Antonello (Mob Men Book 1)

by Noelle Giselle

  “I’d like to take you out today. Spend the day with you before our dinner tonight.”

  Crap. I forgot about dinner. I don’t want to go anywhere with him. He can take one of his little sluts.

  “I’m busy. I’ve got a ton of homework to do.”

  “Do you want any help?”

  “Sure. I have to write a ten-page paper on Al Capone for history. Maybe you can share some insight. Firsthand experience perhaps?” My voice is laced with sarcasm.

  “I’m not finding your mouth cute right now.”

  “Oh, but you find it cute when it suits you.”

  “If you want to sit here and sulk all fucking day, then go right ahead.”

  He stalks out of the room.

  I go upstairs and grab my credit card. If he’s going to be a jerk, I think it’s time for some retail therapy.

  At his expense of course.

  I spend the next few hours doing a combination of school work and loading up the cart on high end websites.

  Shoes.

  Purses.

  Dresses.

  The works.

  I even go to Tiffany’s and load up the cart with jewelry.

  I giggle inside as I can see him blowing a gasket when he discovers the account has a major chunk taken out of it.

  In reality, it’s actually what Caterina would spend in a single day. Not even as a treat on a bad day either. She’d spend this much just for fun.

  I type in the credit card information.

  Declined.

  I remove a few things out of the cart.

  Declined.

  I try and buy one thing.

  Declined.

  What the fuck!

  I shut my laptop and I storm down the hall to Nello’s office. He froze my card. I’m going to give him a piece of my mind.

  The door to his office is cracked and I’m about to barge in when I overhear him on the phone. He’s pacing around the room and has no idea I’m here.

  I jump back and hide outside the door and eavesdrop. I know I shouldn’t be listening in, but I can’t walk away once I hear part of the conversation.

  “What do you mean, Tony?”

  I stand next to the door. I hold my breath so he can’t hear me breathing.

  “A fucking witness, cuz.”

  It’s silent. He takes a swig of whiskey and sets the glass down.

  “Well, what do you expect me to say? I don’t need her fuckin’ blood on my hands.”

  Silence.

  “You really think he would’ve said let her live? Listen when it comes down to it, I need to do what I need to do. I ordered the kill on her. Don’t question me.”

  The kill? My heart drops.

  “I’m not going to lose sleep over it. The world has one less pain in the ass. That’s all she is to me.”

  Pain in the ass.

  The words echo through my brain. The hurt from a few weeks ago stings all over again. He said I was a pain in the ass.

  “She’s a fucking witness. I don’t know what you’re not understanding here. Witness! The famiglia comes first in my eyes, as it should yours. Gian agrees with me. That’s why I gave him the order to kill. The last thing I need is that pain in my ass running to the cops and blubbering her eyes out.”

  I feel my eyes brim with tears. He’s going to kill me after all.

  After all this.

  “Forget Davide for one minute here.”

  The conversation trails off as I run away from the door.

  I can’t believe this. I know our relationship is all under false pretenses, but I didn’t think he was still going to kill me. Even if he doesn’t truly care for me I didn’t think he’d just slaughter me like some animal.

  I start to hyperventilate.

  I hold onto the wall in the hallway and I can barely swallow.

  What am I going to do?

  I can’t trust anyone. I can’t trust Piero or even Caterina at this point. I’m sure she’d side with her twin over me any day.

  I’m panicking now and I feel like I’m about to have a breakdown.

  Fuck.

  I quickly run up the stairs and I go to the boxes that I never unpacked from my apartment.

  I search and search.

  It has to be here somewhere.

  I move aside packages of developed pictures, stuffed animals, magazines.

  In the third box I find exactly what I’m looking for and I shove it into my purse.

  I jump when I hear Nello coming up the stairs.

  I dash in the bed and hide under the covers. I try to make it look like I’m taking a nap.

  “Dolcezza,” his voice is soft. It’s scaring me rather than comforting me.

  I don’t respond.

  “We need to leave soon if we’re going to make our reservation. You need to get ready.”

  I keep forgetting about these stupid plans for tonight. What if tonight is the night he’s planning to whack me?

  “I don’t think I can go. I don’t feel well.”

  His hand touches my forehead and feels my cheeks.

  “My poor dolcezza. You do feel warm.”

  No, I don’t. I know I’m not sick. What if he’s trying to keep me here because the kill is going to happen here?

  I mentally argue with myself. I think I’m totally losing it.

  “Let’s go. I’ll be fine.”

  I get out of the bed and I head into the bathroom to put on my make up. He appears behind me and I watch in the mirror as he moves my hair away from my nape and plants a soft kiss.

  “Are you sure? I want to make sure you have a nice time tonight.”

  Why? Because it’s my last night? The thought makes me start to shake.

  “Dolcezza, you’re shivering.” He starts to rub my arms up and down. “Maybe we should stay in. We can order take out.”

  Why is he being so nice?

  Must be the guilt from hooking up with all these other women on the side.

  Or it could be because he knows I’m going to be killed.

  Or both.

  “I’ll be fine.” I shrug him off and try to get ready quickly. He stands by the door watching me the whole time.

  He leaves and returns with a glass of water.

  “Here. Have something to drink.”

  He sets the glass down on the counter before heading out of the room to get dressed. I don’t touch it. What if it’s poisoned?

  I go to the closet and pick the first thing I see. It’s a red dress I bought one day with Caterina. I toss it on without really caring how it looks.

  Nello is standing by the bed putting on his cuff links.

  “You look stunning.”

  He comes towards me and kisses me. I know that look in his eyes but I don’t fall for it. He tries to deepen the kiss but I pull away and grab my purse like it’s my lifeline.

  “I’ll meet you downstairs.”

  He meets me by the front door a few minutes later and I notice he’s holding a duffle bag.

  “What’s the bag for?” I’m suspicious. He can’t hide my body in there. It’s too small.

  Unless there already are body parts in there? Maybe he’s taking me along on some fucked up mob mission and he’s going to make me an accomplice.

  “It’s nothing.”

  He’s being sneaky as all hell. I don’t like it.

  “Dolcezza, are you feeling okay?”

  Huh?

  Oh. I forgot I was supposed to be sick.

  I fake a cough.

  “I’m fine.”

  “Are you sure? I’m worried about you.”

  He reaches over and grabs my hand across the center console. He kisses my knuckles and holds my hand in his until he needs to change gears.

  “Why are you being so nice to me?”

  On cue, there’s my mouth. It’s been in hiding lately.

  “Why do you always feel the need to question my fucking motives? Every time I turn around you’re asking me why I’m being so nice. Do you not wan
t me to be fucking nice to you or something?”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. Does it offend you when I want clarification as to if you’re just being nice because you’re having fun playing pretend boyfriend and fucking with my emotions or if it’s just to soften the blow before you kill me?”

  “Why the fuck are you bringing all this up? What has gotten into you?”

  “Don’t try to deny it. You think I’m stupid but I can see right through you.”

  “You’re pushing me too fucking far, dolcezza.”

  I can feel the anger radiating off of him.

  I don’t know what comes over me.

  “I know all your lies! I know you’re planning to kill me! You’re just using me when you want and then you’re going out and screwing around with other girls! I know you want me dead! And you ordered your brother to do it so you don’t have my ‘blood on your hands’!”

  He swerves the car violently off the road and almost kills us in the process by the sounds of all the horns honking at us. We’re so close to the George Washington Bridge he’s probably just going to throw me off.

  He pulls down some dingy road and I contemplate running but I’m paralyzed with fear. My fight or flight response is always all fucked up when I’m with him. And I usually pick the wrong one.

  This time instead of flight, I pick fight.

  I reach into my purse just as the car comes to a hard stop and I jolt forward.

  He leans over the center console. This is the tiniest little Porsche so he’s pretty close to me as it is.

  In an instant his hand is at my throat. It’s a little more forceful than last time and my body goes rigid with fear.

  I close my eyes.

  “If you want me to kill you, you keep fucking talking like that, dolcezza. Because I’ll fucking kill you right here, right now. You know what I’m capable of.”

  He’s so angry I can feel his hand shaking around my throat.

  I’m so afraid that I fear I might wet myself.

  “Tell me how you know about that conversation,” he bites out.

  I don’t respond.

  “Tell me!” He yells at me.

  I jab my hand at him and try to stab him with my Swiss Army knife, but with my limbs trembling I miss terribly.

  He rips it from my hand.

  “What the fuck is this? Where did you get it?”

  “It’s mine,” I rasp.

  “You think you could attack me with this? It’s not even a real weapon! If you want to know how to fight I’ll show you how to fight.”

  “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,”

  “Now, you’re going to tell me how you know about that conversation!”

  In this moment he looks like a true mob man. I can see him torturing people for information. I can see him killing people without a care. Right now, he’s lethal.

  And right now, I think he may murder me.

  “Please, don’t kill me!” I’m begging him. I’m pleading. Whatever it takes. “I was eavesdropping. You were on the phone. I, I—‘

  I cough and sputter as I try to breathe. He loosens his hold immediately but keeps his hand there.

  I clear my throat and continue. “I heard what you said about me being a witness. How you were going to kill me.”

  My eyes brim with tears but I try to hold them back no matter how much I want to burst into hysterics.

  He brings his hands to my face and wipes the tears away from my eyes with his thumbs. He brings his face in front of mine so we’re at the same level.

  “Violet,”

  He has a small hint of an accent. I’m not sure if it’s a mix of a New York accent and an Italian accent, but I’ve never met anyone in Georgia who talked like him. When he says my name it sounds way better than when people say it back home.

  At home it’s more like ‘Va-let’ but with Nello it’s more like ‘Vie-a-lit.’

  He’s quiet. I wait for him to speak but I’ve noticed he’s a man of few words.

  “I wish you would’ve come to me. What you heard was not what you think.”

  I blink back at him. I’m waiting for him to elaborate but he doesn’t.

  “So, what did I hear?”

  “You know I can’t tell you. Just please know it had nothing to do with you. You can’t eavesdrop. That’s how confusion like this happens.”

  “How can I come to you then if you can’t tell me anyway?”

  “Listen, I’m trying my best here, dolcezza.”

  “Okay, so then what’s up with the late night booty calls? I saw you with that girl, Megan, that day. She was all over you. You came home last night with make up all over your pants. You clearly are just playing pretend with me!” I realize my mistake and I talk faster, trying to back up. “Which is the deal I agreed to. The deal to pretend. I’m sorry. I keep forgetting. This is all just pretend.” My voice trails off and I turn to look out the window.

  “Look at me.”

  I slowly turn my head back to him.

  “Nothing has happened with her or any other woman. Don’t read into everything so much. You’re making yourself sick for no reason.”

  He’s much calmer now.

  “So you’re not seeing her?”

  “No. I haven’t seen her since that day you saw her at the house. And what you saw last night was another misunderstanding. You need to trust me on that one.”

  I’m going to have to take his word. In his defense, if this is all pretend, he’s free to do whatever the fuck he wants. But I can’t deny there’s something inside me that hopes he wouldn’t want to. There’s something inside of me that wants to be all he needs.

  “Are you okay now? I’m sorry if I scared you.” He gently touches my neck and I know he’s apologizing for being so forceful with me.

  “Don’t worry about it. It’s my fault for starting up with my big mouth. I’ll try to be better and think before I speak.”

  He brushes his fingertips along my neck.

  “So if it’s not me who’s being killed, then who is it?”

  Oops.

  Ten seconds and my big mouth has already pissed him off again.

  “You better shut it, dolcezza. You’re already a liability. I can’t have you knowing any more than you already know. The more you know, the more likely someone can torture you for information. I don’t need anyone trying to get to you. Besides, if anyone in the familigia catches wind that you are a witness, you can say good bye to this whole little charade. They’d order you to be killed in an instant.”

  Everything he says frightens me, but one part of it stands out.

  “Why would anyone want to torture me for information?”

  “Because you’re my girl.”

  He says it so naturally for a minute it actually sounds real.

  “You mean pretend girl.”

  I don’t know why I correct him.

  “Right.”

  Well, he’s not denying it. I set myself up for that one.

  “So, if you’re not planning to kill me tonight, then what’s in that duffel bag?”

  “I’m not sure what’s worse right now. Your mouth or your imagination.”

  He reaches behind me. He pulls the duffel bag to the front and plops it on my lap.

  “Open it.”

  “No way! I don’t want to see a severed head.”

  Or bloody ropes.

  Or bloody knives.

  Eek.

  He leans forward and unzips it when I don’t.

  I look in and laugh. It’s a pair of my yoga pants, a t shirt, a pair of his sweatpants.

  “What’s all this for?”

  “Well it was supposed to be a surprise. Here I thought I’d give you a nice night but clearly you wanted to think I was really going to kill you. Like I could ever go a day without hearing that smart mouth.” The side of his lips lift up in a smirk as he returns the bag back behind me and starts the car again.