Barresi: Emily Trilogy: A New Orleans Mafia Romance

by Lux Miller

  I grab both of Luca’s hands and grin. “Hawai’ians always party. When a baby is born, we party. When there’s a good harvest, we party. When someone dies, we party. Every part of life is a reason to celebrate, even the end of a life well-lived.”

  My grandmother’s grin widens. “Always. But there’s no kind of party like a Hawai’i party. Have you two visited a Luau since arriving?”

  I shake my head quickly. “No, we haven’t yet. I surfed, terribly I might add... we hiked Koko, and we snorkeled in Hanauma Bay up on O’ahu, but we just got to Hawai’i an hour ago and came straight here. It was all his idea to come here. I was too scared to ask…”

  My grandmother leans heavily on her cane on her right side and holds open one arm to me. “You should never be scared to rediscover who you are, grand daughter. Just knowing you are alive brings me much joy.”

  I glance up at Luca and he nods, nudging me towards her. I cautiously walk over to her and give her a nervous side-hug. I start to pull away, but she reaches out and grabs hold of my wrist. The moment our skin touches, my resolve crumbles. The memories that rendered me speechless earlier flash through my mind again, but this time I fight their overwhelming effect as I practically throw myself into her arms, inhaling her rustic scent deeply as my heart thunders in my chest.

  My voice is shaky as I mumble, “Puna, how I’ve missed you…”

  She pulls away from me, holding onto my shoulders tightly as she supports herself. “So many years are gone. But you’ve become a beautiful woman, Emily. You look just like your mother, except for this…”

  She runs her hand gently over my hair and sighs softly. “Your father’s coloring and your mother’s beauty. There’s no doubt in my mind how you got a man like that to fall in love with you.”

  I blush as Luca slides his hand onto my back. “I’m no prize, I assure you. Unless you count consolation prizes. Her beauty got my attention, but her sharp wit and refusal to take my bullshit is what made me fall in love with her.”

  I breathe a sigh of relief when Luca doesn’t reveal the real reason we’re married or how we met, even though he got way closer to the truth than I’m comfortable with revealing yet. Sure, he made things right in the end, but the truth is… we met because I witnessed him murder three people, and if it hadn’t been for Dante, I’d have been the fourth. And I married him so he couldn’t be prosecuted as a killer for those deaths. I’m glad he didn’t mention the truth, but my grandmother narrows her eyes at me and shakes her head. “Your secrets are between you and I can respect that, but don’t think for a minute that I believe there isn’t more to this story. If there’s one thing I know… it’s that nothing is as it seems with his kind.”

  My eyes widen suddenly, but she just winks at me, then pats Luca’s arm. “It’s what drew my Leia to Gunnar in the first place. Every woman wants an attractive man, and some want mystery and danger. Your grandfather was handsome and full of danger, though his brand of danger was nothing like your father’s… or your husband’s. Marrying the mob would not be my first choice, but your mother’s stubborn streak is running through you, alive and well. If you’re happy, I have no right to be anything but…”

  She turns to Aleka with a nod. “Call the cousins. We’re going to need a big pig. It’s time to welcome Emily home and show her new husband the hospitality of the islands that he isn’t likely to remember since he was just a wee lad the last time he was here.”

  Aleka helps my grandmother back into the hut set up behind the tables, and I whirl around to look at Luca. “Wait… you were here?”

  Luca holds his hands up in surprise, shrugging his shoulders slowly as he looks at Mike for an answer. Mike nods solemnly, guilt tormenting his normally stoic features. “Matteo and Bianca brought Luca and Dante here when Dante was a baby. Luca probably doesn’t remember the trip, because he was barely six at the time. Even my memories of that trip are fuzzy. It was before Matteo had to take over for Enzo, though Enzo joined them as well with Lucia. It was one of the last vacations she went on before she passed on. God rest her soul.”

  Mike performs the sign of the cross in front of Luca, who mimics him. “Nonna Lucia had a deep appreciation for all cultures. I firmly believe she was one of the only reasons my grandfather wasn’t a complete and total douchebag sometimes. Seems the love of a good woman can keep even the worst of men in line sometimes.”

  Mike inhales sharply. “I suspect that trip was as much about business as it was about pleasure. Matteo came here with his own purposes that Bianca was not made aware of - he came here to find Gunnar and convince him to come back. Even though he’d let him leave, la famiglia needed an assassin who was effective, efficient, and most importantly… like a shadow. Matteo never told me why Gunnar refused to return, but now I realize that it must have been…”

  I gasp as Mike turns his gaze on me. “...me?”

  Mike nods. “Possibly. I suspect your mother was, at the very least, pregnant with you. I didn’t think that Matteo knew of a child, but maybe I’m completely off-base here. Maybe Matteo came here to warn Gunnar that there was a price on his head in New Orleans. Like I said, Matteo didn’t explain much about that day to the men, but he told them to wipe their memories of Gunnar Fredriksson -- that he was dead to la famiglia and to anyone who inquired about his whereabouts.”

  I nod slowly in response. “Maybe he was right, Mike. We returned to New Orleans when I was ten, and by the time I was fifteen, my father was dead. Violently murdered by cruel men who shot first and asked questions later. I didn’t even get to say goodbye because they dragged his lifeless body out of our tiny apartment, leaving me with only memories and the horrifying images of watching him die in silence and hating him the entire time because I thought his gambling debts had finally caught up to him.”

  Luca winces slightly. “I think that blaming his hardships on gambling debts was the closest your father could get to the truth. You know the route I now run? The collections on the businesses who owe for our protection? The very reason I was at Piacere that night?”

  I nod yet again as Luca continues, “I took over that route when I was twenty-one. My father told me it was because I was finally of legal gambling age and could get in and out of the local casinos without suspicion from the hired goons who guard them. But he also told me that the only identification I should ever provide was a good view of my gun and a practiced phrase to strike fear in the heart of all who heard it. They would immediately know that I was there to collect, and they could either pay in money or in lives.”

  I narrow my eyes at him. “Okay. What does this have to do with my father’s gambling debts?”

  Luca frowns slightly. “I suspect that when he returned to New Orleans, he finally gave my father what he’d coveted for years - his renewed loyalty. But by that time, la famiglia had a ruthless assassin with a double-digit body count in less than a year...”

  My eyes widen as I realize what he’s saying. “You? You were the family assassin?”

  Luca shrugs, but his face confirms that it’s true. “I was trying to prove myself, and after Mandy was killed, exact my own brand of revenge. There’s no assassin more effective than one with a vendetta. But shortly after my twenty-first birthday, my father called me into his office and told me that he was changing my assignment. At first, I thought I’d fucked up and that he was punishing me for some mistake or lapse of judgement that I’d made. I always thought that, and my father would never confirm nor deny it.

  “But he had me take over the route after the previous man responsible for it became indisposed. I guess I realized that in all likelihood, the man responsible for collecting on accounts had been whacked, but he never answered my questions about business in those days, nor did I know until now that Daniel Parker was behind it.

  “Not until I’d gained absolute authority over almost our entire racketeering scheme, did my father tell me that he’d never wanted me to collect the gamblers’ debts. Emily, your father wasn’t a gambler… he was my pred
ecessor - twice over in fact. I stepped into his shoes when he deserted la famiglia… and again when he was murdered.

  “And to be honest, despite the horrific nature of the job, being la famiglia’s assassin was a hell of a lot easier than running routes. Dead men tell no tales, but threatened men get jumpy. Threatened men spill secrets when they become desperate. And desperate men are dangerous. Daniel Parker is a desperate man. He has turned both of our lives upside down. He sold his soul to the Devil long before your life and mine collided, but he wrote his own death warrant when he tried to take you from me. I meant what I said and I hope that you can forgive me for it, but if I ever get my hands on Daniel Parker, I will condemn my own soul to hell to get my vengeance.”

  FOURTEEN

  Not another word is said on the matter of my father’s connection to la famiglia or about Daniel Parker as Luca, Mike, and I travel to a stretch of land familiar to me from my childhood. It’s not much from an outsider’s standpoint, but to me, it’s everything. I can feel my smile widen from ear to ear as I step out of the rental car that Mike parks on the street as my grandmother’s old 1984 Silverado rambles up in the narrow driveway and creaks to a stop.

  It’s the same truck my grandfather drove when I was a little girl. I can still remember how he’d pick up all of the grandkids and toss us in the back of the truck to bring us over to this very house. I can still picture Tutu climbing out of the cab and then rapping the metal side of the truck with his palm to let all the little cousins know it was safely parked. And how we’d make a mass exodus out of the rusty truck bed like ants running from a water hose. I remember how we’d scramble to be the first to put our feet on the ground, because it’d give us an advantage in the race to pick as many of the ripe fruits from his and Puna’s garden as we could carry. And how whoever produced the biggest armload of fruits would get the first taste of Tutu’s roasted pig.

  Instead of Tutu climbing out of the cab when the creaky door opens, it’s Aleka. She slams the door closed and runs around to help Puna out of the truck, but as soon as Puna’s feet are on the ground, she’s shooing Aleka away from her. Good to know she’s as stubborn as ever. She glances over her shoulder at me and waves me forward with her cane, “Come, Emily. There’s picking to be done before we can feast. Do you think that pretty husband of yours can get his hands dirty enough to help?”

  I slap my hand over my mouth as a giggle escapes. Beside me, Luca crosses his arms over his chest with a frown. “I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty.”

  I nod and nudge him in the shoulder. “This is a different kind of dirty, Luca. She literally means get dirty. Come on, let’s go change into our bathing suits so that when we’re done, we can run down to my old stomping grounds and clean off in nature’s bathtub. It’s shallow and calm in the cove, and if we time it right, we’ll get to the sun set over Hilo Bay and get back just in time for the luau to start.”

  Luca raises one eyebrow. “You want me… to pick fruit… on vacation?”

  I nod my head fervently as I push past him to bend over into the car. I walk around to the back where I’ve popped the trunk and opened up our suitcase, rifling through it until I find a pair of board shorts for him and a somewhat modest bikini for me. I hold them up in the air and holler at him, “Come on. Come inside with me so I can show you around. I spent a lot of time here as a kid. Then we can change and go pick whatever Puna needs. Please?”

  The defiance on Luca’s face falters then melts when I tack on ‘please’. He wrinkles his nose slightly as I put the shorts in his hands. “Despite not being here for sixteen years, Luca, it’s ingrained in me that before a luau, the kids pick the fruits while Puna cooks. That’s the way it always was, but I can go by myself if you really don’t want to come. I just thought it’d be… fun.”

  I brush past him and start up the front steps, but I don’t get very far before he grabs me by the hips and tugs me backwards down the steps. Thankfully, I land against him with a gentle thud, and he wraps his arms around me tightly, his warmth and scent invading my senses. “I’ll help. I guess when you said you lived the island life before, I didn’t realize that island life was so…”

  I glance over my shoulder at him and offer up a suggestion, “Boring?”

  Luca shakes his head. “No. I didn’t realize it was so mundane… so… normal.”

  I giggle softly. “Hawaiians surf and host luaus and all that fancy jazz you’ve seen in the movies, but deep down, they… we… are still just people trying to survive in nature’s territory. Life in Hilo was different, but it was also the same in many ways. I still had school. My parents still had work…” I trail off when I think about my father’s true profession, but I can’t let the worries of the past ruin my present. I never knew my father as a mobster, only as surf instructor and school teacher. I smile up at Luca as I wiggle out of his arms and hold up my bathing suit, then motion behind the house where trees, bushes, and vines snake back and forth across the green space. “And I had chores…”

  I grab his hand and pull him up the stairs and into the house, where I give him a quick tour. I pull him into the second bedroom on the left and giggle as I shut the door. “This was mine and Aleka’s room when we were little girls. Two other cousins shared it with us. We had bunk beds that my Tutu built with his hands from the trunks of trees he cleared to make the garden in the back. There were eleven cousins when I was little, and we shared three of the bedrooms. Not that we were here all the time or anything, but we were here enough that we needed beds.”

  Luca nods as he looks around the room, his eyes widening as his gaze returns to me. I shrug innocently as I drop my shirt behind me. “What?”

  Luca’s eyes drop immediately to my bare chest, and he stares as I wiggle off my denim shorts and panties. I fluff out the bikini that I’ve been holding in my hand, and Luca shakes his head, reaching out to grab my wrist to stop me from putting it on. His voice drops an octave as he murmurs, “Don’t. Not yet.”

  I laugh and wriggle my wrist free of his hand as I roll my eyes. “What? Why not? You’ve seen me naked before, Luca. Don’t stare at me like this is the first time. Seriously...come on! You can stare at me naked all you want tonight when we’re at our rental house and aren’t shacked up in a bedroom I once shared with my cousin that I’m probably still expected to share with her. Change into your shorts. I bet Aleka’s already got a head start on us, anyway. It’s a big garden, but the competitiveness runs deep.”

  Luca takes a step back, holding both hands up, and I yank my boyshort galaxy print bikini bottoms on, then tie on the top that criss-crosses the front of my body three times, finally tying behind my neck and across my back. It’s an ombre fabric that shifts from royal blue through purple and finally to deep fuschia as it crosses back and forth across my body. I gather the wild waves my hair has settled into in my hands and push them into a ponytail high on my head, securing the strands with a scrunchie that’s resting around the door knob.

  I nudge Luca. “Come on, pretty boy… get changed so I can beat your ass in a race to pick the most fruit.”

  Luca shudders as he pushes his shorts and boxer briefs down, and I chuckle when I see he’s got a stiffy. “Does my competitiveness turn you on?”

  Luca looks up at me as he yanks on his board shorts, and the look on his face says that he must think I’m crazy. “Everything about you turns me on, Emily. From your perfect tits to your bangin’ ass and sexy blonde hair and gorgeously tanned skin… you being competitive when there’s a really good chance you’re going to be eating crow when all is said and done, is just cute. And a good reminder that I should take this opportunity to make a little wager with you... “

  I raise an eyebrow as I look up at his face. “Name your price.”

  He grins and steps closer to me, leaning down over me as he drops his voice. “If I win, you suck my dick until I come three times.”

  I shrug. “Well, you’re not going to win, but just in case… that’s nothing. I can get you off three t
imes in less than thirty minutes. Besides, I like sucking your dick, remember?”

  Luca shudders slightly and nods. I lick my lips slowly, and he groans slightly, shifting himself in his pants. I smirk and pipe up, “If I win, you have to bury your pretty boy face between my thighs and lick my pussy until I beg you to stop.”

  Luca growls in response, “I’m going to do that anyway, wife. I’m going to lick it until you can barely breathe, because your body is rebelling. You’re going to have an orgasm so intense, that my beard will be dripping with your juices, and every little touch will send you flying over that cliff again, over and over as you beg me for mercy. And then…” Luca tugs me against him, leaning his mouth down to my ear as he whispers words that make my knees go weak. “...I’m going to bottom out inside of you and fuck you so hard, and for so long, that we’re both going to pass out from sheer exhaustion…”

  He lets go of me as my mouth falls open, and I stare at him slack-jawed. He nods as he runs his finger across my bottom lip with a smirk. “That’s a good position for deep-throating my cock, and I can’t wait to see my dick disappear inside your mouth.”