Chapter 6 - The Person Gina Was Still Protecting
Gina came to Domenico’s house the next morning without warning.
She stood on the front porch holding her purse against her side and looked irritated to have been forced there by circumstances.
“I have forty minutes before work.”
Domenico let her in.
Camilla had stayed overnight in her old bedroom.
Marco had gone back to their townhouse alone.
When Gina saw the envelope on the mantel, she stopped.
“You still haven’t opened it.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Domenico almost said because Teresa deserved some privacy.
Then he realized that was exactly the kind of thinking that had created the present mess.
“Because I wanted to know what everyone was afraid of before I let a dead person answer for them.”
Gina looked at him for a long moment.
“That sounds like something Teresa would’ve said.”
Camilla entered from the hallway.
Gina’s face softened.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Good answer.”
They sat at the kitchen table.
Domenico made coffee no one drank.
Gina spoke first.
“Anthony did not leave DeLuca Millwork because Domenico stole his money.”
Camilla exhaled slowly.
“Then why?”
Gina looked at Domenico.
He gave a small nod.
It was her history too.
“He was gambling,” she said.
Camilla’s eyebrows drew together.
“Marco’s dad?”
“Sports. Cards. Anything where he thought he could win back what he’d lost.”
Domenico stared at his coffee.
Gina continued.
“It wasn’t constant. That made it worse. He’d stop for months and convince everybody it was over.”
Camilla said quietly, “Marco never told me.”
“Marco didn’t know.”
That surprised both of them.
Gina looked toward the living room.
“Anthony was ashamed. Domenico was angry. Teresa was the one who kept everyone from destroying each other.”
Domenico almost corrected her.
Teresa had kept them from talking.
At the time, he had mistaken that for peace.
“What did the gambling have to do with the company?” Camilla asked.
Gina hesitated.
“Anthony borrowed money he didn’t have.”
“The sixty thousand?”
“No. That was real money. His mother had died. He inherited it. He lent it to the business because he believed in Domenico.”
“Then what?”
Gina’s mouth tightened.
“He started borrowing against things at home. Then he started asking for advances.”
Domenico added, “And eventually he used company money without asking.”
Camilla looked at him.
“How much?”
“We never agreed on the exact total.”
“Dad.”
“About twenty-seven thousand at the time we discovered it.”
Her face changed.
“Why wasn’t he charged?”
Gina flinched.
Domenico answered.
“Because he returned part immediately, and Teresa convinced me we could settle the rest privately.”
“Why?”
Gina’s laugh had no humor in it.
“Because I had a nine-year-old son who thought his father hung the moon.”
Marco.
Domenico remembered him then.
Skinny, loud, always following Anthony around the parish picnic, carrying a baseball glove even when nobody was playing.
Camilla looked between them.
“So Marco grew up believing his father was cheated because none of you told him what Anthony actually did.”
Gina’s eyes filled.
“I was protecting him.”
“From what?”
“From becoming ashamed of his father.”
Camilla stared at her.
“And instead he became angry for him.”
Gina looked down.
That was the loyalty surprise Domenico had not expected.
He had spent two days suspecting Gina had helped Marco build the grievance.
In reality, her silence had come from love.
Misguided love.
But love nonetheless.
Then Gina said something that changed the conversation again.
“Marco called me last night.”
Camilla’s expression hardened.
“What did he say?”
“He asked me whether the envelope could contain proof that his father took company money.”
Domenico leaned back.
“He’s starting to believe us.”
Gina shook her head.
“No.”
“What then?”
“He asked me whether it could prove how much.”
Camilla looked at her father.
Domenico understood immediately.
May you like
Marco was no longer trying to establish whether Anthony had been wronged.
He was trying to calculate how much of his own behavior he could still justify.
