by DJ Parker
Placing a tower of pancakes on the table, I went back to the stove and picked up the plate of sausage and the plate of bacon and set it in the center of the table. Andriano’s eyes followed my every movement as he brushed his fingers up my thigh when I placed the last of Grandma’s homemade syrup on the table. Pushing the lump down my throat, I cleared my throat in hopes that my tears would remain at bay. Standing at the foot of the table, I prepared each of the girls’ plates before making my own plate.
Snatching in air, I jumped slightly as I felt Andriano palm a handful of my ass. Afraid to look down at Andriano, I tried to remain neutral as our daughters tore into their pancakes while occasionally giggling at one another. As I attempted to move away from him, Andriano firmed his hold on my ass, applying enough pressure that sent a typhoon of heat to dampen my soaked lips.
Standing to his feet, Andriano leaned into my ear and circled his tongue on my earlobe before saying, “I can’t wait to taste you again.” My breathing shuffled as Andriano released his hold and sat back down. Making my way to a chair far from Andriano’s reach, I focused on the plate in front of me as I occasionally looked up at my daughters. Andriano kept them laughing as he made silly faces at them.
After a few minutes passed, I finally gathered enough strength and said, “Jasmine, Olivia, and Acelia. I have something important to tell you.”
Sweeping my eyes across the room, I settled on Andriano’s eyes. Nodding his head slightly, I finally said what I thought that I would never say, “Do you remember when I told you that some kids have a mommy and daddy?”
Nodding her head, Jasmine said, “But we only have a mommy, right?”
Wiping the tear that slid down my cheek, I couldn’t believe how much damage I had done. Convincing my daughters that they only had a mommy, led them to believe that they only had one parent.
“Right, Jasmine. But, you and your sisters have a daddy who loves you just as much as your mommy does,” Andriano responded while he turned to face all three of our daughters.
“Where is Daddy?” Olivia asked confused.
“I’m Daddy. I’m sorry that I was far away from you. But, I want you to know that I’ve always loved you. I dreamed about you every night, wishing that I could be with you,” Andriano admitted as our daughters hung on tight to his every word.
“Daddy? But, but, where have you been?” Jasmine asked as she put a piece of bacon in her mouth.
“I was far away, trying to make everything perfect for you girls,” Andriano said as he captured my sight.
“Will you be here for my birthday?” Asked Acelia as she stared at Andriano with eyes filled with hope.
“I will never miss another birthday ever again,” Andriano promised as his index finger tapped lightly on her nose.
Smiling from ear-to-ear, Acelia screamed, “Yayy!”
“Can we make the box now?” asked Olivia as she stood before him. Stretching his hand out, Andriano nodded his head as he stood up with Olivia in his arms.
~****~
Grabbing my car keys from the bowl, I looked over at Andriano, who watched me with desire in his gaze.
“I need your phone number,” I said to Andriano.
“Give me your phone and I’ll put it in,” Andriano said as he towered in front of me, lightly grazing my chest with his solid build. Handing him the phone, I moved away from him and walked into the den where the girls sat on the couch.
“I left my number on the refrigerator door. Please don’t take the girls outside, I would feel more comfortable if they remained in the house while I’m gone,” I called out to him from the other room.
A few minutes passed, and I didn’t hear his response. “Andriano did you hear me?” I asked as I leaned over and kissed each of my daughters.
“I heard you,” he said as he leaned against the wall and watched me.
“What’s wrong?” I asked alarmed.
“Nothing’s wrong. Everything is perfect. Everything is how it should be,” Andriano said as his transparent grey eyes stared at me. “Almost,” he continued after his tongue swiped against his bottom lip.
Sensing more meaning behind his subtle statement, I turned towards the girls and said, “I’ll be back home soon.”
Even though I didn’t want to leave the girls, I knew that they deserved to bond with their father, at least while he is out here. Taking one final look back at their giggling faces, I exhaled and walked out the front door. Andriano came at the time when my daughters needed their hearts restored. After all, they lost their Nana.
Although they are trying to adjust to life without Nana being home all of the time, they would occasionally ask if I could call Nana and tell her that they missed her. I just needed my daughters to fall in love again, and I truly believe in my heart that Andriano was sent into their lives for this very reason. No matter how many opportunities that Andriano could have popped up at my house, he didn’t. No, not until after Grandma was in the hospital dying. Maybe his presence meant something more…
Throughout my drive to the airport, I couldn’t help the tears that clouded my eyes. I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive myself for adding more confusion in their young lives. Entering the airport, I drove towards the pick-up ramp. Parking the car, I pulled down my visor and quickly dried my eyes with my fingertips. Smoothing away the puffiness from under my eyes, I reached for my lip tint and rubbed some across my lips. Pushing the visor up, I waited for Victoria’s flight to touch down. Shooting her a quick text, I scrolled to Andre’s contact. He still hadn’t responded back to my text. Not that I could blame him. Andriano acted like a possessive animal when he attacked him last night.
If he’s going to be in our daughter’s lives, we are going to have to set up some boundaries. For starters, we are not living under the same roof. Our daughters did not need any more confusion. Secondly, we cannot sleep with each other. Although sex between us was full of passion, I knew that I couldn’t resort to being only good enough to Andriano while in bed. Lastly, he will have to make his decision between La Cosa Nostra and our daughters by tonight.
I could’ve kicked myself for revealing his identity to the girls without making his decision between the mob and my daughters. I guess, somehow, I wanted him to be aware that this time if he chose the mafia over his daughters, they’ll always regard him as their estranged father. He will surely have to live with the fact that he turned his back away from his children. And I would have to pick up the pieces once again and build their lives up.
A knock on the window took me by surprise. I turned to see Victoria bent forward and smiled brightly at me. She looked better today than she did a few weeks ago.
After she hopped in and we embraced each other, Victoria spoke first, “How are you?”
“It has been rough, but I’m getting through just fine,” I answered as I started the car. “You look amazing,” I complimented as I gave her a once over. Her hair, which she mainly kept in a ponytail since the death of her father, had grown out as it barely grazed her shoulder blades. Her skin looked rejuvenated, as the circles around her eyes were gone. She looked refreshed and back to the Victoria that I knew.
“How are the girls?” she asked.
Exhaling, I searched for the right words to describe the girls’ response to Grandma’s death. “They’re taking it one day at a time. It was extremely hard trying to explain to five-year-olds that the person they knew from the time that they were born was gone forever.”
“I have to tell you something,” I braced myself to tell her about the recent events.
“What?” Victoria asked.
“Andriano found out about the girls,” I paused and waited for her to interject.
“Wait, what?” Victoria asked, as she leaned forward in her seat and snapped her head in my direction. “How the hell did he find out?” Victoria asked in disbelief.
Throwing my hands up in the mid-air, it was the same question that I asked myself. “I don’t know. He just popped up at my job a couple of mon
ths ago with intentions of ‘us’ reconciling and moving forward. At that very moment, I wanted to leave with my daughters,” I paused as I shook my head. “I refused to run away this time.
“Why didn’t you tell me, Simone? If it was about money, I would have gladly paid for your relocation. You know that,” Victoria expressed earnestly. I knew that she would have, but that was not the reason why I did not leave.
Shaking my head, I said, “No, Victoria. Money was not an issue. I was done with running. I refused to be run out of my own home. Between everything going on with Kate, I didn’t even want to bring this up to you. When two weeks passed, after our first encounter, I thought that I was in the clear. But, then he sent roses to my job and started to leave letters.”
“Simone, doesn’t it bother you that he could just find you whenever he feels like it?”
Nodding my head slowly, I responded, “Of course, it bothers me. But, what can I do? I couldn’t call the police because I didn’t want my daughters to see his ass hauled off in handcuffs. He refused to leave.
“Can you blame him? He refused to have kids with Josephine.”
“How do you know that?” I asked. Even though I shouldn’t care, I was curious about why they didn’t have children throughout the five years of their marriage.
Taking in a deep breath, Victoria began, “Simone, we never spoke about Andriano since the night of his engagement party, for obvious reasons. I knew how you felt about him, and you were pregnant. None of us were prepared to see Andriano completely torn up over you. Although my father mentioned the change in his behavior, I didn’t think that it could be that bad. But, it was. He was never the same and rumors flared up about Josephine feeling like a stranger in her own marriage.”
Shrugging my shoulders, I can’t say that I felt bad. “Andriano lied throughout our whole relationship.”
“He’s still married to Josephine,” Victoria pointed out after a few minutes passed.
“I know. But, Andriano and I are not getting back together. He’s just here for his daughters. I’m not an option.”
Throwing me a look of skepticism, Victoria shook her head before saying, “Andriano is not going to just walk away from you just like that especially after what happened five years ago. Everybody that stood in his way are now dead. When are you going to realize that a body trail is always dragged behind Andriano? It wouldn’t surprise me if he had Josephine’s father killed.”
“Not that I could blame him, though,” Victoria said after pausing briefly to shift in her seat. Her statement felt like a bucket of ice cold water being thrown on me. Victoria was right.
“Did you listen to any of the tapes?” she asked.
“I listened to tape C,” I answered. My eyes widened as I recalled that night. “Andriano took the other two tapes before I had a chance to listen to them.”
“Simone, seriously? How could you let him take them?” Victoria stressed.
“I didn’t really have much of a choice,” I explained as I recalled that night. “When I heard tape C, I couldn’t believe how close I was to death. I couldn’t believe that your dad was the person who sent me the photo. I always thought that it was Andriano. Even though it was five years ago, I felt scared and began to panic. Andriano ended up busting through my door like a lunatic and played back the tape before stuffing it into his pocket.”
Rubbing the tension away from behind my neck, I continued, “I just want my daughters to have their father. It was something that I didn’t have and I don’t want my girls to make the same mistakes that I made. Andriano knows that he has to make a choice.”
“Simone, wake up. This is the mob. No one walks away alive,” Victoria said, as her statement lingered in the area between us.
“You never told me that you sent the picture to me,” I said after a moment of silence. “Why?”
“My father told me to send you the photo. He made it seem as if our lives were in danger,” she began. Sighing, Victoria said, “He was only trying to save his boyfriend.”
Chewing on the inside of my mouth, I could not bring myself to be mad at Victoria. After all, she’s struggling enough with dealing with finding out her father was living a double life.
~****~
Walking out of the hair salon, I couldn’t believe that I cut inches off of my hair. Maybe it was a drastic move and maybe my emotions were controlling my decisions, but I needed this. Ready for a change, I drove over to the hair salon with Victoria after picking her up from the airport. Getting a long layered bob, I couldn’t believe how revamped I look. I felt sexy and great about myself.
“You look gorgeous Simone,” Victoria said as she ran her fingers through my silky tresses.
“Thank you, I absolutely love it. This is just what I needed,” I admitted as I gave myself a once over look in the mirror.
Hopping into the car, I dialed Andriano’s cell phone. The phone went straight to a recorded message indicating that his mailbox was not set up. Dialing the number that he gave me two more times, I started to panic. Even after dialing the house phone number, the phone continued to ring until my answering machine picked up.
Cursing to myself, my hands fumbled as I struggled to put the key in the ignition. Finally placing the key into the slot, I turned the ignition on and peeled out of the parking space. Speeding down the busy street, I could only think about one thing, my daughters.
“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Simone’s what’s wrong?” she screamed.
“Andriano is not picking up any of my calls. I tried calling the house phone and his cell phone.
“I swear to God if this motherfucker did anything to my daughters, I’m going to fucking jail tonight,” I threatened as tears stung my eyes. Overcome with rage, I couldn’t even afford to shed a tear because I was to blame if anything happened to them. After all, it would be my fault if anything happened to them because I left my daughters with Andriano.
“Pull over and let me drive Simone,” she said calmly. Ignoring her request, I continued to navigate aimlessly, bypassing the moving cars. As the yellow light merged into red, I pressed harder on the gas pedal, breaking all safe driving rules. From the corner of my eye, I could see Victoria gripping her seatbelt and bringing her legs closer to her chest as her breathing changed. The tirade of horns blaring and the flagrant angry voices beckoned the air as all sense of reasoning simmered away from my overactive brain. Victoria’s scream finally snapped me out of my trance. “You’re going to get us killed with the way you are driving! Pull over!”
Reason finally seeped through as I pulled the car over to the side of the road and quickly removed my seat belt strap. Switching places, Victoria sped down the block but was more moderate than I was.
“Andriano would never do anything to harm the girls or you for that matter. I know that he would never put them in danger,” Victoria said as she skimmed past cars. Unable to even speak, I continued to squeeze my balled fists in the hopes of transferring the pain that I felt internally. The truth is; I don’t know Andriano. I never did.
Victoria didn’t even get a chance to put the car in park before I hopped out of the car, ran up the front stairs, and placed my key into the slot. Twisting the handle, I ran into the house like a crazed woman when I realized the house was completely silent. Calling out to the girls as I began my search only heightened the emotions that overtook me. Looking in the den, the family room, the kitchen, backyard; I couldn’t find them anywhere. Grabbing a fistful of my hair, I wanted to yank every strand out. Taking in deep breaths, I was determined to find my daughters. Running past Victoria, I ran up the stairs and began to call out their names. Saying a silent prayer as I turned the knob on their bedroom, I braced myself to run out of hope. Entering their bedroom, I stopped immediately at the sight before me. They were all sleeping. Andriano’s arms were stretched as Jasmine and Olivia snuggled closely into him. Shifting my eyes to Acelia’s little body bunched into a fetal position, she was sleeping on Andriano’s stomach.
“Did you find th
em?” Victoria said as she brushed past me and entered the room. Halting all movements, Victoria stopped and took in the sight of my daughters with their father. Turning to face me, a smile hinted on her lips as I looked at them.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Vincenzo
New York City
After collecting my luggage, I made my way over to the pickup ramp at JFK airport. Placing my sunglasses over my eyes, I nodded to the other four men that came back from Italy with me from the Vallenti crew. They each hopped into a separate cab, heading in the same direction that I was going. Shifting my focus to the black SUV, the window rolled down with Josephine sitting in the second row, smiling seductively at me.
Strolling over to the SUV, I walked with an air of arrogance that suited me. Never had I felt more at ease than how I was feeling now. Things were finally falling into place and by tomorrow, Andriano’s head would be at my feet. I hope that I get to stand before him moments before his death, just to see his eyes. Just for once, I needed to see the fear in his eyes. I needed to hear him beg for his life, give it all that he had left in him. I would bring him to the brink, causing him to believe that I would have a change in heart. Just as his hope was restored, I would tell him, “I got your wife, I got your money, and I got your power.” My spit, staining his cheek, will ensure that I would never miss the opportunity of taking out the infamous Don Balducci.
“I missed you,” Josephine said as she draped her arms dotingly over my shoulders. Planting a meaningful kiss against my lips, I slipped my tongue in between her delicate lips, capturing a mouthful of her expensive flavor. It is amazing that Andriano could miss out on dining in a five-star restaurant and settle for eating fast food. That’s what it appeared to look like when he decided to give up the finer things in life for a taste of the scraps on the streets. That black bitch was nothing compared to this beauty that drizzled her body in my arms. Over the years, he allowed his pride to eat at him, as he neglected to take care of the needs of his wife. Fulfilling every ounce of her desire, I was determined to make Josephine my wife as quickly as the time would permit me.