by Leah Wilde
His mother narrowed her eyes and lifted her eyebrows in silent question, clearly broiling over with a thousand judgmental things to say, but she held herself back, nodding and forcing a tight, polite smile instead. What was the meaning of all of this? Why wasn’t she being a total bitch, like she usually would? It didn’t seem like she was particularly sad, even though her husband had just recently died. Maybe grief looked differently on her, but somehow, Vince figured that wasn’t what was going on. No, everything Mrs. Romano did was about money or success or victory over her foes. Even her relationships with her children were about status.
Ah. That’s it, Vince realized, suppressing a satisfied smile as he realized what his mother was really doing here. The inheritance. It’s not enough. Dad didn’t leave her enough money for the rest of her life, so she’s got to make sure she’s in my good graces. Otherwise she’s fucked.
For the first time in his life, Vince felt like he had power over his mother, like he wasn’t a scared little boy subject to her total domination. He almost didn’t know what to do or say, frozen in his seat, overwhelmed with the realization that for once he was in control.
Still, though, his mother was the same woman, even if she was fearful that her eldest son wouldn’t take care of her. She still looked over at him imperiously, sizing him up like she always did, eyes narrowing as she took in every inch of his skin. Vince fought not to squirm in his seat, reminding himself that he wasn’t a little boy anymore. She’s scared now, he told himself. She’s scared. Not me. I don’t have to be afraid. I have the power. That’s all that matters, no matter what she says.
“So, you’re learning the books and things, I presume?” his mother finally said after a protracted pause. Despite everything, Vince still tensed up, aware that his mother’s words could never be taken at face-value. She had a motive here, somehow tied in with her overall goal of securing her financial future.
“Yep,” Vince said, smiling politely, trying to reassure his mother that he had everything under control. “Fiona is showing me the ropes.” He almost winced after that sentence left his mouth, realizing his mistake as soon as his mother smirked in ironic satisfaction. That was what she was hunting for. She wanted to bring up Fiona without actually saying her name out loud herself. Now Fiona was fair game for his mother to rip apart. How could Vince convince his mother that nothing sexual happened between Fiona and his father? She’d never believe him, even if he told her how he knew for sure. She’d probably only become angrier if she knew that her son was sleeping with the “whore” that allegedly ripped her husband away from her.
“And that’s going well, then? Using the old secretary?” his mother said, smiling in that sharp, hard way that Guido always did whenever he was angry. They were too much alike, Vince’s mother and his younger brother.
“She’s not a secretary,” Vince reminded his mother. “She’s an assistant. She does a lot of really essential things for the business.”
“Ah. I see,” Vince’s mother said, leaning back in her chair as if she owned it. “And what essential things has she been doing for you lately, pray tell?”
Vince’s spine stiffened uncomfortably. Clearly, his mother was a lot smarter than Vince had given her credit for. She seemed to sense, right away and with very little information, that he was sleeping with his assistant. Dammit, Vince thought, feeling some of the precious power he’d gained slip away from him like wind whistling between his fingers. “Well, like I said,” Vince said stiffly, his lack of confidence betrayed by his awkward tone of voice. “She’s helping me get acclimated to the business, showing me stuff about our partnerships down south and stuff like that. Really, Mother, she knows so much. We couldn’t afford to lose her.” He knew that sooner or later in this conversation, his mother was going to tell him to fire Fiona, and he wanted to go ahead and mount a defense against any arguments his mother might try to use against his new assistant and lover.
“Hmm, it does really sound like she knows an awful lot,” his mother said, tapping her fingertips together thoughtfully. “Have you considered that she might know…too much?”
Vince furrowed his brows together in confusion. “What do you mean?” The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, almost painfully erect, like his body could sense the danger in this conversation before his mind could catch on to what was going on.
His mother shrugged, like she didn’t know what she was talking about, but then she launched into speech again, leaning forward on the desk so that her face was closer to Vince’s than before. “Well, I just mean, it’s dangerous to have people not in the family know certain things. Like, for instance, personal details about your father. I get the sense that this little secretary knows quite a bit. And…that can be risky. That’s all I’m saying. I just wonder if you’ve accounted for those risks or not.”
Oh, Vince realized, feeling a cold chill go down his spine, sapping out any and all of the remaining, happy warmth from his body. His mother wanted him to get rid of Fiona. And not just fire her. But permanently remove the “danger” that she represented.
“Mother,” Vince began slowly, trying to keep his tone calm so that his mother wouldn’t figure out how panicked that suggestion made him feel. He needed to be cool. Confident. He needed to be in control of this, or else the situation could become a lot worse, very quickly. There were still plenty of lieutenants and enforcers around who’d be more than willing to kill somebody off for Mama Romano, if only out of respect for Paulie’s memory. “I don’t think it’s as dangerous as you think. Fiona—who isn’t a secretary, by the way, she’s an assistant, like I said before—is very loyal to the business. She cared about Dad. A lot.”
“Oh, I bet she did,” his mother muttered, her real bitterness seeping out into her voice for just a moment before she adjusted, nodding at Vince to continue speaking.
“It’s not what you think. Nothing happened there. Nothing happened between them, Mom, I promise. I swear it’s true.” But Mama Romano just stared at him blankly, clearly entirely unconvinced. “Well, regardless, it’s no reason to kill her. She’s been a huge help to me, getting me adjusted to everything, and it’d be an awful message to send to the rest of the company.”
“And what message would that be?” his mother asked, raising her eyebrows skeptically.
“That if you work hard and become important to the Romano family, you’re only going to be punished for it,” Vince said, realizing that he believed the words as soon as they left his mouth. “It’s an awful strategy, Ma. We can’t do it.”
Mama Romano was silent for a long moment, staring down at her own hands, which were becoming increasingly lined and veiny in her advanced age. She needed to eat more, to focus on her health. Instead she was here, trying to get Vince to kill the girl that she believed her late husband loved. It was a tragedy, really, something that would have hurt Vince’s heart if he had more sympathy for his mother after so many years of emotional abuse.
“So, she’s gotten to you, too, I see,” his mother said slowly, carefully a few moments later, crossing and uncrossing her legs but not making any motion to get up. That was odd. Vince had expected to her storm out as a result of his insolence.
“Ma,” Vince said in a scolding tone of voice, “nobody gets to me. Come on, you know me better than that. Nobody ever gets to me.” The words felt weird coming out of his mouth, like his tongue didn’t want to say them or something, but he faked the smuggest smirk he could plaster onto his face for his mother’s benefit.
It worked, at least insofar as his mom cracked a little smile, a small flaw in her otherwise flawless veneer of untouchability. She was like a demigoddess rather than a woman, a vengeful angel rather than a person he should have had every reason to love. They just didn’t work that way. Maybe that was why Vince was so screwed-up, why he could only manage to feel pleasure in strange, outlandish ways. Either way, it was too late to change anything about it now.
“You are different from your father that way,” Mama Roman
o said, her eyes becoming a little softer as she thought back on her husband. “That’s good. Keep it that way. Hold on to whatever it is that lets you be alone, and don’t let go of it. Let it carry you through the years until nobody can touch you anymore.” She smiled and shook her head at herself. “I’m sorry. Just an old lady rambling to her son. That’s what I am now.”
“Ma, stop it,” Vince said, getting up from his chair to walk around the desk and squatting down in front of her so that they were eye-level. “You’re a beautiful woman, still. And you’re not alone. You got us, me and Guido. We’ll always watch out for you.”
“I can’t ask you to do that,” Vince’s mother said, protesting weakly and waving her hand forward as if it to push him away.
“Of course, you can,” Vince argued. “We’re always going to be there for you. Just say the word, and we’ll help you out. Always.”
Mrs. Romano’s eyes flicked back over to Vince’s, some shadow passing behind them that Vince couldn’t quite identify. “Always?”
Vince felt a tiny little chill go down his spine, his skin prickling uncomfortably as he heard the edge of impatience in his mother’s voice. “What? What do you need?”
Vince’s mother shrugged and looked away again, her face falling back to blankness, the mask of emotion she’d worn just a few moments before nowhere in sight. “Oh, it’s nothing, dear. Nothing at all.”
Vince sighed deeply, getting to his feet to stand over his mom. “What is it? Come on, just tell me.”
Mama Romano tapped the tips of her fingers together a few times, licking her teeth before answering. “The girl.”
“Fiona?” Vince asked, even though he already knew the answer.
“The secretary,” his mother said, stubbornly sticking to the inaccurate description. “She has to go. Otherwise…how will I really know that I can depend on you, Vincey?”
Vince fought as hard as he could to suppress a groan, but he couldn’t keep himself from shutting his eyes and sighing in annoyance. “Mother…I just explained to you why I can’t do that…”
“You can’t?” his mother asked sharply, getting to her feet and walking around Vince and the desk to pour herself a drink at the minibar against the wall. “Or won’t?”
“Either,” Vince said, shaking his head as his mother poured herself a thick shot of whiskey. “Listen, I know you’re going through a tough time right now, but really, this isn’t the way. I promise you that you will regret it if you start to interfere with the business.”
Mama Romano put the glass of whiskey back down on the minibar, smiling brightly at her son like a light had just been switched on inside her head. “Oh? Is that a threat, darling?”
Vince hadn’t meant it that way, but he couldn’t back down now or else he’d look weak. He tightened the muscles in his jaw and stared his mother down, refusing to blink or flinch or budge an inch. He had to show that he was resolute in this. He wasn’t firing Fiona. There was just no way he was going to let this happen under his leadership.
“I see,” his mother said, picking up her drink again and downing the rest of it in a single gulp, wincing a little at the bitter taste and wiping her mouth a moment later with the back of her perfectly manicured hand. “So, there is nothing further for you and me to discuss.” She turned on her heel and headed for the door, but Vince caught up with her in time, stopping her with a gentle yet firm hand on her shoulder.
“Wait, Ma, stop. Don’t do this. Don’t walk away from me. Not now. Not after losing Dad the way we did,” Vince said earnestly, feeling totally exposed and vulnerable in front of his mother’s sharp, pointed gaze.
“That’s just the thing, Vincent,” Mama Romano said. “If you can’t defend me now, after everything I’ve lost, how can I depend on you ever? What’s the point in even calling you my son?”
Her words stung him like a bullet to the chest, the pain spreading outward as her accusation echoed around inside his head. She was threatening to disown him, all because of Fiona, who he barely even knew. The smart thing here would be to nod at his mother, tell her that she was right, and carry out her will, if only to make sure that there wasn’t unnecessary strife in the business so soon after his father’s death.
But he couldn’t force himself to move into action, nor even to say a word to his mom. Instead, he just stared at her sadly, while in the back of his mind he thought about Fiona, about how much this job meant to her. He couldn’t take it away from her, especially not after he realized how perfect she was for him. Even if it meant losing his mother forever…he couldn’t act against the will of his own heart.
“I’m sorry,” he said softly, rubbing his mother’s shoulder gently. “I can’t do that, Ma.”
“Well, then, I suppose our meeting for today is concluded,” Vince’s mother said in a stilted, stiff tone of voice, a forced polite smile appearing on her face as she unlocked the door in front of her. “So long, Vincent. I expect to see you at the funeral.”
Before Vince could come up with anything else to say or do to stop his mother from leaving on such bad terms, she pushed the door open and strode out imperiously into the compound, ignoring various servants who called out to her to say hello.
Vince blew out his breath, watching as his mother’s slim figure receded from his line of sight. He shut the door after her instead of watching her disappear completely from view. He didn’t want anyone at the Romano compound to think that she’d run out on him and cut their meeting short. It was better if everyone thought that they were on good terms, especially since many of the servants were still loyal to her.
A few minutes later, he finally decided he’d had enough time to reflect on the encounter and exited his old office, stepping out into the main hallway where a large group of people had gathered, turning to look at him expectantly as he appeared. His mother must have paused in the main room to talk to somebody, as he could still hear the click-clack of her heels disappearing towards the main exit. Vince decided to just smile reassuringly at the crowd of various employees who looked to him worriedly, obviously detecting the tension between Vince and his rapidly departing mother.
“Everything’s fine,” he announced to the room. “Business as usual.” As soon as he said the words, he realized that he believed them. He’d directly disobeyed his mother, and the world hadn’t ended. In fact, everything was perfectly normal. Everything was totally fine. Nothing bad was going to happen to him just because, for once in his life, he didn’t do what his controlling mother wanted. He had the power here.
There was practically a spring in his step by the time he crossed the hall back to his new office, where Fiona was waiting for him. He felt weirdly excited to get started on work today, to spend the day torturing himself with close proximity to Fiona, letting himself smell here but never actually touch her. He’d make up for it tonight in the playroom. Vince already knew what he was going to do—kick the domination up a notch by binding her hands and feet at the same time. God, it was going to be so fucking hot.
“All right,” he said, shutting the door behind him and putting a lock in place for good measure. He didn’t want to be interrupted, even if he couldn’t allow himself to touch Fiona while at work. “Now let’s go ahead and handle…”
Fiona jumped up from her desk, arranging piles of papers in place before stepping away from her work station, going to meet Vince in the center of the room. What was this all about? Was she trying to change the rules on him or something?
“Mr. Romano, I’m afraid…” she started to say, cutting herself off to swallow visibly and shaking her head. “I quit.”
Vince wasn’t sure he’d heard her right, even though she looked up at him with wide, fearful eyes, like she was awaiting her death. “Fiona…I don’t…what?” he stuttered out, totally confused as to what was going on.
“I’m sorry,” Fiona said, ducking her eyes so that they weren’t looking directly at each other anymore. She leaned over and grabbed her purse from off the floor, reaching into the
bag and pulling out a badge. “Here. This is what I use to get into the building. You should take it back. I won’t be using it anymore.”
“Fiona, what’s going on?” Vince said, dropping the boss act as panic started to set in, making him feel like his bones were being licked away by flames. “What’s wrong? You can tell me.”
“No, no, I can’t,” Fiona said, shaking her head, but then she sighed and added, “I mean, nothing’s wrong. I just need a change of pace, that’s all. I realize that I can’t work here now that Paulie is gone, and well…I just need to be somewhere else. Okay? That’s what I have to do. Goodbye.” She moved to walk around Vince to the door, but Vince stepped in front of her, refusing to let her pass that easily.
“No. I deserve an explanation. What did I do to make you do this? Is it the pay? Do you need more money? I can help you if you have financial problems—”
Fiona cut him off with her hand in the air, shaking her head furiously. “No. Let me out. I have to leave now, okay? I have to go.”
