should have known what was going on.
His mother’s more cheerful disposition on his last visit was because she’d had a lover. Raul knew that now.
And there was guilt too—tangible guilt—because she had called him on the morning she had died and Raul had not picked up.
Instead he had been deep in oblivion with some no-name woman and had chosen not to take the call.
Raul lay on the hard, narrow bed and stared at the ceiling through the longest night of his life.
There would be many more to come.
Light came in through the barred windows and he heard a drunk who had sung the night through being processed and released.
And then another.
Raul was in no rush for his turn.
‘Hey.’
The heavy door opened and a police officer brought him coffee. He was familiar.
Marco.
They had been at school together.
‘For what it’s worth, I’m on your side,’ Marco told Raul as he handed him a coffee. ‘Bastiano’s a snake. I wish they had let you finish the job.’
Raul said nothing—just accepted the coffee.
God, but he hated the valley. There was corruption at every turn. If memory served him correctly, and it usually did, Bastiano had slept with the young woman who was now Marco’s fiancée.
Just after nine Raul signed the papers for his release and Marco handed him his tie and belt, which Raul pocketed.
‘Smarten up,’ Marco warned him. ‘You are to be at the courthouse by ten.’
Raul put on his belt and tucked in his shirt somewhat but gave up by the time he got to his tie. One look in the small washroom mirror and he knew it was pointless. His eyes were bruised purple, his lips swollen, his hair matted with blood and he needed to shave.
Groggy, his head pounding, Raul stepped out onto the street into a cruelly bright day and walked the short distance to the courthouse. Raul assumed he was there to be formally charged, but instead he found out it was for the reading of Maria Di Savo’s last will and testament.
His father, Gino, was there for that, of course. And he sat gloating, because he knew that apart from the very few trinkets he had given her in earlier years everything Maria had had was his.
Raul just wanted it over and done with, and then he would get the hell out.
He was done with Casta for good.
But then, for the second time in less than twenty-four hours, the man he hated most in the world appeared—again at the most inappropriate time.
‘What the hell is he doing here?’
It was Gino who rose in angry response as an equally battered Bastiano took a seat on a bench. His face had been sutured and a jagged scar ran the length of his now purple cheek. Clearly he had just come from the hospital, for he was still wearing yesterday’s suit.
And then the judge commenced the reading of the will.
This was a mere formality, and Raul simply hoped he might get the crucifix Maria had always worn.
That wish came true, for he was handed a slim envelope and the simple cross and chain fell onto his palm.
But then out slid a ring.
It was exquisite—far more elaborate than anything his mother had owned—rose gold with an emerald stone, it was dotted with tiny seed pearls and it felt heavy in his palm. Raul picked it up between finger and thumb and tried to place it, yet he could not remember his mother wearing it.
He was distracted from examining the ring when the judge spoke again.
‘Testamona Segreto.’
Even the rather bored court personnel stood to attention, as suddenly there was an unexpected turn in the formalities.
Raul stopped looking at the ring and Gino frowned and leant forward as all present learnt that his mother had made a secret will.
More intriguing was the news that it been amended just a few short weeks ago.
A considerable sum had been left to Maria on the death of her brother, Luigi, on condition that it did not in any way benefit Maria’s husband.
Luigi had loathed Gino.
But Luigi had died some ten years ago.
Most shocking for Raul was the realisation that his mother had had the means to leave.
Raul had been working his butt off, trying to save to provide for her, when she could have walked away at any time.
It made no sense.
Nothing in his life made sense any more.
And then Raul felt a pulse beat a tattoo in his temples as the judge read out his mother’s directions.
‘The sum is to be divided equally between my son Raul Di Savo and Bastiano Conti. My hope is that they use it wisely. My prayer is that they have a wonderful life.’
Raul sat silent as pandemonium broke out in the courthouse. Money was Gino’s god, and this betrayal hit harder than the other. He started cursing, and as he moved to finish off Raul’s work on Bastiano, Security were called.
‘He gets nothing!’ Gino sneered, and jabbed his finger towards Bastiano. ‘Maria was sick in the head—she would not have known what she was doing when she made that will.’
‘The testimonial is clear,’ the judge responded calmly as Gino was led out.
‘Bastiano used her. Tell him that we will fight…’ Gino roared over his shoulder.
Raul said nothing in response—just sat silent as his mother’s final wishes sank in.
She had chosen Bastiano as the second benefactor and had asked that her money be divided equally…
Oh, that stung.
He looked over at Bastiano, who stared ahead and refused to meet his gaze.
Why the hell had she left it to him? Had Bastiano known about the money and engineered the entire thing? Had he sweet-talked her into changing her will and then deliberately exposed their affair, knowing that the fragile Maria could never survive the fallout?
Gino was still shouting from the corridor. ‘I stood by her all these years!’
Raul sat thinking. He knew he could contest this in court—or he could wait till he and Bastiano were outside and fight. This time to the bloody end.
He chose the latter.
Outside, the sun seemed to chip
