Romero
I stared at my phone. What the fuck was Scuderi thinking? I’d wanted to kill him so often in the past, now I wished I’d done it.
Nino came out of the meeting room and put a cigarette into his mouth. That guy grated on my fucking nerves. “Why the long face? Get yourself a nice long blowjob from one of the girls. That always puts a smile on my face.”
I stormed toward him, gripped him by the collar and flung him against the wall. His head smashed against it and he dropped his stupid cigarette. “What the fuck, you asshole! Let me go!” he screamed like a fucking pussy.
I punched him in the stomach twice and he dropped to his knees. God, I wanted to fucking kill someone. I didn’t even care whom. I hit him over and over again.
“Hey! What’s going on here?” Luca growled. He gripped my arms and pulled them behind my back. “Romero what the hell are you doing? Calm the fuck down.”
I relaxed in his hold and took a deep breath.
Matteo knelt beside Nino who was bleeding from a wound on his head and from his nose. I hadn’t even realized I’d hit him in the face too. Aria joined us after a moment. Since she’d started working the books of the clubs, she was here quite often. She gave me a questioning look, then worry twisted her face.
“I’m going to kill you, you bastard,” Nino snarled.
Matteo helped him to his feet. “You won’t do anything. Go inside and have someone stitch up your head.”
Nino staggered off, but not without sending me a death glare. As if I gave a fuck. Let him try to kill me. I’d wipe the fucking floor with his weak ass.
“Did something happen with Lily?” Aria asked fearfully, walking up to me.
“You can let me go now,” I told Luca. He did and stepped back, his narrowed eyes flitting between his wife and me.
“Why would Romero know if something was wrong with Lily?” he asked carefully.
Aria didn’t say anything, only looked at me. Maybe I should have been worried that Luca might find out, but I didn’t give a shit about that either.
“Your father has arranged a marriage with Benito Brasci for her,” I said in a low voice.
Aria gasped. “What? He never said anything that he was looking for a husband for her!” She glanced at Luca. “Or did he mention anything to you?”
Luca’s expression was stone. “No, he hasn’t. But right now I’m more concerned about the fact that Romero knows about this before anyone else and that he almost kills one of my men because of it.”
I leaned against the wall. I might as well tell him the truth. “Lily and I have been seeing each other during the summer.”
Matteo let out a low whistle. For some reason it annoyed the crap out of me. I glared at him and almost lost my shit again when I saw his grin. What the fuck was so funny?
Luca got into my face. “Didn’t you tell me not too long ago that you weren’t interested in her? That there wouldn’t be a fucking problem when she was around? I remember that conversation pretty damn well, and now you’re fucking telling me that you were seeing Liliana behind my fucking back all summer?”
Aria touched Luca’s arm and positioned herself halfway between us. “Luca, please don’t get mad at Romero. He and Lily didn’t mean any harm. They fell in love. It just happened.”
“And you knew all along?” Luca muttered. “You knew and didn’t tell me? Didn’t we have a discussion about loyalty and trust when you helped Gianna run away?”
Aria blanched. “They are my sisters.”
“And I’m your fucking husband.”
“Luca, she didn’t mean–” I began.
Luca jabbed his fingers against my chest. “You stay the fuck out of this. You’re lucky I don’t put a bullet into your head right this second for going against my orders.”
“Hey, calm down Luca. Maybe it’s not as bad as it sounds,” Matteo said, trying to be the voice of reason, which was a joke in itself.
“Oh, I suspect it’s exactly as bad as I think it is,” Luca murmured. His eyes fixed me. “Just tell me this, will we be in trouble on Liliana’s wedding night?”
I knew what he was asking.
“Lily won’t marry that guy. Isn’t he over fifty? It’s ridiculous,” Aria butted in.
“Over fifty and a nasty piece of shit,” Matteo added.
Luca ignored them. His eyes bored into mine. “Will there be a fucking problem on her wedding night?”
“I slept with Lily,” I said calmly.
Matteo let out another of his annoying whistles.
Luca cursed. He looked like he wanted to smash my head in with a sledgehammer. “Why couldn’t you leave your dick in your pants? Couldn’t you at least have drawn the line at actually fucking her?”
“I don’t regret it,” I said. “Now less than ever.”
Luca took a step back from me as if he didn’t trust himself this close to me. “This is a fucking mess. Do you realize what happens if Benito Brasci finds out his wife isn’t a virgin? Scuderi will figure out it happened in New York and we’ll be screwed.”
“I don’t think there will be a problem. I stood beside Brasci at the urinal once. That guy’s cock is tiny. He can’t possibly expect there to be any blood on the sheets with that small sausage. Liliana probably won’t even notice his cock in her,” Matteo joked.
I saw red. I lunged at him, my fist colliding with his jaw. But Matteo wasn’t Nino. After my first hit, he blocked my second and pulled his knife. Mine was out too. We faced off, knives pointed at each other.
“Enough!” Luca roared, stepping between us and shoving us away from each other. “I’m going to put you down like rabid dogs if you don’t get a grip on yourself right this second.”
“He started it,” Matteo said, never taking his eyes off me. We’d never fought against each other, and I wasn’t sure I could beat him in a knife fight, but I wouldn’t mind to find out.
“You provoked him,” Aria said. “What you said was horrible.”
Matteo rolled his eyes. “My God, I was trying to light the mood.”
“You failed,” Luca said coldly. “Now put your knives away. Both of you.”
I sheathed my knife and Matteo did the same. I exhaled. “I shouldn’t have punched you,” I said eventually.
Matteo nodded. “I should keep my mouth shut now and then.”
We shook hands and I leaned against the wall again. My legs felt heavy. I peered down at my phone. I needed to call Lily, to tell her I wouldn’t give her up.
“But she’s not pregnant, is she?” Luca asked after a moment.
I shook my head. We’d always been careful.
“Then maybe we’ll get out of this unscathed. Brasci might not notice, and there are ways to fake blood stains on the sheets.”
“She won’t marry that man,” I said.
Luca raised his eyebrows. “Oh, isn’t she? Are you thinking about stopping Scuderi? Maybe kidnap Lily and marry her?”
I didn’t say anything. I wanted to punch Luca too, but that would have definitely been the nail in my coffin.
“Luca, please. Can’t you talk to my father?”
“Talk to him and tell him what?” Luca growled. “That my best soldier screwed his daughter and wants her for himself? That I broke my oath to protect Liliana and now she’s lost her fucking honor? That will go over fucking well.”
“No, but you could tell him that Gianna and I want our sister in New York with us and if he wouldn’t maybe consider marrying her to someone from the Famiglia. You wouldn’t have to tell him who right away. It would give us time to figure something out.”
“I can’t get involved. It’s none of my business. And if your father has already promised Liliana to Brasci, he won’t change his mind. It would make him look bad and offend Brasci.”
“But we have to do something!” Aria exclaimed.
“I won’t go into war over this!” Luca hissed.
I understood him. He had to consider only the Famiglia. But I didn’t have to.
***
Liliana
I was woken by the ringing of a phone. Slowly my conversation with my Father and then Romero replayed in my mind. My eyes darted toward my travel bag in the walk-in closet, thinking and hoping it was Romero again before I remembered that it was on mute. Disappointment crashed down on me once more. I sat up, disoriented and exhausted from crying. The clock on the nightstand told me it was only 10pm. I walked toward my desk where the landline phone was and picked it up. It was Aria. She must have heard already. Had Father called her to tell her the good news?
I picked up. “Hi Aria,” I rasped. There was no hiding that I’d been crying. Aria knew that voice.
“Oh, Lily. I just heard. I’m so sorry. I can’t believe it.”
“We’re not going to let Father get away with it. We’ll figure something out,” Gianna shouted in the background. They were together, they had husbands they loved, and I’d be stuck here with an old man I would never be able to love. How could things have gone so horribly wrong?
“Did Father call you?” I asked, my voice regaining some of the emotionlessness I preferred.
“No, he didn’t. We found out through Romero.”
“He told you.”
“Yes, he did,” Aria said slowly. “He attacked one of the other soldiers who said something to him, so Luca had a word with him, and figured it out.”
“Why did he attack that man?”
“What do you think? Because he doesn’t want you to marry Basci,” Aria said softly. “He’s been trying to call you for the last hour but you didn’t pick up. He almost went crazy over here. He wants to talk to you.”
“He’s there with you?”
“Yes. I’ll hand him the phone now, okay?”
Fear corded up my throat. “Okay.”
“Lily,” Romero murmured into the phone. His voice was anything but detached now. I released a harsh breath and felt tears run down my face.
“Lily?”
I swallowed hard. “I thought you didn’t want anything to do with me anymore now that I’m promised to someone else.”
“No, never. I know I didn’t react the way I should have. I…I was so angry when you told me your fucking Father wants to sell you off to that old bastard. I wanted to fly over there and kill him. I didn’t want to let out my anger on you so I tried to push it back.”
“Okay,” I whispered.
“Do you still want to run away?”
Yes, more than anything else. “It would mean war. You said it yourself.”
“I don’t care. I would risk war for you.”
“Is Luca there to hear you say that?”
“No, he isn’t.”
“He would kill you if he could hear you.”
“Your sisters would risk war over you as well.”
I didn’t doubt it. Gianna, in particular, but even Aria who was the more reasonable would do anything to protect me, and that was what scared me so much. Fabiano would soon be in the midst of mob business. The war with the Russians had gotten worse in recent years, and I probably didn’t even know half of it. If New York and Chicago started fighting each other again, this could cost the lives of many people I cared about.
“I have to meet him tomorrow.”
“I don’t want you alone with him, Lily.”
“But what if he asks me and Father says ‘yes’?”
“You are a honorable Italian girl, play that card. If I have to worry that you’ll be alone with him I’ll book the next flight and be there tomorrow. Fuck. I want to do just that and kill him.”
I smiled slightly, wishing he could. I wanted nothing more than to have him with me, to feel his arms around me. “I’m not a honorable girl anymore. Maybe if I tell my father I can get out of this marriage.”
“He might kill you. Your father has been very volatile since that thing with Gianna.”
“Maybe that would be better than marrying that guy.”
“Don’t say something like that. We’ll figure something out.”
I nodded, even if he couldn’t see it. I wanted to believe him. “I know,” I said quietly.
“Aria is going to call your father tomorrow morning to get a feel for his resolve.”
“I don’t think she’ll be able to talk him out of it. Does Luca know everything about us?”
“Yes, at least everything he needs to know to assess the situation.”
My cheeks flamed, but Romero was right. We needed to tell Luca the truth if we wanted him to be able to do something. “Was he very angry?”
Romero was silent for a moment. “He wasn’t happy. I punched Matteo, that didn’t really help matters.”
“You hit Matteo? Why? I thought Aria said you’d attacked another soldier.”
“I did both,” Romero admitted. “I just really lost it.”
“Please don’t get in trouble because of me. I don’t want you to get hurt, promise me.” There was another moment of silence, before he said, “I promise.”
But I had a feeling it was a promise he wasn’t sure he could keep. If he’d already attacked Matteo, the Famiglia’s Consigliere, that wasn’t a good sign.
“Call me after your meeting with Brasci tomorrow. I’ll go crazy if I don’t hear from you. And don’t let him try anything. He’s got absolutely no right. I’ll fucking kill him if he puts a toe out of line, if he even looks at you the wrong way.”
“Didn’t you promise to stay out of trouble?” I joked half-heartedly.
“I’ll try, but I’ll be on edge tomorrow, that much is sure.”
We talked about a few unimportant things before we said good-bye and hung up. I clutched the phone against my chest. Slowly I lay back on the bed. I was relieved that Romero still wanted me but I was also scared that he’d do something that would get him killed. Luca liked Romero a lot, but he was also Capo and needed to keep his men in line. If Romero did something that publicly hurt the Famiglia, Luca might not have a choice but to punish him severely. I wouldn’t let that happen.
***
I barely slept more than two hours. I’d known that my first night in Chicago wouldn’t be easy but I hadn’t expected it to be this horrible.
There were dark shadows under my eyes and I didn’t bother covering them up. Maybe Benito would decide not to marry me if I looked like a corpse. I put on jeans and a shirt before I made my way downstairs. Fabi and Father were already sitting at the table, eating breakfast. I wondered if they’d done the same when I was gone. “Since when are you awake this early on a Saturday?” I asked Fabi as I took the chair across from him.
“Only because he doesn’t have school doesn’t mean he should laze around,” Father answered in Fabi’s stead. Fabi stabbed at his fruit with his fork, looking like he wished it was Father.
“Is he getting inducted soon?”
Father set his coffee down. “You know very well that that’s none of your business.”
I curled my hands into fists under the table. My throat tightened at my next words. “When are Benito Brasci and his daughter going to arrive?”
“Around six. I already told you we’d have dinner with them.” His eyes narrowed. “I hope you don’t intend to wear that tonight. Take one of your cocktail dresses and let your hair down. That’s how Benito prefers it.”
I blinked a few times, too stunned for words. Fabi dropped his fork with a clang.
“And you should eat. I don’t want you to faint again. Tonight is important,” Father continued unimpressed.
I reached for a Danish and stuffed a few pieces into my mouth but I wasn’t sure I could keep them down.
“Stop picking at your food, Liliana, for God’s sake.”
“Leave her alone!” Fabi shouted.
Father and I both froze.
“What did you just say?” Father asked in a dangerous voice.
Fabi glared back but then he lowered his eyes. “Why can’t you leave her alone? I don’t like how you treat her.”
“I won’t have you criticizing me, Fabiano. You better learn to keep your mouth shut or you’ll be in major trouble once you’re part of the Outfit. Understood?”
Fabi nodded, but his lips were a thin white line.
I forced the rest of my Danish down even though it tasted like nothing. Father picked up his newspaper and disappeared behind it.
Fabi and I didn’t try to talk. And really what was there left to say?
