by Jolie Damman
Prudenzio was leaning against his black sedan, ready to take me to Central Park. “Tell me everything I need to know,” I demanded upon stopping in front of him.
He nodded and explained to me all the details.
He brought his phone to me and showed me the photos. That was Vinicio alright. I ran my hand over my face. I couldn’t believe I was about to do this again. The only thing I could hope for was Vinicio outsmarting me again. I didn’t want to bring him to our dad.
I knew what he would do to him, and I would never be able to live with myself if he accomplished it…
Nevertheless, maybe his fate could be different.
Father was old and he gave us some scares already. There was even this one day he had a heart attack. It was doubtful anyone would kill him, but since he was nearing 70 years of age, there was a good chance he was going to die soon.
Vinicio only needed to leave the city somehow, or wait until our dad passed away.
Prudenzio drove through the city as fast as he could, overtaking some cars without breaking the laws of traffic. He was an excellent driver, and we were taking two more soldiers with us.
We didn’t need many soldati to find Vinicio. I knew he was alone. He was just a man running for his life. He was no Mafia man, and he couldn’t be one. That’s one of the many reasons he ran away.
Prudenzio pulled over by Central Park. His hand reached for his Colt, and I nodded. It was time to do this. No matter how much pain this was going to inflict on me, I wasn’t about to fail father.
I slipped out of the car and headed to the direction the photos were taken from. He was last spotted near Central Park’s restrooms. The place could be identified from a distance. It was big and some angel statues made of bronze stood in front of it.
It was cold here too, so we had to put on some layers before reaching the park.
Thanks to the lower temperatures, not many people were visiting the locale, which was a good thing. I didn’t want many witnesses talking to the police later on.
My eyes then suddenly caught sight of a superb lady with a little boy and a woman who I assumed to be her mother. They were standing by the lake, chatting and laughing.
I wished I could be like them right now, I thought.
I nodded to Prudenzio again. “You and you,” I instructed, pointing my finger at them. “Take that route. Scout the place. If you spot him, shoot at the sky. Prudenzio and I will then go to you as fast as we can.”
They nodded, their eyes serious and attentive.
Good, I thought. I needed soldiers I could trust, and those two were some of the best.
Prudenzio and I trotted to the main area of the restrooms. We were going there as fast as we could without drawing attention to us. Someone who had no idea who we were was probably thinking we were nothing more than friends coming to take a stroll in the park.
I reached the front of the restroom, and just as I’d expected, Vinicio wasn’t here. The man who recognized him had followed him, but then, ended up losing him. I was kind of glad he did. I didn’t want anyone other than me getting him.
I perused the surrounding environment, and that’s when I spotted him.
Just behind some trees, eating what seemed to be a Philly cheesesteak…
The sight of it brought me memories I thought I had long forgotten.
I pointed my Colt to the sky and squeezed the trigger. The shot caused people to panic and run. Birds flew away. “I found him! Let’s go!”
I bolted to him, Prudenzio following me. Maybe I shouldn’t have shot, but it didn’t matter anyway. Close to Vinicio were my two other soldiers, and they were going to surround him.
And he had now no chance of escaping this.
The moment I steered my gun at my brother and they spotted him was when I realized that this was it. I was going to get my younger brother, and then… who knew what was going to happen to him?
I guessed my hope was that my father would realize he was still his son and would pardon him somehow.
My men sprinted so fast Vinicio wasn’t able to finish his Philly cheesesteak. He dropped it and put his hands in front of him, forming a shield.
“Brother, y-you don’t have to do this.”
“I have. Come peacefully, and father will forgive you. I give you my word.”
“But he won’t!”
A moment of silence. I was going to approach him and bring him to our father anyway when, all of a sudden, someone grabbed me and threw me down to the grass with her or him. I heard shouts, people running, shots being fired, and when I spun to meet who had done that to me, I saw the face of a magnificent woman.
Her hair was straight, dark brown, and her eyes were of the same color, but with a lighter tone.
Her face was angelic. It had no defects. Her lips were full, and I found myself in some kind of weird trance.
Her eyes locked with mine, and for a moment, neither of us did anything. I stood there, dumbfounded as my mind barely registered the sound of a bicycle riding to the other side of the stone path I was near to.
A tempest of a thought crossed my mind.
Vinicio.
I stood up in a flash, almost making her topple as she also stood up.
My head jerked repeatedly, following different directions, trying to find my brother, but he was nowhere to be seen. My men couldn’t be found as well. Whatever happened, it seemed I’d lost him once more, and it was all because of her.
And wait… Wasn’t she the one I’d spotted by the lake with the little boy and her mother minutes ago?
Another wild thought crossed my mind. Those facial sketches, those eyes, that nose… I knew her. Fuck. What the hell was this? Some kind of sick joke?
She approached me, her body exhaling her uncomfortableness. Her hands didn’t know what to do with each other.
“Hey, I’m sorry I pushed you with me on the ground. There was this crazy old man on a bike and he was going to hit you. I just thought I had to, you know, save you…”
Alide.
She chuckled, like she knew she was to blame. I had no time or the patience to find this funny.
She didn’t finish her sentence, but I knew what she meant. “It’s fine,” I said before scanning the hills, the trees, the buildings and the roads once more. No signs of them. No shouting, people screaming, or running away.
Just another attempt to get Vinicio back that was squandered, I presumed before tucking my Colt into my waistband.
I then proceeded to walk back to the car. Maybe Alide wanted to tell me something more, and maybe she even recognized me. It didn’t matter to me, and so I kept my mouth shut.
Truth was, I had no time for her right now. I needed to find Prudenzio and tell my father how things went here.
Chapter 2
Hired
Alide
He walked away without as much as thanking me. Who was he, and why did he have a gun? I had no idea what his name was, but he looked handsome. He was taller than me. His hair was a deep tone of black, with a thick stubble on his chiseled face, and his body was athletic without being overly muscular.
I couldn’t help but admire him as he made his way out of Central Park. I thought he was going to feel thankful I saved him from getting hurt. I swear people in this park needed to pay more attention to where they were going.
How come someone allowed that crazy old man to ride his bicycle around here without watchful eyes over him all the time?
I sighed and walked out of there. Whoever that man was, he was way beyond my league. And he seemed pretty serious and tight, like he couldn’t have fun even if his life depended on it. He was a man of few words, and he didn’t like wasting time with anything.
I knew what Rita would say about him. He’s the opposite of you.
I walked back to her and Luca. His eyes fired up when he saw me coming. He ran up to me and then jumped. I held him by his armpits, not believing how light he was. His face was so pale, despite the pink tone of his cheeks.
/> I needed to do something about his condition and most of all, I needed to find a job. That was the only way to make sure he would have a normal life one day.
I put him down and Rita inquired, “What happened back there?”
“Oh, the shots?” I said, almost not believing that witnessing gunshots turned into such a common thing for me. Living in Brooklyn will do that to you, I opined before responding, “Nothing of importance. Don’t worry about it.”
She stood up and dusted off the front of her skirt. “Well, if you are done jogging, then we can go back home now. I don’t want to miss Westworld tonight.”
I gave her a look of dissatisfaction, not accepting she still watched that piece of shit. Her hands gave off her embarrassment as she declared, “I’m not going to stop watching it. It’s good. You should give it another go.”
“Maybe another time, in another life,” I said as we left Central Park. Tomorrow I was going to have to return to Lower Manhattan to go job-hunting again. I sighed internally.
I couldn’t believe finding a job was so hard in 2020.
✽ ✽ ✽
The bus pulled over by the sidewalk and I slipped out. A gush of wind tossed my hair in the other direction. Good thing I still had papà’s coat, I thought before heading over to the entrance of the neighborhood. The sign which hung between two buildings read in cursive letters ‘Little Italy.’
Yup, this is Little Italy.
I could find all sorts of food and Italian stuff here. Still, I was sure it was all Americanized, so it was nothing quite like experiencing the real stuff in Italy. One day, I said to myself again, I was going to travel over there.
I entered the neighborhood and stopped in front of the first restaurant which caught my attention. Bello Italiano, the sign just above the front door, read.
I peeped inside it through the large, front windows. People were chatting and having lunch in there, I thought before considering if this place was worth a shot.
I looked around and presumed this was as good as any place.
I crept open the door of the establishment and stepped in. None of the customers paid attention to me. A man, about my height and with long, dark hair presented himself. He had a menu and a notepad in his hands. He wore a typical waiter’s attire, and his mouth opened to make me a question, “Miss, do you want a table for one?”
“No, I’m not here to eat.” I paused, thinking. “I’m here searching for work. I saw the job posting online.”
He blinked, his eyes clearing up. “Oh, right.” He paused, eyes darting to the upper right for a moment. “Come right this way. The boss is here.”
I knew he would be, or almost knew. He mentioned coming around this time of the day, after all.
The waiter took me to the back section of the establishment, where I couldn’t hear the chatter and laughter of the customers anymore. This was where all the niceness of the Bello Italiano died. In here, the walls weren’t painted, and there was dust everywhere.
I could only hope, if he hired me, that he was going to make me work as a waitress only. I couldn’t imagine myself cleaning all these walls and floors.
The man stopped in front of a grey door. He knocked on it and said it was him. Another man, whose voice was much deeper and older, declared, “Come on in.”
The waiter had already mentioned it was someone coming for an interview, so the boss already knew why I had come.
He then opened the door and stepped aside, allowing me in. He shut it the moment my eyes landed on an old man who was sitting behind his desk. His hair was grey and thinning, and his office was very old school.
He had some portraits hanging from the walls, with most of them depicting him and who I could only imagine to be his sons. None of the portraits was crooked, and the space was the cleanest and tidiest thing I had seen inside this back partition of his restaurant.
He offered me to sit on the chair in front of his desk with his hand. “Let’s see if we can find a position for you here.”
I sat and said, “If you don’t mind, I would rather work as a waitress, like the job posting online cited…”
His eyes studied me, and I felt he had a sudden moment of realization, like seeing me brought him memories back. Whatever was the case, his expression made me feel like running the fuck away from here as fast as possible.
Despite that, I thought back Luca and decided to stay.
“Oh, right. If you don’t mind, we’ve got some basic things to go over here. Do you have your resume with you?”
I pulled it out of my suitcase and put it down on his desk, relieved that I’d considered printing some copies of it, just in case. I hadn’t thought they would come in handy, taking into account this was 2020 and many people favored their documents in the digital format, but it seemed I was wrong.
He picked up the resume and glanced over it. During the entire time we spoke about my objectives – how I could contribute to the restaurant, and all that bullshit – I had this weird feeling like he knew me and was taking it easy with me.
It couldn’t be the case, right?
He couldn’t know me.
It was the first time I was ever seeing him, after all.
He and I stood up. “Welcome to the Bello Italiano. You’ll work as a waitress, just like the job posting… errr… online, said,” he uttered, throwing his hand in front of him to tell me he couldn’t be bothered with where I’d found the ad.
I smiled and bowed. “Thank you very much, Mr. Romani.”
He rounded the table and walked with me to the door. “Someone here will tell you the ins and outs, teach you what you need to know and that sort of thing. You don’t have to worry about how to start.”
He waited and then continued, “Is it okay for you to begin working here tomorrow?”
There was a paternal tone in his voice, but I took it as him being so old he couldn’t help but see me as the daughter he never had – if he had one, I was sure there would have been at least a dozen of her portraits in his office, after all.
“Yes, that’s okay. Thank you very much again.”
The corner of his lip curved up to form a gentle smirk and the door opened. And in stepped none other than the guy who I’d saved back in Central Park!
He stood immense as he did back then, and he wore a dark suit very similar to the one he had put on before.
His eyes found mine, and he blinked like he couldn’t believe he was seeing me here. I flickered my eyelids as well. I had no idea I was going to find him here, and unless he was looking for a job, which I didn’t think he was, that meant… he was one of Mr. Romani’s sons!
Talk about New York being too small, I thought, still feeling as if my heart was going to burst out of my chest.
And no wonder I couldn’t recognize him when I’d glanced over the portraits on the walls. His face looked different. In front of me was standing a grown man. In the pictures, he was much younger.
His eyes finally unlocked with mine, and I didn’t know what to say. I thought about giving the boss another good impression of me by greeting his son, but all that came out of my mouth were only incoherent noises.
Seeing what was happening, Mr. Romani put his hand on my back and the other on his son’s. “Ahhhh, Angelo.” A moment of pause as he glanced at me, and then at his son. “This is our new waitress. Her name is Alide, and she will be working with us from tomorrow onwards.”
His eyes blinked once more, but his expression remained unchanged. The novelty of having found me here had worn off, I imagined. He presented his hand to me, and for a moment, I didn’t know what to do with it.
Then, I shook it and commented, “Nice to meet you. I’m Alide Mazzanti.”
I still got the impression from him that he knew me somehow. He seemed surprised I showed up here, but telling him my name made him express nothing.
It was like he, undeniably, knew who I was.
I withdrew my hand the moment he did the same. I’d felt how powerful his grip was. I
knew we had no chance of ever becoming more than what we were to each other, but still… a girl could dream and, right now, I was dreaming a bit too much.
Rita would have all sorts of things to tell me about not to approach the boss’s fine-looking son and to keep a professional relationship with him, I thought with an internal smile.
I closed my eyes, grinning, and then declared, “I have to go now, but it was good meeting you.”
Mr. Romani grabbed my hand gently and made me stop. “You don’t want a ride back home?”
For a moment, I didn’t know how to respond. It was the first time an employer had ever offered me something like that. I glimpsed at him and his son. The latter looked serious and uptight. That was his usual self. I wondered if he had many friends.
I chuckled fretfully as he ungripped my hand. “Okay, sure. Why not, right?”
“Ahhhh.” His eyes lit up like a bonfire. “Angelo, get your car and take her home.”
Oh shit. I’d reckoned he himself was going to take me home, not his son. I hadn’t thought this moment could have become more uncomfortable, but it just did.
Angelo didn’t sigh, like I was expecting him to. One second later, he said, “Okay, but we’ll talk later, papà.”
His father’s expression grew serious, eyebrows narrowing. And instead of promising him they were going to have a conversation, he merely turned and walked back to his desk.
A lot was spoken without words when their eyes were locked to each other, I guessed.
I toddled to the hallway and Angelo closed the door behind him. Without saying anything, he walked to the other way of the hall and took me to the back of the establishment, where they had a tiny parking space.
His car was a pitch-black Chrysler. I couldn’t remember what the exact model was, but it was the one with a round grille and headlights.
Again, without disclosing as much as a word, he opened the front door by the passenger seat, and closed it after I sat.
He then opened the other door and drove the car through the narrow alleyway that led to their parking spot. He didn’t say this, but I knew that parking space was for him and his family only.