*Thank-you for the reviews on the last chapter. They were greatly appreciated. Thank-you all so much*
"Why are you going on a witch hunt about her, Bro?" I ask Dean as I get a beer out of the fridge. "Karsen isn't a bad person in fact I think she's rather sweet you just need to get to know her."
"Karsen Carmichael may be sweet but Alessia D'Ambrosia is the devil, Roman. I'm telling you. I'm looking over her file. I know things about her. She's not the person she's claiming to be and I honestly believe that she had a part in her parents' death. How is she the only one to survive while those two died? Something isn't right here. And then there's that necklace. I'm thinking that her father stole the diamond from someone and made it into a necklace for his daughter. It's worth over a million dollars, Roman. It's a stolen diamond she has to know all about that."
"You just can't believe that Karsen made it out of there alive because of fate can you? You have to keep digging for stuff that isn't there. Maybe she didn't have any part in her parents' murder at all. Maybe by some chance of luck she made it out alive because of fate," I say taking a seat at the table.
"And you know for a while I thought that too. I was giving her the benefit of the doubt until I saw this," he says sliding me a picture of Karsen and an older man. Karsen looked young. She couldn't have been older than 19 years old maybe 18 at the youngest but either way she was younger still as beautiful. She was in a black strapless dress, her long dark hair hanging down over her shoulders, the diamond necklace on her neck and diamond studs in her ears. She looked like she was at some benefit but the man next to her looked to be in his late 30's maybe early 40's. He was dressed in a fancy Italian suit, his grey and black hair slicked back. He wore a Rolex watch on his wrist. He had his arm wrapped around Karsen's shoulders and they were smiling for the camera except Karsen's smile wasn't real. I knew that it wasn't. It was forced. "And then these," he says handing me more pictures of Karsen and this older man. There were pictures of them walking out on the streets of New York together. He would have his hand in the small of her back guiding her on their walk. There were intimate pictures of them together where he would be kissing her cheek, him whispering in her ear. It was disheartening to see my girlfriend with another man and to see how unhappy she was. "Do you know who that is?" he asks.
"No, I have no idea," I say looking through the pictures.
"That is Victor Romano," he says, "He is an Italian mobster. The FBI has been watching him for a while waiting for him to screw up. He may have. He has smuggled drugs into the country, he is a large drug lord and gangster. He has orchestrated murders. The two men that killed Alessia's or Karsen's family work for him. Victor is not a man to be taken lightly. We believe he had a part in her parents' murders."
"So why do you keep feeling like Karsen had anything to do with their murders if you know that this man is behind it all?"
"Because these two were exclusive," he says. "They had a relationship. I checked Alessia's phone records from that night."
"You're checking her phone records?" I ask. "She's not the one on trial here, Dean," I say defending her. "Why would you do that?"
"Because I don't trust her," he says. "And it's a good thing I did too. There were 5 calls that she received from Victor that night shortly before the murders took place and there was one call made to him," he says, "explain that, Roman. Why would she be talking to Victor Romano if she didn't plan to have her parents killed?"
"I think you're being ridiculous. They were together I'm assuming they aren't together now and even if they were they aren't anymore. She loves her Papa. I don't think she would have him killed. I have seen her cry about him. She couldn't do something like that."
"She could be a good actress. My theory is this, Victor loves Alessia and she loves him but her dad and her mom didn't approve of the relationship. In 2013 Victor and Alessia were engaged to be married then out of nowhere they broke up and this came about," he says handing me another picture. This time it was a picture of a baby and I was confused.
"That's a baby," I say, "where are you going with this Dean?"
"That's not just any baby," he says, "that's Victor's son Giovonni Romano; and his mother Alessia D'Ambrosia," he says and my heart stops. I feel sick. I had no idea that Karsen had a baby. "I can tell that your lover didn't tell you she has a son with some drug lord, Italian mobster huh?" he asks.
"That doesn't make sense, are you sure?" I ask.
"I'm 100% sure," he says, "He's two years old now."
"So Karsen has a baby with Victor?" I ask trying to wrap my head around it. I'm trying to process it. I don't' want to believe it. I don't want it to be true. I don't want to believe that Karsen had anything to do with the murder of her parents but everything is pointing to the fact that she did have her parents killed. I don't want to think that way but she had a motive. "Are you sure about this?"
"Roman, I'm not lying to you. She has a baby with Victor Romano, they were engaged and the night of the murders there were phone calls between the two. You're a smart man you figure out the rest," he says, "we could be protecting someone that plotted out the murder of her parents, Roman."
"I don't think so. I still don't think Karsen is capable of something like that," I say.
"Maybe that's what she wants you to believe," he says, "explain the phone calls with Victor?"
"They have a son together maybe they were discussing him."
"She hasn't seen him since the day he was born," he says, "she gave up her parental rights to Victor. Why would they be discussing him?" He asks. "I think she plotted for her parents to be murdered and she went to the one person she knew would do it."
"I don't know," I say, "I need to go to bed. I need to sleep on this and think about all this," I say standing up. "I don't know what to believe."
"The facts, Roman, facts don't lie," he says.
"But speculation does, maybe there's an explanation as to why she called him and all this stuff."
"Roman," he says, "you're in denial. You believe it too. You know she killed her parents and she's trying to walk away free. You know it's true," he says. "Stop being blinded by your feelings and look at the facts."
"I'm going to bed," I say. "I will see you in the morning. Goodnight, Dean," I say before I make my way upstairs. I stop outside Karsen's room. I open it to check on her to see her sleeping peacefully holding onto the pillow I was laying on while we watched the movie. I smile because she looks so peaceful. I know she's not capable of murder or plotting a murder. I don't even think she would choose to date or be engaged to someone like Victor Romano. There has to be more to the story. There has to be. I close the door and make my way to my bedroom that I share with Dean. I climb into bed and pull out the picture of my little girl and smile as I look at her beautiful face. I miss her tremendously. I love Alexandra. I kiss the picture before I put it back under my pillow. I try to sleep that night but my mind is on Karsen and Victor. I toss and turn all night till the rooster crows and I'm out on the farm milking cows and looking for eggs.
"Want some help?" asks Karsen surprising me before the sun even rises dressed in a pair of sweatpants and t-shirt with her hair pulled up into a bun. She gives me her beautiful smile.
"If you want to help," I say.
"Okay," she says, "are you okay?" she asks taking a seat on a stool to help milk cows.
"I'm fine," I say. "I'm just thinking," I say.
"Oh okay. You act like something is bothering you."
"No nothing is bothering me," I say.
"All right," she says. "It's beautiful out here in the morning you know. Not too hot."
"Yeah," I say. "How did you sleep?"
"I would have slept better if you stayed with me last night but I slept well. Your scent was on the pillow. I slept with that," she says with a smile.
"I wish I could have stayed with you last night but you know we have to be careful with Dean and everything you know?"
"I know," she says, "so are we still going on that date this weekend?"
"Of course," I say as silence falls between us. "Who's Victor?" I ask myself before I can even stop my mouth from saying it.
She freezes what she's doing and looks at me and says, "who?"
"Victor, Victor Romano?" I ask. "Does that name sound familiar?"
"I know who he is why are you asking me about him for?" she asks.
"I just want to know if you know him," I say.
"I know him yes," she says. "He's a part of my past I would love to forget. Why are you bringing him up?"
"Dean was looking through your file last night," I say.
"And?" she asks. She was growing impatient. I could tell she was upset. "And what? What did you find that you're asking me about that prick?"
"You were engaged to him?" I ask.
"Yes but not by choice," she says, "I told you that my dad had me engaged and set off to marry some older man remember?"
"Yeah, I remember," I say.
"Victor was that older man," she says, "we were engaged. We had a relationship that I hated every day of my life. Anything else you want to know?"
"I want to know why you were involved with some Italian mobster," I say, "why, Karsen?"
"I didn't have a choice, Joe," she says. "My Papa arranged for me to be married to him. When I was 18 years old we got involved. We started dating. I was going to be his trophy wife. I didn't want that. He is a horrible man. I didn't love him. I was just trying to do what my papa asked. What Victor and I had was nothing. It was nothing but hell for me. Victor is a powerful man and he is as evil as they come. He uses his money to get him out of trouble. He doesn't do his dirty work. He has other people to do it for him. I am not the type of woman to be involved with someone like him. I don't like illegal activity. I don't believe in it. Being married to him I would have been into drugs, murders and whatever else he was into. He treated me well. He bought me everything I desired, he may have truly loved me but the feelings weren't mutual. He was nice enough to me. He was gentle with me. He never hurt me. It was just the stuff that he was into. It was the things that he was capable of doing that turned me off from him. He was great to me," she says, "but I broke the deal. I backed out. I couldn't marry a man I didn't love. He needed someone that would love him and would always love him. That girl wasn't me. He got upset over that. He was promised my hand in marriage but didn't get it. He was upset, he was furious. He went after my papa for backing out of the deal. My papa didn't want me to marry someone I didn't love either. He wanted me to be happy. He knew I wasn't happy with Victor. He wanted more for me and when I told him I didn't want to marry Victor he helped me break off the engagement but it was already too late. I was 18, Joe, almost 19," she says with tears in her eyes. "Victor had already gotten what he wanted."
"You got pregnant before you broke off the engagement?" I ask.
"You know about Giovonni?" she asks.
"Yes," I say. "So it's true?"
"Yes it's true, I have a child with a drug lord and a mobster. He is two years old. I wasn't ready to be a mother. I signed away all my rights to him and gave him to his father. I know that probably wasn't the best idea but I wasn't ready to raise a baby. I didn't want to deal with Victor the rest of my life. I couldn't raise a baby so I did what I needed to do. I gave him to his father. I didn't find out till after I broke off the engagement. I was young and stupid and didn't use protection. I didn't use birth control and Gio happened."
"Why didn't you tell me?" I ask.
"Because that's not the first topic I like to bring up to a guy that I really like that I want to be with. That kind of shit can scare someone away you know? It's not something I bring up in a couple days of being together. If you would have waited instead of going through my file I would have gotten to it. I wasn't going to out and tell you right now that I was engaged to a notorious gangster that has murdered a dozen people and has been in the drug business for years. I wasn't going to tell you that I had a baby with him either. Not yet. It's fucked up, Joe. And what's even more fucked up is you went through my file to find out about me instead of asking me about myself."
"Karsen, it's not like that," I say as she stands up. "Dean was going through the file. He brought it up to me. He showed me pictures. I wasn't going through your file."
"You didn't have to sit down with him and go through it. You know too much about my fucked up life. You probably think I'm a horrible person now. What else did you find out about? The phone calls made the night of my parents' murders?"
"Well, that was mentioned," I say, "did you have anything to do with their murders?"
"How dare you," she says with disgust. "How dare you accuse me of something like that? What kind of monster do you think I am? I loved my mama and papa. I had nothing to do with their murders. I had nothing to do with that. I watched my mama get brutally raped and then murdered. I watched my papa get murdered. It tore my heart apart. I still have nightmares about it. Then you have the audacity to ask me if I had any part in their murders? Joe, that's a horrible thing to say. You should be ashamed of yourself. I didn't ask for them to be murdered it's my fault."
"Why is it your fault?" I ask.
"Because Victor was calling me to get my necklace from my papa and he wanted me back. I didn't want anything to do with him. I told him to leave me alone. I wish the phone calls would have been recorded. He threatened to kill me and my family. He threatened me Roman. He told me he was going to kill us if I didn't give him what he wanted. I called him one last time to tell him I would give him the diamond and if he wanted to get married I would marry him. I would rather spend the rest of my life with a man that I don't love than lose my parents but he told me it was too late. I made my decision and he made his. Within the next hour as we were trying to leave before his asshole friends broke into my house and destroyed my entire world. If I had just complied with him and did what he wanted my mama and papa would still be here, it's my fault," she says and I feel like the worst man in the world.
"Karsen," I say as I go to her and try to hug her. "I'm sorry."
"Don't touch me, don't talk to me don't even look at me," she says. "I can't believe you even thought I could have my parents killed. We're done."
"Karsen," I say with a plea. "I'm sorry."
"Don't talk to me," she says before she storms off and into the house. I sit down on the bench and kick over the bucket of milk I collected. I possibly ruined one of the best things to happen to me in the last few months just because I couldn't keep my mouth shut. It all makes sense now but none of it was worth losing Karsen over. I have to make it up to her. I have to do something to make things right with her.
*A/N: What do you think about everything Dean revealed to Roman about Karsen? Are you surprised she was involved with notorious mobster? What do you think about her having a child with him? Was that a shock to you? What do you think of her signing her rights away to her child? Do you believe that Karsen could have anything to do with the murders of her parents? Do you believe her? What do you think about her reaction to Roman? Do you think they will be able to work this out? Please review and thank-you for reading.
