The Twelve Zenati Pt. 15

"How's she doing?" Xavier asked quietly, seeing Noah watching the sleeping Marcella from a chair beside her bed.

"She's fine. She's too hard-headed for a concussion to do any real damage," Noah sighed and got to his feet again. "He's here, I take it?"

"On his way. He called to see if we were still up and keeping an eye on Dom," Xavier confirmed, as Noah rose and stepped quietly toward the door where Xavier stood.

"We can't let them take her back against her will. Promise me you won't do that, X," Noah asked, not liking what he had heard from Marcus earlier in the evening. "If she doesn't want to be in Perth, she can stay with us. She can join my old practice if she wants a job. Harley took over most of my client list."

"I think Apollo had plans to take her to Canberra," Xavier admitted.

"He pushed her in front of a moving car. Regardless of what the girl says, or how loudly he protests his innocence, there are witnesses, X. You can't honestly believe letting her leave with him is a good idea," Noah argued, against what seemed a ludicrous idea.

"I guess we wait and see. There are always two sides to a story. We have to at least hear Francesco and Apollo out first," Xavier said, reasonably. Gideon is meeting them downstairs. He refused to leave so Mama took Viv and Emma home with her. Mostly because no one else could get them to leave either," he chuckled. Even he couldn't say no to his mother when she had her mind set on something.

Marcella opened her eyes as the voices and footsteps faded away, trying to make sense of what she heard. Why were the Battaglia here and why would she have to go anywhere with them, again! More than any of that, why would Noah care? Sure, they were friends, sort of but... None of it made any sense to her. The one thing that she did know was that she wasn't going back to the Battaglia, not now, not ever. She slid from the bed, quietly determined to find her belongings and leave, before anyone even knew she was awake, or at least disappear and make them think she left, if she couldn't get past the doors undetected. If she could just get to a phone, she might have a chance.

******

Rather than stay on the floor where Marcella and Dominic were recovering from their individual injuries, Xavier and his father Anthony had commandeered one of the small conference rooms used by the hospital director and his senior staff, on the first floor. It was there that Apollo arrived, looking worn but determined, with Francesco and another Battaglia member at his side.

"Francesco, it's good to see you. I wish it were under better circumstances," Noah greeted his Battaglian counterpart.

"You and me both," Francesco sighed, obviously exhausted from his flight and the late hour.

"I want to see Chella," Apollo immediately demanded.

"You're in no position to be making demands," Anthony rebuffed the young man, moving forward to greet the three men.

"I apologise, it's late, we're all tired. This whole thing was a misunderstanding and, if I could just see Chella, I know we can straighten this out. I would never hurt her. I love her, and I'm going to marry her. Can't you see how ridiculous this is?" Apollo appealed to the Zenati men.

"Did she mention that she was engaged, or planning to wed someone else, on any of your dates with her?" Anthony turned his head to address Noah directly, surprising him.

"No, and when I told her, over our lunch date today, that Apollo was here and claiming to be her fiancé, she didn't react well. She was shocked and more than a little upset by the news. That probably wasn't helped by the fact that I was the one relaying the information," Noah spoke, keeping his voice calm, but every nerve end in his body was reacting, telling him to beat some sense into this delusion fuck,f he thought for one moment that they would let him anywhere near Marcella after what happened today. "I was not exactly happy to have learned the news from his mouth either, considering how close we have become," he said, as he stretched the truth.

"Can we sit?" Francesco asked, nodding toward the table and placing a restraining arm on Apollo's shoulder before he could react to Noah's comments. "Coffee would be good too, if you have it?" he added hopefully. "The story I have will take some telling, and I'm afraid my energy levels need the boost at this time of the morning," he said, by way of explanation for his requests. "I'm sorry, I haven't even introduced Miro. He is part of the legal team that represents our family and is well versed on the state and federal laws as well as the laws of the Tables."

"I understand that Marcus has sent through some information about how Marcella came to be at the Battaglia training facility, not once but twice, and that her father and uncle used the system against her to send her to us against her will," Miro inquired, as he took his seat. "I trust you have read the account and understand that we acted as soon as we became aware of the subterfuge."

"We have," Xavier said. "We have also made our own enquiries with the Gambaro family, to investigate the father and claims that he may have been abusing his daughters from an early age."

"It is well documented. I am sure they will send through documents similar to those which I have in my possession." He pulled a file from the satchel he carried. "When the incident between Veronica and Peri Donati occurred, all of the young women who were kept in the maximum security wing of the training facility were investigated fully. The discrepancies in the documentation around the acceptance of Marcella Gambaro, under the alias of Romana Gambaro, an older cousin as it turned out, became clear and we contacted the Gambaro family at that time." Miro began going through the file and producing evidence to back up his statements.

"Apollo Martino and Marcella Gambaro had rekindled their relationship during this time, and he went with the delegation to return Marcella to the Gambaro family. She was placed with an Aunt to care for her and oversee, not only her well-being, but that of her younger sister. The girl's parents, Nunzio and Benita Gambaro, were informed that, should any further punishments be meted out unnecessarily to their daughters, the penalties would be high and that they would be visited twice a year by a delegation from the Battaglia as well as the Gambaro family." Miro closed the folder as if the case was closed but Francesco took up the story.

"Apollo and Marcella were young and cared for each other greatly at the time. Perhaps even loved each other, as much as young people can." He gave a soft smile to the Zenati men. "Apollo volunteered to be the man who would check on the girls twice a year to ensure their wellbeing. With time and distance, their close relationship faded slightly, but they faithfully met twice a year, every year, after that and agreed that should they both remain single on Apollo's thirtieth birthday they would marry each other. They even crafted their own contract to that affect." Francesco looked to Miro to confirm this.

"Admittedly, it is not worth the paper it's written on in a court of law, but it would hold up to Table Laws," Miro informed them.

"Marcella isn't single, though," Noah lied. They weren't exactly dating. It was more like they were the odd ones out, always being pushed together like identical third wheels.

"She isn't married or even engaged, however, and it would seem that neither is she likely to be by the time Apollo turns thirty in another month. He feels well within his rights to have a certain expectation about their future together," Francesco pointed out.

"That's a lovely story, and perhaps it will work out that way for you, Apollo, but we still have four witnesses to the fact that you pushed the woman you supposedly love into oncoming traffic. She sustained a head injury that we are lucky was not much worse, although time will tell how long she takes to recover from it," Anthony pointed out in a gruff voice. "We are not here to judge how long you have known her, or the strength of your relationship based on that. We are here because you almost killed a Gambaro woman in our city. And we have a certain expectation about how that is dealt with. This will not be something you can just sweep under the carpet with charm and platitudes. Marcella and her sister have come to mean a great deal to this family, and we do not take this kind of insult to our hospitality lightly." His voice had risen to a crescendo by the end.

"That's not what we're trying to..." Francesco tried to diffuse the situation.

"Yes, it is. You came in here with all this history and pretty talk of love," Anthony spat disgustedly. "You do not toss someone you love in front of a moving car and expect others to believe it was a simple misunderstanding." Anthony narrowed his eyes at the young man who seemed unperturbed in the slightest by what he was accused of, which only served to rankle him more. He hadn't even asked about her diagnosis.

"Look, mate," Gideon stepped forward, trying to ease the tension with his usual good humour, which had become increasingly hard to find. "We would have a darn sight easier time believing that you loved her if you had just asked how she was doing, about her diagnosis, if she was resting comfortably at least, but you didn't. You demanded to see her, no doubt so you could bully her into recounting events the way you see them. "We expected an apology from this meeting and an explanation, not demands and a story about why you have the right to treat her however you want."

"That's not what we were doing," Francesco held up his hand to forestall Gideon's words.

"Gideon is right and, in lieu of any regret in your defence of Apollo Martino, for the damage caused, not only to Marcella but my family on today of all days, you have until sunrise to take him back to the Battaglia stronghold. He can plead his case to a panel there because, if he is still in our city tomorrow, when the police arrive to question the young woman, I imagine they will have no problem arresting him and charging him with attempted murder, based on the eye-witness statements alone," Anthony said, in a dangerously quiet voice.

"I don't think that's necessary," Miro frowned, looking at the five Zenati men and the determination on their faces. Fucking Marcus should have been here, he thought to himself. Marcus knew how to charm and schmooze his way through any situation. Francesco ran at issues like a bull and dared people to take him on.

"Of course, we care about the girl. That was never in question," Francesco began to argue the point.

"I don't think you understand how seriously we take incidents like this. The police have statements from far more than our four witnesses and are waiting to find out Marcella's long-term prognosis before speaking with her in the morning. In the end, the choice will be hers, whether to press charges in a court of law but, by the laws of the Tables, we can stop you from ever returning here, if we are unsatisfied with the consequences from the panel." Anthony addressed Apollo directly and was pleased that the young man finally lost the cocky, self-assured look he had been wearing.

"I want to see Chella before we leave," Apollo demanded, in a more conciliatory tone. "Please, I need to see that she is okay for myself."

"Not a chance of that now, my friend," Gideon spoke. "These gentlemen will show you out and take you to the airport." He indicated the three watchers standing beside the door.

"Rest assured that we will send a full report and transcript of this meeting to Marcus, and Brutus, if he is still taking correspondence in his partial retirement," Anthony added, as the three men came to their feet and faced the door. "Safe travels. Now, if you don't mind, I have a gravely-ill son to attend to, who is doing as well as expected. Not that you have asked about his health, either." He spat disgustedly and turned his back on the delegation to leave the room.

*****