Chapter 57

• Eddie Vasco
• I was taught to never hit a woman. My strict Italian mother would be livid with me for knocking Nayla Bell out the way I did. Men did not abuse women. Not a pop to the face or anything that could mar a beautiful smile with bruises or blood. That’s not to say the men in my family didn’t swat a naughty ass here or there when deserved, but we did not physically harm an innocent female in an act of uncontrolled violence. The Vasco family had rules, and that was one of them.
• I would have to ask for forgiveness later in confession and pay my penance with saying my Hail Marys. I also would keep this little tidbit of information from my mother in fear that she would beat me over the head with a wooden spoon if she became aware. But I didn’t have a choice. I knew that Miss Bell would not go quietly. I saw her cagey eyes darting around as she tried to come up with an escape plan, and now was not the time to quiet her screams or deal with her nails clawing at my face. There was plenty of time for that later.