Page 26 of Second in Command
Francesca shook her head, no.
He swiftly barked back at her, “Do as I said! Now!”
Biting her lower lip, she did what was told.
* * *
Francesca fellasleep with the radio on…
All day long, I’m wearing a mask of false bravado
Trying to keep up a smile that hides a tear
But as the sun goes down, I get that empty feeling again
How I wish to God that you were here
Baby come back, oh baby, any kind of fool could see
There was something in everything about you
Baby come back, you can blame it all on me
I was wrong and I just can't live without you…
Francesca was woken from her nap when she felt her body being shook. With sleepy eyes she saw her maid, Maria standing over her.
“Your father is calling for you,” she said, mildly.
Francesca yawns, and then stretches out her back.Was this all a dream?“Where is he?”
“He’d like to see you in his study.”
Francesca looks down at her attire, it was the same outfit she had put on in the morning.Not a dream, but a nightmare.She walks down the corridor and down the staircase to be met by two soldiers standing guard over her father’s study. Two guards only meant one thing. Vincenzio Benedetti theCapoof the Montagna Mafia family was there visiting. She gazes up at one of them, and he briefly acknowledges her with a thin smile. Quickly averting her eyes away, she knocks on the door and is let in by another guard who had already been inside.
“Papa? You asked to see me—” She was unprepared when she saw Vincenzio sitting at her papa’s desk, puffing on a cigar, its smoke filling the room.
“Sit down, Francesca,” he said, in a low authoritative tone.
Francesca sat down on the one empty chair clear across from her father. She tried to make eye contact with him, but he gazed away. In a soft voice, she asked, “What is this?”
“This?” Vincenzio laughs sickly. “This is us trying to save the Donato name from ridicule!”
Francesca briefly closes her eyes.Now everyone knows.“He told you?”
Again, Vincenzio chuckles, “My dear, your father tells me everything.”
Tears start to form at the back of her eyes. Dread spread through her skin. “And?” She barely got out.
“…And you will marry Gabriele Caldarelli,” Vincenzio asserts.
Francesca barely turned her head, she knew he was standing behind her, he was the soldier at the door—the man who let her in. Her eyes flutter up towards her father. Alberto was looking out the window again. “What about Anthony Romano? Papa’s choice?”
Vincenzio takes a long puff of his cigar, “Romano is already engaged, his wedding is in three months—we’re all invited.”
Francesca’s eyes wander back to Gabriele’s shoes, then back up to meet theCapo’ssmirk. “Mr. Caldarelli has agreed to take you as you are, my dear—scandal and all.”
Francesca began to breathe heavily. She wanted Enzo Andonetto!! Not this half-twit of a man she will now have to call husband. “I won’t marry him—I won’t,” she yells, standing up.
