ATONEMENT (15 page)

He called the house, told his children good-night, spoke to Anita then waited for
the
night
delivery
.

                            
CHAPTER
FIVE

Somehow Nico
convinced
Selange
to return to the house
.
It took a lot of co
axing
.
Nico
appeal
ed
to her sense of family
. “Look, they’re not bad people, not all of them anyway.
Renalda
and Lucia got carried away. The women usually have an initiation for new members as a way to sort out the weak links in the chain.” He
hugged her,
“Most of the women are just trying to protect their families
, like you
.”

When she looked at him with an ‘
are
you
kidding’
expression, Nico tried not to laugh. “You have the
upper
hand
in th
e
situation
. A
fter kicking th
eir
asses and unleashing a bit of crazy, I doubt they’ll mess with you again.” He put a mock f
ist to her cheek, “You
throw a mean left hook.”

Selange chuckled in spite of her trepidation, “
Sure do
?”

“Yeah
,
and
who taught you those moves?
”

“Alfonzo.”

“Yeah, figured
he’d teach you how to fight instead of shoot
.”

“
I’ve been married for years,
though
it’s not like they don’t know who I am. The hazing
nonsense
is collegiate childishness.” She shook her head at the stupidity of the act, “
I don’t know if I want to go
back after
they threatened my kids. My
kids
Nico,
that’s really low!”

His eyes were
soft
and
protective
.
“
N
o one…I mean no one
is going to lay a hand on those
children. They have you, Alfonzo and a string of crazy motherfuckers
like me
who’ll
stop
anyone who tries.”

She inhaled
and
smell
ed
vomit
coming from
his shirt, “I
sprayed
you didn’t I?”

He grimaced, “A little.”

“Smells like a lot.”

“
They’re clothes, I’ve got
more…
” he looked toward the estate, from the distance he could see figures
inside the house. Nico had been out at the edge of the estate trying to convince Selange to return for close to an hour. The group tired, some grew cold and went inside. A few
silhouette
s watched from the
window
s
,
hoping she’d return, because if
Selange
didn’t they
had
a
helluva
lot of explaining to do
to the
men
.
Selange was
their
guest and
the
wife of a powerful
American
ally
.
The prank
displayed a
sign of disrespect.
“Come on let’s meet the nice ones, this way I can shower and change. Let them kiss your
rump
, you don’t have to forgive them, heck,
scare them
a bit, make the
m
wonder
whether
you’re going to
tell your husband or not
.”

“
I don’t know
.”

“Selange,
what they did
was
mean and stupid
but y
ou didn’t
crack
…well…
not until later,
anyway,
” he found the vision of her beating the women
, hilarious
. He could’ve intervened sooner but waited
until
Renalda
and Lucia
got the lashing they deserved
.
And, man, did they get it good!

“What’s so funny, Nico?”

“T
rust me you passed
the psychological hazing
with flying colors.” He
squeezed her tighter,
“This
is
your extended family
. They’re d
ysfunctional but family.
R
unning home will make you appear petty. Sometimes it
’s best
to use
a bit of
power
to right a wrong
then to let it waste
by
inaction.”

She listened to his advice. She hadn’t thought of it that way.
It was hard to justify pranking somebody and threatening to harm their kids; they’re lucky she didn’t have a weapon because someone may have gotten killed. S
he didn’t like their tactics
or
warped reasoning
for doing such a thing, defending family from outsiders, she got, but she wasn’t an outsider or was she in their eyes? Ugh, she growled in frustration, maybe e
xacting a bit of payback was
her
incentive
to stay
.
“Okay…I’ll stay but I swear if any one of them so much as…”

Nico chuckled
, “
Oh,
I don’t think they’ll pull anymore stunts
.”

Hearing Nico
guffaw
was contagious and she burst out laughing
,
“Did you see th
at girl’s
face when I dragged her
out the car
by her hair
,
oh goodness
it
’s
precious!”

“I heard the screams first
,”
h
e
snickered
as he ushered her
toward
the
large villa
.

                         The do
or swung
o
pen
before Nico rang the bell
and a
woman with hawkish eyes
and
a
tart expression
stood there.
“
Entrare
stanno
aspettando
.
”

“Who
’s
she?” Selange whispered as they followed behind the woman.

“Tia
. She’s
the nicest
woman
ever.”

Selange’s face was incredulous, “Nice
, y
ou’re joking right?”

Nico maintained a straight face, “Nope
, she’s the one who
got
you
something to drink and a cool cloth.
”

“
Um, good for her
.
”

His nose wrinkled.
“
That didn’t sound gracious.”

“
What did you expect? She wouldn’t
have
to do any
that
if it wasn’t for those witches.”

Nico’s intense
glare transformed into tenderness when he looked at her then his head came up when they
entered the living-room
. The
women
were quiet. They
sat
in separate cliques on cozy divans and expensive sofas
. They
rang
ed
in age from young to seniors
.
Their expressions
were
a mixture of haughty, impassive, welcoming and meek
and they were all trained on her
!

Amelda
, Giuseppe’s sister and bride
-to-be
rose along with her mother, Sophie.
They were genuinely happy to have her, it showed in their faces.
Amelda’s
thick black hair hung to her shoulders, the dark eyes
were
sparkling diamonds. Her curvaceous body was in a silk form fitting knock-out dress that stopped above the knees
.
The
sexy split on both sides drew Selange’s a
dmiration. She had style.
The woman was
b
eautiful, not skin and bones like America
’s ideal of attractive
. No, she was
all woman, a young version of
the former
screen siren Monica
Belluci
.
Amelda’s
mother was
equally stunning
. A
voluptuous brunette
who
Selange was certain
men of any age would love to bed.
The
y came and
kiss
ed
her cheek
s
in a warm welcome.