She always had these words in her heart, patience is a virtue.
Carmela had played the long game and it had favoured her. Her freedom was set for the morning and she would have all the time in the world for herself. She had dreamt of riding into the sunset of freedom on the back of a stallion. Riding away to her destiny, to her goal. To riding away from the life of criminal activity. It was like a dream, a blur that seemed unreal but she had come too far. She could smell her freedom. Carmela knew her father was already dead as the mafia hid the truth from her all this time. She knew he was killed the last time she saw him. The last memory of her father was unpleasant and she hated that memory of him. She remembers the picture of him bleeding to death by Don Vito’s orders. What hurt her the most was she never got to know the reason why he was killed. She was also forced into this life as they took away her rights and freedom. She avoided the truth but the truth was right in front of her. She wanted revenge and she got the revenge somehow when members of the Agresti family got killed. She was involved in their death directly or indirectly as in the case of Matteo who died because she killed Maria with his favourite hand gun. It happened in a way she wasn't anticipating. All she wanted to do from the beginning was to run away with a father and never look back but she's now caught up with the world of the mafia. She had one final thing in mind to do.
She needed to be fully free. Freedom comes at a price, she had to learn the hard way. She has paid for her freedom but what is freedom if you are running away from something. Her life had changed over the months. She had lived a different life and it started to become a part of her. She was becoming what she never wanted to be. This happened day by day as she was mentally conditioned by the mafia.
Don Vito was sad and in a depressed mood after losing his wife. The Don had never been in such a state. But he was cold and angry but mostly depressed. Carmela goes up to the kitchen to collect the food tray that was meant to be taken up to him. She tells the maid not to worry about carrying it up that she has it all covered. The maid was happy to let her carry the tray up. None of the maids wanted to take up the food tray to Don Vito’s office as they were scared of him. Most of the time the maids tried to avoid the duty of taken his food up to him. Whenever Maria was around, they would be happy because she would take it up to him. Don Vito could slap a maid for the slightest reason that got him irritated and none of them could tell what could upset him. Sometimes the reason could be ridiculous such as if he doesn’t like the face of the maid. He could hit or have her fired immediately. Carmela volunteering with her high position in the mafia was such a huge relief. They were happy she wanted to deliver the food to him in person.
She carried the tray up the flight of stairs to Don Vito’s office. His office had large doors and security cameras. She puts the tray on one hand as she proceeds to knock on the door.
Carmela stands before Don Vito’s closed office doors. She closed her eyes for a brief moment to knock on the door. She took a deep breath and felt confident.
She knocks on the door twice with little effort but there was no response. Maybe she wasn’t making enough sound so she tried again. She knocks again but much louder and she would hear a voice coming from the office instructing her to come inside. She came into his intimidating presence but not this time. She was no longer intimidated by him. She was on a mission. No distraction, just pure focus.
He hasn't spoken to anyone all day since he got the news about Maria’s death. There was silence in the room before she entered the room, she could tell.
When she came inside the office after being told by him to enter, Don Vito yelled at her that he doesn't want to be bothered with a squeaky voice.
“But I brought you something to eat. You haven't eaten any food all day and you could use something to replenish your energy.” So he allows her to come into the office completely as she was standing by the door with a hand gesture. He did not look her way as she came into the room with the food in her hand.
Carmela walked in with the food in her hand but she struggled to balance the food in the tray. She had to cover the slight bump under her shirt. She hopes Don Vito won't notice. But he wasn't looking at her or paying attention to what she was doing. She noticed he wasn’t looking so she did not worry if he would notice anything as he was engrossed with what he was doing. It would seem he was engrossed with what he was holding; she couldn’t make out what it was from where she was. But as she approached his desk with each step, she could feel the cold barrel of the gun press gently against her tailbone. She was unnerved, she was confident and ready for what would happen next. She had already played it over in her head. It was all left to her to execute it.
She was getting close to him to have a closer range. She was sure of her aim but she needed the shot to be closer so could achieve what she wanted.
Don Vito doesn’t look at her, keeping his eyes down, looking at his wedding picture with Maria. He drifted into a daydream and thoughts of his time with his wife. He remembered all the time they had together. She was always there to calm his nerves whenever he lost his temper. Her death broke him internally but he is a man that shows no weakness. His hand was all over the photo when Carmela dropped the food tray in front of him that caught his attention. But he didn't look up to her yet, he thanked her and continued gazing at the photo. Carmela has had enough of him and his depressed state that it did not mean anything to her as she pulled out the gun and points it on his head. Don Vito felt the cold barrel of her gun. Before he could make any move or say a word Carmela blasted his brains out and his head fell into the food. His brain membrane scattered and there was blood spill everywhere. She had put the gun on the side of his head before shooting it.
Immediately she removes the glove on her hand them puts the gun in Don Vito's hand. She hides the gloves properly so no one would suspect a thing.
Carmela began to scream at the sight of his lifeless body. Don Vito's room has no camera which she had envisaged before doing this final mission as payback for her father. Her scream was loud that Salvatore came running along with other members of the mafia. They rushed into the room to find their boss dead. He had committed suicide as it would seem. They saw the blood all over the place and the terrified Carmela
She became hysterical as she was explaining that she brought him some food to eat because he hadn’t eaten all day and has been rejecting every food that was brought to him by the maids. She began to shake as though she was experiencing a shock and it seemed so real.
“He was right there saying nothing as he was looking into that picture,” she pointed at the wedding picture. Carmela continued to describe what she had seen as tears flowed down her eyes. The mafia security detail was holding their weapons but Salvatore instructed them to lower their weapons.
He told them to clean up the place and cover the death of his father. He doesn’t want the news of his father dying by suicide to be out there. The clean-up crew knew how to handle situations such as this. Salvatore took her in his arms and escorts her out of the room while lacing his fingers into her hair. They continued to walk together to Carmela’s room. They got to the room and Carmela pulls him closer to embrace him.
Salvatore told her he is ready to live up to the end of their deal. He got more than he wanted. The death of his family and he would gain the entire control of the empire. You can leave tomorrow morning. He leads her to her room as a gentleman. He opens her bedroom door and to his surprise, playfully, Carmela pulls Salvatore into her room, he wraps his arms around her waist. They were close up with no space between them. Just their gaze fixed on each other as they had been doing for months. Carmela thanks him for the offer, but she’d like to stay. She couldn’t think of living in a world without him. She wanted of him.
“They is no point hiding our feelings anymore,” she says. His eyes said so many things as she looked deep into his eyes. More importantly, she wants to get married to him. She told him how she felt. This was her life now and she knew no way to return to h
er past life. She is a new person with new wants and desires. Salvatore was happy that she wanted to stay.
“This is what I wanted. I have fallen into you,” Salvatore expressed himself.
“So have I, I feel the same way too,” Carmela acknowledged this to him. Salvatore leans in for a soft kiss but Carmela grabbed him and kissed him passionately into the night. He held her and kissed her back. They both laughed as they continued to kiss.
“It has been so long coming,” Salvatore said. “I’m happy to be here with you. To share this feeling,” he smiled and planted a wet kiss on her forehead.
But Carmela wasn’t going to be satisfied until she gets what she wanted. “I want us to get married right away,” Carmela demanded from Salvatore. Salvatore expressed his concerns that he just lost member of his family but Carmela insisted. She immediately called the priest at the local church and started to make preparations for the wedding. Salvatore could not fight her because he liked Carmela. She told him that the only way the mafia would respect her is she was legally married. And so that evening the priest arrived and with the presence of some witnesses in the mafia at the gazebo at the Agresti house.
The wedding ceremony began and it was small wedding as Carmela forced his hands. It was decorated on a short notice with white flowers, just as Carmela wanted. Her stylist came through for her with an elegant wedding dress and Salvatore was radiant in his black tuxedo. And in the presence of the mafia and their affiliate that were invited to the wedding. The priest blessed them as they read their wedding vows then he pronounced them husband and wife. The audience clapped for them and congratulated them as the newest couples. The witnesses murmurs that it was a good idea to restructure the Agresti house as it was shaken by a dark storm.
Salvatore resumed control of the mafia empire with Carmela by his side. Together they started a new generation of the Agresti family and built a mighty dynasty.
Arranged Marriage Mafia: A Dark Italian Novel (Mafia Romance Book 1) Page 6
