The Twelve Vitali Ch. 33

"Yes," Sava said gravely, nodding his head.

"I need to let my brother know I am here and working on the problems we face," he said finally, and called Cobi. Lucca and Zion may be leading, but Cobi was still his twin and knew him best.

*****

Theo Martino sighed heavily and faced his table and the remnants of the table of his father. While his father had been retained by the Chairs of the other families who remained in the fortress of the Battaglia, Theo had been released to gain control of his table and assist the Vitali in dealing with the crisis that was Giovanni, and, he suspected, Mario. The news that, after being called to present himself at the Battaglia fortress, Giovanni had kidnapped three, or possibly four of the Vitali family and flew to the Papillo stronghold with them, had been met with cries of outrage and accusations. In truth, Theo could not blame them, and had added his own outrage, though it was mostly against his father.

He had been true to his word when he had spoken to Matteo alone. He bore him and his family no ill-will, and if he had known that what followed was even a possibility he may not have obeyed his father so completely in the days that followed their first meeting alone. He knew any harm that came to the Vitali now would be laid not only at his father's feet but his, as well as each of the older members of his table who must have known what was happening.

He eyed Alfonzo, who for once seemed subdued within the group. He had thought to inherit the chair, but he was an arrogant man who would have dominated the table by brute force rather than lead them into the future as a united and democratic table. He narrowed eyes as he decided how to address what needed to be done.

"Did you know?" Theo asked him directly. "Did you help him, thinking to unseat my father and me?" Several of the men at the table gasped and began to bluster at one of their own accusing another.

"Not how it would play out, but I knew he had a plan of his own to take his revenge on the Vitali," Alfonzo shrugged as if it was of no consequence.

"Anyone else eager for Giovanni to succeed? There has always been bad blood between the two families." Theo asked the group, and thinking he supported his father's deeds several spoke up.

Sitting to Theo's right side, Archie took note of each man. All were those who, like Alfonzo, wore their Savoy connections like a badge of honour to the point of hyphenating their family name to Savoy-Martino. It surprised neither of them to see three of the older men and their sons among the number.

"It's my understanding that there is little the Vitali can do to stave off the impending disaster, nor we the disaster of our own making, but I intend to try and mitigate the fall out for both families," Theo said, and looked up at the door. A dozen men of the Battaglia entered the room. "Thank you, gentlemen," Theo said. "Those who just identified themselves as sympathising with the attack on the Vitali will be able to help you with your investigations into the Suebi influence within our family, no doubt."

"You all recognise me as I recognise you, I assume! It would pay no one and only disgrace your family further to hinder our investigations into this crisis and the actions of the Suebi!" Marcus' voice rose up over the shouts of outrage. "If any of you have pertinent information, now is the time to speak, lest your family suffer the same fate as the Pellegrini, where their fortune and power have been usurped entirely in favour of more honourable men who do not turn a blind eye to the flouting of long-held Table laws!"

"This is a serious moment, gentleman, and the fate of our family rests upon how you act at this moment. Do you wish our tables to be erased from history, or do you wish to rise above this crucial moment in our family's timeline?" Theo said, his voice strong and determination in his voice. If Matteo ever forgave him, he would ensure there was never a reason to doubt himself or his family again. "You may have the room, Marcus, the rest of us will reconvene at my offices where I will remain until you have a verdict on my part in this event."

"You and your brother, Archie, have answered our questions sufficiently and with candour," Marcus nodded. "You may also take those that have already spoken with us."

"Thank you," Theo gathered his things and stood. "Beware, brothers, the men of the Battaglia have been given full access to the watchmen and all their records. Giovanni was nothing, if not a fastidious record keeper. Even of his own subterfuge, it seems." He walked from the room followed by Archie and the few men who he had trusted enough to have questioned before the confrontation without telling the others what was occurring.

"I am sorry, Papa," Theo placed his hand on Bellino's shoulder. He had acted as Oracle beside Trevino for the last three decades and knew his and his brother's fates were now sealed. He was proud of the way Theo was behaving in the face of this disaster. He also knew this situation was a possibility, but had chosen to ignore his feelings in the face of all that had been done to create the crisis by the Vitali themselves.

"The fault is mine for believing what I wanted instead of what I knew to be true," Ballino sighed in resignation. "I never believed it would come to this and the destruction of our family line."

"It may not come to that. Our future all hangs on how we lead now," Theo said seriously.

"I understand, and perhaps by the end you will be proud to be my son again," Bellino said sadly. He was as much at fault for Giovanni's mental state as Trevino was. He knew the consequences for openly attacking another family, and prepared to face the full force of the thirteenth, along with his brother for how they had handled the ticking timebomb that was Giovanni.

*****

Leyton Papillo stood with three of his brothers and two of the six members of the Tater who had approached him and Rick as they scrambled to make sense of what was happening and how to deal with it. The members of the Tater had walked calmly into their offices with Ricco and Stefano Vitali to take control of the crisis. He had been slow to trust, even with the Vitali men among their number, but Rick had eased his fears and worked with them on what they hoped would be a decent plan of attack rather than defence.

He watched as the first jet came in to land and prepared to face the madman, Giovanni. The plane taxied slowly toward the private hangers of the Papillo family. This was a small airfield used only by the family who lived in this remote part of the eastern Kimberly. Stairs were brought, and even after the door was opened nobody appeared at the doorway for long minutes.

Theresa appeared in the doorway, eventually. The emotional woman being used as a shield by Giovanni, who held her tightly to his body and turned on the top platform of the stairs to address the small delegation.

"Giovanni," Leyton said stiffly. "Let the others go and we will bring the woman you want to you instead of having anyone else hurt today."

"How long until Roberto and Matteo arrive to negotiate the exchange of one mother for another?" Giovanni demanded.

"Forty-five minutes, give or take," Leyton said calmly, despite his unease at the sight of the gun held in the hand of the man he was facing.

"Refuel the plane!" Giovanni demanded. "If Matteo and Roberto bring what I have asked I will allow the brother and his friend to leave. I am a man of my word. However, if they do not bring what I have asked for and help me to retrieve what is mine, then I can hardly be expected to keep my end of the bargain. We will wait here for his arrival." He disappeared back into the plane, and the door closed again before Leyton could ask for proof of the condition of the other hostages.

Leyton sighed, his eyes scanning the sky for a plane he knew wasn't there yet, and sent silent thoughts of luck to Ricco and his party, who had gone to retrieve Maria from the ghost town. There were secrets from all the families there, some as bad as Giovanni, most worse. Murder was the unforgivable sin that found most people incarcerated in the ghost town for the rest of their lives. Though that was not the only reason individuals found themselves abandoned by their families. No family was immune, not even his own, and he was not about to sanction a madman like Giovanni gaining access to such a facility.

*****

"I don't want to see him," Maria said, wringing her hands. She had stood tall and proud in the face of her son's obvious anger when he walked into her room, believing this was another quest for answers as it had been when Roberto had brought him and his siblings in January. When she heard why he was here again, however, her bravado had crumbled.

"This isn't a choice for any of us, Maria!" Ricco was still filled with impotent rage that this stupid, selfish woman thought she had a choice. "He has the woman who raised me in your place when you wanted us all dead! He has, or will have, the woman I love, and he is coming here for you! If you think I won't sacrifice you the way you sacrificed Alessandro, and were prepared to sacrifice the rest of us, think again! I owe you nothing! I don't even know who you are!"

"You don't understand," Maria began to sob.

"Here's what I do understand," Ricco snarled at the woman who gave birth to him. "Your father and your brothers have catered to Giovanni's obsessions and demands for too long without getting him the help he needs, and now the woman I love, the woman Roberto loves, and many others, have to pay the price when it's you he wants! So, I am going to give him what he wants, just like you and your family always did!"

Maria tilted her head and sniffled. He spoke only of the woman Roberto loved when speaking of his stepmother. What of Stefano? She was about to ask when Stefano appeared in her doorway as if sensing his son's anger and despair for the woman he loved, and finally overcoming the fear of seeing Maria again in the flesh he had gone to his son's aid.

"Ricco, go and help with Sava's preparations," Stefano said icily, and moved into the room.

"Stefano," Maria breathed. She hadn't seen him since she had been taken away the day she had lost her mind. Any correspondence had come from Roberto, and when she had met her children in January Stefano had not been here that she knew of. His hair was grey at the temples, but still rich and dark. His height and physique still that of a fit man. His face still the one she knew so well, despite the lines of age. He was the man she had fallen in love with, except for the ice in his eyes and voice.

"Maria," he said, moving to sit in the chair facing her and staring as if looking at her for flaws, almost trying to marry his memory of her with the woman who sat before him with tear streaks on her cheeks. He breathed, she was the woman he had tried to hate, tried to put out of his mind and life. It was easier to convince himself of the lie of her death than sit here and face her and his heartbreak.

"I don't wish to see him," Maria said stiffly, referring to Giovanni, and saw the ice thaw momentarily in Stefano's eyes before they chilled again.

"Matteo is Chair now, and Ricco is his Oracle. Unlike our union, both of your sons love that woman deeply. Against all the odds, the constant pressures and interference that makes your life look like child's play, she loves them both equally in return," Stefano said, his voice warming as he spoke of the love affair of Catriona and his sons. "Yet she travels here to sacrifice herself for the good of the family you would see destroyed for the second time. The woman I loved could not possibly be so selfish. This is your chance to redeem yourself in the eyes of your children. Tell me that you don't care if they ever forgive you and I will leave you to your fate."

Stefano placed a wedding photo of Matteo, Cat and Ricco on the table before Maria to look at. She picked it up, looking at it and stroking the face of Matteo, the son who had lived after she stabbed him in her manic hysteria. Giovanni had driven her to it, she had felt she had no choice, but, still, she was glad he lived and grew to be the man who would lead the family in the next generation of the table... Her son, not the son of the woman who took her place... Her son.

"She is one of the bravest women I have ever met, and will stand at Ricco and Matteo's side until her last breath. The least you can do is face the mistakes of the past that have brought the three of them to this moment in time where everything they have ever wanted could be taken from them," Stefano said calmly and reasonably, trying to appeal to what was left of her maternal side. He had heard Ricco in here shouting out his rage and knew that wouldn't work with Maria. No one had ever been able to bully her into anything except her brother and his obsessive mania.

"Tell me what I must do," Maria sighed in resignation, hearing the emotion in Stefano's voice as he spoke of his sons and the woman they loved.

"To begin with, telling me what transpired between you and Vanessa to make her put her brothers at such risk. Vanessa is travelling with Giovanni and doing his bidding, as you once did," he said, letting the weight of that disclosure sink in, and was pleased to see her horrified expression. He did not feel the need to inform her that Vanessa was engaged to Mario, Giovanni's son. "It was she who told him that you were alive and living here. Why would she have done that against our wishes?"

"Nothing that I didn't say to the boys or Mia. My regret and sadness at having not been able to see them grow up and be there for all of their milestones," she said honestly. "I would never have encouraged her to go anywhere near the Martino's, especially not Giovanni."

"I believe you," Stefano said after a long silence in which he tried to sort out his emotions. "I need you to dress and leave this place with me. If he is allowed to come here, there are others, true psychopaths who reside within this facility whose families could also be in danger if Giovanni and Mario do not get what they want. We cannot risk all the families because he continues to hate Roberto and me for taking you away from him."

Fawn appeared in the room then as if by magic, neither Stefano nor Maria having noticed her enter with the clothes and shoes she would wear to meet her brother and the two women who had taken her place as Mother of the Vitali. Maria stood nervously and nodded. She felt sick. She had lived this sheltered, protected existence for decades. To leave this place seemed like such a foreign concept. She felt tears fill her eyes again, and she couldn't name the feelings that filled her. Dread came the closest emotion to anything she could name. This was a prison, she knew, but there were far less appealing things than remaining here for the rest of her life.

"Stefano?" she turned back toward him. "Why not call the authorities and have them deal with the kidnapping and threats?"

"Would you have us expose the Papillo to the scrutiny of the authorities, or this place be searched for and found by the Suebi? There are far worse people than you living their lives here. You are a ghost, Maria. We could deny your existence, point out that you died decades ago, but once this information becomes public, enemies of the tables will take advantage of that information. As it is, Giovanni has been working with the Suebi to undermine our family. The Suebi just didn't realise what his end goal was, or at least we hope that is the case. Either way, we can't have him come here," Stefano said. "Ricco and I were out of communication and untraceable when he made his move, so we have come here to bring you to him instead of allowing him to unmask a secret of the tables."

Maria nodded and went to change, considering what he had said. Life outside was different now, she knew that. The internet and mobile phone had changed the world, made It smaller, she wasn't an idiot, and although she wasn't able to access any of the new technologies, she could understand what she saw and heard about on the television. The thought of leaving this place where she was safe and cared for her terrified her. The thought of seeing Giovanni scared her, but the thought that if she didn't, she could be condemning her children to a life of pain and heartache for the second time, terrified her even more.

She dressed carefully, and with Fawn's help did her make-up for the first time in forever. When she emerged from her room to face Stefano again, there was a brief look of recognition and fire before the ice glazed over his features again. She gave a small smile. Those small flashes of emotion told her that he still loved her on some level, and it somehow made her stronger, maybe even a little braver. She had always believed his refusal to communicate with her from the time she had been taken to Paolo's surgery to deliver Vanessa after trying to kill her unborn daughter had equated to hatred. She knew now she had been wrong, and that alone gave her the impetus she needed to leave this place and face her past.

"Who chose the new mother?" she asked.

"Matteo, I have never seen a man more in love," Stefano answered with a smile. "Although Ricco comes close."

"The mother of your children?" she clarified.

"We agreed that Theresa was strong enough to live with the stigma of becoming stepmother to five unhappy children and a table of strong-willed men," Stefano said, frowning. "She is a good woman, Maria, and I do not want to see her hurt by this, or having to deal with any jealousy on your part."

Not once did he mention love or even affection, and Maria considered if Roberto had felt the same way about her. That she had the attributes required to be the mother they needed and was content that Stefano loved her enough for both of them. She and Stefano had a great love, in the beginning. Marrying Roberto was necessary to ensure her escape from her family and keeping the love and security she had found in Stefano.

"Matteo would not have let Cat marry Ricco to keep her, despite his willingness to share her affection now. He threatened to leave the family rather than see her walk down the aisle to his brother. It is perhaps what I should have done but couldn't," he mused. "You married Roberto anyway, so it is a moot point now, and you will see your husband at the airport if we make it in time. Come, let's go."

*****