Mad Mafia Love

by Jamila Jasper

  “Twins? Are they grown up?”

  * * *

  Giuseppe grinned.

  * * *

  “Yes, they are grown up. But now, I will tell you about how they were long ago. Yes?”

  * * *

  He was asking permission, but Eve knew she didn’t have the option to say no.

  * * *

  “My boys Nico and Luca, they were twins but they couldn’t have been more different. Identical in every way except for their eyes. Nico always had his mother’s soft down-turned eyes. And he was always stronger than his brother. They used to fight all the time when they were younger.”

  * * *

  “Sibling fights. I remember those,” Eve added.

  * * *

  Giuseppe smiled, “Nobody fought like Nico and Luca. But Nico was stronger, he would always overpower Luca. Luca… He had his strengths but he was always weak. Nico bullied him and he’d get others to join in. Poor little Luca…”

  * * *

  “Well I hope they’re good friends now…”

  * * *

  Giuseppe didn't seem to be listening to see if Eve was responding to him. He was lost in a distant past, recalling memories of his sons that had nearly faded.

  * * *

  “They did not grow up with a mother. My wife died,” Giuseppe said.

  * * *

  “Childbirth?”

  * * *

  “No. Fucking cancer,” Giuseppe said.

  * * *

  When he said the word cancer, Eve realized that no matter what, they were not as different as she thought. Giuseppe was human. He’d still lost people in his life. Eve’s faith in Nico was shaken. He had failed to mention material information about who his father was; he’d told her nothing about his past. Now that Eve was getting a chance to hear tidbits from Giuseppe, she was doubting her trust in Nico.

  * * *

  Giuseppe continued, “When they were in their late teens the boys were trouble. It was Nico but as I said, Luca was weak. Very weak. So he went along with it. The trouble only worsened in their twenties. Us Italians are very close. Family is everything to us, you understand?”

  * * *

  Eve nodded.

  * * *

  “In their twenties, a little birdie told me something. My sons had been selling their mother’s diamonds. Piece by piece, they sold off bits of her collection.”

  * * *

  “Wow…”

  * * *

  “Yes. Wow. Isabella had a large collection. She comes from a rich family and of course, I spoiled my wife.”

  * * *

  Giuseppe continued after polishing off his hot chocolate, “I knew it was Nico behind all of it. Luca was the one who finally confessed the truth. He looked for buyers and Nico made the deals go down. He cared so little for his mother that he would sell the last thing I had left of her. This made me very very angry.”

  * * *

  Eve could no longer respond. She was stunned into silence, wondering how the man she thought she knew could be the type of guy to do this. She would have thought Giuseppe a liar except the pain in his voice was palpable.

  * * *

  “I know you think I am a cruel man but I am not cruel Eve. I am just.”

  * * *

  Eve remained hooked on his every word. How did the story end? She wanted answers about how Nico had become the man he was today. Why was he at odds with his father? And was he at fault?

  * * *

  “I had to punish my sons for what they’d done. If they were not family, the punishment would have been far more severe. But of course, I hold family in a special place. So I took great care and I punished them both.”

  * * *

  Giuseppe left out what the punishment was. He remembered that day clearly. He remembered the hot pungency of clotting blood. Now, he pushed the smell from his mind and sank his teeth into the tender fudge.

  After chewing a sugary piece of goodness, allowing the sweetness to sink into his gums, Giuseppe continued his story. He could see Eve staring at him, eyebrows furrowed as if squinting could draw the story out of him faster.

  * * *

  He continued, “My son Nico did not take kindly on punishment and he insisted upon revenge. It was a terrible scene… Our home in Italy was very large with huge courtyards and foyers. It was a nice old Italian home. All of us were standing there in the foyer, the whole family when Nico came in angry. We could feel his anger. He walked up to his brother and pulled out a knife. I screamed, I begged him to stop. He grabbed Luca and he slit his throat. He watched his brother bleed out on the floor with a smile on his face. He pulled out his gun, threatened to kill us all and then he fled. He left his twin brother dead on the ground, bleeding like a butchered pig.”

  * * *

  Eve felt nauseous. Nico. Her Nico had done this. She’d let this man into her home and into her bedroom. She’d allowed Nico to kiss her and touch her in unthinkable ways. Eve knew she couldn’t say a word; she knew that she couldn’t reveal her connection to Nico without risking her own life. But she could feel the color draining from her face.

  * * *

  “That’s terrible. Did the police ever catch him?”

  * * *

  “No. I believe he is in America. I believe my nephew Domenico is helping him escape justice.”

  * * *

  “And you’re a very just man,” Eve replied.

  * * *

  “Yes. Yes I am.”

  * * *

  Giuseppe paused for a moment and finished his fudge.

  * * *

  “When he left, my son Nico stole Isabella’s African Diamond Carcanet, an heirloom dating back to the 1200s and worth millions.”

  * * *

  “Wow.”

  * * *

  “Yes… So I’m trying to find my son and make him return what he stole. I don’t want anymore people to get hurt.”

  * * *

  Giuseppe still made the hairs on the back of Eve’s neck stand up. His greasy smile and the ways his eyes searched her for betrayal made her skin crawl. But she had to admit that his side of the story sounded believable. Maybe what Nico was hiding was just darkness — not a dark past, but a dark present. He really could be dangerous.

  * * *

  Giuseppe stood up.

  * * *

  “Be careful Eve…”

  He set down a $100 bill — far more than his desserts were worth.

  * * *

  “And may I remind you… I punish disloyalty.”

  * * *

  Eve’s stomach churned again.

  * * *

  “Right.”

  * * *

  “If you see my son… Call me. If you know anything…”

  * * *

  “I don’t know anything,” Eve interrupted.

  * * *

  “I see,” Giuseppe said, his face betraying nothing, “Well in that case, we will see each other soon.”

  * * *

  He left Eve’s shop on that cryptic note. She watched him hobble out of the shop and then her gaze met the $100 bill on the table. Was it a bribe? Eve pondered upon whether Giuseppe already knew something about her and Nico. Perhaps this had been one elaborate game to him. He was trying to trip her up, or something.

  * * *

  But did that mean Giuseppe was lying?

  * * *

  Eve pocketed the $100 bill and cleaned up the table. She took what Giuseppe said in and tried to understand how it could be true. She knew that Nico’s brother really wasn’t around. She knew that Nico’s young cousin was helping him. But she didn’t know who was right here and who was wrong.

  * * *

  Eve tried not to dwell on what Giuseppe had said, but her slow afternoon meant she was forced to. Daniella stopped in for an hour and helped her tidy up a bit. That managed to take Eve’s mind off of Nico, Giuseppe and all the drama she was embroiled in. Eve listened to Daniella tell her about school, boy troubles and the upcoming prom. Danie
lla lived in a sweet charmed world, right in the middle of mafia drama.

  * * *

  Eve wondered if Daniella understood just how dangerous their neighborhood was becoming. Perhaps her father’s last name protected her. Perhaps her father was involved with the mafia itself. The city was teeming with secrets, little whispers of who did what and whom was involved with whom. These secrets made the people distrustful and the neighborhood shifted to accommodate that distrust.

  * * *

  Daniella was home early and the small shops closed early. Everyone was scared, scared that they’d be the ones caught in the middle of this crossfire.

  * * *

  Eve closed early, but her store accounts were all out of wack. At least that’s the excuse she made to stay late. Really, Eve was worried about her journey home. She worried that she’d experience another evening terror. She worried that she was being targeted. So she did the only thing she knew how to do to calm herself down.

  * * *

  She didn’t want to call Nico. Not now. Giuseppe’s words played around in her head. He’d really accused Nico of murdering his twin brother in cold blood. A part of it had to be true. Nico had his twin brother’s watch — the one that said Luca R. on the inscription. Nico was mysterious about his past and seemed to be intentionally obscuring all the details from Eve’s view.

  * * *

  When she’d finished messing with the minutia of her accounting, Eve knew she had no choice but to leave. She’d been closed since before sunset, but now the sun was disappearing behind the trees, leading to an eerie twilight. Eve seemed to be especially dialed into every sensation. She could hear noises from the neighborhood that she’d previously been ignorant to. She could hear laughing children in the distance, and car horns that sounded as if they were miles away.

  * * *

  Eve wrapped herself up in her light coat and decided to brave the outdoors. She could feel her body recoil the moment she stepped out of her front door. The shop’s alarm was on, the cameras were on, and there was nothing to worry about leaving it over night.

  * * *

  Except maybe fire. Or a more brazen theft than she could even imagine. Eve shuddered. That kind of negative rumination did nothing for her. She turned the keys in the lock and tried the door. Secure.

  * * *

  Eve started the walk home. She tried to comfort herself and numb her mind by counting off the blocks. Her house wasn’t far. The only thing was, this time Eve didn’t just fear Giuseppe finding her. She feared Nico. Something wasn’t right and Eve had no idea who to trust. Should she trust a possibly murderous man, or his definitely murderous father. Eve hated feeling lost. She hated feeling stuck, the way she truly was.

  * * *

  Maybe there was no direction that was truly safe. If that were the case, Eve had truly made a mistake. She’d have to answer to someone, and she’d probably have to answer to them sooner than she wanted. Eve glanced behind her to make sure that no cars were waiting for her. She saw nothing.

  * * *

  Eve kept walking. Three more blocks. Five minutes per block. Fifteen minutes. She mumbled to herself until she couldn’t.

  * * *

  Eve had the sense she was being followed. She froze in her tracks and looked behind her.

  * * *

  Wrong move. Eve tried to scream but a large hand clamped over her mouth, drowning out even the slightest possibility she could make any noise.

  * * *

  “MMMM!”

  * * *

  “MMMPFDHFHH!”

  * * *

  She screamed and started to kick her legs. Eve knew aimless struggling would be futile. She tried to drop her weight out of the man’s arms. She fell to the ground. Pain shot through her body from her knees. Eve tried to stand up. Before she could take her first step and go shooting off in the opposite direction, the man’s hand clamped around her arm.

  * * *

  “HELP! HELP!”

  * * *

  “MMPHH!”

  * * *

  His hand was back around her mouth. His thick oversized index finger was gloved, and almost plugging up Eve’s nose. Each breath grew more difficult. She struggled and thrust her elbows back into his chest. The man grunted but didn’t let go. Eve wriggled and tried to drop her weight to the ground again. He’d already adjusted to that trick. Eve considered going limp. Her body wanted to check out of the whole experience.

  * * *

  She heard a car pulling up. The window to the car rolled down.

  * * *

  “Toss her into the back…”

  * * *

  But before she could get tossed, Eve heard the sound of metal thwacking into her assailant. She dropped to the ground on top of him as he’d fallen. Eve rolled away from him, rolling onto her back. She looked and saw Nico standing above her assailant. He was holding a metal bat and beating into the screaming guy.

  * * *

  Eve caught her breath and tried to stand up.

  * * *

  Run. Once you stand up, you need to run.

  * * *

  Despite her mind’s instructions, Eve couldn’t help but stay and look on. The man driving the car (a regular looking forest green sedan) came out and tried to fight Nico off his friend. Nico swung the bat hard and it smashed right into the guy’s face. Eve screamed. She screamed so loudly, she was surprised no one came running.

  * * *

  Nico hit the driver in the stomach and then kicked his unbalanced body onto the ground. With one more smack, the bat knocked the driver unconscious. Or dead.

  * * *

  Then Nico was standing over her. Eve realized she was shaking, trembling with a fear she’d never felt before. Nico reached out his hand but Eve recoiled. No. She couldn’t touch him. He was a murderer. A killer. And she would be next.

  * * *

  Eve snapped out of her trembling when Nico yelled.

  * * *

  “EVE. TAKE MY HAND. WE NEED TO GO.”

  * * *

  Right. Well murderer or not, she couldn’t stay here at the scene of a violent assault. There would be no way to explain it. So out her hand went. Nico pulled her off the ground and allowed her to rest his weight on him. Eve walked as fast as she could go, following Eve down a turn to a cul-de-sac. His car was parked at the end of the cul-de-sac. By the time they got to his black Audi, Eve wasn’t sure she wanted to get in.

  * * *

  Then she heard sirens.

  * * *

  “Eve, get into the car,” Nico commanded. But it was a gentle command, not threatening in the least.

  * * *

  Plus now, Eve had no choice. Nico opened up the trunk and threw his bloodied bat into the back. He pulled off his gloves and flung them into the back too.

  * * *

  “Come on Eve.”

  * * *

  Eve finally opened the door and slipped into the passenger seat. Nico followed soon. He smelled remarkably clean for a man who had just bludgeoned two people nearly half to death. And he seemed calm too. His serenity was just as disturbing as his cleanliness. As if maybe he’d practiced.

  * * *

  “Are you hurt?” Nico asked.

  * * *

  “No. Just a little sore where my legs hit the ground.”

  * * *

  “Good.”

  * * *

  He started the engine and sped down the cul-de-sac, past the bodies and towards Eve’s house.

  * * *

  “Where are we going?”

  * * *

  “Just your place.”

  * * *

  It had only been three blocks away; the journey had gone much quicker by car. A five minute drive due to traffic lights. Nico parked his car behind Eve’s place and then helped her out towards the back door. She knew that she should have been wary, but Eve still felt that sense of safety when she was with Nico. She hoped that sense of comfort wasn’t a false projection. She hoped that Nico wouldn’t betray her
trust.