by B. B. Hamel
I stood up straight and stared at her. My heart hammered an angry rhythm in my chest and she looked back at me, her eyes wide, and didn’t speak for a long moment.
I turned away before she had the chance to argue and continued walking back to the car.
I heard her begin to follow a moment later.
I was angry at her, but just as angry at myself. I never should’ve brought her with me. I knew that was a mistake the moment I considered it, and yet I went ahead and did it anyway.
There was something in her eyes earlier. It was the way she dropped the towel willingly. I thought she’d obey, thought she could follow orders and do what was best for all of us, but instead she decided to speak up.
This whole thing was fucked.
I reached the car first. She came after me and looked at me without speaking, anger in her eyes. I opened the back door for her and she climbed inside, and I shut it behind her. Ryan got in on the other side and sat next to Aida, while I sat shotgun and Steven got behind the wheel.
Nobody spoke for a moment as we sat in the car.
“How’d that go?” Steven asked.
I snorted. “Great. Vlas wants war.”
Steven nodded, his eyes staring straight ahead. “I’m guessing this was just to feel you out?”
“Yes,” I grunted, staring out the window.
“And Aida?”
“Wants to use her against me.”
“Hm.” Steven grunted and shook his head. “Bad news.”
“Fuck Vlas,” I growled. “He wants a war, he’ll get a war. I’ve already killed two of his men, and I’ll gladly kill more.”
Steven said nothing as he pulled the car into traffic. I caught sight of Aida staring at me in the side mirror, but I said nothing to her as Steven drove us back to the Mt. Airy house.
10
Aida
Steven pulled the car up out front and dropped me off. Ryan got out and followed me up. Before I got inside, the window rolled down, and Dante called out my name.
I turned and looked back.
“Don’t go anywhere,” he said, barely concealing his rage. “Stay inside for now. I’ll be back tonight.”
I nodded and he gave me one more look before Steven pulled out and the car disappeared down the block.
I lingered on the front porch for a long moment until Gino opened the door. “Come on,” he said softly. “Let’s get inside.”
I let out a breath and followed him in.
For the rest of the day, I kept playing that meeting in my mind. I kept seeing the way Dante reacted to Vlas, and the way the Russian man seemed afraid of Dante, but also willing to provoke him so aggressively. I couldn’t understand any of it at the time, and it still bugged me all through the day.
But the one thing I kept coming back to, again and again, was Dante’s willingness to protect me.
There was no hesitation in him. It surprised me, I expected him to at least consider Vlas’s offer, but he never once paused. I don’t know what I am to Dante, how I could possibly be worth going to war over, but that seems to be what he was doing.
Dante was willing to go to war over me, and that scared me almost as much as it excited me.
The idea that I was worth killing for… or dying for… it never occurred to me. I’d never known someone that cared about me like that. Not my father, not my friends, nobody. I’d always been alone, always gone through my life looking out for myself with the assumption that nobody else would do it for me.
And now, I was at my most vulnerable. I was living in the house of the man that killed my father, a violent and intense mafia Capo, and I was always in danger. And yet I felt like someone cared about me for the first time in my life.
It was a strange, impossible tension. That same sort of tension grew inside of me every time I thought about the way I felt for Dante.
Both lust and hate. Desire and destruction.
Evening fell on Dante’s house and I spent most of it in front of the TV. Gino sat on the front porch, reading magazines and smoking cigarettes. I made him some tea and he smiled and thanked me for it, but his eyes never lingered on mine. The more time we spent together, the more I realized that he was afraid of me. Afraid of getting too close, afraid of crossing some imaginary line. Which was sweet, really, as if he respected Dante too much to be anything more than my guard, not even my friend.
I sat back down on the couch and turned the TV on, but couldn’t bring myself to actually watch it. After a few minutes of mindless staring at the screen, I heard the door open and someone step inside. I looked over the back of the couch, figuring it was Gino coming in for some sugar or something for his tea, but instead an older gentleman in a sweater and a button-down shirt came hobbling into the room, leaning on a cane.
I stood up, surprised. The old man smiled at me. He had a wrinkled face, large nose, drooping earlobes, and short gray hair. His sweater vest and shirt looked nice and clean, but old and worn. His slacks were loose, and he was about my height, though stooped with age.
“Hello,” I say. “Ah, I’m sorry. Are you looking for Dante?”
He smiled. “I might be. And who are you?”
“Aida,” I said, coming around the couch.
“Nice to meet you, Aida,” he said, but didn’t mention his name.
“Dante isn’t here right now. Did you see the man out front? Gino? Do you know Gino?”
He waved a hand. “I know Gino,” he said. “I’ve seen him around. He said you might offer me some tea if I came inside.”
I frowned a little and my eyes flicked over to the hallway. But Gino was still outside, which I found strange. This man must be some local neighborhood guy, and Gino figured I could use a little company.
“Of course,” I say, gesturing at the table. “Take a seat, I’ll make you some. Black tea? Milk or sugar?”
“Black would be nice,” he said and sat with a sigh. “Just a splash of milk, please.”
I reheated the water, poured it into a mug, and dropped the teabag in. I let it steep for a moment before adding some milk, stirring, and bringing it over on a small plate.
“Thank you,” he said. “But a little tip for next time. Don’t reheat the old water. Fresh water is always the way to go.”
I blushed a little. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”
“It’s okay,” he said and smiled again. He did have a charming, confident smile, like a gentle grandfather. “So, Aida, sit down. Tell me how you know Dante.”
I took a seat across from him. “We met recently,” I said, trying to keep it vague. “He, ah, he knew my father. And I’m staying with him for a while now.”
“Your father,” the man mused. “How did Dante know your father?”
“Business,” I said.
He nodded. “I see.”
“And are you from around here?”
“Something like that.” He took out his teabag and sipped his drink. He smiled and nodded. “Very nice, thank you for this.”
“Of course.” I tilted my head at him as he leaned back in his chair. “Do you visit with Dante often?”
“Not as often as I should,” he said. “Dante is very… independent. He doesn’t like having anyone underfoot.”
I snorted. “That hasn’t been my experience.”
The man raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
“He likes to keep me close,” I said, although I wasn’t sure why I was telling this man about it. “Maybe a little too close.”
The man laughed and seemed delighted. “That just means he likes you, my dear,” he said. “I’ll be honest and say, I’ve known Dante for some time, and I’ve never known him to keep a woman around for long.”
I smiled a little. “Can’t say I’m surprised.”
“So consider yourself lucky.”
“I suppose I will.” I leaned toward him. “I’m sorry, I just realized I never got your name.”
“Luciano,” he said, and the name registered somewhere in my brain, but I couldn’t
quite place it. “It’s lovely to meet you.”
“How long have you known Dante?”
“Years,” he said. “Years and years. I remember when he was a very young man.”
“Really? What was he like?”
“Oh, headstrong,” Luciano said and laughed. “Aggressive. Smart. Incredibly rude.”
I grinned. “I can see all that.”
“The rudeness he grew out of, for the most part. But everything else?” He gestured, waving a hand. “Not so much. But he’s loyal and good to his people. Have you asked Gino out there much about his boss?”
“No,” I admitted. “Gino doesn’t seem like he wants to talk to me.”
“Don’t take it personally. Gino never wants to talk to anyone.” Luciano laughed and sipped his tea. “Ask him about Dante sometime, though. Gino has an interesting story about his boss.”
“I will.” I frowned at him and tilted my head. “How did you know that Gino worked for Dante?”
Luciano smiled at me and shrugged. “Oh, just an educated guess, my dear.” He shifted in his seat and checked his watch. “I believe Dante is on his way as we speak, so if you want to ask any more about that man as a youth, you’d better ask now.”
My frown deepened. That name was still bugging me, and the way he spoke about Gino and Dante like he knew all about their lives as Mafia men was starting to bug me. This man wasn’t what he appeared, but I didn’t understand who he was, or what he was doing in Dante’s house.
But my curiosity got the better of me. “You said he hasn’t kept any women around. Does that mean he’s never had a girlfriend?”
Luciano laughed and absently swirled his tea. “Not a girlfriend in the way you mean, no, although I suspect he’s had plenty of opportunities. Dante has been very popular for many years now.”
“I wish I knew more to ask you,” I admitted. “Would you tell me a story from when he was younger? Something I can use against him.”
Luciano grinned at me and leaned closer. “Something embarrassing then?”
“If you wouldn’t mind. Nothing too bad, but he holds all the cards here… and it would be nice to have a little something to throw back at him.”
Luciano gave me a long, appraising look. “Smart girl,” he said. “All right then. I have a story that I know he wouldn’t want me telling.”
“I’m all ears.” I leaned closer and felt a little flutter in my heart.
“When Dante was a boy, maybe fifteen years old, he decided that he wanted to be a tough guy. He was tough back then, don’t misunderstand me, but Dante believed he was something more than just a fifteen-year-old punk. So one day, he decided he was going to steal from the police station.”
I laughed and shook my head. “No way.”
“Yes, yes way. There’s a police station near Fairmount, right behind a Wawa, and it was his intention to rob that place.”
“What was he thinking?”
Luciano spread his hands. “Truth be told, I don’t know. He must have had some kind of plan, because he seemed so confident when he told me the story later. But at the time, I thought the fool boy was insane.”
“So what happened?”
“Apparently, he stood outside of the precinct until some police came out. As the door was closing, he slipped inside. How he even made it that far, I’ll never know, but he made it into the building and began to walk the halls. At first, nobody stopped him, probably assumed that he was someone else’s responsibility. He somehow found an unlocked office, stepped inside, and proceeded to take several pens and notebooks from the bottom drawer of the desk, all with official Philadelphia Police seals on them.”
“You’re lying,” I said, laughing. “No way. That’s insane.”
“It is. He says he made it about halfway out of the office before someone stopped him. He was arrested on the spot and the cops threw the book at him, I think out of embarrassment more than anything else. Well, word reached me that a young, interesting up-and-coming soldier had been arrested for trying to rob a police precinct, and I couldn’t help but use some of my influence to get his sentence reduced. I paid his bail, got them to give him community service, and brought the boy into the fold after that.”
I stared at Luciano for a long moment. “You… got his charges dropped?” I frowned a little. “And brought him into the fold?”
The name was still swirling in my head as I stared at the man. He grinned at me ear to ear and sipped his tea as the front door opened. I heard three pairs of footsteps come stomping back into the room. Dante stormed in first followed by Steven and Gino. All three men looked anxious, and Dante immediately knelt down in front of Luciano and took the man’s hand into his own.
“Don Leone,” he said. “I’m so sorry to make you wait. Gino told me you had arrived and I hurried here as fast as I could.”
I gaped in horror as the truth hit me like a stone.
Don Leone.
I’d just been sitting and having tea with the head of the Leone Crime Family. Luciano Leone looked like any other old Italian man, and I’d simply assumed he was from the neighborhood, or maybe some childhood friend of Dante’s. It never occurred to me that he could’ve been the head of the family, but looking back, I should’ve seen something right away.
“Nonsense,” Don Leone said. “I was just having tea with this nice young lady.”
I gaped at them as Dante turned his head toward me. “You were on your best behavior, I hope.”
“I… I was… I didn’t know he was…” I stared as Don Leone began to laugh and Dante frowned at me.
“It’s okay,” Don Leone said. “There’s no way she could’ve recognized me, Dante.”
“I hope she was polite regardless.”
“Oh, she was. I told her the story about your little foray into burglary from when you were a boy.”
Dante winced. “You don’t need to always tell that story.”
“But I love it so much, Dante. And to think you nearly got away with it.” Don Leone extracted his hands and patted Dante on the cheek. Dante grimaced and sat down at the table, nodding at Steven and Gino. The two men took positions at the edges of the room and Dante leaned toward Don Leone.
I could see the tension in Dante clear as day. He was worried, and I’d bet anything that a visit from the Don of his family to his private home wasn’t a normal thing.
“Don Leone, what can I do for you today?” Dante asked.
Don Leone sighed and smiled like he wished they could go back to talking about the old days. “You know why I’m here,” he said.
“I believe so, yes.”
“Word has reached me about your meeting with Vlas.”
“I hoped it would, sir.”
Don Leone studied Dante and his face slowly fell from the kindly grandfather and transformed into something harder. In that moment, I saw the mobster hidden beneath the kindly exterior, and I realized why Don Leone was the head of the family. He was a chameleon, capable of shifting his shape and changing his true colors. One moment, he was gentle and laughing, and the next he was diamond hard and razor sharp, a force to be feared.
“Vlas didn’t give you much choice in the matter, did he?” Don Leone said with a sigh.
“He didn’t, sir,” Dante said.
“I was told his demands were simple. He wanted the girl in recompense.” Don Leone’s eyes flashed to mine then back to Dante. “And yet here she is, still in your home.”
“I wouldn’t give him anything,” Dante said. “I’ve given him enough. Any more would be weak.”
“I agree,” Don Leone said. “And yet, you’re willing to kill over this girl?”
Dante looked at me and I wished I could shrink away and disappear. The men were talking about me like I didn’t exist anymore, though Dante’s eyes on mine made a spark come to life in my chest.
“I would,” he said. “I’ve come to value her, Don Leone.”
“Ah,” Don Leone said, but didn’t look at me. “Value her. That’s an intere
sting choice of words. You wouldn’t say that you love her?”
Dante tensed then shook his head. “She was my prize from her father. He used her as a bargaining chip to try and sway my hand.”
“Didn’t work, did it?” Don Leone smiled and shook his head. “And so you refuse to do the same thing her father did, I suppose.”
“Yes, sir.” Dante’s jaw tensed. “I have lines.”
“I know all about your lines, Dante.” Don Leone shook his head and sipped his tea. He was silent for a long moment and I could sense the tension rolling off Dante in waves. I realized that he didn’t know how his boss would react to how the meeting went, and he was afraid that the Don would disapprove. I didn’t know what Dante could do if the Don told him to go back and give me to Vlas, and I didn’t want to think about it.
“Very well,” Don Leone said at last. “I believe you did what was necessary. You gave Vlas the traitor thief and returned his money. You apologized and went to a meeting on his terms. And yet he demands more, which is unacceptable. I agree, giving in would be a show of weakness, and I will not have weakness from one of my best Capos.”
“Yes, sir.” Dante inclined his head and his eyes were burning with an interesting passion and rage.
Don Leone pushed his chair back. Dante helped the man stand, though I didn’t think he needed it. Don Leone looked at his Capo for a long moment before shaking his head. “I’ll approve of this war for now,” he said. “Do what you believe needs doing. I will deal with that fool Maksim. The old pig can’t allow his son to run wild, no matter what he might think, the boy doesn’t own this city.”
“I agree, sir,” Dante said. “How should I handle it?”
“As I said, however you see fit. Try not to kill Vlas, but if you have to use violence against some of his men, then so be it.”
A strange look flashed across Dante’s face. It was half excitement, half anger. He wanted to hurt some of those bastards, but he clearly resented the Don stopping him from going after Vlas directly.
“Thank you, sir,” he said.
Don Leone patted Dante’s arm. He took up his cane and the two of them moved to the door. They reached the hallway before Don Leone paused and looked back at me.