My mother? This man knew my mother? See me again? When had he seen me before? This man was scary. The brother was scary. Their thugs or whatever they were --- really scary. Was I in the middle of the fricking dark ages or what? An arranged marriage to a mafia kingpin’s son to save my father’s life? This was nuts! If I was asleep I wanted to wake up right now!
Dario led me back out to the SUV and two of the other guys got in, too. One had apparently opted out of this leg of the drive. They thought they needed muscle to get me from point A to point B, evidently. Were they afraid I’d try to run? I didn’t know what the heck I was dealing with here so no, I wasn’t about to run now before sussing things out. I didn’t want to end up dead. I didn’t want Dad to end up dead. Did Dad really sell me out like this? I mean, he was a lousy father, for sure, but did he really sell me to the mafia in exchange for payment of his old gambling debts? Not a marker. Not temporarily. Sold, like chattel. Married off. No way. He was capable of a lot but this? Surely not. This was North America and the 21st century. This kind of stuff didn’t happen.
I combed through my memory. The name Ferrano rang bells. Was he known in the city as a mafia guy? Where had I heard his name from? I stayed somewhat up to speed on current events and his name and face was familiar but I couldn’t place it.
What might’ve been about ten minutes later the SUV was pulling up in front of another set of gates. The drive had been quiet, more sports, I figured out was soccer, on the radio, and no talking other than a “Woo” and a “Yes!” in unison from angry driver, err Dario and burly # two (number one had opted out) on what must’ve been a goal… it’d all been white noise to me due to my state of mind.
“Wait here.” Dario told me and then after getting past the gate and then he walked into the house alone. Me and the muscle sat in awkward silence.
My purse started ringing my ringtone for Ruby, Sexy Back by Justin Timberlake.
“Hand it over,” Burly #2 said gruffly and I knew he meant business.
I took my cell phone out and handed it to him.
Tommy
Dario was inside my doorway, “I come bearing gifts. I deliver your bride,” he gave a gallant bow and then snickered at me. I’d just gotten here and had known they were going to be along soon.
I rolled my eyes, “Fucking Pop.”
He laughed, leaning against the wall, “She’s a looker, bro. He did good.”
“Don’t look at my bride.” I pointed at him, a little smirk on my face. I punched his shoulder playfully, “And just you wait. I’m sure he’s lining up someone for you to marry next.”
“Since you’ll be head of the family, I think that means you get to pick, doesn’t it?”
I threw my head back and let out an evil laugh, “Oh yeah. And just you wait!”
“I’ll go get her.” He told me, grinning. He knew I’d have his back. Truth be told, he couldn’t wait for Pop to head out to pasture. Dare and I had plans for taking the family business to the next level together. We were half-brothers and five years apart but we’d grown up together and were alike in many ways. He was the only other person I’d 100% trust to have my back. I didn’t even trust my father 100%. I didn’t think he’d set out to do harm to me intentionally but I knew that we were all pawns, to a degree, and that his idea of having my back and Dario’s idea of the same would diverge.
“Put her in my bedroom and lock the door.” I said and wiggled my eyebrows. Then I walked into my office to tie up a few loose ends before the big reveal. I didn’t know much about her yet but from what I did know so far, I guessed that she wouldn’t have taken the news of today lightly. I was anticipating, even hoping for some resistance and looking fucking forward to it.
Tia
The guy with my phone gave it to Dario when he came back to the SUV.
“Let’s go.” Dario said to me.
Michael Clarke Duncan lookalike guy let me out and I had to walk around the back of the truck to meet up with Dario. I couldn’t run. The gate was shut. Would I run, though, if it wasn’t? Thomas Ferrano threatened me, pretty much saying Dad was a goner if I didn’t cooperate, and maybe me, too. But what was going to happen to me here?
I followed Dario into the big house, feeling a little shaky and a lot queasy. I couldn’t help but notice the architectural details of the place because it was the sort of house I’d always dreamt of living in. It looked
like a pretty hacienda, had an orange terra cotta roof, white parging with archways. There were loads of flowers everywhere. Climbing vines, overflowing baskets, covering the ground, everywhere.
Inside the front door was a foyer that opened to a staircase directly to my left and a long hallway under an arch to my right. This was the kind of house I’d pick. Mom and I used to talk about having a hacienda and beautiful gardens. It was her dream to live in a house like this. I shivered at the thought of my Mom, unable to fathom this.
“Follow me,” Dario led the way up the stairs, down a long hall with several closed doors to a set of double doors, and then opened them both and walked in. I followed inside.
“Bag?” He motioned.
I hesitated.
“I’ll give your bag and phone to Tommy. He’ll decide when you can have them back.”
I was trembling. I couldn’t help it. I was in a big master suite with a king sized bed, about to be left with someone who thought they had a claim on me. I was supposed to be at a party celebrating the end of my childhood and the beginning of life as an adult. An adult with choices, a future, independence.
This was not that. This was something else. This something else was bad. Very bad. He nodded politely, reached over to the bedside table and picked up a cordless phone and then left with it. I let out a big breath, as if I’d been holding it in for hours. I had to keep my cool somehow. If I had a freak out, there was no telling what would happen to me. If I kept my cool, I could suss everything out and then decide what to do.