I called Nico to inform him of what was going to happen.
“Hey,” I said to him. “It’s Bianca.”
“Yeah?” he said. It sounded like I woke him up, but it was 3 in the afternoon, so I doubted that was the case. “What’s going on?”
“Listen, I’m on my ass all of a sudden. I’m sure that you heard about the firebomb of my restaurant.”
“I did.” He paused. “I’m sorry to hear about that. I’m sure that you’ll land on your feet, though.”
“Well, about that. I can’t afford my apartment now, and I really can’t afford it because Adelaide is moving out.” I felt tears coming to my eyes. I was going to miss her enormously. She had been packing for the past few days, with me helping her, and we kept coming across little things that reminded us of the good times we’ve had together. She packed up pictures of the two of us on ski trips to Colorado and snorkeling trips to Jamaica. We listened to songs that we used to sing in our apartment, at the tops of our lungs, just goofing around. Even looking at Daisy made us sad, because she was a dog that we raised together. I was going to have “custody” of Daisy, which made me feel a bit better, but that just made Adelaide even more sad.
“Why is Adelaide moving?”
“Her mother’s sick and her father needs help. She’s going home to Duluth.” I couldn’t imagine Adelaide living in the Minnesota city after having lived in New York for so long. She definitely was going to have more of an adjustment than me. “Anyhow…”
“I know what you’re going to say, and I’m going to have to stop you right there. As much as I would love for you to move in with Carmine and me, that’s a no-go right now. I’m very sorry.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “What? Why? Listen, Nico, I would take you in if you were high and dry like this. I just got hit with two different things at the same time. I know that I should have savings built up like you do, and that’s on me. But I need some kind of transition place until I can find a job and find a new roommate.”
“I understand that, but Bianca, it’s not a good time right now. Carmine and I are trying to adopt a child and we’re in the middle of a home study.”
I shook my head. I knew that they were trying to adopt, but so what? Why would my staying there affect a home study?
“Yeah, and? What am I missing here?”
“What do you mean, what are you missing? I can’t have my sister couch surfing while the social worker is doing the home study.”
“Why not?”
He sighed. “Because. Listen, the only way this adoption is going to go through is if I can show that I’m detached from my family as much as possible. That’s what the social worker told me, because of what our father does for a living. I’ve told her that I’m estranged from our father, but if you’re staying on our couch, and you’re always talking to Benito, which you usually do, how is that going to look? It’s going to appear that Benito’s still in my life. This adoption is touch and go as it is, Bianca. I hope that you understand that.”
I felt like crying. My brother, my own brother, who I loved and looked up to, was rejecting me. “Okay, Nico, that’s just fucking fine. I’ll just have to find something else.”
And I hung up.
Nico immediately tried to call me back, but I rejected his calls every time. He couldn’t just tell me that he wasn’t going to help me when I needed him and still expect me to not be pissed. I was pissed and I was going to stay that way for awhile.
I took a deep breath and did the one thing that I didn’t want to do. I was going to call Isabella and ask if I could stay with her. I knew that she would let me – her apartment was huge, paid for by our father, and she had the room.
She had the room, but it was going to mean that I was going to be living with Lucca. As much as that wasn’t a good idea, I knew that I had to do what I had to do. It was only going to be temporary, of course. I just had to find a job, a new roommate and possibly another rent-controlled apartment. Once I did all that, I would leave the two newlyweds alone.
I took a deep breath and called Izzy.
“Hello Bianca,” she said in a sing-song voice. “How’s it going?”
“Great.” I didn’t know how to ask her what I needed to ask her. So I decided just to come on out with it. “Listen, Izzy, I need a favor. A huge favor.”
“What is it?”
“I need to move in with you and Lucca for awhile. I lost my job and Adelaide is moving out, and I’m flat on my ass at the moment. Would you mind?”
“No, of course not. It’ll be fun! Maybe you could even help me with some of my projects. I really would like to get my Etsy shop off the ground, and I’d love some help with doing that.”
“Joy,” I said without enthusiasm. I could imagine myself hot-gluing a zillion beads, baubles and rhinestones to various headbands and cringed. Not my idea of a good time. “But thanks for taking me in. I owe you one.”
“Of course.” She paused. “You know what? At first, I was really turned off of this whole Lucca thing. I don’t know him. But I’m getting to know him and he’s really cute and a lot of fun. I think that I might be taking to him after all.”
I sighed. That was the last thing that I wanted to hear. The very last thing. I started to feel a little sick just hearing this nonsense from my sister, but I tried to shake it off. “Good.”
“Oh, and one more thing. I have to move myself. I’m moving in with Lucca. He doesn’t want to stay here, and I guess I’m okay with that. Where is my head? I should have checked with him before I said yes to you.”
“That’s fine, I’ll just take over your loft.” I felt relieved that I wasn’t going to have to suffer through seeing Lucca every day, knowing that I couldn’t have him. Especially now that I remembered that he was my first crush. I was having feelings for him that I didn’t want to acknowledge, so it was better for me if I could just stay away from him. Stay away from him and hope that I would eventually forget all about him.
Eventually.
“Oh, I'm so sorry, you’re going to also have to live with us at Lucca’s. I kinda already promised Tina that she could stay in the loft. Oops.”
I sighed. “What do you mean, oops? First, you forget to tell me that you’re moving in with Lucca in his apartment. Then you forget to tell me that you’ve already promised the loft to Tina. What’s next? You’re gonna tell me that I’m going to have to live on the streets with Daisy, or, God forbid, move in with our father?” My stomach started to turn when I thought about that one. Living with my father was not an option. I would sooner live in an alley.
“Calm down. I said that you could live with us. I haven’t asked Lucca, but I’m sure that he’ll be just fine with it.”
“And Daisy? She can come too?”
“I guess. Lucca doesn’t have any animals, except for his horses in Connecticut home. But I’m sure he doesn’t mind having a dog living with us. It’s going to be a pain in the ass, though, having her in an apartment.”
“She’s in an apartment now, so what’s the big deal?”
“None. Okay, listen, come and live with us. I don’t care, and I’m sure Lucca won’t either.”
“Thanks. I’ll get some movers soon and I guess we’ll all be moving in with Lucca soon.”
I got off the phone and shook my head.
What the hell did I just do?
Fifteen
Lucca
“What?” I said to Izzy when she called me. “What are you talking about?”
“Bianca is going to live with us, at least for a little while. Her restaurant was fire-bombed, probably by one of the De Angelo goons, and her roommate is moving out. I hope you don’t mind.”
I took a deep breath. I was going to try to make this sham marriage work with Izzy. That was the only thing that I could think to do after I talked to Gianni about this situation. It was either I make this marriage work or my organization was vulnerable. I simply couldn’t expose my organization to the threats that were sur
e to come if Izzy and I didn’t work out.
I was wanting to make my marriage to Izzy work and she brings in her sister to live with us? The same sister that I couldn’t keep either my eyes or hands off of? What the fuck?
I sat down on the couch and thought about my encounter with Bianca in the restroom of that country club. I could still taste her on my mouth. Could still smell the scent of her floral perfume. Could still feel her lips on mine. Could still feel my dick inside of her and could still remember just how it felt when she came.
I rubbed my dick, which was hard just thinking about it. I brought it out of my pants and stroked it while I closed my eyes. I found myself masturbating a lot these days. I had to. I was married to Izzy while I was still being driven wild by Bianca.
Now both sisters were going to be living with me. One big happy family, huh?
I came in record time. All I had to do to make myself come was to close my eyes and see Bianca’s breasts. Her lips. Her ass. Her legs. Her pussy. Her breasts. Her breasts. Her breasts.
I was concentrating on her body parts because I wanted to somehow detach myself from my feelings for her. I couldn’t acknowledge to myself that I was in love with this girl. I didn’t know why I felt so strongly for her right when I met her. I only knew that I did. I couldn’t have that, of course. If I dwelled on how I truly felt about Bianca, then there would be no way that I could stay married to Izzy. And if Izzy and I had our marriage annulled, everybody in the organization would be up shit creek.
I had already gamed it out, and it seemed that the only thing that could be done was to make my marriage with Izzy work. If I didn't, then Benito would get desperate. He would be embarrassed in front of his peers, which is one basis for his desperation. But, even more than that, would be the fact that Benito would know that if my union with Izzy fell apart, then the De Lucas would be emboldened to try to take Benito out. They could certainly work with the Romanos or the Mancinis to move up the ladder, and Benito would be low-hanging fruit.
The only solution for the Fattores in that scenario would be to try to take over my organization, which is what he had been trying to do for the past year. That would be the only thing that would make him strong enough to overcome the other families who had been gunning for him.
As I figured out that this was the likely outcome if my “marriage” to Izzy fell apart, I knew that I had to make it work with her. And she wasn’t bad. She was immature, a dilettante, and a whiner, but I could live with all these things. I could learn to live with all these things, that is. As it was, Izzy did get on my last nerve, but I was determined to suck it up. There was too much on the line for me not to.
Nevertheless, I figured that I could try to at least be hospitable to Bianca. See if she needed help moving and offer to pitch in. She was going to live with me, so I might as well be friendly.
I showed up at Bianca’s about an hour later. I didn’t even tell her I was coming, so, when she opened the door, she looked surprised. “Lucca,” she said. “Come on in.”
She was standing in the middle of her floor, and there were boxes everywhere. Her couch was wrapped in bubble wrap, as were a bunch of framed pictures. In the corner was an enormous kennel, and I heard whining coming from inside that kennel.
“Sorry to surprise you,” I said, going over to the kennel and bending down. Inside was a pit bull mix. She was brown and white and had extremely expressive eyes, as pit bulls do. She didn’t bark when I put my face to her cage, but, rather, she wagged her tail and licked my hand. “Beautiful dog. Is she coming with you?”
“Of course,” Bianca said. “I’m sorry I didn’t ask you first. Izzy said that you wouldn’t mind.”
“I don’t mind.” I thought about my own pit bull that I owned in Sicily. Cianni was a beautiful little grey dog that I got when I was only 16. Mario, my godfather, got it for me when I did my first job for him. It was a simple job, just roughing up a soldier from another organization, and Cianni was my reward.
She went everywhere with me – at least she went to places where I could take her, which, in Sicily, was quite a few places. There were a few restaurants that I could take her, even indoors, as long as she stayed under the table. She always went to the beach with me, and she slept in my bed just about every night. For the longest time, she was the one thing that kept me from going crazy. My one constant – every night when I came home, I had her to feed and walk and talk to. No matter what happened in my job, Cianni didn’t judge me.
I lost her when she turned 13, right before Gianni found me and recruited me for this job. Losing her was probably one of the most devastating things in my life. It was probably the first time I cried, and I cried a lot that night.
“You don’t mind my bringing the dog?” Bianca said, cocking her head. “Thank you very much for being so accommodating.”
“Oh, it’s okay. I love dogs, especially pit bulls and pit bull mixes. They’re misunderstood. Kinda like me.”
Bianca smiled and gave me a look. “You’re misunderstood? In what way?”
“Well, because I’ve killed people and committed a lot of crimes. For some people, that’s all they see about me. They don't realize that…”
“You have a heart,” Bianca said, walking toward me. She put her hand on the left side of my chest, right over my heart. “And intellect and sensitivity and a sense of humor. You aren’t just a goon with a gun.”
I nodded my head as I looked at her. She might have been dressed casually in a t-shirt and jeans, because she was packing for her move, but she was still the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. “Yes. I’m not just a goon with a gun.”
She smiled and handed me a tape gun. “Here. Let this tape gun replace your real one.”
I took the tape gun and pointed it at her playfully and she laughed.
“Now you’re a goon with a gun,” she said, sticking out her tongue.
I swallowed hard and shifted my feet. I talked to myself, trying to quell the raging lust I was feeling as I looked at the beautiful girl in this apartment. “I have a tape gun and I’m going to use it,” I said lamely. “Give me a box.”
“Here,” she said, handing me a box. “Make yourself useful.”
I took the tape gun and rapidly taped up one box after another, and Bianca did the same. We took the boxes and piled them up against one of the walls, which was soon covered with boxes.
After a few hours of strenuous packing, it was time for a break. Bianca offered me a beer, and I gratefully took it. “Thanks,” I said, looking over at the dog in the kennel. “I think that somebody probably has to go out and go to the bathroom.”
Bianca nodded her head. “Let’s walk.” She got the dog out of the kennel, who immediately bounded up to me, sniffed me and wagged her tail.
I pet her and stroked behind her ears and she softly whined while I did that. “Beautiful dog,” I said, and then looked up at Bianca. “Beautiful.” I was referring to Bianca when I said that, and I think that she got it, because she blushed.
“She is. She’s a sweet dog, too.” She had a leash in her hand, as well as a harness. “Well, let’s go, huh?”
We walked out the door of her apartment and into a hallway with the dog. Bianca greeted several people on the way out, and, soon, we were on the street with Daisy.
As we walked along, I had the overwhelming feeling that I wanted to hold her hand. I knew that I couldn’t, however. You never knew when there might be somebody around who would see us.
“Lucca,” she said, as Daisy sniffed around the base of a tree. “Let me ask you a question.”
“Sure.”
“Do you remember hanging out with a young girl who went by the initial ‘B?’”
I stopped. Oh my god. I felt like I knew Bianca well. I thought that I had known her all of my life. Was this the young girl who was one of my best childhood friends? I was very young, maybe only about 11 or 12, when she moved in down the street. She was staying with her aunt. Her aunt…what was her name? This was
before all the insanity began, of course. I was too young to have gotten involved with the crime that I had gotten involved with later.
“Of course. We hung out that summer. I took her under my wing, because she didn’t know anybody, and I was an awkward young boy who didn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground. I…”
I shook my head as a vague memory entered my brain. My Uncle Franco, who was telling me about the little girl named B, whose father was an important man in America. He wanted me to make sure that she had a good time, because when she got home, she was going to have very bad news. I wasn’t sure what that news was, but I felt sorry for her.
“What is it?” Bianca asked, touching my forearm. “Your face…”
“Nothing. I’m just remembering that summer. I…”
She nodded. “That was me. You were my first crush.” She looked down at the ground and hung her head. “I knew, even that summer, that things were going to change at my home. I might have only been in the fifth grade, but I understood that my mother and father weren’t getting along. I remember crying when my mom told me that I had to leave that summer. She sat me down and explained that she and my father were going to try to work things out and she needed me and Isabella to go away so that she and my father could try to fall in love again.” She looked sad. “When I got back, she had already moved out. Completely moved out. And my father hardly let me see her anymore. He told me that I had to live with him and forget about my mother. That was rough…”
I swallowed hard as I looked off into the distance. I, too, was trying to remember the details of that summer. “I think that my Uncle Franco must have known about your parent’s marital issues. I guess that makes sense, because Uncle Franco knew quite a lot about your family. He must have also been in touch with my father, although he never talked about him. He repeatedly told me that my mother and father were dead, although I found out differently when I met Lucca. My father wasn’t dead, he just didn’t want me or my sisters. That was kind of a shock.”
Lucca: Azzarra Crime Family Book Two Page 11