by S. W. Frank
When he questioned the guards, they were close-lipped. Whatever happened he hoped his son was not present. The child had seen too much violence already.
“Did you like the elephant with the lights?”
Carlo nodded. “Sí.”
“Would you like a bear, also?”
“Sí papa.”
Giuseppe smiled. “We will buy a bear and a giraffe. There will be many lights tonight in your room.”
Carlo beamed. His eyes were happy and that was a father’s warmth.
They arrived at the address. He got out and waited for his son to do the same on his own accord. A smile down at the child’s head was pride that his son’s short legs were strong. The little boy was dressed in a miniature suit like his papa and no woman would deny they were handsome, not even the disagreeable Nicole person who deemed him ugly.
“We need breakfast. There is a nice bella who will feed us, bene?”
Carlo smiled. “Bene!”
Giuseppe rang the bell. He checked his watch. At eight in the morning, someone should be awake. Tony was not at home. He was in the air, which he confirmed with Nico before coming.
After a minute, Giuseppe pressed the bell several times. The ding-dong sounds were heard outside. Finally the door opened and the false red-head stood there gaping in awe. At least that was Giuseppe’s observation.
“Are your serious…are you…?” She didn’t finish what she meant to say because she spotted the cute child. “Hello there and what is your name?” she asked the sharply dressed toddler with such lovely eyes her heart melted at their beauty.
Carlo looked up at his father. He was still somewhat shy.
“This is Carlo, my son. We have not eaten and we are very hungry. We are starving,” Giuseppe said with a sly smile.
Nicole blinked. “Tiffany,” she shouted, “I think you better come see who came for breakfast!”
Giuseppe smelled the aroma of food. They had arrived at the proper time. He took Carlo’s hand and walked around the surprised hostess. “Grazie, for having us.”
Nicole closed the door. The massive Sicilian lacked manners, and how shameless of him to use his son as a ploy.
***
Giuseppe wiped his mouth with the napkin. The breakfast was delicious. Tiffany had prepared French toast, scrambled eggs, turkey sausages and was very kind to Carlo. She gave him sliced peaches to have while she cooked.
Giuseppe noticed her sister’s eyes glaring angrily the entire meal in his direction as she drank orange juice and nibbled on a croissant like a bird.
“You do not eat much,” he said leaning forward with a smile that often dazzled women.
She stood. “Okay, you’ve eaten. Tiffany and I have somewhere to go.”
“We are visiting the zoo later. My son will like you to come along, right Carlo?” Giuseppe nudged the boy.
“Sí, I want to go to the zoo.”
Nicole’s nostril flared. “Can I talk to you in private?”
“Sí.” Giuseppe smiled.
Tiffany engaged Carlo as the adults went in to the next room.
Giuseppe folded his arms across his massive chest when they reached the living room. They were out of earshot of his son when he spoke first, “I will come every day and notte until you agree to have dinner with me,” he said before the woman opened her mouth.
Nicole had yet to meet anyone as obnoxious as Giuseppe Dichenzo. “You should never use a child to manipulate people. His mother hasn’t been in the ground more than a few weeks and you’re using her son like this. You should be ashamed. This behavior is totally inappropriate!”
“Seven weeks and fourteen days my heart is gone. Do not remind me of the time. I have a son who misses his mama’s cooking and her voice. I am trying to heal, but I cannot die inside because I am mourning. Do not speak to me of shame, it is not shameful that I want my son to laugh or I seek company to ease our suffering, bella.”
Nicole saw sincerity in the blue eyes. Gosh, dammit!
“Dinner,” she asked, “and no strings attached.”
“Sí, dinner and a kiss.”
“A kiss is inappropriate when you say, no strings attached.”
Giuseppe feigned contriteness. “Sí, a kiss is inappropriate.”
“Yes, for now.”
A shine to the eyes occurred. “Ah, so I may get more than a kiss bella after dinner?”
“Oh, there you go with the inappropriate comments. Is there anything other than sex on your mind?”
Giuseppe was honest. “Since my donna has passed, I have not been with another woman. I count the days because I am doing penance. Respeta for her is what I seek to show, but I am a man who enjoys the body of women and yours is bellissimo!”
Nicole screwed up her face. “How flattering, my body is bellissimo but not my mind.” She shook her head and scoffed. “I shouldn’t be surprised you’d say something crass.”
“No,” Giuseppe quickly replied after realizing his mistake. Nicole was very pretty…curvaceous…sexy. “Eh, mi dispiace, I will like to learn more about your head at dinner.”
“Head?”
“Mind, mi scusi.”
She tapped her foot. “Dinner and that’s all?”
“That is all, prometo.”
“When?”
“Stanotte, tonight.”
“What time?”
“Otto, eight.”
“Where?”
“A yacht.”
“Where is the yacht?”
“Santa Lucia, not far.”
“Okay, fine and then I want you to stop harassing me and my sister. We’re planning her wedding and what you’re doing isn’t cool.”
“Am I invited to this wedding?”
“No.”
“I am offended.” Giuseppe smirked. “But I will forgive you the injury.”
“How gracious of you,” Nicole said with sarcasm. “Please leave so my sister and I can keep our appointment.”
“Appointment, is someone ill?”
“No Mr. Dichenzo. We’re looking at reception halls.”
“Geo, that is what friends call me.”
“I prefer Giuseppe or Mr. Dichenzo, formal and cordial works best.”
Giuseppe smiled when he heard Carlo’s happy laughter. He was having fun with Tiffany in the kitchen. He was right to have come here. Giuseppe nodded. “Sí,” he answered and uncrossed his arms. A question suddenly came to mind when she began to walk away. “Bella, am I really ugly?”
Nicole turned around to address the good-looking manipulator. “Yes, your behavior is disgustingly ugly. Do an overhaul and maybe I’ll bump you up to average looking.”
Giuseppe had never heard this before. He would ask Allie and she would tell him the truth.
Brutto, ha!
CHAPTER TEN
“Have you spoken with Darren?” Ari asked as she walked through rooms picking up toys scattered about.
“Sure did,” Nico answered on a sprint to snatch the poker from his daughter.
“He’s acting funny, have you noticed?”
“No, I haven’t.” Teenagers were a strange breed. Hormones are usually responsible. He secured the poker in the holder on side of the fireplace and picked up his rambunctious daughter. He kissed her face. “My love, you have to be careful. You can stab someone with that,” Nico chastised.
Semira squirmed trying to get loose. He put her down and off she ran before tumbling and standing again.
“I have a feeling it has something to do with this girl he’s seeing after school.”
“How so?” Nico asked. His eyes followed his daughter who decided to go on all fou
rs and then slide under the coffee table. She lay there, smiling at him and he figured she wanted to play hide-and-seek. He had an hour before meeting with Tony. Besides, discussing premeditated murder wasn’t as fun as hanging with his girls.
Ari shrugged as she tossed more toys in a plastic bin. “I don’t know, but I hope he’s not too serious with this girl.”
Nico went to the floor. “Boo, found you!”
Semira giggled and oh what a precious smile.
“Nico,” Ari began. She looked at her husband with their daughter and shut her mouth. Her big ass hubby was lying under the table engaging with his child. She let him alone. Whatever, was going on with Darren wouldn’t be solved with nagging Nico. When the boys came home, she planned to ask directly what the hell was going on.
She took a seat on the floor. “Can I play, too?”
Semira said, “No mama!”
Nico laughed. “We were hiding from you sweetheart. You have to say boo.”
“Boo!”
Semira giggled and scampered to another place of concealment. They say young children are very smart. Ari snickered; hiding in plain sight doesn’t exactly back up the theory, does it?
Semira poked her head out from beneath the chair, laughing as she held the legs like an inmate behind bars. Silly ass Nico went crawling there and acted blind.
“Where is she, where is papa’s bambina?”
Ari wanted to slap him. Maybe she was too pragmatic, but didn’t he understand she’d have to play this game long after his ass was gone or Semira would have a temper tantrum?
***
Sophie did not answer her cell. Yosef did not own her. No man did. She rummaged through the cellar where she had packed away Carlo’s belongings after his death. For hours she went through his trousers, jackets and writings for anything that could lead her to the painting he removed from the house.
“Carlo, you sly man, what did you know that I did not?” she asked the damp walls.
“Mama, are you down there?” Amelda shouted from the top of the stair.
“Sí, un minuto!” she replied at an equal decibel.
Sophie closed the cedar box and hurried up the flight of steps, pushing her tousled hair from her cheek.
“Is everything all right mama?”
“Si, I was only searching for a trinket to give Lucia.”
Amelda snorted. “She has a mama for that.”
“Lucia is getting married, you should be happy for her. Do not forget you were once good friends.”
Amelda followed her mother to the kitchen. “Until I found out she only used me to be with Giuseppe. I will never trust her again.”
“But, you will remain civil. She is your sister-in-law.”
“By default.” Amelda spat. She eyed her mother when her cell rang and she went about making cappuccino as if she had not heard. “Mama, have you lost your hearing?”
Sophie waved her hand dismissively. “I know who it is.”
“A pest apparently.”
“What is wrong Amelda, why have you come so early to visit?”
“That Sergio is stupido. He insists on making his sister the Best Man.”
This news made Sophie smile. “Interesting.”
“Interesting, mama, Signora Peglesi is distressed.”
“Ah, pooh to her, she behaves like a bambino. Let the young plan what they want.”
“Mama!”
“Mama is not a stodgy woman who fakes heart ailments to have people do what they do not want. I have no respeta for such behavior.”
Sophie’s cell rang incessantly and then stopped. The intercom sounded simultaneously and Amelda answered when her mother did not. “Cosa?”
“Un visitatore, Signore Glavovitz.”
Amelda turned to her mother. She appeared frazzled. “Mama, what is wrong?”
“Niente.”
Amelda took the liberty of answering the guard. “Sí, escort the signore to me!”
“Amelda, why do you come to my home and do this?”
“Cosa?” Amelda said as she marched out the kitchen to find out what the signore wanted. Her mother was hiding something, she could always tell.
Sophie overtook her daughter to answer the door herself. Amelda’s boldness irked her to no end. She would put a stop to her daughter’s invasion of her privacy as soon as she dealt with Yosef.
Sophie flung open the door. Coming toward her was the smug Israeli with a deli bag that Sophie was certain the guards examined.
“Shalom. I have brought kosher sausages to cook,” he said. He had not seen Amelda until he walked inside. “Shalom.” He nodded in her direction.
“Buongiorno,” Amelda responded. She understood her mother’s anxiety now. The foreigner was obviously her secret lover. Amelda probed. “You know my mama well?”
Yosef smirked. “We are very good friends.”
“Hum, I see that.” Amelda walked to the door. She wondered if Giuseppe was aware of their mother’s friend. “I will talk with you later mama. Ciao.”
“Ciao,” Sophie said as her daughter scurried out the door. She turned on Yosef when they were alone. “You cannot come to my home whenever you want.”
“I called many times to tell you I am bringing breakfast. We must celebrate.”
“Celebrate?”
“My divorce is final. We can marry.”
“Cosa?”
“Yes, we marry today Sophie Dichenzo. We fulfill our agreement.”
“The painting has to be found. You and I are dead without the painting Yosef. Aye, your celebration is premature.”
Yosef put the bag on the table to embrace Sophie, and peered at her with hooded eyes. She was his lioness. She was the hand he needed at his side. “I celebrate an impending union and the joy I will have when I can make love to you at leisure.”
His mouth covered hers. She moaned at Yosef’s power to make her knees weak as only few men had done.
Luzo and Carlo, respectively.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
How nice of Maria and Bruno to take the children after school for the weekend. Her husband tried his best to get punany last night but his attempts were foiled by her period, and her determination not to give in until his ass confessed his crime. She was mad at him for a host of reasons, ruining her dress was foremost, screaming in her face and making excuses for not going to Calabria as promised to look around the Giacanti house. He avoided the topic, and she wondered whether he disliked the idea because the estate was where a massacre occurred as well as Alberti’s murder. Either way, he couldn’t ignore his duties to honor his father’s last wishes. She’d do it without him if she could but that wasn’t her place.
Anyway, thanks to Alfonzo’s antics in Puerto Rico they’d lost Anita. The domino effect occurred when she had to can the part-time nanny she hired not long ago because Allie said she was mean and that is how it started. When a child doesn’t like somebody, a parent should listen. Allie says everybody’s mean if they don’t tolerate her crap but a mother had to investigate and asked Sal indirectly about the lady.
“The new nanny has to adjust to our family. How do you think she’s handling the responsibility so far sweetheart?”
Sal said, “Mom, she’s alright, but she’s always sneaking to watch novellas when I get home from school. She lets Angelina and Vincent run around tearing up the house when you aren’t around. Sorry, but she’s lazy. We might as well be by ourselves.”
Well that settled it, so long, bye-bye lazy nanny and if she hired another helper sh
e’d make sure to check in regularly via video.
Here they were, the Diaz’ in Sicily without Anita or domestic help. Selange didn’t mind the cleaning, cooking is where she required assistance or else an uprising was coming. But, she tried.
During the quiet, Selange concentrated on completion of yet another proposal to secure more reputable sponsors for the charity. Selange finished the last proposal after two hours and e-mailed it to her assistant Cam in New York.
She stood and then stretched before walking through the renovated spaces of her new home. Strange, that each threshold crossed brought fresh beginnings. Maybe, coming to Sicily might undo all the bad plaguing her family lately, she thought. This was where Alfonzo truly belonged, besides, his father had suggested once Alfonzo returned priceless items to their rightful owners then he’d have less enemies.
Selange went to the exercise room. Of course, her husband needed his sweat area. The equipment was brand spanking new. Even with the lights off, the chrome and black rubber shone in the dark. She turned on the light. How considerate of him to provide a private sanctuary adjacent to his for her yoga work-outs. The only issue she had with his thoughtful gesture is she must enter his area to get to her enclosure. Oh, thank goodness he had made the rooms sound-proof, because the sounds of weights, grunts and fighting isn’t peaceful at all.
Her cell rang suddenly and she dug her hand in her pant pocket. She had to tug for a minute because her darn jeans were tight. These were the pants she had from high school, believe it?
Nostalgia.
Yeah, children had added on the extra pounds. But, she rather liked how she looked. Besides, who could complain about a lingering gift from precious children who brought joy to her life?
She eyed the screen once she yanked the device free of the worn denim. The number was blocked, the word PRIVATE told her.
Hesitantly, she answered. “Yes, may I help you?”
“Mrs. Diaz?”
“Who may I ask is calling?”
“Yo, I’m just a dude who can be either a friend or frenemy.”
There were muffled sounds in the background. Was that a train and sirens? Noises of the city are what she knew well. The caller had an unmistakable New York accent, yep, the slang confirmed her hometown.
“Yeah, so what’s up?” she asked, stooping to his level.