by AA Lee
“You should go talk to her.” Rafa walked back in the office with his laptop in his hand.
“I’m busy,” Angelo told him. He was busy. He had the papers on his desk with scribbled names and locations. He was assigning the twenty men that Jim, Ray, Brett and Sammy had chosen. They needed to be where they could best use their skills. There was a warehouse in Orlando that Gregorio had sold to Bonadio. It was their camp away from home. He planned to blow it up. Preferably with Bonadio inside. That was where Ian and Vin came in. They were too new to be recognized as his members. Sullivan would make it work.
“Busy?” Rafa pushed as he normally did. “You haven’t written anything else on those papers since Sullivan arrived.”
“Stay out of my business,” Angelo warned. The last thing he wanted or needed from Rafa was advice about his relationship. Now was not the time.
“Fine,” Rafa said and walked closer to the desk. “I found this last week.” Rafa held a watch in his hand. That was right. Ella had said something about a watch when she told him to take his shit back. He had picked up the ring but did not remember the watch.
“Lay it on the desk,” he told Rafa. He would look at it when Rafa left.
“Ella engraved something on the back. She was proud of it. You should take a look.”
“Lay it on the desk,” he repeated. He was already in a bad mood because he had not seen her. Leave it to Rafa to bring her up when he was trying to keep his mind occupied. Rafa had better not make him repeat himself again.
Rafa laid it on the desk and started to turn around. Just as Angelo thought he would leave him to his thoughts, Rafa just could not shut up about her.
“You know, Ella doesn’t want to become part of the group. What she wants is for you to rely on her instead of shutting her out of your involvement with the group. She wants your trust.”
“Ella has my trust. If she didn’t, I wouldn’t have married her. What I want is a wife, not a killer. Did you see how she killed that woman the other day? The act did not concern me. It was the look in her eyes when she was speaking to the woman. It was the tone of her voice…How she enjoyed the fear in her victim’s eyes. We do that, not Ella. She can never live a normal life after becoming like us. It’s simple. I won’t let that happen to her. She will hate herself.”
“You mean like you do?”
Angelo looked at him. Sometimes Rafa was stupid to keep antagonizing him even though he knew the outcome. His hand slowly stretched to the open drawer on his desk and started to reach for his pistol. Rafa watched every movement of his arm. If he were smart, he would leave.
“Hate is a big word for who I am. I do what I have to do. Ella is not me. She does not have to kill; I do.”
“Then tell her that,” Rafa said simply. “If you don’t, Ella will only be your wife on paper.”
Angelo picked up the gun and aimed. He clicked the hammer. Rafa flinched lightly but did not move. He should have moved, because Angelo pulled the trigger and shot.
“I told you to shut the fuck up,” he huffed and set his pistol back in the drawer; then he picked up the watch. It was sweet of Ella to think of him when she went shopping. Sweet was exactly how he wanted to keep her.
“You are fucking insane,” Rafa growled and checked his body for wounds. One of his hands went straight to his head. The other held his chest.
Angelo ignored him. He unbuckled the old watch on his wrist and dropped it in the drawer beside his gun. He had that watch for years and was ready for a change. He was pleased to replace it with something that Ella had chosen. He examined the watch. He liked the Roman numerals instead of digits. It had a nice white gold ring around the face with a charcoal leather strap. Rafa mentioned an inscription. He turned it over and silently read the words. His mind stayed focused on them. He meditated. Only Ella would choose such a simple message with such a strong meaning. It was a shame that he could not give her what she wished.
“You could have killed me,” Rafa went on.
“I warned you multiple times.” Angelo brushed off his remark. They were all insane at some point. Angelo had enough to worry about without hearing Rafa’s opinion about matters that did not concern him. “I hired you to give me advice when I ask. Stay out of my marriage. How I handle my wife is not your business.”
“Fucking asshole,” Rafa spat under his breath. “You wouldn’t know how to handle her if it hit you in the goddamn face.”
Angelo stared at him; then he reached for the pistol again. “I missed on purpose. It won’t happen again.”
Rafa clenched his teeth together. Angelo could see the fury in his eyes. His fists started to tighten but he did not say a word. He shook his head and picked up his laptop from the floor. He probably despised Angelo right now. Most people did at some point. Angelo was not there to keep friends. That’s what he wanted to believe. Rafa would get over it. It was not the first time Angelo shot at him. It would probably not be the last.
Still, if Rafa felt strongly about the situation with Ella, Angelo owed it to him to think about his advice. As he latched the watch on his wrist, he guessed that he should talk to her. It was really a waste of time, though. Ella would not listen after seeing that woman between his legs. How did they ever get him in that situation? He was on his phone and two of Bonadio’s men showed up behind him. They should have never gotten through the front door that early in the morning, but it was too late once they had. Then that woman showed up. By then, he had a grasp of the situation. He knew what they were doing. That could be another reason he had not seen Ella. He never wanted to see that look of pure hatred on her face again. He felt it. She knew it was not his fault, yet none of that mattered when some stranger was sucking his cock.
Ella wanted inclusion with his group. Why? It was a death trap. There was nothing to envy about the group. Why could she not be simple? She could just take his money and decorate the house the way she wanted. She could buy anything her heart desired. Have his children. Be subjected to sexual pleasure when he got home. It all sounded good to him.
No, it was never easy for Angelo. He married the one mob wife who wanted some sort of responsibility. He knew he should meet her halfway and give her the restaurant. She deserved to have the restaurant, but he did not want to put her in any more risk than what she had already faced.
He stood. The situation with Bonadio was going to get bad and he might not see Ella for days. He should go see her while he had the chance. She might not want to see him, but he did miss his wife. He never knew if he would make it back alive.
CHAPTER 60
The privacy gate opened to his single-story house, an elevated home in case of heavy rains. Even though he lived inland, Angelo wanted to stay on the side of caution.
His house felt strangely foreign when he walked through the front door. He always had spent most of his time at the hotel. It was not until he met Ella that he spent much time at home. He had purchased the house for a family, but after the first year, he put it out of his mind. He was glad to have her sitting in the kitchen.
“Hey,” he said and tossed his keys on the counter. She looked up at him but did not give him the smile he had hoped to receive. There was no affection in her eyes, and no hug to greet him at the door. Shit, he thought. He had no idea what to say and sat down at the table across from her.
“We should talk.” His voice broke the silence of the room.
“There isn’t anything to talk about,” she mumbled.
It was like a flip of events. He wanted to talk; she did not. “We should talk about what happened.”
“No,” she answered right away. “Talking about it won’t change anything. I just want to forget it happened.”
He nodded. He wanted to forget it happened too. It was hard for him to grasp that the woman made his body feel something that he did not want to feel. Having Ella see it happen made it worse.
“You know, I didn’t want you to leave. I just didn’t want you to see any more of that shit. I want you to come
back with me today. There’s also a winter banquet coming up in a couple of weeks. I want you to attend with me.”
Ella’s shoulders slouched. She looked frustrated as she looked up again. Hurt and sadness showed from her eyes. “Why?” she asked. “I’m doing what you wanted. I’m staying away from you and your group. I’m avoiding the trouble I might run into with you, because you don’t want me to help ever. I am making it work here. I hate being at home all the time, but you wanted to keep me locked away. I have been invisible and you have gotten along fine without me for almost two weeks. You were happy with it like that. Now you want me to come back with you. No, I won’t. Go to the banquet yourself.”
Angelo rested his chin on his fist and stared at her. Did she really tell him no? Nobody ever told him no and lived to tell about it. There were still events she needed to attend. He only wanted to exclude her from group activity, not from every other aspect of his life.
“Would having the restaurant make you happy?” he asked.
She shrugged. “Would you control when I went to work too?” she asked him back.
“You would have guards with you,” he replied, “but you could go whenever you wished.”
“You mean you would assign members to watch my every move?” She wanted him to clarify.
“I would assign two men to you. It’s just not safe to go alone. I already explained that you would never have a perfectly normal life.”
She seemed to think it over. Having a couple of men was better than staying at home. Ella should have understood by now that protection was absolutely necessary.
“Sure,” she nodded. “I want it. I always have. It’s been ready for a few weeks now, hasn’t it?”
She knew him better than he thought. “Yes, it has.”
She sighed and looked at the ceiling. “When can I go there?”
“Tomorrow. Thomas and Sammy will be with you. You can start hiring when you please.”
“Fine,” she said and stood up. He was still sitting down. They were not finished talking. Where did she think she was going?
“Ella,” he said. She stopped where she stood. At least she knew better than to walk away when he called. “I want to show you something.” He stood up and nudged his chin to the restroom. She moved right away, just not quickly enough. He took her hand and led the rest of the way.
“What do you see?” he asked and guided her in front of him.
“A mirror,” she replied and looked at him through the glass. “What are you trying to show me?”
“Look at yourself in the mirror, not me.”
She looked at herself. She did not smile; only a blank stare reflected back. Then she looked away again.
“Look at yourself,” he pointed.
“No.” She tried to push out of his grip.
“That’s twice, Ella. Do not tell me no again.”
Her eyes started to glisten. Damn, he was not trying to upset her. That would defeat the purpose of him coming home at all. “What is the point of this?” she muttered.
“You can’t look at yourself, Ella. That’s what happens when you still have a heart. Soon, you won’t care. The death you see will suck in your soul. You won’t feel anymore. Right now, you cry, but soon you won’t. That’s why I don’t want to expose you to more than you have seen. I don’t want you to change. I want the woman I met.”
“It’s too late for that.” She shoved his arms away. “You can’t put that danger in my face and expect me to do nothing. You should have seen this coming. I won’t be the same. It might be easy for you to brush off what happened, but I won’t forget. That woman deserved what she got after what she did, but you were mad at me. I didn’t do anything wrong. Now of all times, you want to throw a restaurant at me as if it will make everything better. I’m not going to forget. Don’t tell me that you don’t want me to change. I already have!”
Angelo gently lifted up her chin and looked her in the eyes. He was not sure. If she had any love left inside, it was masked with hurt and pain. Did all wives go through this coping stage or was it just her? He did not know what he could do.
“What can I do to make it better? I don’t want to see you like this,” he said.
Ella looked at him. Her expression became angry, followed by a resentful frown as she lowered her head. Then she returned his stare and did not miss a beat. “You know what, Angelo,” she whispered. “I don’t need you here. You make me feel worse than I already did. I don’t want to include you in my life, so why don’t you take your own advice this time and leave?”
***
The SUV came to a screeching halt. Angelo slammed the door on the Escalade and could barely see straight. Ella had the nerve to dismiss him? She had no idea what would have happened to her if she had been someone else. He would not try to talk to her again. If she came begging him on her hands and knees, he probably would barely notice her there.
“Bring him to me,” he pointed at Brett as he walked through the warehouse door. Angelo owned two warehouses, and the bastard that Brett was bringing had exploded the other. He was a part of Bonadio’s scheme the day they sent Bonadio’s girlfriend to sabotage his life. Angelo knew that Brett could get a second location for Bonadio from the man, but he had his own ways to get what he wanted.
The man was a little shorter than he was with dark hair and jeans. As soon as Angelo saw his face, he crushed his nose with his fist. He wanted to see the man feel pain. The blood that smeared onto the man’s hands as he held his crooked nose only made him seek more of the same. “We know about the place south of Orlando. Where is the one to the north?”
The man looked at him and glanced at the door. He would regret running if he tried. Brett and Sammy stood directly behind him, and Jim and Ray had never come inside. “I asked you a question,” Angelo said. He did not raise his voice. Thoughts of breaking the man’s ribs seemed to calm him down. He knew his mind was twisted at times. He did not care. The man should have known the risks before he ever blew up their property.
“I already told your man.” He pointed at Brett. “Bonadio doesn’t have a place north of Orlando. I don’t know where you got that from.”
“Really?” Angelo said and kicked him in the abdomen with his boot. The man doubled over with pain, groaning as he went to the floor. Angelo looked down at him. He felt no guilt, only loathe. He kicked him again. The cracking of his ribs echoed lightly in the large, silent room. The only other sounds were the heated breaths of his men.
“We can do this all night,” Angelo declared as he turned around and grabbed a metal folding chair. He raised it up high and pounded the man in the middle of his back, causing the man to jolt forward. “The sooner you speak, the sooner this ends. It’s simple.”
“I already told you…”
Angelo grabbed the back of the chairs legs and bashed the man in the head. “You didn’t tell me what I wanted to hear.”
“There’s not a fucking warehouse,” the man sputtered as the chair hit him in the jaw. Angelo did not care. Right now, after what Ella said, he did not allow himself to feel.
“Keep lying; I keep swinging.” Angelo walked straight in front of him and watched the blood drip from the man’s head to the floor. He wondered why the man held onto the truth so hard when he was going to die anyway.
Angelo took his silence as a cue that he wanted more. His heavy footsteps bounced against the walls as he walked to the office in the back. If the man thought it was over, he was wrong. Angelo opened up one of the cabinets and picked out a thick metal baton. The baton was perfect, never used. He had bought several for an occasion such as this. As he walked back into the main part of the warehouse, he let the loud thuds of his boots instill fear in the man. He liked the way it worked.
“Do you see this?” He jerked up the man’s head and snarled in his face. “You either tell me where the warehouse is or I’m going to crack that skull of yours in half.” He dropped the man’s head back down and took a step back. The man had about ten seconds t
o choose how he died—by bullet or by baton.
“Five seconds left to go,” Angelo said and crossed his arms. The man started coughing and did not quit. The pain from his bruised spine and broken ribs must have made him wish he were dead. Angelo had enough of his refusal to speak and started to tap the baton on the ground. The constant tapping was bound to unnerve the man more.
“Take the second exit before town and pass three streets with no signs. Take a right on the fourth street and go down it two miles. The building is the only building there.”
“Are you lying?” asked Angelo. He waited for the man to look up to know if he told the truth. He was. Angelo looked over at Brett and stepped out of the way. Brett fired. The bullet lodged in the man’s skull, splattering blood as the man’s face fell to the floor.
“Take care of this mess.” He looked back at Brett. “Then come see me in the office. I want you to take your crew down to Orlando and check out that building. We’ll talk about it in fifteen minutes, so hurry up with this. I don’t care if we have to kill them one at a time. I’m not playing into Bonadio’s hands anymore.”
CHAPTER 61
Ella had been working long hours at the Sandy Shores for the last two weeks, trying to get it ready for the grand opening. Finding a qualified chef who would prepare the menu the way she liked was a chore. She finally did. She wanted them to be creative, but most of their food was not up to her standards. Telling them so did not go well.
She could not believe that the dinner service was almost over. She promoted the restaurant in a black satin evening gown that was perfect for the occasion. She knew she had to look the part of what she expected in the clientele. She did not want a flashy color taking attention away from the restaurant or the guests.
