by Jolie Damman
One less reason to convince him to let me out of the house, and one more reason to make me happy about this bedroom. It really was like the one I had in my home in Sicily, and also bigger and better.
I could focus on the bad things right now, but I decided not to. I was going to think about this bedroom and how it was just right for me.
Having decided that, I explored it a bit more, and it was then I heard someone knocking on the door. It could be Basilio, but the knocks were too soft. The door didn’t have a peephole, and I found myself wishing it had one.
I opened the door and found none other than Paolo here. He already got to the USA, and he was sporting an evil smug on his face.
“Can I come in, princess? I wanted to talk to you for a bit.”
I stood aside, and he walked in. I gulped. He wasn’t more terrifying than his brother, but he was more calculative and cunning. He didn’t come here only to have a conversation with me. He had an angle, and I wanted to find out what it was.
He sat down on the bed, I closed the door and walked to him. “You okay with being here?” He questioned.
I thought about what kind of answer I was going to give him, and then said, “I guess so.”
“Hmmm, doesn’t seem like it, though. You want to be locked up in here your whole life?”
“I… That won’t happen.”
His smug widened. “Well, that is not what papa has told me.”
“And he told you what?”
“That even if you marry Basilio, you won’t be allowed to leave this house.”
“But… that doesn’t make any sense. What does he think I am? A dog?”
“Even dogs are allowed to go out with their owners from time to time. Think of yourself as a bird. Always inside a cage, and if an accident were to happen, you would just fly away and disappear. Papa is worried you might do something rash.”
“But I won’t.”
“Well, we’ll see.”
Silence ensued, and I said, “What are you doing here?”
He stood up and said as he walked to the door. “Just talking.”
He opened it and continued, “Addio, Gloria.”
And with that, he closed the door and left me wondering what his angle was. I sensed some tension between him and Basilio, but it couldn’t be that… they were fighting to see who was going to come out on top of their operation here in America, right?
Their father made his wish pretty clear. He wanted Basilio running the operations here. He wouldn’t be stupid enough to go against the head of his family.
✽ ✽ ✽
Gloria
I watched through the window as Basilio got inside a car and was driven out. A bunch of black cars followed him. His bodyguards. He was going out somewhere to help establish the Calabrese family here in New York.
A couple of days had passed since I got here, and I didn’t see him much. I was glad his ‘mission’ here was taking a lot of his time. I also didn’t see Paolo much, and that was a relief too. He frightened me.
I could walk around the mansion as I pleased, and I was thinking of doing that right now. There was no one here that was going to tell me I couldn’t do that. I had explored the place before, but there was one room I wasn’t able to get into. Basilio’s bedroom.
I didn’t talk to my older brother yet since coming to New York, but I should already think of ways I could help him out. Help us out, to be more precise. I was part of his plan, and I was going to make it happen. I was going to avenge the death of my uncle and father.
It was with those thoughts in mind that I stepped out into the hall. I knew where his room was. Same floor mine was on, and not too far. I walked over to it and tried the door. It didn’t budge. Of course it was locked.
I was frustrated, but it wasn’t like I expected a different result. Basilio wasn’t a stupid man. He wasn’t careless like I was.
I turned and almost gasped when I found none other than Paolo coming my way. He had an annoying smug on his face, and he must have seen what I was just trying to do.
“Gloria, Gloria. What were you doing?”
He stopped right in front of me, and I leaned against the door. I gave him an uncomfortable smile, and said, “Nothing. I was just trying to find out if Basilio was here.”
“Well, he isn’t. But if you want…”
He didn’t say anything, forcing me to ask the following question, “Want… what?”
He grinned. “Nothing. Good luck.”
He turned and walked away.
I wasn’t stupid. I knew he saw me trying the door. And he didn’t tell me outright he noticed that.
I was relieved, but I knew I needed to be more careful from now on. I couldn’t let Paolo have suspicions of me. That could ruin Gino’s plan to bring them down. Destroying the Calabrese family here in New York would be one good step to do the same to them in Italy too.
And I was sure their father would be mad and devastated to find their two sons dead in their new, shiny home.
✽ ✽ ✽
Gloria
I woke up to the sound of a loud bang. I gasped and breathed as if I had just had a nightmare. Loud footsteps echoed down the hallway, and they piqued my curiosity. I thought a shootout was happening here, but it appeared that something else was going on.
I wore a black nightie as I got off my bed and walked to the door. Slowly, I opened it and spied into the hallway. My heart skipped a beat when I found none other than Basilio going downstairs. His hand was holding a bottle of beer.
His face looked different. He wasn’t his normal self right now. I put two and two together, and figured out what was happening here. He was drunk, and he walked out of his bedroom without closing the door.
Something big must have happened to have made him drink beer until he got drunk. This could be my only chance to get into his room and find details about the Calabrese family’s operations here in New York.
I watched him disappear when he finished going down the stairs. “Fucking piece of shit. He is going to get what is coming to him,” he said, almost mumbling.
I questioned myself who he was referring to, but decided not to waste time. I walked to his bedroom, and wasn’t surprised to find the door open. Maybe I could be worsening my situation here in his house, but at this point, I didn’t have much more to lose. It wasn’t like he would kill me if he found me in his bedroom.
I got into it, and looked around for anything that could help me. I wasn’t going to pretend I knew what I was looking for in here. I found some papers, some notes, and read them. Gino would believe me. He wouldn’t think I was lying to him.
Some papers mentioned something about a place here in New York. I made a mental note of its name. Some were financial reports, and some were blueprints for that same place. Some notes were written in English. Others, in Italian.
I couldn’t quite conclude from the information I was devouring right now. That I would leave for Gino. He was smart and he would be able to figure out what is going on here.
But just when I was going to leave, I heard Basilio’s voice. He was still mumbling something, and he was getting closer. He was coming back to his bedroom.
My heart was racing when I got out of his bedroom quickly. I was a safe distance from it when he got to the top of the stairs, and his eyes found me.
Chapter 8
Like His Father
Basilio
Wait, what the fuck was happening here? Why was she coming from the direction my bedroom was in? I wasn’t drunk. I was pissed off. I knew what was going on here. Or at least, I had a very good suspicion of what was.
I approached her. She wore a black nightie, and she looked beautiful. More so than her normal self. I could almost kiss her right now if I weren’t feeling so pissed off. Paolo was going to get what was coming to him. We got here no more than one week ago, and he was already scheming behind my back.
I approached her, and she looked scared. She took a couple of steps back, but I was faster
than her. I got to her and she felt so minuscule in front of me.
“What were you doing in my bedroom?”
I was blunt. I needed to be. I didn’t like bullshit, and I didn’t want her bullshiting me right now.
“What do you mean? I was only going to the kitchen for a glass of water…”
“Don’t lie to me, Gloria. I know you were in there. What were you doing?”
Her eyes were trembling. She was frightened of me. Good, she needed to feel fear, and lots of it. I wasn’t going to do anything that might harm her, but I was going to get the truth out.
“Nothing, Basilio. I was just going to the kitchen…”
That annoying soft voice. It was making me feel so fucking pissed off. I knew I shouldn’t be taking out my anger on her, but not doing so felt impossible.
I gripped her arm. My other hand was still holding the beer I was drinking. I really needed to stop drinking. It was a problem, and one of the reasons Paolo tended to get out on top whenever he fucked me somehow.
She screamed, and I pinned her body against the wall behind her. She screamed some more, and I let her scream. I let her scream as much as she wanted. Nobody was going to come to save her. There was no one here brave enough to stand up against me.
Her mind calmed down. Her eyes looked for mine, and I made the same question, but more calmly this time, “What were you doing inside my bedroom?”
Her trembling eyes examined me for a second, and she was probably thinking about what she was going to tell me. I only wanted the truth. She had nothing in her hands, and I knew she didn’t steal anything.
However, she might have learned something in my bedroom she shouldn’t have, and I needed to know what she did find in there.
She was sobbing when she said, “I-I- I’m sorry, Basilio. I was curious. I went into your bedroom and explored it for a bit, but I swear I didn’t do anything else in there. I just wanted to find out what it was like, and it was the only place in the whole house I didn’t get into before…”
I breathed out, hard. “You are lying to me again. My papers were on the table the whole day. You must have read them. Your curious mind must have thought you should read them. Question is now, did you figure out something important you are going to tell someone?”
Still sobbing, she said, “N-n-no. I didn’t learn anything important in there. I swear I didn’t. Please don’t hurt me...”
That… felt like the truth. I couldn’t be certain I was right about that, but it was good enough for me. I had bigger fish to fry anyway. It wasn’t like she could have figured out much by just reading the words on the papers.
I calmed down and untightened the grip on her wrist. And then, I heard a strange sound of water dripping. I looked down and… Jesus fuck.
I quickly distanced myself away from her, my heart stopping for one second. She was fucking peeing out of pure fear. I couldn’t believe… Fuck. I couldn’t believe she was so fucking scared of me.
I knew I was pushing her. I knew I was making her frightened of me, but I didn’t think she felt so much fear to the point of pissing herself right in front of me.
Her body slid to the floor as she cried and sobbed. I tried walking toward her, but she felt out of reach. She felt distant. I was the one who made her piss herself.
Jesus fuck. It was this fucking bottle. Fucking alcohol made me lose my mind again.
I glanced down at the glass and hurled it to the other side of the hallway, where it crashed into a thousand pieces.
My eyes darted to Gloria, who was still sitting on her own piss on the floor. I thought about doing something to tell her I was sorry, but she was just… impossible to reach right now.
“Fuck!” I shouted before walking away and slamming the door of my bedroom shut behind me. I couldn’t believe it happened again.
Fucking alcohol. I needed to do something about this addiction. I thought I was going to be nice to her. I promised my sister I would be, and I did exactly the opposite. I was an ass to her. I made her frightened of me.
And now, it was all over. There was no way I was going to be able to convince her to marry me. I thought she was a good girl and that we could be more than what we were. Well, no chance that was going to happen now. I would now have to marry someone who didn’t only hate me, but was also frightened of my existence.
I couldn’t put into words how much I hated myself right now. I thought I did everything right for Editta, and it seemed… I was only lying to myself this whole time.
I sat down on the floor, my back sliding against the wall, and made a decision. I needed to do it. It was the only thing that could fix the mistake I made happen.
✽ ✽ ✽
Gloria
I got up and felt the piss on my legs. I looked down at the pool on the floor, wishing there was a mop I could use to make it disappear. I was frightened of him, but I was also hating myself for having… peed like that, in front of him, before his very eyes.
I shouldn’t have done that. He knew now I was so scared of him I couldn’t even control my bladder. And I was frightened of him when he pinned my body against the wall and was gripping my wrist with all his strength.
I felt as if he was going to kill me right then and there. I would have been only another dead body for him. A man like him could find someone else to marry and my absence would have meant nothing to him.
I was relieved he walked away and shut the door to his bedroom behind him. I didn’t want to see him now or ever again for that matter, even though I knew that was an impossible thing to do. It just wouldn’t happen. I would see him tomorrow and in the following days too. There wasn’t one single day I didn’t see him in the house, after all.
I ignored the pool of my piss on the floor and walked like a zombie into my bedroom. I couldn’t forget what happened, but I was going to sleep now and pretend I could continue to live in here. It was the only way to calm down my mind.
I shut the door behind me, and found myself hating my bedroom. He made it so it was everything I ever wished for, and I hated him for it. I couldn’t look at him normally anymore. He was no common man. Basilio was a monster.
I wanted to trash the place, but I didn’t. I thought about the mess I would end up making for the workers of this mansion, and decided not to make their job here harder.
I covered myself with a blanket and buried my face in the pillow. I could kill myself right now, if I so wished. Maybe my existence didn’t matter much to anyone. But it did matter. It mattered to Gino, my mom, and the rest of my family.
And so, I fell asleep slowly. Very slowly. So slowly I thought I was going to have a sleepless night. But it didn’t happen, and I was happy Basilio didn’t affect my mind to the point of making me have insomnia.
✽ ✽ ✽
Gloria
I walked to the dining room, and I could see that the table was already filled with plates and platters. The breakfast they made stunned me, and I was so hungry. The workers of this mansion were fine people. Some of the best in their professions.
Basilio was sitting at the other side of the table, alongside his brother. Paolo looked at his normal self. His smirk just refused to leave his face when he noticed me.
Slowly, almost like a robot, I pulled the chair and sat on it. Nobody said anything. I heard that his sister and nephew would come here today, and I was wishing they wouldn’t be late. Basilio and Paolo needed someone to keep them in check.
Basilio would never have done what he did to me if his sister was here. That was something I was sure of.
I filled my plate and dug in. My stomach was growling. I didn’t eat much for dinner last night.
Basilio and Paolo remained silent. I knew why the first wasn’t talking to me or his brother, but Paolo was a different case. I knew he was intelligent, but I didn’t know what was going on in his mind. What was he planning?
Tension was intense, and it wasn’t only because of what happened last night. I couldn’t be sure about this, but it seemed
Paolo was doing something wrong. He could be trying to sabotage Basilio or something like that. They were brothers, but also enemies.
I finished my breakfast and stood up before walking away. I heard one of the chairs sliding on the floor, but didn’t turn my head back to find out who was coming in my direction. I got into the hall and continued to walk through it when I felt a hand settling on my shoulder.
I shivered before turning around. My heart skipped a beat when I found none other than Paolo in front of me.
