Page 19 of Bought By the Mafia

“Your father added that,” Gio said after a while. “Something about grounding you, he said. But my Italian is poor, so I didn’t catch exactly what he said.”

Father had not liked my partying and other ancillary activities. I got up too. His dislike had less to do with me and more to do with my mother. He thought she had led me astray, and he was right. He had always tried to find a way to keep me in check, and he might have finally succeeded. Resigned to my fate, I handed Gio the tablet, and he threw it back into his briefcase. We’re still going to remain tethered to each other, I thought. I wasn’t sure where to be happy or sad. I was feeling both emotions.

“Saccone,” I asked, “the person you were fighting is he not going to bother you—us anymore?” He straightened in his seat and turned to saying, “Yes.”

“And you won?”

“If decimating one’s entire operation, killing the head of said operation, and putting the pieces under our operation is winning, then yes, we did,” he responded.

I barely cared about the unsavory part of the ‘business’, but even I knew the Saccone family was powerful. They were or had been one largest Mafia family in the world and its dismantlement meant that the Morelli family was now the biggest and most powerful. It was a scary prospect. This man, my avowed enemy, my husband for the next five years at least, was now one of the most powerful men in the world.

9

Even though I was back in a familiar place, I was still feeling suffocated. How does one get back to normal life after going into a fear mode for two straight weeks? My husband, the only person I knew who could answer the question, wasn’t exactly forthcoming. We barely spoke to each other after we came back. He was just as busy as before and ignoring me like before. If he wasn’t going to help me, I was going to help myself by emulating him. I tried to focus on my stuff. Trying to get my business off the ground. It worked at first. I made a plan of what I needed to do and looked at locations for my store and designing the interior, doing it all online. It wasn’t safe for me to move around yet, according to Gio. There were still threats on my life and his, and I could stray too far from the penthouse until he was sure I was safe. The continued restriction only made the claustrophobia worse. Two more weeks passed like this and by the end, I could not take it anymore. I was dying to get out. I wanted to go somewhere, anywhere. It was a bright Friday afternoon and when I went to look at the view of the park; the greenery called on me to come. So, I did. I put on my best flowy sundress and went downstairs.

When I got out of the elevator, a stern Mickey and a bored Johnny immediately got up from their seats in the lobby. “Going to the coffee shop?” Mickey asked. The two men, like Gio, did not look like they had survived a gang war. My only job was to stay put, but it seemed as if I was the one who had gone through it.

“No. The park.”

Mickey and Johnny glanced at each other.

“I don’t think—” Mickey started.

“I don’t care what he told you Mickey, I need to get out and you two are going to follow me.”

Johnny looked a little worried. It was easy to see he was trying to dissuade me, but knew he would be fighting a losing battle. “The coffee shop, the bookshop and the—”

“Chanel store are the only places I’m supposed to go. Well, fuck that. It’s the park today, boys,” I said and marched out of the building and into the sun. I soaked it up as it warmed my cold skin. My pores opened as a breeze passed by. I could feel the clutches loosen.

“Mrs. Morelli.” I sighed. Mickey rushed over to block my path but since he could be too aggressive, I easily side-stepped him and continued walking.

“I don’t think you should do this, Mrs. Morelli,” he said as he came to walk beside me. I could hear Johnny’s footsteps behind me as well, although he kept his usual distance.

“What happened to Simona?” I asked without sparing him a glance.

“Mr. Morelli told us to call you that.”

“Well, I’m tired of doing what he says. My name is Simona and I’m going into the park.” I went down the street and as I was about to pass by a building under construction, Mickey blocked me. This time he was successful because of the scaffolding narrowing the path. I turned around only to face Johnny, blocking the other side.

“Fuck it, you know what? Let me call him.” I took out my phone, dialed his number, and waited. I could make a run for it, I thought. But Johnny looked nimbler and more athletic. He could probably catch me. The humiliation of being brought back arms behind my back was too much for me to attempt that. After when I thought it would ring forever, he answered. “Your babysitters are being a nuisance,” I said as soon as he picked up.

“Now why do I have the suspicion that it’s the opposite?”

“A walk in the park should be, you know, a walk in the park.”

“Not anymore, it’s not. There are people after me and they’re probably after you too, so it’s sort of necessary if you want to keep your pretty head.”

“If I stay one more second in that building, I just might jump to get out. I’m dying for air.”

“Simona,” he said, sighing.

“Gio,” I challenged him. There was a long silence at the other end and for a moment I thought he had hung until he said, “Give Mickey the phone.”

I huffed and waved the phone at him. He took it and gave me his back as he spoke. I couldn’t hear what Gio was saying, Mickey only responded with grunts, and after he was done, he handed it back to me. He was still on the line. “I told them to keep their distance.”

“Thank you,” I said and ended the call.

After it was settled, Mickey resumed walking three feet in front of me and Johnny resumed walking three feet behind me. The city was no longer as crowded as it usually was during the morning rush, and it made walking easier.

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