The Twelve Tables Ch. 30

"Baptism by fire for us newbies," Tina had said quietly. "Is this the type of thing you had to grow up being on alert for?" she asked Lucia who sat in subdued grief after learning of the loss of her parents.

"We grew up being told to be careful and cautious but we never dreamed of anything like this," she shook her head and dashed another tear away.

"Rosanna I'm afraid the damage to your house is pretty extensive. You'll have to stay with us for a while, or at least you and Ang decide what to do," Peri said gently. "Most of the farmhouse survived, but it will need some patching before you could move into it."

"They can't move into the farm house," Emily spluttered making them all look at her.

"Why can't they?" Peri frowned at her. "They've lost everything, and you would deny them a home so close to their wreck of their own?"

"That house is where the chair lives," Emily stated firmly not backing down.

"Emily we don't have an ancestral home handed down from chair to chair," Lucia said gently. "Papa built that house, just like Josh built this one for Peri. I'm sure no one would begrudge Angelo the right to live in it, especially not Josh and Peri."

"Josh is . . . " Emily caught herself before declaring he was dead, "Missing. What if the new chair wants it?"

Rosanna stared at her sister in law for a moment and remembering the look on her husband's face when he had spoken to Emily earlier in the day, her hand lashed out and slapped the woman fully across the face knocking her sideways.

"You have been rude, insensitive and a downright bitch all day. You don't think we've all been through enough without you saying awful things like that! They are going to find Josh just like they are going to find Ben. You don't hear any of us talking about Ben in the past tense do you!" Rosanna raged at Emily. "Less than a week ago you were in a hospital after having a breakdown, do you think any of us are going to listen to you now!" Rosanna burst into tears and turned to Peri. "I'm sorry," she cried. "I just can't take any more of her passive-aggressive taunting."

"How dare you!" Emily screeched regaining her senses as Rosanna apologised to Peri. "It's alright for you. Your husband is here and safe. You have no idea how Peri and I feel."

"If you know how she feels why would you say that to her?" It was Margarite that spoke. "I'm glad someone slapped you, because that was fucked up, even for a bitch like you."

Gerrard and Phillipe had already stepped in between the women by the time Angelo entered the room closely followed by Lorenzo and Manuel who had just arrived.

"Larry!" Margarite flew from the sofa into his arms. "Oh my God, it's really you," she smothered his face with kisses as he picked her up and held her tightly.

"Everything alright in here?" Angelo asked in a deep voice seeing his wife in tears.

"It's fine," Rosanna held up her hand as if to stop any further questions.

"No. It. Is. Not. Fine." Emily turned to look at Angelo holding her face as if to emphasise the red hand print decorating it.

"I know I am the newest here, and the youngest and I don't know all the rules yet, but she deserved that," Margarite said in Rosanna's defence.

"Is that right?" Angelo turned to look at Margarite who seemed to be the only one willing to talk at that moment.

"Emily more or less said that Josh was dead, and there would be a new chair," Margarite said quietly. "not in those words, but it's what she meant, and Rosanna slapped her."

"That's fucked up," Lorenzo said from behind Margarite making her turn and grin at him.

"That's exactly what I said!" she hugged her husband again.

Peri didn't have to fake the tears in her eyes as she looked up at Angelo. "It's been an emotional day," she said her voice cracking slightly. "We'll be fine in here; you go find your brothers. I need you to find them, Angelo, please," she said as a sob caught in her throat.

"We'll find Josh little mama and the people who did this," Manuel said gruffly. "Dino's out looking, and that boy is like an angry bloodhound at the moment. Dante's with him, I pity anyone who tries to stand in their way."

"You're not looking for Ben?" Emily dropped the hand from her cheek taking in Manuel's words and becoming angry that Ben wasn't seen as important as Josh or the others.

"Vinnie found him," Manuel said his tone changing slightly as he looked at Emily.

"Oh thank God. Is he on his way?" she asked her relief visible in her face and body.

"Why don't you come and talk to us about it in the office?" Angelo gave his Uncle a sharp carefully rehearsed look.

"Why? If you found him then he'll be here soon, and he can tell me himself," she said uncertainly.

"He's not coming, Emily," Manuel said allowing a small amount of sadness to creep into his voice. "He went back to the penthouse this morning for a folio he had left behind. He was there when they attacked. He didn't make it," he said gently.

"No!" Emily said. "They wouldn't have hurt Ben. They were told not to hurt Ben!" Emily collapsed back onto the couch as everyone stared at her. "I don't believe you!"

"Who was told not to hurt Ben?" Rosanna immediately pounced on her words.

"Em, come with us, the doctor is in the office he can help you," Angelo said Emily let him help her from the couch. She glared at Rosanna not answering the question as she was led away.

"Fuck I need a drink," Lucia stood up wiping the tears from her face. "Where do you keep the good stuff?"

"I think we can all use a drink," Lorenzo said disentangling himself from Margarite's arms. "I'll go find a few bottles and some glasses, shall I?"

"Larry, I love you," Lucia sighed.

"I know," he said and left the room.

"Peri, are you okay?" Louisa asked softly.

"Yes, how are you doing? It's been a horrible day for you," Peri said just as softly.

"It was pretty shitty there for a while, that's for sure," she said quietly. "I'm not sure I understand all this or why is happening, but I'm happy to be here and know you are safe."

"I am supposed to believe that smile you've been trying to hide has nothing to do with a certain brother-in-law of mine?" Peri teased trying to take her mind from the tragedy that was unfolding around her.

"I'm sorry, Peri. You are all grieving, and I'm sitting in my own little world here because he loves me," she smiled shyly.

"There's a lot involved in becoming part of this family, so I have to ask, is he the one? You are positive because it will be hard to un-see and unhear some of the things that will happen over the next twenty-four hours if you stay," Peri said. "Think of it as your get out of jail free card."

"I love him," she said simply. "He's a rough and ready cowboy, but his heart is so soft and beautiful. I just feel so lucky that he loves me back."

Peri had always planned to talk to Louisa about the trial for Carlo, and she knew it would have to be sooner now than later, but as Vincenzo entered the library and took a seat, she knew now was not the time and the small moment of distraction she'd allowed herself was over. She went through her notes on the devastation that had befallen the family, as Vincenzo told the women a very simplified version of events and reassured them that Ben was indeed alive, as was Josh, though he had been badly injured.

*****

Emily had raged and cried in equal measure when she had been taken from the library and shown the images from the morgue of a grey and lifeless Ben. There was no sign of the weak and docile woman who had fallen into a stupor, rather than face the guilt, of harming the family. She demanded her phone and some privacy to call her mother. She had lost her adoptive parents and husband in one day, and she needed to talk to someone who loved her, she claimed.

She had been given her phone by Carlo as the most non-threatening of the men there, and he had walked her to her room and agreed to give her some privacy while she made the call. True to her word she called her mother on the phone she had taken from CJ. The call had been brief with her mother comforting her and offering to fly up and look after her for a while. Once she had hung up, she had taken her hidden devices out and called her mother again. The conversation, this time, was full of accusations and recriminations. She wanted heads on platters, and she didn't care whose. She would find every last one of the men who raided the Penthouse and killed her husband.

"You promised Mama! You promised Ben would be spared," Emily had sobbed. "I did everything you asked, everything!"

"Emily stop being so melodramatic. There is always collateral damage, how could we have known Ben would be so stupid," her mother used the same arrogant tone that Emily used on people she thought beneath her, only this time, she heard it for what it was. "This is not about us, everything we have done is to further the family for your brothers."

"There it is. Sacrifice yourself for your brothers, Emily," Emily said bitterly. "Tell me mama what have they ever done for me except kill the one man who made my life here bearable. The jokes on you though because I don't care anymore. Find someone else to do your bidding."

She hung up the phone and lay on her bed crying. It was all over now. All of the plans, all of the scheming, everything was gone. Without Ben, she couldn't take over the family where Antonia left off. Without Ben, she couldn't even find out what was going on. She would have to live off the kindness and charity of her brothers-in-law. "I'd rather die than have that common slut Peri treat me like a charity case," she thought bitterly.

"Two phones Emily?" CJ opened the door to her bedroom giving her a fright. "It must have been hard acting the part all these years. Keeping so many secrets."

"Acting the part?" Emily asked. "I don't understand."

"I'm pretty good at what I do," he said modestly. "The emails you told us about pointed toward multiple devices. Devices not on the family network." He spoke casually without accusation. "The thing I don't get is that you seemed so in love with Ben, it's hard to believe it was just an act."

"I do love him, I always have. That was never a lie," Emily rushed to defend how she felt for Ben.

"How could you and plan to destroy his family? He lives for his brother's he wouldn't have survived their deaths, not on the scale that almost happened today," CJ asked her. "If you knew him at all you would know he wouldn't have accepted the chair in these circumstances. Pete or Dom would have had to step up." Emily looked at him as if he was insane. He let the silence drag on for some time before speaking again.

"We want everything Emily. We want a signed affidavit detailing everyone involved in the plans to kill the Donati family," CJ still spoke in an even casual tone. "We have enough to go to the tables, but we would like you to do this for Ben, to protect the people he loved the most, his children. Whoever got you to engineer this failed this time. The next generation may not be so lucky if we don't end this feud now."

"Even if I had done what you are accusing me of, I'd never put my children at risk!" she exclaimed clutching her chest.

"Collateral damage just like your husband," CJ shrugged. "Your parents want to destroy the Donatis and by name and blood, your children are Donatis. You owe it to them to do as we ask now. Bruno Battaglia will be here to pick you up this evening, and a sitting will be called to accuse your Father of knowingly supporting what happened today. Your Mother has been very careful to keep your father and brothers out of any correspondence that we have discovered. I expect if they remain in power, and giving the Suebi what they need, none of us will be safe after the sitting especially your children without you here to protect them." He let the silence grow again as she cried silently. "Of course if you insist you and your mother acted alone then we must believe you."

She knew that her mother was more than willing to sacrifice her life and that of her sister. They had been groomed to marry, to further their mother's plans for their brother's. The thought that her children could be sacrificed so easily for her ungrateful brothers was startling to her. They'd talked about BJ and Timo ruling the Donati table. Or what was left of it, she thought bitterly, now seeing how she had been blinded by the purpose she had been brought up to fulfil, that it was she that had put her children in this position. With no parents to protect them and further their fortunes and careers what would become of them, she wondered. She thought of Bruno Donati's children. They had lost their father early and had never figured in the future of the table.

"What do you need from me?" she asked finally resigned to the fact that there was no way out for her or her children. Not once in her entire life had she ever considered a future where she and Ben did not rule the table side by side. Without him, everything she had ever wanted and planned for was gone. The stark reality of what that meant to her and the children was overwhelming.

"Names, contact details, notes, emails we may not have found and a signed affidavit detailing who planned the attack on the family and who carried it out," CJ said without pulling any punches. "Most of all we want to know if your father and brothers were involved or if they had your mother do all of the dirty work so that you would pay the penalty and they would retain their position and power."

Her phone vibrated silently on the bed beside her making them both look at it. "Answer it," CJ said as if he didn't care one way or the other.

"Mama, I can't talk to you right now," Emily said into the phone and was stunned to hear her father's voice in reply.

"Ben's not dead, Emily. I don't know what game they are playing there, but he's not dead. Our men never made it into the Penthouse. Stick to the plan and don't ever threaten your mother or me again," Giovanni Pelligrini shouted into the phone loud enough for CJ to hear.

"Papa," Emily started to speak, but the phone line had gone dead.

"Seems your mother wasn't the one with the plan after all," CJ said getting to his feet. "You can call them back and warn them that we know if you want, but then that makes you and everyone in this house expendable including the children. Even if he kills you now, we still have enough proof to go to the tables and cut off that festering branch of the family tree."

"Ben's alive?" Emily asked.

*****

Peri had remained in the library making lists and talking with her team as well as the other women who gathered at the house. The emergency seemed to have passed with no new attacks since mid-afternoon. She had the entire future of the Donati family under her roof tonight, and she planned to make the following day a celebration of life and love for their family. Although she knew the men would have to work throughout the day, she hoped that they could all work from here and enjoy parts of the day with their families. There would be time enough to right the wrongs that had been done.

They had already planned so much for the children that adding a few more to the activities wasn't going to inconvenience anyone. She'd asked Carlo and Angelo to organise a pre-breakfast meeting with the men of the table to outline her plans. She smiled to herself as she thought of those men and how much love they had for each other and this family. They had all been in to check on her at various times during the night. Surprisingly she wasn't tired and as each of the other women said good night and went to bed Peri relished the quiet that descended on the house.

She was methodical in her thinking now as she went through the information detailing which homes and business came under attack. The majority of damage seemed to be centred on Josh and Dante's businesses as well as the farm. The full extent of those losses wouldn't be known until people could get in tomorrow and survey the sites. All in all, it didn't look so bad, and Rosanna had been optimistic about being able to move and redecorate, "Change is as good as a holiday for clearing out the cobwebs," she had said. "Ang is a bit of a hoarder, so this saves some of the arguments about clearing out his junk."

"Why aren't you in bed?" Dante sighed walking into the library.

"Dante!" Peri left from the couch she had been lying on and ran into his arms. In an imitation of the bubbly Margarite, she smothered his face with kisses. "You're finally home," she breathed the words.

"It's been a long day, huh?" He held her tightly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realise that telling her she wasn't welcome here anymore would set off such a big chain reaction," she felt the tears that she had held at bay fill her eyes, and she leaned into his strong chest willing them away. She had to be strong now for everyone.

"This had nothing to do with you," Dante comforted her. "I brought you home a surprise because you've been so wonderful today looking after everyone here, do you want to see?"

"You brought me home a surprise," she asked cautiously.

He chuckled and took her hand leading her back through the house to their bedroom.

"Mine," Josh said in a soft groggy voice and Peri ran to where he lay on the bed with Pete hovering protectively over him.

"Mine," Peri whispered holding his face between her hands and kissing him. "Always and forever."

"He needs rest, Peri. We all do but him more than anyone. Get him to sleep for a few hours and I'll get him through tomorrow," Pete sighed wearily.

"I've never been able to get him to do anything he didn't want to do," she said smoothing his hair back from his forehead. "I'll stay with him and try and keep him in bed, though," she offered.

"I'll rest now," he murmured giving into the cocktail of painkillers and sedatives Pete had given him.

"I have a nurse stationed in with the nannies. She will come and take his vitals every hour. It's a severe concussion and not something to be messed around with," Pete lectured.

"We get it," Dante nodded, feeling the weight of the day weigh down on him. "Tell the nurse she can stay in here with him and go get some rest yourself," he said walking over and picking up one of the armchairs and bringing it beside the bed. "We'll all sleep better knowing he has someone watching him the whole time."

"I'll feel better with the nurse in here," Peri said having watched Josh's face relax as sleep finally took him. She tilted her head and looked at the two exhausted men in front of her. "Have either of you eaten today? Don't answer that just come with me," she commanded and walked down the corridor to the Nannie's room. "Nurse?" she asked.

"Susan," the woman came to her feet and reached out a hand in greeting.

"I'd like you to stay with my husband tonight please," Peri said softly. "There is a comfortable chair beside the bed and enough light to read by there, can I bring you a coffee or something?"

"I'll move my things, a small jug of water and glass would be lovely thank you, Mrs. Donati," Susan said already gathering her small bag.

"Thank you, Susan," Peri continued through the house expecting Pete and Dante to follow her.

An hour later after Peri had made the two men eat a bowl of pasta and some cake, she let Pete go to bed, promising to wake him if anything happened to Josh. Zara had magically appeared in the kitchen yet again as Peri had reheated the pasta and helped with the meal and clean-up. Peri was grateful and sat close to Dante enjoying the warmth of just being with him. When Pete went to bed, they left the kitchen also.

"I need a shower," Dante said softly as they entered the bedroom. "Come do my back for me."

The nurse didn't bat an eyelid as she looked up at the couple and indicated that Josh was fine and turned back to her crossword puzzle. Peri followed Dante into the bathroom and closed the door as he started the shower and stripped off his clothes silently. She followed suit and stepped into the large shower with him, not sure what to make of his silence.