Page 75 of Christmas with the Mafia
Desiree laughs out loud, her eyes wide with disbelief.
“You really don’t know, do you?”
“What?”
I’m increasingly nervous as she advances toward me, and I’m guessing she could do serious damage with her disastrous nails that are sharpened to points like the blades of several knives. I’m struck by the resemblance to Edward Scissorhands and stem my nervous laughter as she reaches me and sneers, “Tell me, what do you think Nico does for a living?”
“That’s easy; he’s CEO of Viper Holdings. They buy and sell businesses and make them more profitable.” I resist adding ‘duh,’ at the end because I doubt she would appreciate that.
She rolls her eyes as if I’m the stupidest person alive and waves her hand around the room.
“And all of this, wealth. Where do you think this all came from?”
“The profits, of course.” I shrug. “I mean, Giovanni set the company up, and his sons work in all aspects of that. It’s an international operation, and they are very good at what they do. You’ve got to admire them, really. They are excellent at it.”
“Are you really this stupid?”
Desiree’s scorn cuts the flow dead, and I bristle with anger as I hiss, “Now listen, I sense your anger and disappointment, and I kind of get it. I’m sorry and everything. It must have come as quite a blow when you rocked up here and found the guy you fancy with somebody else, but well, I can’t help that, so maybe you should talk to Nico about it. I fail to see what I can do.”
“Walk away.”
Her voice drips acid as she sneers, “While you still can.”
“Are you threatening me?”
My eyes are wide as she steps a little closer, her posture threatening and her expression fierce.
“I don’t need to threaten you; any association with this family immediately places a target on your back, and it won’t be long before somebody does it for me.”
“They have security. Nico told me they take their safetyvery seriously, which reminds me how jealous some people are.”
I glare pointedly at her, deciding I no longer wish to pretend that I like her. I don’t, and if anything, I have had enough of her company to last me a lifetime.
Rather than speak, she laughs, and I shiver inside. It’s low, menacing and devoid of any emotion—the laugh of the devil.
“Do you think I’m jealous of you?” She stills, her eyes flashing as she delivers her words on an edge of steel.
“When I was growing up, it was with the understanding that my duty to my family was through marriage. It was drummed into me along with my earliest memories. The man had already been chosen for me; it was an agreement signed in blood. Nicholas Ravera was – is that man because when we marry two dynasties merge.”
I attempt to speak, to excuse myself, to get away as far from her as possible, but if anything, she is holding me spellbound in a trance as she hisses, “That business is mafia business. Our families are mafia, Regina. They always have been and always will be, and the wealth you are experiencing right now was paid for with broken bones, blood, tears and shattered souls and yours is about to join them.”
I have no words and no witty reply because one word is spiraling through my mind like a banshee screaming in agony. The guards, the protection, the awe and what I considered respect on the faces of the onlookers, plays like a video in my mind as the realization crashes through my brain.
Giovanni, Nico’s brothers, his mother’s sad expression, the emptiness of the house along with the threat that lingersover every word they speak. Mafia. What the actual fucking weird shit is going on right now?
Desiree leans forward, and her words are sinister and reeking of bad promises. “You just accepted an invitation to Christmas with the mafia, honey, so be careful what you wish for because this ain’t no fairy tale, it’s a fucking horror story.”
Thirty-Eight
REGINA
Time stands still,and I kind of switch to auto as I regard Desiree coolly and shrug. “Are you under the impression I am unaware of that?”
I roll my eyes, dragging every memory I possess of films like The Godfather and The Sopranos into my performance.
“Good try, Desiree, and thanks for the tip, but Nico told me everything. Of course, he did. I love him and he loves me and even in your world that counts for more than any of the wealth inside this mansion, so, if you’ll excuse me right now, it’s Christmas Eve and I have some last minute, um, gift wrapping to do. Enjoy your eggnog and the realization that life sucks sometimes, so get over yourself.”
I don’t wait for her to fly at me with those finger knives and make for the door, wrenching it open, my heart beating like a freaking drum, the word mafia a steady death sentence in my mind as I stumble away from the music room and the woman who has brought my house of cards crashing down.
