The Ex-Wife He Lost Forever novel · Chapter 8 of 24

Chapter 8: The Car

Ettore came back at five with a gray face and said Simona was breathing, and that the housekeeper was with her.

At seven Cecilia carried Santi out to the car, wrapped in Zia's afghan, and refused to hand him to a guard.

"I'll take him up myself," she said. "He asked me to."

Ettore looked at her for a moment, then opened the back door.

"I'll be at the curb," he said. "If you want me, you won't have to call."

Simona's house was a narrow brick row house two streets away.

The housekeeper let them in, and Simona came down the stairs in a pale silk robe with her hair loose and her eyes swollen.

"Oh, my baby."

She took Santi from Cecilia's arms and kissed his face over and over.

"Thank you," she said. "Thank you, you're so good to him. I don't know what I'd do."

"He walked out in the dark with no shoes."

"I know. I'm a terrible mother."

"You took a sleeping pill with a six-year-old alone in the house."

Simona's mouth trembled.

"Take him upstairs," she told the housekeeper, and when they were alone in the hall she set her face in a new shape.

The tears were gone.

Simona looked at Cecilia.

"You've enjoyed this week," she said.

"What?"

"The Don's chair, the Don's table, all the attention." Her voice was low and even. "You won't keep it. You must know that. They'll get tired of the poor little baker."

"Simona."

"He chose me before he ever met you. Three years you borrowed him, and I let you." She smiled. "Don't make the mistake of thinking anyone here is on your side."

The front door banged open.

Adamo came in with his coat unbuttoned and his eyes red.

He had not slept, and he smelled of whiskey.

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