The Russos 1

by D. J. Manly

"He must be close to eighteen, but he could still be a minor. Oh, shit. Look, there's no guarantee that I can calm her down. Actually, I'll probably make it worse. We haven't spoken since..."

  "Mom...please...try, okay? Either that, or send the kid back home. This is not the time to deal with lawsuits. We really have all we can handle now."

  There was a silence.

  "Mom?" Angelo urged.

  When the hell did her son get so mature? "Ya, okay. Go see your dad. Give him my love, okay? I'll handle this," she said with a hell of a lot more confidence than she felt.

  He thanked her, and hung up.

  Janet sat down and looked around her. The waiting room was empty. She was alone. She pulled her little phone directory out of her purse and pressed in the number.

  On the third ring, it picked up.

  She recognized Sandy's voice immediately. Janet stifled a sob. They were once so close. She was the best friend she'd ever had.

  "Sandy?" she managed.

  The response was dead air.

  "Don't hang up," Janet choked.

  "What do you want," Sandy breathed.

  "I want to talk to you about Tony, and..." Janet began, then stopped. She suddenly felt pain and realized that she was digging her nails into her leg.

  "How dare you!" Sandy growled into the receiver.

  "How dare you call me to talk to me about my son... My son. You had no right sending a plane for him...you and that fucking Russo bastard. I want my son back here in Ontario, do you hear me? Not tomorrow...not next week...tonight...or I swear to God, I will send the police after your ass and I will sue those Russos for all they are worth for...!"

  She was beyond reason. She went on and on. Janet pulled the phone away from her ear, and sat it in her lap.

  She didn't realize that she was crying until a hand reached down and pried the phone out of her fingers.

  It was Sophia.

  Janet's eyes widened when she heard Sophia speak calmly into the phone.

  "Sandra, this is Sophia. I want you to listen to me. My son may be dying. He took a bullet to the head, which took over seven hours on an operating table to remove. He does not know his son. His son does not know him. Even now, it may be too late. Sandra, out of bitterness and revenge, you have punished your son. Your secrets and lies will come to haunt you. I know this more than anyone. Try now to make amends. Let Tony know his family. He needs to understand where he comes from, who he is. You know that denying him that is wrong. It will haunt you. Please, I beg you to let Tony stay and see his father, and pray to God your son forgives you for what you have done."

  Janet watched the way Sophia's wrinkled hand gripped the phone as she spoke, and although her voice was steady and strong with conviction, tears spilled over onto her cheeks.

  There was no longer yelling coming from the other end of the receiver.

  Janet saw Sophia blink, pull the phone away from her ear, put it back and then hand it out toward her.

  "She hung up, I think," the older woman said and sat down as if she were very tired suddenly.

  Janet nodded, confirming the fact that her former friend had hung up and then folded up the phone.

  They sat side by side without speaking; the only sound came from the ticking of the clock on the wall.

  Suddenly, quietly, Janet asked her why she had done that.

  "What?" the older woman looked at her.

  "Come to my aid like that," Janet replied. "And what was all that about, anyway?"

  "That, my dear," Sophia said, taking her hand in hers, "was about many things. It was about love and pain and unquestioned beliefs and fear, but mostly it was about lies. I always admired you for that, you know." She patted her hand, then released it and looked away.

  Janet's eyes widened. "Admired me...you admired me? I don't understand."

  Sophia sighed and shook her head. "I know that I wasn't very fair to you when you and Drake got the divorce. You see, I so wanted your marriage to work."

  Janet's eyes widened again; any wider, and she was sure they would have popped out of her head.

  "You wanted our marriage to...but when we got married, you were so upset. You told me that Drake was too young to get married and to be a father at seventeen. I remember you called me a whore and accused me of trapping your son in..."

  Sophia sighed, and took her hand again. "Janet, I'm sorry. Forgive me for that. I was raised very strictly and in the small village where I grew up in Italy, a poor girl who found herself pregnant and without a husband was seen as nothing but a whore. The boy...well...he was a boy. You and I, we don't come from the same place, my dear. I was taught to never to question anything: follow the rules or burn in hell, that was your choice. God's words were God's words."

  "But if you were so against the marriage, why did you want it to work?" Janet asked.

  "I wasn't against the marriage. I resented the fact that he had to marry you because of the baby, that's all. Down deep I thought maybe this marriage would solve a lot of my problems, absolve me of my guilt. It didn't."

  "What guilt? Guilt about what?" Janet asked.

  She didn't answer that. Instead, she said, "You never lied to your son, and that's what I admire about you. After the divorce, you did the right thing moving out here to L.A., staying close to Drake so that his son would know him. I respect you for that. Sandy has lied to her son, denied him these years with Johnny, and if Johnny dies and Tony never gets the chance to know him, he will hate her. She punished her son just so she could punish Johnny for leaving her."

  Janet nodded. She couldn't argue with that. Sandy had loved Johnny desperately, and she was completely broken up when he filed for the divorce.

  She would have done just about anything to keep him with her. In the end, she settled for revenge and in order to keep Tony's paternity a secret, she ripped herself away from everyone.

  "What do you think she'll do now?" Janet asked her former mother in law hesitantly.

  Sophia shook her head. "I don't know. The right thing, I hope."

  This ends Episode One of The Russos.

  Stay tuned for Episode Two:

  - Tony Newton arrives in L.A.

  - Mac has a heart-to-heart talk with Johnny, who is still in a coma.

  - Sophia reflects on her past.

  - Will Drake Russo be released from jail?

  Meet Drake Russo

  Drake Russo is the oldest of the three Russo Brothers. He is a musical genius, and the driving force behind the success of the Russo Brothers Band, propelling them to the top of the charts. He is thirty-seven years old, bisexual and gorgeous. Everyone wants him...in bed and out. In spite of his fame and fortune, he is a complex and tormented man, searching for happiness in a string of lovers. He has an amicable relationship with his ex-wife Janet and a rocky one with his eighteen-year-old son, Angelo, who he truly does love.

  Drake is clearly his mother's favourite, and very close to his middle brother, Johnny, with whom he shares a very turbulent relationship, a relationship that preoccupies him.

  D.J. Manly

  J. Manly is fast acquiring a reputation for D pushing the boundaries of male/male erotic romance. A reviewer once said of Manly's work that it was enough to give the reader "...third-degree burns in an air conditioned room..." and that's putting it mildly. If you adore gorgeous men who can't get enough of each other's bodies...if you like rich plots laced with steamy sex, thick and rich with aching need and glorious adoration and love...Manly's books will satisfy the craving and leave you panting for more.

  "If I wouldn't enjoy reading it, I wouldn't be writing it," says Manly. "I like to tease...but I always please..."

  To check out books by D.J. Manly, you can visit the website at djmanly.com, and take a taste...if you dare.

  "Fair warning, I've been told that it's highly addictive."

  D.J.

 

 

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