by Jolie Damman
“Wanna come with me outside?”
I didn’t know what to say, and he must have thought my silence was some sort of acceptance. He grabbed my hand and led me out to the backyard. I had been here a couple of times before, but couldn’t help but feel stunned by it once more. It was such a nice piece of work. Whoever made it should feel proud.
He led me to a solitary place in the garden, where we couldn’t even hear the footsteps of the workers who were not too distant from us.
His eyes looked into mine and he said, “I know what happened last night.”
I knew what he was talking about. Of course he heard it all, and he must have seen every second of it. Question was, how did he plan to make use of that episode to achieve his goals?
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” I said.
It was the most sensible thing to say right now. Did he expect me to tell him I pissed myself in front of Basilio?
But I knew the lie wouldn’t stand, and it didn’t.
“Basilio is a terrible human being. Without someone to protect you, he will kill you.”
“I don’t want anyone to protect me here. There is nobody that can do that.”
His hand settled on my shoulders. “I can protect you. Basilio wouldn’t lay a finger on you again if he knew you are mine.
I took a couple of steps back, his arms falling back to the sides of his body. “I don’t care what your plan is, but if you think you can use me, you are wrong.”
I thought he was going to smug, but his eyes cleared up and he said, “Alright. You don’t need my protection. That’s fair. In bocca al lupo, Gloria.”
And with that said, he walked away. Where was he heading to? I wished I could know the answer, but there was nothing I could do about that. He asked me if I wanted his protection, and I said no, as I should have said.
He would just use me to do something terrible, and I didn’t want to be involved even more than I was with his competition against Basilio.
✽ ✽ ✽
Gloria
I didn’t go straight back to the mansion. I walked and explored the garden some more. Even though I had already done so a couple of times already, there were always a couple of things I didn’t notice before.
This place was stunning and up here, I had one of the best views possible of downtown New York. They were constructing some very tall buildings in the distance, stuff that I hadn’t seen anywhere in Ita-
Wow.
Something just collided against me with force, making me stumble. It was something small, but heavy. I looked for what it was, and my ears heard him before my eyes saw the shape of his body. It was Duilio, and he had tripped over.
He stood up, and his hand rubbed a scratch he got on his knee. “Ouch ouch ouch. It hurts so much.”
But wait, if he was here, then that meant his mother had just gotten here as well.
I helped him get up and checked his wound. Nothing serious. Just needed some first-aid kit and he would be fine.
“Oh hey! You are the girl uncle took here. I’m Duilio. It’s nice to see you again.”
He held his hand in front of him, which I took and shook. He was so adorable and I wished I could pinch his cheeks right now. But that would be a weird thing to do, considering I didn’t know him well, and he was a Calabrese.
I knew he was young and nothing like the rest of his family, but I couldn’t deny he would one day become someone like Basilio or Paolo.
Anyway, that was something I shouldn’t be thinking about right now.
“It’s nice to meet you as well. Is your mother here?”
He nodded his head quickly.
“You want me to patch up your scratch? I think I’ve got something in my bedroom that will make you feel better.”
He smiled and nodded. “Thank you, miss.”
“My name is Gloria,” I said before taking his hand in mine and leading him into the mansion.
✽ ✽ ✽
Gloria
I thought that this was going to take less time. “Phew, it’s done. Do you feel better now, Duilio?”
He pushed himself off the bed and checked out the bandaid I put on his scratch. It really was nothing and I was sure it would have healed on its own. He didn’t do more than fall over on the ground of the garden, after all, but I still thought it would be a nice thing to help him.
“Thank you, miss. I feel a lot better now.”
I smiled, and the door swung open. In stepped none other than Basilio, who made me feel tense in the same instant. His sister was accompanying him, her shoulders tensing when her eyes found me.
I patted Duilio on his back and said, “Come on. Go to your mom.”
He dashed ahead and hugged her. I explained, “He fell in the garden and I put a Band-Aid on his scratch. It was nothing serious.”
Her eyes widened a bit, but then calmed down. “Thank you, Gloria.”
Well, that was another weird exchange of words with her. Maybe she wasn’t bad as the rest of her family, but we didn’t have any chemistry whatsoever.
She grabbed Duilio’s hand and guided him out of the room. It was just Basilio and me now.
Chapter 9
Making It Up
Basilio
Isaw Gloria and Duilio having a great time before I showed up. She was… such a nice girl. I knew she had a good heart in her, but I had never seen her being so kind to one of mine before.
Well, now I knew who she was, and I hated myself even more. What happened last night… it should never have taken place. I should have kept myself in check. Problem was, I couldn’t stop drinking when things weren’t going my way.
I was sure Paolo was using that against me. He was sabotaging my operations. But the problem was also that I couldn’t prove any of my suspicions.
Duilio helped me see Gloria with different eyes. This was never something I would do with a different woman, but I could see she was suffering and never wished for her father to fuck up my old man.
Now that my sister was gone and I was alone with Gloria, maybe I could do the thing that was lingering in my mind ever since yesterday night.
She looked tense, but she wasn’t going to shout and demand that I got out of her bedroom. She wasn’t that kind of lady, even though she could be fiery sometimes.
I took a step forward and held my hand in front of me apologetically. “Gloria, I’m sorry about what happened last night.”
She didn’t respond. She merely looked at me, and I could see that her eyes were shaky. She feared I was going to do the same from yesterday night right now. She had good reasons to think such a thing. She didn’t have anyone on this property to help her. No one to stand in my way...
But she eventually spoke, “I don’t want to think about what happened. I’m… going to marry you.” She said that as if she was puking. “And I’m going to be your wife. It will all be fine, and we will have a marriage to make other people happy.”
“I’m not thinking about that, and I don’t want you to hate me. I was drunk, and you pissed me off. That’s that happened.”
She took a couple of steps back and I could see she wanted to cry right now. “Basilio, you’ve got nothing to worry about me. Just live your life, and will live mine.”
I needed to do something, say something to make her see I wasn’t such a bad man. But what?
That’s when it hit me.
“I will take you out, get to know the city. Do you want to come? I will take you to Central Park and the Statue of Liberty.”
Her eyes sparkled a little. It was a contained reaction. Her mouth opened and closed, almost as if she didn’t know what to say right now.
✽ ✽ ✽
Gloria
He had to be kidding me, right? Now he wanted to take me out. After what he did, what he made me do, he wanted to ask for forgiveness. Well, I wasn’t going to tell him anything. I wasn’t going to say to him that all was forgiven and that he could sleep as if nothing had happened.
But he needed an answer, and I could see his offering as a good opportunity for me.
I tipped my chin up and said, “Alright. Take me out. I want to get to know the city.”
In normal circumstances, he would have smiled, but his expression remained unchanged.
He nodded slowly and said, “Okay. Come with me. We are going out.”
“I… just need to dress something better.”
He nodded his head slowly again, almost bowing to me. “No problem. I will wait in the garage.”
He did appear different now, as if he was another man. But I wasn’t going to fall for his tricks, and I was going to put as many barriers between us as possible. He wasn’t going to make me… piss myself out of fear for the second time. Something like that was never going to happen again.
He closed the door and I breathed out. I was relieved he was not in my bedroom anymore, but such a relief was only temporary. I said I would go out with him, and I was going to. A promise was a promise, and I wasn’t going to pass on the opportunity to leave this property. I knew chances like that one were going to be rare here.
I opened the closet and got the best I could find. I needed everything to make me feel better right now. I was going to need every weapon and tool I could have to fight him. He played with my fears, and he was a terrifying man, even if he was trying to look different now.
I combed my hair, put some makeup on, and opened the door. Basilio was already inside the car, and he was talking to one of his guards. We weren’t going out alone, as we shouldn’t. He had many enemies, after all.
Upon hearing my footsteps, he turned his head to me, and I could see something different in his eyes. Maybe he wanted to make it up for what happened, but I wasn’t going to let his scheme make me believe he changed. Nobody like him could ever change.
The guy he was talking to walked out and I approached the car. I wished I could sit on one of the backseats, but that would only make me feel weird. And so, I opened the other door and sat beside him.
He looked at me, but I didn’t look at him. I looked straight ahead, into the garden and the street beyond. If he truly wanted to make me feel better about him, he was going to have to do a lot more than taking me out for a stroll.
“Gloria, I want you to be happy right now. Forget what happened. Take this opportunity to take your mind off the bad things that happened in your life. If it wasn’t for my old man, I wouldn’t even have a reason to keep you locked here.”
“It’s fine, Basilio. Just drive and take us to the park.”
I thought he was going to say something else, but he only opened his mouth and closed it. I wasn’t going to pretend I didn’t want to find out what else he had to tell me. He looked so different from his normal self, almost as if he really changed.
But I didn’t believe in fairy tales, and I was sure he didn’t become a better man all of a sudden because he felt bad about last night.
He drove out of the property and through the narrow streets of New York. We got to Central Park, and although I wasn’t impressed by it, being in a place with so much nature in it was refreshing. The garden was nice and all, but this place was something else. It was more natural.
During the whole drive, he didn’t say anything, as didn’t I. And I was glad he was silent. I didn’t feel like talking to him.
He got out of the car and I followed suit. “So, where do you wanna start? He asked.
I looked at the entrance and said, “I guess that following this trail should be okay.”
Our conversation was robotic, and I didn’t think any exchange of words we were going to have here was going to be different. There were too many emotions going on inside my head right now, and most of them weren’t pleasant.
The best thoughts I had weren’t related to us at all. I liked this place and the clothes I was now wearing. They were all nice.
But they were also nothing more than stars in a black sky compared to the other emotions I was feeling right now. I hated Basilio, abhorred his family and if something bad were to happen to him today, I would laugh before kicking his body multiple times.
Not something I would ever have thought about in my former life before they killed my dad and uncle, but I did change a lot since then. It just made sense. I was a different person now. I wasn’t as innocent.
We kept walking around in Central Park, taking in the views of not only the place itself, but also of the buildings that surrounded it. America wasn’t such a bad place. Or rather, New York wasn’t so bad, but Sicily was better. Way better.
But I convinced my mind I was going to live here and that not much was going to change. I was going to be his wife, unless Gino could come up with a good plan to bring down his whole family.
And now that I was thinking about that, I remembered the notes I made about the information I found in his bedroom. They were going to be useful for my brother.
We reached a stand with an old guy that sold yogurt in small cups. Basilio hurried ahead and said, “I’m going to buy one for me. Do you want one as well?”
Well, that question came out of nowhere, and I couldn’t ignore one very important thing anymore. Basilio was trying to be nice and maybe he really was feeling bad for making me piss myself.
“I will want one too. Thanks…”
The thanks felt natural to tell him. If he was being nice, then I didn’t want to be an ass to him. I was going to be nice to him too, as much as I could be. I was never going to forget how frightened he made me feel...
He bought two cups, just as he said he would. He handed one to me, and just when I was going to eat the yogurt, he stumbled, almost losing his balance, and his yogurt fell on my shirt.
His eyes shot wide. “So, so sorry, Gloria. Let me clean this mess.”
He got a flannel from a pocket of his suit and slid it a couple of times on the yogurt on my shirt, cleaning it off the fabric seconds after.
He withdrew his hand with the flannel and said, “So sorry this happened.”
“It’s… fine.”
I told him the only thing I could tell him right now. He was being so nice, and he was still going to take me to the Statue of Liberty. I didn’t want to act as if I couldn’t recognize kindness.
He picked up the cup on the floor and threw it in a trash can. He returned to me and shook his head in disapproval.
I wished I could tell him it was okay. I didn’t feel bad he threw the cup on my shirt and dirtied it with his yogurt. It wasn’t something he intended to do, after all.
But I wasn’t going to say anything to him right now. It felt so weird being with him, and him acting so nice because he felt bad about himself.
Well, if he could be a nice man from time to time, that was better than him being his drunken self all the time. That was a version of him that truly terrified me. I wanted nothing more than to be very distant from him whenever he drank too much.
I walked ahead and he followed me. I finished eating my yogurt and threw the plastic cup into a trash can nearby. That was my way of telling him and reiterating that it all was fine. I didn’t hate him because of that little accident.
We finished walking in the park, and he took me back to his car. I was still somewhat impressed by the city, and… a little thankful he decided to take me here. I wondered if he would ever have taken me here if nothing had happened last night.
Well, that was a thought for another time. I got inside the car and he pulled out. “I was at the Statue of Liberty one of these days. I think you are going to like it.”
He was making small talk right now, or trying to, at least. Once more, I was confronted by this one same question: should I act and talk to him as if nothing had happened last night?
Should I continue to be nice to him? That was such a hard thing to do.
Everything felt so awkward and robotic. The last thing I wanted was to feel as if I was forcing something important in me to change.
But I decided to talk anyway, because not speaking anything right
now would have made me feel worse.
“I heard some things about the statue. One of the maids told me about it. I am glad she knows some Italian.”
He chuckled. “Maybe I can arrange for you to learn English. How does that sound?”
“It sounds… okay. I do want to learn the language.”
“Then, it’s a deal. I’m going to find a private teacher for you.”
“ ...Thanks, Basilio.”
✽ ✽ ✽
Basilio
I was… actually making this work, or was it all happening only inside my head? She was being nice to me. I thought she never would even talk to me. I knew she hated me with her guts, but I still had to try what I was doing right now, and I was glad it appeared to be working.
