Damon looked at his watch as the chauffeured town car passed through the wrought iron gates of the Benedetto-Vicario Winery. Bonnie's great-great-grandparents founded the winery and a spirits company by the same name shortly after the end of Prohibition. The wealth generated from those business ventures ultimately funded Bennett Technologies and launched Bonnie's family into international acclaim. Bennett Technologies was responsible for the lion's share of the Bennett Family's wealth. However, the family had never forgotten their roots. Sheila was the CEO of the wine and spirits company until she was diagnosed with liver cancer. Afterwards she named her niece, Tessa, the CEO until Bonnie graduated from college.
Shadow Hills would always be a safe haven for Bonnie. It was where Sheila raised her. Moreover, the Bennett family owned a winery, a spirits company, a cherry orchard, and an apple orchard in the small town. A Bennett Technologies manufacturing facility was also located there despite the merger with Velocita four years ago. Many of Shadow Hill's approximately 50,000 year-round residents worked for one of the family's businesses. The family had also donated millions of dollars over the years to the hospital, schools, and public works department. The Bennetts were essentially the first family of Shadow Hills. Therefore, the residents went to great lengths to ensure their privacy.
The car came to a stop in front of the sprawling two-story Greek revival mansion. Damon suddenly felt incredibly nervous as he waited for the chauffeur to open his door. He had no idea what he would encounter once he walked into the house. He had seen his father's handiwork up close in the past. He knew how easily Giuseppe could ignore the fact that he was handling the fairer sex. Damon had witnessed it with his own mother and later with Giuseppe's mistresses. Alcohol was usually the catalyst for his violent behavior. Yet Damon never excused his father's actions. Giuseppe made the choice to get so drunk as to lose all inhibition. The booze didn't turn him into a monster, it only freed him to show his true nature.
Rose placed a hand on Damon's knee as the chauffeur opened his door. "Go check on Bonnie. I'll sort out the driver and our luggage."
Damon gave Rose a grateful nod and then climbed out of the car. Few things could scare a man like him. However, he was terrified of what he might find as he unlocked the front door of his wife's childhood home. The massive mansion was silent as he walked into the two-story foyer. He stopped by the living room but found it empty save for toys sprawled across the floor. Damon's lips twitched into a small smile. Bonnie must have bought toys for Sarah after arriving. She was always ensuring that his daughter could be a child in a way that he had never been afforded.
He walked around the first floor checking out the common rooms before deciding that his wife and daughter must be upstairs. Damon slowly climbed the stairs and sought out the master bedroom. Bonnie had taken over the room once Sheila died. It made her feel closer to her grandmother. However, it had also symbolized her ascension as the head of the Bennett family. She was only 17 years old at the time. Nevertheless, everyone understood that she would grow into the matriarch of the family.
Damon stepped into the bedroom and found his wife and daughter fast asleep in the four-poster bed. A fire crackled across the room to keep them warm on the chilly autumn afternoon. Sarah was burrowed under the thick duvet cover but she was clutching Bonnie for dear life in her sleep. Damon walked over to the bed and reached out to caress Sarah's curly raven tinted hair. However, he stopped short when Bonnie's face came into view. Damon felt bile rising in his throat as he stared at the angry splash of purple, black, and green that marred her beautiful caramel skin. His wife's lip was busted and both of her eyes were black. His eyes moved down to survey the rest of her body but an oversized paisley kaftan hid her skin from view.
Damon turned around and walked out of the room without disturbing the sleeping pair. He marched downstairs just as Rose was saying goodbye to the chauffeur.
Rose froze when she turned around and saw the expression on Damon's face. She swallowed nervously and asked, "How bad is it?"
"It looks like Bonnie went ten rounds with a prize fighter, Rose. And that's only what I can see of her face while she's sleeping. This is my fault. I should have made sure that someone was going to be there. I knew canceling at the last minute would piss off Giuseppe but I didn't think that he would take it out on Bonnie. She's just a kid for God's sake."
However, Damon should have known better. Giuseppe had never cared about raising his hand to his own children or his wife. Why would his daughter-in-law be any different?
"What can I do?" she asked. Her heart ached for her boss and for the girl she had come to view as a little sister.
Damon walked over to the bar and poured himself a drink. He finished the glass off in three gulps. "Find a doctor in town. I want one on standby for when Bonnie wakes up. I don't know if she's seen one yet…"
"Say no more," she replied. "I'm on it. Bonnie will have the best of care and I will put the fear of God into the doctor to ensure discretion."
He refilled his glass and then sat down on the cream tufted sofa. Damon stared at the toys on the floor and shook his head. He had screwed up but he would find a way to make it up to his wife. Damon took out his phone and called his uncle. He needed his levelheaded advice because he was close to losing it. Damon could only imagine slitting Giuseppe's throat in retribution. He deserved to die for touching what belonged to Damon.
Zach answered on the second ring. He said, "Hi, Damon. What inspired this unexpected call? I thought that you were still on vacation."
Damon just held the phone for a moment as he gathered his thoughts. He took a harsh gulp of bourbon.
"Damon?" the older man asked cautiously. His nephew was always quick with a joke or a jab. It had been their relationship since Damon was a boy. They were more brothers than uncle and nephew.
"He beat my wife, Zio," Damon said. His voice was raw from the strain and the bourbon.
"Hold on," he said. Zach rose from his desk and locked the door so that he wouldn't be interrupted. He was in his office at Velocita's corporate headquarters. Zach was the company's chief operating officer. "What the hell happened, Damon?"
"I fucked up," he replied.
He hated hearing the brokenness in Damon's voice. He had heard it too often when he was away at college. Damon would call him in the middle of the night to tell him what new hell Giuseppe had put him through that day. Zach understood the helplessness all too well. Giuseppe had raised him from the time he was five years old. He had known violence from his brother's hand for as long as he could remember. "What happened?"
"I don't know exactly. Giuseppe wanted to have a family dinner before he left for Milazzo. It was the start of my vacation so I cancelled at the last minute. I had Sophie tell him that I wouldn't make it. I did it to push his buttons. I just wanted him to know that he couldn't order me around anymore. You know how I like getting under his skin."
Zach said, "I do. I went through the same phase after college. I wanted…needed to show him that I wasn't the little boy that feared him any longer."
Damon gave a hollow laugh at the sickness that was their family. "I thought that Stefan and Caroline were going to be home that night. Only Stefan decided that my vacation was the perfect time to sneak off to Paris. Apparently, he's been visiting Lilly behind my back."
The elder Salvatore wasn't surprised that Stefan was in contact with Lilly. He had a bigger capacity to forgive than Damon did. "Stefan left Bonnie there alone? He knew that I had taken Meredith and the kids to Sweden!"
"That's what I thought but no. He left earlier in the day and I didn't cancel until right before dinnertime. He had no way of knowing that I wouldn't be there to protect my wife. I didn't find out about any of this until Rose came to the penthouse this morning. Sophie called her to say that Bonnie had taken Sarah and disappeared in the middle of the night two weeks ago. Rose found out that Bonnie was staying here in Shadow Hills. I feared the worst so I flew out here to see her in person. My God, her face, Zio. I am scared to find out what else he did. She's asleep right now and I didn't have the heart to wake her."
He sucked in a breath and asked, "Do you want me fly up there? I could bring Meredith with me. She can conduct an examination and we can keep the extent of Bonnie's injuries within the family until we figure out what to do. It's obvious that she hasn't been to the hospital or this would have hit the tabloids already."
"I don't know. I don't know the right thing to do in this situation. I don't want to overwhelm Bonnie. She's been through enough, but I could use your support right about now," Damon replied.
Zach knew how hard it was for Damon to admit that he needed anyone. Giuseppe had beaten that out of him long ago. He said, "I'll be there before dinnertime, Damon. Just take it easy with the drinking. Okay? After what Bonnie went through with Gio the last thing she needs is to wake up to her drunken husband."
Damon dropped the glass onto the coffee table as if it had burned him. He hadn't even considered how it would be perceived by Bonnie. "Thank you."
"You're my nephew and I love you, Damon. I'll speak with Stefan and Alaric to let them know what's happening. You just focus on your family. I'll call you when we make it to Shadow Hills."
"Okay. Bye." Damon ended the call and then sat in silence. His head was spinning and he didn't know what to do next.
Damon's family tree was complicated because of his grandfather's frequent infidelity. Domenico's first wife was Rosemary and she was Giuseppe's mother. Alaric's mother had been Domenico's mistress until his first wife died. Then Domenico married Alaric's mother, Amalie. Later he took another mistress, Cecilia. Cecilia was Zach's mother.
Domenico and Cecilia died in a plane crash while returning from vacation. Amalie refused to acknowledge Zach and was prepared to see him in the care of the state. However, Giuseppe took the boy into his home. He raised Zach as his son and afforded him all the benefits of the Salvatore name despite his illegitimate birth.
Domenico had split his fortune between his three sons. However, he left everything in Giuseppe's care until the other two boys were of age. Alaric and Zach were ten and five years old respectively when Domenico died. Amalie reluctantly let Alaric spend time with Zach because Giuseppe was holding the purse strings. Ric spent every summer and all the major holidays with his brothers and nephews for years. When he was fifteen Giuseppe demanded that he live at the Salvatore Manor full-time and Amalie agreed.
Rose walked into the room. "I managed to get in touch with the Bennett family's long-time physician. I didn't explain the situation. I only asked that he make himself available for the next few days. He's on-call for the next 72 hours and we will have full access to his office after hours. I didn't know if Bonnie might need X-rays or perhaps an MRI."
He nodded. "Thank you, Rose. I spoke to Zach. He's going to fly up here with Meredith. We may not need the doctor after all but it was smart to secure the use of his facilities. I hadn't considered the equipment we might need."
"Is there anything else that I can do?"
Damon stared at his half-finished glass of bourbon. He said, "Find me some mints and put away the liquor, please. All of it."
Rose smiled in approval and dug a tin of mints from her purse. She handed them to Damon and then picked up his glass from the table. Rose finished his drink and shrugged. "There's no sense in wasting good bourbon."
He snorted and tossed a couple mints into his mouth. He said, "Touché."
"I'll be back in a moment. I am going to find a box or a crate so that I can move the bottles."
Damon raked a hand through his hair as he stood up. Hiding downstairs wasn't going to change what was waiting for him upstairs. He picked up the gift bags for Bonnie and Sarah before climbing the stairs once more. He quietly entered the master bedroom and found that his family was still sleeping peacefully.
He sat down in one of the chairs situated beside the fireplace. Then Damon took out his phone and put it on silent so that it wouldn't disturb Bonnie and Sarah. He was sure to receive calls and text messages soon from Stefan and Ric.
He watched Bonnie sleep with an overwhelming sense of guilt. He wondered what she told Sarah about the bruises on her face. His daughter was smart and inquisitive for a 5 year old. Damon felt sick wondering if Sarah knew the truth. He would never forgive himself if Sarah had been exposed to Giuseppe's violence. Damon cursed his selfishness for putting his wife and daughter in the line of fire. He could have bought a home to share with Bonnie when they married. However, his ambition led him to do Giuseppe's bidding despite hating the man with every fiber of his being.
Damon still lived in his childhood home—Stefan and Zach did as well. However, he thought he was out of the woods when Giuseppe decided to spend more time in the Old Country. He was shoring up their connections for the time when he would step down and name Damon as his successor. He had been trained to be the head of the family since he was a child. Giuseppe raised Zach and had a lot of input on Ric's upbringing.
However, they weren't his children. Giuseppe raised Zach to be Damon's consigliere. Meanwhile, Ric had been working for years as Giuseppe's underboss. He had learned at the feet of their uncle Bruno. Ric would continue in the position under Damon. Stefan didn't get his hands dirty with the family business. However, he had gone to college and graduated with a degree in accounting. One day he would be expected to handle the family's books. He would help maintain the firewall between the Salvatore's legal and illegal businesses. It was a delicate operation that took skill and an encyclopedic knowledge of all the family's business dealings and shell companies.
The playboy looked out of the window and stared at the rows of grape vines in the distance. He could understand the appeal of spending time here in Shadow Hills. It was more peaceful than the Salvatore Manor was. There were always people bustling around the Manor, whether it was staff or members of the family. Ric, his wife, and daughters were the only ones that didn't live at the Manor full-time. However, they were always there during the summer and holidays per Giuseppe's demands. He kept his family under this thumb as much as possible.
When Damon looked back to the bed, he was met with verdant eyes staring back at him. He slowly stood up and made his way to the bed. "Hi, bunny."
She smiled a little at his use of her childhood nickname. Bonnie held her arm in an awkward position as she slowly sat up in the bed. She stared at her husband for a few seconds. She was happy to see him but also self-conscious about her appearance. Bonnie whispered, "Hi."
He zeroed in on Bonnie's arm. He swallowed thickly and asked, "Is it broken?"
"I don't think so. I can move it and I've been able to pick up Sarah. It just hurts when I move it too much," she replied.
Damon was relieved because she was mostly like right about her arm not being broken. "But you haven't seen a doctor?"
Bonnie shook her head. "I couldn't…I didn't want anyone to find out."
Damon held back a growl when he saw the shame on his wife's face. She wasn't the one that should be feeling ashamed. "We need to talk about what happened."
"Can it wait until after Sarah is awake? She gets upset when she wakes up without me. She's been having nightmares," Bonnie said. She looked down at the slumbering girl.
Damon smiled when he saw the genuine affection Bonnie had for his daughter. However, he was concerned about the nightmares. It didn't take a genius to figure out their source. "We don't have to leave the room. We can just sit over by the fireplace. We'll both be right here if Sarah wakes up."
Bonnie considered his suggestion and then nodded in agreement. Stalling the inevitable wasn't a wise decision. She gingerly climbed off the bed and walked over to the fireplace. Her steps were overly cautious as if she was anticipating pain.
He stepped forward and took Bonnie's uninjured arm because it looked as if she might teeter over. Sometimes he forgot how tiny his young bride was. Damon helped her into a chair.
"Thank you," Bonnie said.
"I'm sorry," he said without preamble. "I am sorry that I wasn't there that night. I am sorry that I purposely angered my father and accidentally left you to bear his wrath. I thought Stefan would be home but it is no excuse. It is my job to protect you."
Bonnie could see the genuine remorse etched on her husband's face. She said, "You aren't responsible for what happened, Damon. Giuseppe is nearly 63 years old. Certainly, he is capable of restraining himself. Anyway, it wasn't anything that you did that made him lash out at me."
Damon wanted to believe her but the guilt threatened to swallow him whole. He knew how petty and vindictive that Giuseppe could be. He didn't believe that the attack on Bonnie was anything other than a way of punishing him. Damon's feelings for his wife might have been complicated but she was his. The idea of anyone else even looking at her drove him into madness. "What happened?"
"Giuseppe was a nightmare during dinner. He drank more than he ate and started to talk badly about you. I tried to calm and placate him but he would have none of it. He just got louder and more vulgar. However, his mood took a turn when I objected to him talking that way with Sarah in the room. She is only a child and shouldn't have to pay for your feud. He called Sarah's birth mother a whore to her face. He told her that her mother never wanted her and didn't love her. Sarah thought he was talking about me. She started crying. He started yelling at her to shut up. I took her from the table and tried to reassure her. Then I put Sarah to sleep and prayed that Giuseppe had stumbled to bed."
Damon's fists clenched at his side. Giuseppe had never directed his rage at Sarah before. The coward had only done so that night because there was no one there to stop him. Bonnie was but a waif of a girl. She could hardly pose any sort of physical threat to him. Unfortunately, physical violence was the only sort of chastisement the elder Salvatore understood.
Bonnie licked her lips and felt her tongue graze the laceration caused by the back of her father-in-law's hand. "I decided to call it a night. I hoped that Giuseppe would be on a plane for Milazzo by morning. But he was sitting in the dark when I walked into the room. He hit me across the face several times and shoved me to the ground when I tried to run from him. Then he dragged me by my hair to the bed and threw me onto it. I hit my head on the headboard hard enough to open a gash on my forehead."
He stood up and leaned against the wall because he couldn't bear to look his wife in the eyes as she recounted what happened next. Damon couldn't believe that Giuseppe had taken it that far.
"He was cursing me the whole time and he started to choke me," Bonnie said. Her hand touched the healing ligature marks on her neck. "He was sloppy drunk and had trouble getting my skirt up with one hand. I screamed but I knew no one would come for me. The staff is terrified of Giuseppe. Sarah walked into the room. She was so scared, Damon. I just wanted to get to Sarah and get out of there but he was so strong. Then it came to me…I told him that I was pregnant and that he would hurt the baby. He just stared at me for what seemed like forever before he finally got off me. He left the room after apologizing. I kept Sarah in the room with me for a few hours. Then I packed our bags and left once I was sure that he was already gone."
Damon's head was swimming as his hatred for Giuseppe grew to new heights. His father had terrorized Bonnie and Sarah in his absence. If it wasn't for Bonnie's quick thinking there was no doubt that Giuseppe would have raped her. He blinked back the tears threatening to fall as he watched his wife cry in silence. He wanted to comfort her but felt that he had no right after leaving her to that fate. "You were smart to lie about being pregnant. Giuseppe is obsessed with his legacy. He would never harm his heir even in a drunken rage."
She sniffled softly. "I wasn't lying."
For a moment, it felt as if the world stopped turning. Damon slowly began to comprehend the soft words his wife had just uttered. He felt himself moving toward Bonnie without conscious thought. He dropped down onto one knee in front of her and stared at her stomach for a few long minutes. The crackle of the roaring fire was the only noise that filled the quiet room. In a rough voice he asked, "You're pregnant?"
Bonnie nodded cautiously. "I found out a couple days before that night. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you sooner but I wanted to see Father Finn first. I wanted to get a blessing for our babies."
He stared at his wife with a dumbfounded expression and then looked down at her stomach again as if it would offer him some answer. Damon swallowed thickly as he cupped Bonnie's face in his hands. "Babies?"
She gave a watery smile and nodded. "I had an ultrasound done. Dr. Huerta gave me a full work up because I realized that I was over a month late. He wanted the ultrasound to pinpoint an accurate timeline. I was ten weeks at the time. He expressed some concerns about my size and I got scared."
Damon wanted to know everything but knew he couldn't interrogate his wife about her health right now. He whispered, "You need to see a doctor. I want to make sure that the three of you are healthy. Zach and Meredith are flying up. You don't need to worry about your privacy being violated."
"Okay."
Damon felt sick to his stomach as he slowly got to is feet. He so wanted to hold Bonnie but he didn't have that right—not now. He slowly sat down in his chair. "I'll call Joshua later so that he can start the paperwork."
Bonnie looked puzzled. She didn't understand why Damon would need to speak with the family's lawyer. "Why are you calling Joshua?"
"I will give you a divorce, Bonnie. I won't contest it or the prenuptial agreement. You deserve every provision that Sheila built into the agreement. I won't ask you to go back home with me. Giuseppe is still in Milazzo but after what happened…"
Her heart swelled as she listened to her normally eloquent husband stumble over his words. Bonnie knew that he cared for her even if Giuseppe's cruel words haunted her. "No."
Damon stared at the girl in front of him in disbelief. For just a moment, he wondered if he misunderstood her. How could she not want a divorce after being brutalized by his father? He was ashamed and he couldn't imagine looking into those verdant eyes every day and reliving his failure. "You want more than the terms in the prenuptial agreement?"
Bonnie slowly stood up and then gingerly placed herself in his lap. A sense of calm rushed over her as she placed her head on his shoulder. Her marriage to Damon was complicated for a number of reasons. Their age difference had always been a stumbling block. In the beginning, he had a hard time seeing Bonnie as a woman because she was only 17 years old when they became engaged. However, Damon always went out of his way to make her feel comfortable. It wasn't the romantic type of love that people saw on television and movies but she had known better than to expect that. Damon had been groomed to be the boss of the family. Bonnie had been groomed to be the boss's wife. "I don't want a divorce."
Damon slid his arms around Bonnie's tiny frame. It still boggled his mind that she was pregnant. His mind raced as he tried to understand why she would want to stay married to him. Beyond his failure to protect her, he was an unrepentant philanderer. He wasn't foolish enough to think Bonnie so naïve that she didn't know that he had a mistress. He tried to be discreet out of respect but she knew. He looked down at her left hand and noticed that she was still wearing her wedding ring. "I don't understand."
"You are my husband, Damon. I love you and Sarah. I have adopted Sarah. She's my daughter now. I would never abandon her the way that my mother abandoned me…the way that Lilly abandoned you. I am not going to abandon you either. You are the not problem in this family…Giuseppe is," she replied.
He stroked Bonnie's wavy chocolate brown hair and tried to ignore the way his heart soared at her commitment to him. He didn't deserve her loyalty but he craved it. No one had ever been loyal to him—not even Stefan. His younger brother appreciated the sacrifices that Damon made for him. However, he shied away from the darkness that developed in Damon because of the abuse. The elder brother had to turn off his emotions to survive Giuseppe's abuse. He lost part of himself because of that. Damon licked his lips. "What are you saying?"
"I'm scared of Giuseppe but not just for myself. I worry about Sarah. I am petrified of what will happen when he doesn't see her as a little girl anymore. He raised boys and abused all of you physically, but you know his appetites."
Damon's mouth went dry as he considered Bonnie's point. "He wouldn't do that. She's his granddaughter."
Bonnie said, "He's my godfather. Giuseppe held me in his arms as a baby, Damon. He was at my christening and my confirmation. When I married you, he told me to call him dad. None of those things stopped him from trying to rape me."
He recoiled at the word that neither of them had spoken until now. Somehow hearing Bonnie say the word made it cut deeper.
"I am not the only one that fears his intentions. Caroline worries for Bella but she is still a child. This summer Jo asked Caroline, Meredith, and me to keep an eye on Josie and Lizzie. They're 14 years old and she never wanted them alone with Giuseppe. She is lucky that they only stay at the Manor during the summer and the holidays. Caroline and I don't have that luxury. We live in the house with this man."
Damon thought back to the summer and realized that Bonnie was telling the truth. There wasn't a time that he saw one of Ric's daughters without one of the wives nearby. He couldn't believe that he and the rest of the men in the family had been so blind to their concerns. He felt worse that they hadn't felt safe to share those concerns. "We'll move out of the house. I'll find a new place for us to live. I will protect you, Sarah, and the babies. I won't let him hurt you again."
Bonnie studied his earnest blue eyes and caressed his chiseled jaw. "If you disobey Giuseppe, he will take the one thing you have always wanted. You have earned your place as head of the family. I won't be the reason he takes it away from you."
"What I have now is enough," he replied. It was a lie and Damon could tell that Bonnie knew as much by the way she tensed in his arms.
Bonnie asked, "What if there was another way?"
"What?" He looked down at his wife curiously.
"What if there was a way to make him retire early? Then you could take your rightful place as head of the family and make him go away," Bonnie answered with a hopeful expression.
Damon shook his head. He hated to shoot down her idea but he couldn't let Bonnie get her hopes up. Giuseppe had a stranglehold on the business. Short of killing him, there wasn't a way to make him leave. However, he didn't know if he could get everyone on board with whacking the boss. "I don't have the leverage to make that happen."
"What if I do?" Bonnie asked.
He stared at his wife. He hoped that she wasn't talking about the attack on her. It was unseemly and reprehensible but not enough to convince Giuseppe to step down. The man rarely felt shame for anything. "What do you have?"
"My grams always knew what type of man Giuseppe was and she feared this day would come. She wanted a way to protect me even if she couldn't be here to do it. You know the rumor about Grams and Giuseppe was true. They had an affair for over forty years. He trusted her more than he trusted anyone else. That was probably a mistake because my grandmother was a viper. I want to show you something."
Bonnie slowly rose from his lap and walked into the closet.
Damon was blown away by her disclosure. He knew that his father had various relationships over the years. However, he always assumed that the one with Sheila ended in their youth and remained business until her death. However, the closeness of their families made so much sense now.
Bonnie returned a few moments later with a tablet and returned to her place on his lap. She pulled up a file and pressed play.
Sheila: Come to be bed, Gio. You aren't going to figure out anything else tonight.
Giuseppe: I am tired of him dangling what is rightfully mine over my head! Hasn't he cost me enough? My mother died from his neglect. He forced me to give up the only woman I have ever loved. You lost our child because of him, Sheila. He made me marry Lilly, a simple-minded woman without a single interesting thing to say. Now he wants to send me to Milazzo for the next five years. He's only doing it to keep us apart.
Sheila: He is set in his ways, Gio. But he's right. Too many would lose respect for you if I ever became more than your mistress. This world is still too intolerant for you to marry a Black woman. And you can't prove that he arranged for the mugging that caused my miscarriage.
Giuseppe: You see a harmless old man with antiquated views but he is a monster. I don't need proof of his crimes. I need him dead.
Sheila: Bite your tongue. To kill your father is to condemn yourself to hell.
Giuseppe: My sweet innocent, Uccellino. Always trying to save my soul. Don't you know I am already condemned? I have more blood on my hands than you can imagine.
Sheila: You can be forgiven if you repent for the others. But there can be no forgiveness for killing the one that gave you life. Don't do this, Gio. If you kill your father, it will make you as dark hearted as he is. Don't let him stain your soul. Do you not want to reunite with our baby one day?
Giuseppe: Will you still love me even if I have already been condemned?
Sheila: What have you done, Giuseppe?
Giuseppe: I only did what needed to be done. The wheels have already been set in motion. A bomb has been planted on board his plane. It will explode over the Atlantic. I hope that the coast guard never finds his body. May the stronzo burn in hell. Do you still love me, Uccellino?
Sheila: Always, Gio. I will always love you. And I will pray for your soul.
Giuseppe: Do not pray for me. It is Domenico that requires your prayers because he is about to meet his maker.
Sheila: Then I will pray for you both.
Bonnie stopped the recording and looked at her husband's awestruck face. She stayed as quiet as mouse as she watched him process the information. Everyone had believed that a rival family had killed Domenico and Cecilia. Giuseppe's rash actions kicked off a two-year mob war where the Mikaelson family was his only ally. The war resulted in 72 deaths and dozens of prison sentences. When the war was over, Giuseppe stood victorious. He absorbed his decimated rival's territory and became the biggest crime boss on the West Coast. The war also strengthened his alliance with the Mikaelson family.
Damon's mind was working a mile a minute. This recording changed everything. His sweet wife thought she was giving him the means to force out Giuseppe. However, the girl had just given him the power to kill his father. There were good men…good soldiers still in prison because of the mob war Giuseppe started. He had even murdered poor Cecilia, Zach's mother. His uncles would want Giuseppe's blood for this. Domenico might have been an adulterer but he wasn't abusive. He had been a good father to his young sons. "Who else knows about this?"
"Only you, Damon. Grams gave this recording and more to me before she died. She told me to use it if I ever began to fear for my life. I have the original recording on cassette in my safe," she answered softly.
He kissed her. "We should keep this between the two of us for now, Bunny. I promise I will handle this. You won't need to fear Giuseppe for much longer."
Bonnie said, "Okay. I trust you, Damon. I always have…"
"I need a moment to myself. I think I am going to go take a walk."
She moved to the other chair and nodded. "I understand."
Damon stood and dropped a kiss on the crown of her head. "Don't worry. You did the right thing. Those bags are for your and Sarah. I bought a few things for you."
He walked out of the room and quietly closed the door behind him.
Bonnie looked into the roaring fire as a malevolent smirk transformed her once angelic features. Giuseppe had raised his hand against the wrong woman. Bonnie had wanted him gone for months but just couldn't figure out a way to convince Damon to kill him. She was supposed to be his innocent wife ignorant to the realities of his bloody business. Giuseppe's attack on her was both unfortunate and fortuitous at the same time. She survived knowing that a far worse fate awaited him. Bonnie had no doubt that Giuseppe would beg for something as sweet as death once Damon was done with him.