Page 21 of Once Upon A Christmas Kiss
“Oh my, let me serve you,” Mamma says, opening the cabinet.
“Ohhh, yes,” I say, walking to the table, sliding onto the chair.
“I made some salad,” Mamma says, placing the plate in front of me.
Mamma walks back for her plate and returns, taking the seat next to me. She takes her fork, rolling the long noodle.
“Mamma, I was thinking of taking a little time off from work, a leave of absence. Do you think that my Zia Elena will be okay if I visit until I have the baby,” I ask, pushing a lock behind my ear?
“Ella, that sounds like a great idea. I’m sure that your Zia Elena, Sofia, and Bria will love it,” Mamma says, looking at me.
She clasps her hands together, nodding, pulls her cell phone out of the apron’s pocket, sliding her fingers over the cell phone.
“I’ll call your Zia Elena and then tell Jacob about our trip,” Mamma says, pursing her lips.
“Awesome, I can’t wait. I need to leave for a while because I need to get away from everything that reminds me of Nicola,” I say, taking a bite of the French bread.
“Ella, don’t worry. You and Nicola will be together,” Mamma says, looking at me.
Five
Nicola
Months later.
“Nicola, I need you to take care of a few special contracts from the Boss Cappola. All three of them are in Sacramento, so it should be an easy job. The details are in this thumb drive. You know what to do,” Cristiano says, taking a drink of his whiskey.
I lean against the wall holding a crystal glass. I look at the whiskey swirling around the ice as I move my hand.
I hate that I followed in my Papà’s and Cristiano’s path, the mystery and power called me, it pulled me into his world, but I fucking hate the dark depth of the mafioso world.
This life cost me my love, Antonella.
It fucking has my heart bleeding, and my soul is fucking dead.
Cristiano tried to keep me far away from this world, but I felt it was what I had to do.
Jacob was fucking right; I can’t leave; there’s no going back.
Cristiano is my Capo, and I have to follow Boss Cappola’s orders. I’m simply his soldier, but fuck, he has other soldiers. I’m tired of having so much blood on my hands.
At first, I thought it was cool that my brother was training and teaching me all he knew, but I walked into the darkness.
That’s what I hate.
I walked away from the light.
Yeah, from the only woman that touched my soul.
Now I’m a Made Man, a Soldati. Which is like being the Capo’s lanky assassin; yup, I take care of the contracts. Finally, I took the omerta oath; the ceremony was incredible, epic, but it was the seal to my death sentence.
“Get the contracts taken care of before Christmas,” Cristiano says, taking a drink.
“No worries,” I say, walking over to set the glass on the table.
“Get back for Christmas because Mamma is having a dinner party,” Cristiano says, holding the glass in his hands, staring at me.
“Right,” I murmur, walking out of Christiano’s office.
