Love is Just a Moment Read Online Free PDF Page B

such sympathy for him, such sorrow for what he’d been through, but also anger for what he intended to do next, for how he would leave her here in the wake of his revenge. How could she be expected to just go back to her life after that?
    “You really believe it,” she said, “don’t you? That the universe is guiding you, that it’s watching out for you?”
    “I must,” Piero said, “I must believe it.”
    “Well maybe it is,” Rebecca answered, imploring him now with wide, searching eyes, “but if so, couldn’t it be that the universe—God or destiny or whatever it is—sent me here not to share your last moment, but to stop you from doing what you came here to do? To save you from making a terrible mistake?”
    Piero’s gaze dropped to his lap as his face crinkled with uncertainty. It was like she could hear the gears turning as she watched him and for the first time since Libano and his gang had arrived she felt the warm, fragile pang of hope in her heart. She was right, she considered as she reflected on the words that had seemed to spill from her breast without any thought. It made as much sense at least as Piero’s idea that destiny had brought him here to exact vengeance on these men.
    But for Piero such an idea had been with him for so long that he was clearly not ready to give up on it. When vengeance has been the motivator for so long it cannot be discarded so easily—not without leaving a gaping black hole in its place.
    “No,” Piero murmured, his tone failing to match the firmness of his words, “no that cannot be so. Vengeance must be done. Libano has caused too much harm already, now it is time for that to be taken away from him. I am the only one who can do it.”
    “And then what?” Rebecca said, feeling more sure of herself now, “Are you going to gun down all the other Mafiosi in this country as well? Because if it’s only Libano then you can be sure someone just as bad if not worse will be willing to take his place once he’s gone.”
    A slight, uncertain smile appeared on Piero’s soft lips though Rebecca certainly did not feel like there was anything to smile about. “You are very clever Rebecca,” he said, “it is true, I cannot kill all of them, I cannot do anything to diminish the force of evil in this world. But I can kill Libano, I can ensure that there is justice in this one instance at least.”
    “I don’t think you believe that,” Rebecca said, “I don’t think you really believe that there’s any justice in gunning another human being down like a dog in the street. That’s what men like him do and yes, you’re right, they deserve to pay for it, but not like this.”
    Piero did not speak for a moment and Rebecca waited patiently despite her own anxiety as he formed his thoughts. She was sure now that he could be reasoned with, persuaded, but the chance was spinning on the head of a needle and for now at least it could still go either way.
    “When I was sixteen,” Piero said finally, “I borrowed my neighbor’s shotgun, telling him that it was to hunt the wild dogs who had been invading our farm, and then I went into Palermo to the club where Libano and his masters were known to conduct their business. Back then, inflamed with the fires of youth and still reeling from the loss of my father six years previously, it was not enough that I should deal with Libano—I intended to kill all of those men in that organization. I wanted to wipe them off the face of the earth completely.
    “I waited all night in an alleyway across from the club and when they finally showed up I moved out of the darkness towards them, and the shotgun clutched beneath my father’s jacket—itself several sizes too big for me—was almost the same height that I was. I went to the back of the building where a low basement window would give me opportunity to take aim and fire at will, a foxhole to shoot through where they would not be able to return fire, provided I caught them off-guard