Page 42 of Bought By the Mafia

“I’m doubting if you’re still as good as you used to be or you’re losing your grip,” I said. “I never asked you if she was hiding any money. It’s the clothes I wanted you to follow.”

Lewis’s face contorted into animated confusion, the most emotion I’ve ever seen him display, before righting it back to its default sour state. “We did. She gives them away.”

“What do you mean? As in donates them?”

Lewis nodded. “She works with a charity that provides clothes to people in developed countries. The um,” he gazed down at his notes and flipped through a couple of pages, “The Dress The World Foundation. It’s run by a woman in—”

“She’s giving away clothes?” This was the last thing I expected to hear. The Simona I knew was selfish and prioritized herself above others. And if she was working with a charity, she would have shouted from the rooftops about what a great person she is for doing so.

“And these clothes are all hers?”

“Some are. Some not. My assumption is that some of her employees also donated to the cause on her insistence.”

The image of Simona doing a charity drive failed to compute still. She was selfish, not altruistic. She was greedy, not giving. At least that’s what I’ve seen so far. I guess there was a lot about my wife I didn’t know.

“So this charity. How long has she been working with them?”

“The specific time frame? I don’t know. From what I’ve gathered, though, it seems like she’s been working with them for a while. I could look into it more…”

I shook my head. “That’s enough for now. I want you to look into someone else.” I told him about Carter and Allison. “See what dirt you can get on him,” I said and dismissed him. Lewis marched out, leaving me to my thoughts.

Was it possible that I had judged her harshly? I didn’t want a world where Simona was the injured party and I was a brute. If that world existed, what else was true and what else was a lie? That she didn’t steal my money? That part was genuine enough. She didn’t admit it, but she came close to admitting it when she told me of her pimp, handler, whatever that guy was she worked with. A niggling sense of doubt crept up in my mind and took hold. I could not let it go, try as I might. What if there was more to the story?

19

Icame back home to the sound of laughter. It was odd hearing Gio laughing with someone else in our home. Well, his home. I should never forget that. I found Allison and Gio were on the floor of the living room looking very comfortable with each other. That now familiar jealous bug rose again, and I gulped it down before it took over me. Allison had an enormous book in her hand that they were both flipping through it with equal fascination while a bottle of wine and two half-filled glasses were forgotten on the table. Say what you will about my relationship with Gio, but we’ve never been this cozy before. I don’t think we would ever be. I felt a pang in the pit of my stomach.

A scene like this would have made me throw some caustic remark to dampen the mood, but ever since last night’s truce and Allison’s revelations, acting like that would only be an unwarranted bitch move. So instead, I mustered up my best casual voice and said, “What have you two been up to?” They both looked up at the same time, startled, but the amusement of whatever joke they were sharing still lingering on their lips.

Allison lifted the book she was holding. “You will not believe what I found in this guy’s study.” It was a black book with gold lettering the size of a typical coffee-table book. “Our yearbook!” I swear she squealed when she said that. Our yearbook. They went to the same school. It made sense they had known each other that long. No wonder they were cozy. I glanced at Gio, who immediately launched into a rambling explanation when he noticed my puzzled expression. “Allison and I went to the same school for a like a year.”

“Year and a half,” Allison interjected. “I transferred mid semester, remember?”

“Oh yeah,” Gio said, “Mr. what’s his name? Our chemistry teacher made me your lab partner and practically forced me to get you up to speed with everything we had done.”

“You were such a drill Sergent.” They both laughed, clearly sharing an in-joke I was not privy to. A familiar sense crept in. Like I was a third wheel. An intruder. I brushed the feeling away. It wasn’t fair to them or me for me to feel this way when there was clearly nothing going on between them excepted friendship. A wonderful friendship I must admit, if they can go through all they went through and still come out as friends. I should respect that. Allison had explained herself and Giovanni… well, he didn’t so much as explain but show me his feelings last night. Last night was different for us. It was the first time we’ve ever had sex that wasn’t just mechanical. It wasn’t lovemaking, I don’t think one would call it that, but it was closer. He hasn’t opened up to me, not yet, but he has shown a willingness to want to do so, so why not let him?

Instead of storming off upstairs or to the kitchen where I could hear chef Pierre preparing a meal, I instead threw my bag on the sofa and joined Allison and Gio on the floor. “I’m curious to see how he looked like as a teenager,” I said to Allison. “Did he have any braces? Big nerdy glasses?”

Allison flipped back a few pages and stopped at a page where a row of students were pictured. She pointed to a tall boy at the back looking all broody and serious wearing evening wear, just like everyone in the image. “Sadly, he has never been ugly. Every girl at school wanted to date him.”

“You were very handsome,” I said to Gio. He smiled in return, as if he already knew that would be my response. What a cad. “And where are you?” I asked Allison. I scanned the image and couldn’t see her or anyone who looked like her. She pointed to a girl wispy looking girl at the end of the row, taller than most people surrounding her. “I was the nerdy one, unfortunately. I didn’t wear glasses, but had a mouth full of braces.” My gaze went to her face out of curiosity. She was right. Seeing her now, you could not have guessed that it was the same person barring the height. It was not as if she had any work done. If she did, she had a good doctor. Her beauty was natural. A late bloomer.

“It must be nice to still be friends with people you met in high school,” I said to them both.

“Oh, no. We weren’t friends. At least not until college,” Gio said. Allison looked a little startled by his response, but she nodded in ascent. I felt a prickling sensation at the back of my neck. A warning? I could not tell. Our conversation so far had been wholesome, so why was I getting the feeling that I should chuck her out of the window again?

A cloud of unease had since entered the room and hung over us. I could not think of anything else to say and Allison looked a little embarrassed, although why she was, I could not tell. She shifted awkwardly and her gaze kept darting between Giovanni and me. Meanwhile, I was at a loss at this sudden change in mood and didn’t know what to say or do. Gio was the only one who seemed unbothered. And it was he who broke the silence. “How was your day?” he said to me. “Did I ask that? I feel like I didn’t.” Gio had never wondered how or what I was up to during the day unless I was somewhere I shouldn’t be. However, I wasn’t going to be the dampener and throw his small talk back in his face like I would have done before. Especially if there was someone else around. “It could have been better. The carpenters messed up the setup we were going for and they might have to redo it. However, they want me to pay double the cost even though they’re the ones at fault. And now they’ve refused to work until I pay the job, well, terrible job that they did.”

“That sucks,” Allison said. “What are you going to do?”

“Might as well pay them if I want the store opening to be on schedule,” I shrugged. “What can I do?”

Gio leaned forward, shifting from a relaxed state to one of anger. “Not let them roll you over. Do they know who you are?” I was a little taken aback by his reaction. He had never shown an interest in what was happening at the store and for his first reaction to be one of anger was a little heartening, even if it was a put on.

“It’s not like I go around telling people what you do.”

“What’s the name of the company?”

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