by Soraya Naomi
“I’ll give her a full physical tomorrow,” Marc offers and buttons his jacket. “Call me when she’s ready.” He hesitates before adding, “She resembles you, James.”
So Marc knows Cam’s his niece.
James doesn’t acknowledge his words and waves him off.
“Sal’s obviously up to something,” James says to me.
“He’s a little too interested in our organization.”
“Do you think she’s telling the truth?” He glances away in thought briefly. “What’s going on in her head?”
I had the distinct impression she was being truthful so far. Yet, she’s also holding something back. “I think she’s told part of the truth and is waiting to see how much she can trust us. There’s a past between her and Sal, and it’s a sordid one; I’m positive.” I comb my hair back with my fingers.
He studies me before asking, “What’s between you two?”
Not even we can define what it is between us. It’s electrical. It’s undeniable. There’s always a mysterious pull when she and I are in a room together. But I have no answer for that loaded question.
“We were close friends, but she held back about her past,” I provide him with a response and try to deflect the conversation away from us.
James grips the edges of his desk. “I agree that her past must be sordid. We already know she worked in the fight and sex club. I’m starting to wonder if that was by choice.”
“Prepare yourself for her tale,” I warn him.
I’ve seen all her scars up close and personal and combined with the way she always used to evade answering questions about her past, I’m certain we’ll learn information we won’t like tomorrow.
“What do I do?” James asks. “You know her best. What do you think she wants?”
I do know what Cam wants. Or at least what Cam wanted nine months ago. “Have you told Alessa about Cam?”
“Yes, I told her when I first found out.”
“Take Cam to your home. Introduce her to your family. What she wants most is a family, a sense of belonging. I always got the feeling she felt lost and alone, although she’d never show it; she’s tough and resilient. We need to show her she can trust us, that she can trust you, so she’ll spill everything,” I advise him in good conscience.
“How can I gain her trust quickly? Maybe when we discuss everything tomorrow, we’ll let her stay. She can know what’s being said. And I’ll answer her questions. And I’ll also talk to Alessa.” He pauses. “You look exhausted. Go home, Adriano. You did well, Capo. Ma, ricordate, lei è ancora off limits per tutti i membri di questa organizzazione.” But remember, she’s still off limits for any member of this organization.
I nod, knowing it’ll be difficult to get her alone. James has just inadvertently dismissed me from headquarters by telling me to go home. He doesn’t want me to spend the night here while she’s also occupying a room in this house. He knows me well.
All of a sudden, I remember to update James about Luca and Security Simplicity. “I’ll be here tomorrow morning at eight. Luca’s on his way back, so he’ll be here too. And I haven’t had the chance to talk to Jeffrey since I was interrupted to fetch Cam. I notified him that I’ll be at Security Simplicity with Luca around lunch; we’ll need to be in the Loop by noon.”
“Fine. We’ll try to get as much information as possible from Camilla, and then I’ll also need to talk to her alone. I can’t avoid getting close to her anymore.”
“No, you can’t,” I agree.
Seeing Cam again and knowing she’s close-by has my body on alert. I’m battling with myself not to go into her room and comfort her. Help her process accepting that James is her father. Yet, I also want to throttle her for sleeping with another man. It’s best that I don’t see her again tonight.
I can’t refrain from doing one last thing, however, and I quietly clear out of the house after finishing my task. This has been a long day, and I’m really looking forward to my own bed.
CHAPTER 15
Camilla
I’m in the exact same position that I fell asleep in hours ago when my eyes open at seven a.m. sharp, according to the clock on the wall.
After nine months of dwelling on how I want a change, wishing my life had turned out differently; suddenly, my wish has come true. I have a father who is the Capo crimine. Of course, I’m unsure whether to trust James completely, but with the little bit of information I’ve learned, it makes sense why he’s being unexpectedly nice to me. Italians are extremely protective of their families.
I’m going to take this chance and first, help Santino. Second, my need for revenge against Sal has tripled since last night. I’ve gained a lot in the last few hours, and now I may have a very powerful organization behind me. I’ve lived a life of lows, and I’ve got nothing to lose anymore. And third, I need to speak to Adriano openly and alone.
I get up to shower and wince when the cut on my lower back stretches. Surprisingly, that’s the only soreness I feel. Mostly, I want food. I’m starving, having not eaten anything since yesterday afternoon.
I see a flash of white fabric laid out on the edge of the bed: my sleeveless, cotton button-up dress that flares at the hips and falls over my knees. It’s one of my favorite dresses because it’s lovely and hides the faint scars on my thighs. Tracing the fabric with my fingertips, I remember how Adriano loved this dress on me. I’d left it behind, and he kept it. My heart skips a beat at the meaning of this.
After removing my dirty clothes in which I fell asleep, I stand under the hot stream of water in the bathroom where I’ve spent so many hours with Adriano.
Did Adriano also stay in this house last night?
On the sink is a clean piece of gauze, and I replace the old one. Then I get dressed, nervous to meet James again. He was very distant last night, but so was I.
The house is quiet and dark when I go down one floor to the kitchen – where the light is already on. James is sitting at the island with his head bent down. He’s dressed in what must be a designer suit like all these Syndicate men wear. He looks sideways at me, and a sad smile covers his face.
“Good morning. You’re up early.” His voice is still heavy with sleep.
“Morning. So are you.”
“I’m always up early,” he comments.
That’s something we have in common then.
“Hungry?” he asks and stands to hold out the other bar stool for me.
“Yes, starving.”
“Breakfast will be delivered soon.”
That used to be my task when I worked here. Stocking up and ordering meals for the entire week. For Adriano, I’d order food from his favorite restaurants. Unless he was being distant, then I’d deliberately order food I knew he couldn’t appreciate, which doesn’t give me many options since he eats almost everything – except for peanuts in his dinner. He doesn’t like peanuts in his salads or warm dishes. Funnily enough, he does love to eat peanuts. Just not mixed into a recipe.
I take the seat on the stool.
“Coffee?”
“Yes, please.” I can tell he’s trying to ease the discomfort between us, so I make a true effort too.
James presses a button on the built-in coffeemaker, and the smell of freshly ground coffee beans drifts around the room. “How are you feeling?”
“Good. I changed the bandage on my back.”
He places the mug in front of me. “You must have questions, Camilla. Feel free to ask them.”
I wave one hand above the warm steam of the brew. “Why didn’t you ever tell me before? When I worked here?”
“I’m not sure. I guess I was waiting for the right opportunity that never came. And it was a hectic year. I’m a selfish man and was at least happy to know that you were safe and taken care of.”
“Did you ever want children?” I fold both palms around the cup.
“Yes, and now I have two. Alessa and I have another daughter, Rosalia. She’s almost twenty-one now.”
I hav
e a sister? Does she resemble me? “Do your wife and daughter know about me?”
“Yes. And they’re looking forward to meeting you.” His answers are quick and without emotion.
“Do you...How do you feel about me?” I dare to ask, uncertainly.
His eyes widen in surprise. James didn’t expect that question. Nevertheless, he straightens his shoulders. “I’m sad that I’ve missed so much of your life. I’m sad you got caught up in Syndicate business without your knowledge. But I’m happy to learn I have a beautiful and obviously strong daughter like you.” The corner of his mouth curls up for half a second.
Unfortunately, we’re interrupted and hear the front entrance door opening, and a moment later, a blonde woman comes in with breakfast.
“Set it up in my office,” James instructs her, then turns to me. “Follow me up? We’ll continue upstairs.”
When we’re about to climb the stairs, Luca and Adriano arrive in the foyer. Adriano automatically seizes my attention when he comes into a room. A tingle in my lower belly flares to life when I gaze at him in his black dress pants and white dress shirt, rolled up at the sleeves, his black wavy hair beautifully disheveled, as always. I detect a secret smirk when he looks at the dress I’m wearing.
Luca takes a step toward me in his grey three-piece suit. “Cam, it’s good to see you’re okay.”
“Hey, Luca.”
It’s been nine months since I last saw Luca. That was the night Fallon, his girlfriend at the time, and I tried to escape this house. I was in contact with her until a couple of months ago. She helped me out moneywise for a while. But when her own troubles arose, I couldn’t accept her help anymore and left. I wonder how Fallon is. Are they together or apart?
Luca and I were friends while I worked here. And I do think he knows the extent of my relationship with Adriano. He actually reminds me a lot of Adriano, only Luca is more serious and has bright green eyes as opposed to Adriano’s dark brown ones.
“We were just going to my office,” James announces and leads the way.
Adriano passes me toward the stairs, and I stop him by his hand. Rising up on my tiptoes, I whisper into his ear from behind, “I need to talk to you alone.”
My touch makes him flinch, and he jerks his hand away but dips his chin once in acknowledgment.
“Later,” he mouths and speeds up the stairway.
In James’s office, the blonde finishes placing fruit and breakfast sandwiches on the desk.
She greets Luca and Adriano sweetly, a little too sweetly. They each mutter a hello under their breath when another man enters. I’ve also seen him around here, but I never knew who he was. He could be James’s age and looks completely the opposite of the other three men. While James, Luca, and Adriano walk around in expensive tailored Italian suits, this man walks in wearing a wrinkled brown one.
“Cam,” Adriano introduces him when he sees my astonished face. “I don’t think you ever met Salvatore. He’s our Consigliere, our counselor.”
Salvatore gives me a firm handshake and sets his leather briefcase down.
The men each grab a sandwich and sit. James behind his desk, Salvatore and Luca across from him. Adriano grips the back of two chairs in the corner by the window and easily moves them in front of the desk with the others.
Then he hands me – what he knows would be my choice – a panini with mozzarella, tomato, and basil. “Eat.”
As I take it, our fingers touch, and he swirls his thumb around on my hand without anyone noticing.
“Thanks,” I murmur and bite the soft bread to fill my empty stomach.
Adriano grabs two sandwiches and sits to my right.
James wipes his mouth with a napkin and begins, “The four men here are the only people who know you’re my daughter – along with Marc, Alessa, Rosalia, and Fallon, Luca’s wife.”
My head whips to Luca. “You’re married? Congratulations!”
“Thank you. You’ll see Fallon later.” His eyes light up.
I’m excited about the prospect of seeing another familiar face. I felt connected to Fallon from the start.
James continues, “Everyone’s caught up. They know we’ve removed a chip from you. It’s right here in my desk and will stay here. But now, we need to know the entire story of why you were on the run and what your past with Sal entails. There’s much more to your story, isn’t there?”
He’s smooth and quick to get to the root of my story, so there’s no need to deny. I’m sure Adriano has also already figured some things out.
“There is more. It’s...It’s difficult for me because I have to take a huge leap of faith. In essence, I don’t know any of you,” I say.
“We’re your family now. You’re my daughter and under my protection. Do you know what that means?” James asks.
I shake my head and take another huge bite.
“You’re a part of our mafia family, Camilla. You’re not a Guillermo. You’re a Calderone. And the Calderone Chicago Syndicate is one of the most powerful organizations in the mafia, which makes you a target as soon as word gets out that you’re my child.”
Hearing James say my child makes me feel uncomfortable, but I guess he’s had a longer time to wrap his mind around this situation.
“Just like my wife and other daughter, you’ll have protection around the clock,” James explains when I don’t respond. “You won’t notice them, and they won’t bother you unless there’s trouble near you.”
“That’s why you already had me protected twenty-four seven when I worked here,” I state.
His eyes narrow.
“Fat Sal told me,” I clarify.
“What happened between you and Sal, Cam?” Adriano prompts from next to me.
It’s a question Adriano asked me often: what happened in your past to get you the scars? A question I’d elude incessantly, but now, I’m ready to speak up.
“Where do I start?” I say.
“From the moment you met Fat Sal until now,” Adriano insists. “Give us the timeline.”
I stuff the last bite into my mouth and methodically relay my entire story. From the day I started working in the dance area of Club 7 almost three years ago, to my captivity for five months. Then how I escaped – omitting a detail here and there or else they won’t help Santino. How I got a job for almost eight weeks before I met James and Luca, and they offered to let me work in the strip club two years ago. I leave out my entire relationship with Adriano. Then how I ran nine months ago after Luca and Adriano caught me helping Fallon escape this place. And how I’ve had no life since then, except for hiding in Iowa, and finally, hiding just outside the Loop until I was out of options.
They’re all quiet while I speak, and I notice Adriano chewing nervously on his second sandwich when I mention Santino. The tension in the room can be cut with a knife when I finish telling the story of my life these past few years.
Luca and Salvatore don’t look at me. James and Adriano each pin me with a dubious, yet sympathetic, stare.
“Santino helped you escape? Are you sure?” James demands to know.
“Yes, they stopped giving me drugs because I became sick, and that gave me the chance to be lucid enough to escape. My memories are a blur, but Santino helped me.”
“And he didn’t touch you or drug you?” James asks.
This is why I omitted it, because they won’t help him if they know the whole story. That I kissed him, that he drugged me and took me to that podium; those details I haven’t revealed.
“He helped me.”
“That’s not an answer, Cam,” Adriano rebuffs, knowing I’m skirting the question.
I send him an annoyed look, and he just arches a brow in sardonic inquiry, but I still lie, “No.”
James muses aloud to Luca, “Sal found out she worked for me, and that made it difficult for him to snatch her back two years ago. So instead, now he wants to control her by torturing Santino and implanting the microchip. And he said he’d contact Cam? I wonder how he inten
ds to contact her?” Then he says to me without waiting for an answer from Luca, “You do know that Sal would’ve just killed you and Santino after you provided him with information?”
“Yes, that’s why I’m confiding in you now. I can’t just let a man who helped me, rot in there,” I defend. “You know my story. You know what I want. I want Santino out of that hellhole. Then I want Sal to account for what he did to me or else I’ll never truly be free. I want to stop living in fear. I refuse to do that anymore. Now tell me, who are you exactly? I know you’re the Syndicate, and you sell drugs. What is your relation to Fat Sal though?”
Luca and Adriano exchange glances, and I’m sure they’re communicating without speaking.
James looks straight at me. “I’m going to explain this once. I’m the Capo crimine, or boss in English, of this Syndicate. Luca is my underboss. Adriano is my first Capo. And Salvatore is my lawyer and counselor. We regulate, control, and rule all the drug traffic in Chicago. We import and set up illegal trade relations to get our drugs through customs. Every small-time drug dealer gets his hard drugs – heroin and cocaine – from us. All the clubs and the rich and famous here in Chicago are also being supplied by us.”
Just as the Syndicate supplies Club 7. It was the Syndicate’s drugs that were injected into me.
“We four”—James points to the men—“are the highest ranking members. Beneath us, there are hundreds of soldiers and associates who do the street work. We manage both from above and at a distance. When problems arise or when a situation becomes personal, like with you, then either me, Luca, or Adriano gets involved.”
I knew James was the boss, and now I learn Luca and Adriano’s ranks.
Luca adds, “No one attends our meetings, Cam. Not soldiers, not James’s wife, not my wife. We’re permitting you insight so you can see that you can trust us. But whatever is discussed here must never leave these four walls. Do you understand?”
I swallow while one thing confuses me. “Fat Sal isn’t part of the Syndicate, right?”
James answers, “No, he’s not. The Chicago Syndicate only rules the world of drugs. We’re not in the slavery or sex club business. Fat Sal’s also a Capo crimine, but he’s a boss of a smaller sub-mafia operation compared to ours. He became larger and more powerful though, because many high powered men visited the sex club. The legal one, not the fight club that’s also being used as a BDSM or sex fetish club. He buys drugs from us, Camilla.”