stood with right now.  Slowly she nodded her head.  “Yes.”  One word was all she could give.

              Carmine nodded, then waived Antonio forward.  “Take her to the parlor.  Have housekeeping give her whatever she wants.”

              As she allowed the man who led her mother out of their home now lead her away, Carmine spoke.  “Now, gentlemen – we have real business to discuss.”

Chapter Twenty-One

              The ride back to Tippitt was just as silent, though the tension a little less thick. At least between Ben and his brothers.

              Between him and Eva was a completely different story.

              She slept a good portion of the way back, her mind and body drained by exhaustion.  She had gotten into a bath tub nearly seven hours ago, only to emerge to have her entire world twisted inside out.  Finding out you’re the daughter of the most powerful mafia boss between New York and Florida did just that.  He could only imagine her own level of betrayal by that bitch mother of hers, not to mention finding out the man who loved and raised her as his own had been duped as well.  And if it wasn’t enough to have all this dumped on her while being taken from her house and into the Caprese domain under club orders, now she had to give the old, sick
don
what he wanted.  For peace between the club and Santagio family. For some promising business Carmine proposed.  For a bunch of bikers she barely began to know.  For him, whom she professed to love.

              For his sake.

              She had slumped against him, too tired to be reviled by his presence.  Gently, he lifted the sleeve of her sweater, revealing the silver bracelet, the matching disc engraved with those very words.  Past becoming present.  But it was the future he was concerned with and one he most definitely wanted to have with Eva.  Not because she knew too much.  Not to stay close to keep tabs on her.  Not to make sure she kept her end of the bargain.

              Simply, because he loved her.

              “We’re here, bro.”

              He looked at Wes who nodded towards the window – and Eva’s pretty, little Victorian with the whimsical matching mailbox right outside.  He nudged her out of a sound sleep.  “Eva?  C’mon, darlin’ wake up.  We’re home.”

              Yeah, that’s right. 
We’re
.

              “Mmm.” She hummed, then stirred, then bolted up when she realized her face was in his lap.  He realized it the entire ride back, suffering from a ninety minute erection because of it.  She scooted towards the door.  “Let me out.”  She was tired.  Bone, dead tired that even the disdain in her voice didn’t faze him.  Wes had gotten out and slid the door open to which Eva hopped out immediately.  With Ben on her heels.

              “I’m fine,” she said, waving him off.  “I can get in the house by myself.”

              “This ain’t a walk to the door, Eva.”

              He waved Wes away who got in the van with Taz driving off, leaving them alone.  She looked suspicious.  And angry.  And ready to drop to sleep on the lawn.  “Oh, yeah.  Your bike’s in back.”

              “Which is where it’s staying.”

              She rummaged through her purse for her keys, fumbling until she dropped it.  He bent down to pick it up and she knocked his hands away.  “Get away from me.  Get on your bike and go back to your own place.  You got what you wanted out of me.  You all did.  I’ll keep my word.  Just leave me alone…..”

              She collapsed to the ground trying to pick up her purse as she began to cry.  She had been through the wringer, but he wasn’t going to leave her out to dry.  Plus it was three in the morning and he was in desperate need of sleep also.  Reaching into his pocket for his own key, he took her arm to help her up, ignoring her protest.  “Don’t do this now, Eva.  You need to sleep and we’ll talk in the morning.”

              She shook her head as he walked her to the front door.  “No.  I don’t want you here.”  Crying while saying that didn’t sound convincing.  “I want you to leave.  You’re not welcome.  Not in my house….or in my bed.”  Her actions negated that as she leaned against him while he opened the door.  Just like her cancer-riddled biological father, she was too tired to fight.

              Once inside, she went right for the couch and fell on it. “You can go upstairs.  Leave in the morning.”

              So much for not fighting.  He dropped his outerwear then kicked off his boots, lining them up neatly near the front closet. He then pulled Eva’s boots off as she tried to weakly kick him.  Even with the dire situation of the evening, he had to smile.  From the first moment he walked into the back of her store, she made him smile.  He wanted to return the favor.  Take away whatever emotional train wreck she was riding on.  He then scooped her up and braved the staircase, putting her on one side of the bed while he drew the covers down on the other.  She immediately rolled over to get under, but he stopped her by lying on top of her.  Her hands went up against his chest.  “Ben…..don’t.  I don’t want you.”

              He hovered his lips over hers.  “But you love me, right?”  He breathed those words into her mouth, before taking that breath right out – kissing her with meaning.  With purpose.  With the determination of a man willing to do whatever needed to win this woman back.  She made a squeaking sound then shook her head, but he smiled against her mouth.  “That’s a lie, Eva.  You don’t lie.”

              “You didn’t believe me before.”  Finally, a bit of fire from her.  “You had me accused, tried and guilty.”

              Touche.  She was right.  But what was he supposed to think?  Antonio never told them she didn’t know.  He had only five minutes to deliver his request, leaving Ben to imagine the worst.  And he unleashed it all on her.  “My fault, darlin’.  He kissed her between words.  “I didn’t know.”

              “Neither did I.”  She began to kiss him back, though her body was rigid.  He’d take care of that right away.  He could still smell the shower gel she used from her bath through her clothes that he couldn’t wait to get off.  He raised her arms and began to pull her sweater off.  “No, Ben.  You can’t.  You can’t have me.”