“Luca, you forget I was with you when you saw her for the first time.”
“Yes, and?”
“I was with you and you changed. Your world became about her and not the business.”
“My world is always the business.”
“I beg to differ. Your world became her, she was number one. And she can’t be number one, ain’t no woman can be number one in the mafia world. You know that, Luca.”
“I know that, Giorgio. You don’t have to tell me that.”
“Because if someone knows you got a number one other than the business, they take that number one and then they blackmail you. And then they get you to do things that you ain’t got no business doing, Luca.”
“I would never do anything to jeopardize the family, Giorgio. You know that.”
“You say that and I know you think that. But I don’t know that if you’re with her again, it will stay the same.” He let out a deep sigh. “I’m just saying, Luca. She’s no good for you, let her go. You’ve already got someone else that you should be engaged to anyway. Why are you going to blow everything up?”
“I’m not blowing anything up, Giorgio. This is my life, my business, I know what I’m doing.”
“I don’t think you do know what you’re doing, Luca. Just for a piece of pussy. Was the pussy that good, really? Come on now, how are you going to do this to me? How am I meant to look the guys in the eye and tell them the boss is not crazy?” He was mumbling. “You can’t be pussy-whipped, Luca.”
“Are people saying I’m crazy? Who’s saying I’m crazy? Who I got to talk to? Who do I have to take care of?” I would make an example of anyone that had been talking smack about me.
“Nobody’s saying you’re crazy, Luca. And they sure as hell wouldn’t say it to me. They know they’d have my gun in their faces in five seconds if they said anything like that to me. But Luca, there are whispers, there are always whispers. And once the whispers start, they get louder and louder, and then we can’t control anything.”
“There’s nothing to control, Giorgio. You just need to do what I said.”
“But Luca...”
“Giorgio, I’m not going to tell you again. You need to do what I said.”
He let out a deep sigh. “Fine. When?”
“Tomorrow night.”
“Want me to take any of the guys?”
“I think you can handle it alone, don’t you?”
“I guess I can handle it alone. I don’t know what I got to do to her to-“
“Don’t lay a finger on her.”
“But Luca, how am I—”
“Giorgio, you are not to lay a finger on her. Spike her drink, do whatever you got to do. But if I see one bruise, one mark on her, you are dead. Do you hear me?”
He just nodded in response. “Do you understand what I am saying, Giorgio? Answer me.”
“Yes, Luca. I understand.”
“Good. You call me tomorrow when it’s done and then I’ll come, okay?”
“Okay.” He turned around and walked away. I watched him go and my heart beat rapidly. He stopped by the door and looked back at me, “I’m just going to ask you one last time, are you sure you want to do this?”
I looked him dead in the eye and nodded, “I’m sure.” He let out a long, deep sigh and shook his head. Then he turned back around, walked through the door and slammed it behind him. I knew he was mad, I knew he didn’t want to do what I told him to do, but I knew he’d still do it. There was no stopping me now. From the moment I’d seen her there in Miami, I knew this was what I had to do. She was going to pay and I was going to enjoy taking every last drop of happiness from her, just like she’d done to me. Anabel had no idea, but the world as she knew it was about to change forever.
Chapter 6
Anabel
The smooth sounds of the saxophone filled the living room as Emily, Charlotte, and I sat there drinking wine. None of us talked. I knew they were waiting for me to start. They wanted to hear the secrets I had been keeping. I could tell from their faces that they looked hurt and sad that I’d never confided in them before, which I could understand. How could we have been friends for so long and they never knew about my past? They never knew that I’d been truly, deeply, and madly in love with someone who was now the head of the mafia.
The person they thought they knew didn’t really exist. I was, of course, who I wanted to be with them. I was myself. But by them not knowing my past, did they really know all of me? As we sat there listening to John Coltrane, a part of me wondered if our friendship would ever be the same after today.
“So, I was thinking,” I started hesitantly and looked over at Charlotte. She gave me a warm smile.
“Go on, Anabel. You know we’ll always be here for you, right? You can tell us anything.”
“I don’t know if I can tell you everything, guys,” I sighed. “I mean, I know you think that, and I know you want to believe that, but sometimes there are things that are done that can never be forgiven, you know?”
Emily looked me up and down. I could tell from her brown eyes that she was considering my statement.
We sat in silence for a couple more seconds, and then she said quietly, “Anabel, we’ve been friends since we were eighteen years old, since we were freshmen at Columbia University. We have always been here for you, and I think I know you better than maybe anyone else in the world, right? Well.” She chuckled. “I guess I don’t really know all of you, but what I do know is that you’re a good person. You have a good heart, and you’re a good person. So if you’ve done something in your past that wasn’t so good, tell us. Explain to us. We will be here for you. We will not judge you, I promise you that.”
I sat back and closed my eyes. “Guys, I just... it’s a long story. I just don’t even know where to begin.”
“Just start at the beginning,” Charlotte said. “That’s always the best place to start.”
“Okay.”
I took a deep breath and then a large gulp of the wine. My fingers felt shaky as I sat there, but I knew that now was the time. I had to tell them, if not everything, something. I had to appease them. Maybe now was the time for everything in my life to change.
“So when I was seventeen, I was a real geek.” I laughed. “I didn’t have a boyfriend. I didn’t have many friends, and I was just really into books.”
“You were into books in college too.” Charlotte laughed too. “What’s different about that?”
“Yeah, not really much different, you know? It was almost like that summer never happened when I look back in my life. If I wasn’t there, if I didn’t remember everything so acutely, I could almost pretend that it didn’t.”
“Tell us, Anabel. Please tell us more.”
“So, I met Luca when I was walking down the street. I bumped into him by accident. I dropped my bags. He picked them up for me, and he walked me home.”
“Wow. Sounds romantic. Sounds like a nice guy,” Emily said, surprised.
“Yeah. That’s what I thought as well.” I sighed deeply, rubbed my forehead. “About a week later, I was walking down an alleyway because I was stupid like that, and I got jumped by these four guys.”