by J. S. Cooper
“Okay, and?”
“And we’re just going to sit here for a bit,” he said.
“Luca,” I spoke up as suddenly something hit me.
“Yes, Anabel?”
“What about Valentina Marchese? Isn’t she still there in the house?”
“Oh, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.” He nodded his head and he looked over at Matteo. “Fuck, Valentina Marchese’s in the house. She’s sleeping there.”
“Oh my god, Luca, you always complicate everything. Why? Okay. Let me think.”
Matteo frowned. “We need to get Valentina out of the house. How do we get Valentina out of the house? If it all goes down and Valentina gets hurt, her father is going to kill all of us.”
Luca nodded. “I could go and I could get her out. I could sneak in.”
“No, that’s not going to work. If Giorgio sees you, it’s over.” Matteo frowned. “I guess I could go and try and get her.”
Luca shook his head. “Giorgio will recognize you too, Matteo.”
“That’s true.”
“I could go,” I offered softly. “I could go to the door and pretend that I needed to speak to her and—”
“No,” Luca snapped. “There’s no way you’re going. Plus, Giorgio would recognize you, too. You forget, you’ve met him Anabel.”
“That’s true.”
The car went silent. Finally, Emily spoke up, “I can go. They don’t know me. I can do this.”
Matteo turned around and looked at her. “No way in hell am I letting you go.”
“Well then, who else is going to go? Luca can’t go. You can’t go. Anabel can’t go. And I’m sure as hell not letting Charlotte go. She is the most innocent one out of all of us in this car. Plus, Max would absolutely kill all of us if anything happened to her. Even if nothing happened to her and he found out we let her go, he’d kill us. I’m the only one left. I have to go.” She took a deep breath, “It’ll be fine. I’ll say I’m selling Mary Kay or something, and that I have an order for her. That maybe Luca sent it as a surprise. Like as an engagement gift.”
Luca growled. “There’s no way I would ever send an engagement gift. We’re not even—”
“Luca, stop.” I looked over at Emily. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” She smiled at me. “When I started dating Matteo and you guys weren’t sure about him, you had my back, and I know that no matter what would have happened, you would have my back. I’ve got your back. I can do this.”
Matteo growled loudly and he banged his hands against the steering wheel. “I do not want you going and getting involved in this, Emily. If anything happened to you...”
“Matteo.” She touched him on the shoulder. “I’m going to be okay. Please have faith.”
He looked over at Luca and he narrowed his eyes. “I will kill you dead if anything happens to Emily, you hear?”
“Guys, please stop,” I shouted. “Let’s just stop threatening each other, okay? You two are family, and I know you hate each other, but please, if we’re fighting among ourselves, how can we ever expect to be successful? Emily, thank you for offering to go. If you’re okay, that would be great. I think the Mary Kay idea is a good idea. Maybe even get some flowers at the bodega down there and say that Luca sent them. That he realizes how much he wants to be with her.” My voice cracked as I spoke, even saying the words that I knew not to be true hurt me. “Just get her out of the house. Tell her that he has a surprise set up in the park or something. And he wants her to come to a picnic.”
“Yeah, I can do that.” She nodded. “As soon as I get her out of the house, I’ll call you. Okay, Matteo? I’ll take her down to Prospect Park or something.”
“I don’t like the sound of this.” Matteo sounded annoyed. “I don’t want you away from me.”
“It’s the only thing we can do,” Luca said with a growl. “It’s the only thing we can do to ensure that she’s not in the house. If shit goes down, Matteo, it’s going to be on you.”
“Fine. I don’t like this, but I think you can do it, Emily. Don’t say too much. Don’t overtalk it. Be calm and sweet. Okay? The more you talk, the more suspicious you’ll make her.”
“I know.” She nodded and then got out of the car.
“Wait,” I cried out to her.
She turned and looked at me. “Yeah?”
“You don’t know the address.”
“Oh yeah.” She laughed and we all sort of giggled. Even though we weren’t finding it amusing, it was a way to let off steam.
“It’s the red door. 18940. Okay?”
“Okay, I’ll go and get some roses or something and then I’ll head there. Matteo, I’ll text you in half an hour. If you don’t hear from me, come and get me. Okay?”
“Twenty minutes.” He growled. “Honey. If I don’t hear from you in twenty minutes, I’m coming.”
“Okay.” And with that she was gone. We saw her rush into the bodega. She went in and a couple of minutes later, she came out with a bouquet of red roses. We all watched as she walked to the door. I could tell everyone was as nervous and tense as me.
She knocked on the door and Valentina appeared minutes later. We all let out a sigh of relief as Valentina and Emily walked down the street.
“She did it. She’s okay. Thank God for that,” Matteo said. “Okay, call the guys now, Luca. Okay?”
“Okay, I’m going to call them now,” Luca said. “I’m going to call them and just tell them I’m going to be delayed for an hour. Is that it?”
“Yeah,” Matteo said. “Tell him you’re going to be delayed for an hour. Then we’re going to go in, in about thirty-five minutes.”
“But you just said to tell them I’m going to be delayed for an hour.”
“Luca, trust me, okay?”
“Fine.”
Luca made the calls quickly. I could hear shouting on one side of the phone when he spoke to Giorgio. Giorgio was really upset, “Luca, you got to believe me. Right? You got to believe me. I’m not that sort of guy. Whatever you think you know, whatever Enzo told you, it’s not true. You know I’d fuck Valentina Marchese in a heartbeat if I could. Her and any other ho that wanted it.”
“I got to go, okay?” And with that, Luca hung up. He then called Enzo. “Enzo, I’m running late. I’ll be there in an hour.”
I couldn’t hear Enzo’s response and Luca hung up. “Okay, so what’s this about?”
Matteo looked at him and frowned. “You still don’t get it, do you Luca? How can you not get it?”
I looked at Charlotte and she was shivering. I put my arms around her and she rested her head on my shoulder. “It’s going to be okay, Charlotte,” I said. “I’m sorry that you got dragged into this. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay. At least I’m here with you guys and not by myself. I imagine it was worse for you when Enzo had you in that room.” She shuddered. “And you were by yourself with just him.”
“Oh, I couldn’t stand it.” I nodded. “It was awful.”
“Oh, I miss Max so much. I wish he was here.” Charlotte looked sad.
“You know when he gets back, he’s never going to leave you by yourself again,” I joked. “Never, ever, ever.”
Thirty minutes later, we all walked up to the house. Matteo and Luca were ahead of Charlotte and I. Matteo and Luca had wanted us to stay in the car, but there was no way we wanted to sit there by ourselves. So they finally relented and let us come.
Luca opened the front door and we walked in quietly. “Shh, everyone,” he whispered as we walked in and proceeded down the hallway. “So where do we go now?” He looked at Matteo.
Matteo pointed up the stairs and we walked up the stairs. We could hear a creaking noise and some grunting. I wasn’t sure what was going on. What was that noise? I looked at Charlotte and she was also frowning.
“Yeah. You like that? You like that?” I heard a deep voice. I couldn’t tell who it was.
“Was that Enzo?” I whispered to Luca.
Luca
was frowning even harder, shaking his head in disbelief. “It can’t be. It can’t be,” he said as he increased his pace and he pushed open the door the noise was coming from. Inside, we saw Giorgio lying on his stomach with Enzo on top of him. They were both naked and it was clear that they were being intimate..
“What the fuck is going on here?” Luca sounded shocked, then looked over at Matteo. “You knew?”
My jaw dropped and so did Charlotte’s. We were all shocked except for Matteo who shrugged. “Giorgio has always been in love with you, Luca. How could you not see that? Did you think that he didn’t want a life of his own and that’s why he stayed with you all these years?”
Luca shook his head. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Didn’t you ever wonder why he never had a girlfriend, Luca? Why do you think he was so jealous over Anabel, then and now? Why do you think he was always watching you? Why do you think he cared so much about what you did with women? He didn’t care about Anabel. He didn’t care about any woman for you. He wanted you for himself.”
Luca looked shocked. We all just stood there. Enzo had gotten off of the bed and was now pulling his pants on. Giorgio was just lying there, tears rolling down his eyes as he pressed his face into the mattress. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. Couldn’t help but realize that his unrequited love had most probably put him in a lot of pain for a long time.
Giorgio was gay and was in love with Luca and that was what this was all about. He’d turned on Luca, not just because he hated me. He turned on Luca because he didn’t want Luca to be with me. He didn’t want to take over Luca’s position in the family. He didn’t want to be capo. He wanted to be Luca’s boyfriend?
Luca walked over to the bed and sat down. “What’s going on here, Giorgio?”
Enzo was furious, trying to push past us and to the door. His face was a twisted purple and I could tell that he was shell-shocked.
Matteo held up his phone and shook it. “I don’t think you’re going anywhere right now, Enzo.”
Enzo glared at him. “What the fuck is that?”
“I just took about ten pictures,” Matteo said softly. “Ten pictures of you fucking Giorgio. Yeah, you heard me. You can’t deny it. What’d you think the word in the street would be if they heard Mr. Enzo Russo, the ladies’ man, is not a ladies’ man at all?”
Enzo turned red. “What the fuck do you think you’re talking about? I fuck a different woman every night of the week, if I’m not fucking my wife. Monday, Tuesday—”
“Oh, shut up, Enzo. You think there aren’t rumors out there already? No one had proof. But now I do.” Matteo sighed. “I don’t care what you do. I don’t care if you’re gay. I don’t care if you want Giorgio. If you’re fucking him up the ass six ways from Sunday. That’s not my business. But you know what is my business?”
Enzo shook his head silently.
“You don’t mess with my family, you don’t threaten my cousin, you don’t threaten my cousin’s girl, and you sure as hell don’t threaten me or my woman or my woman’s best friends. You hear me?”
Matteo grabbed Enzo and pushed him up against the wall and then punched him in the face. “This is for hitting my cousin. And this” —he hit him again— “is for threatening my girl. And this” —he hit him really hard so that we saw a tooth pop out and fall to the ground— “is for making me waste my precious time in having to come over here and deal with your bullshit.”
“Let me go. Let me go.” Enzo struggled against the wall, spitting at Matteo, but Matteo didn’t let him go.
“I need you to fuck off, Enzo. You hear me? I need you to get out of town. I need you to take your men and your boys and I need you to get out of town. Take your wife, your kid, whoever you want. There’s not room enough for two of us in this city, you hear?”
“You’re not even in the mafia anymore, Matteo.”
“I’m not in the mafia anymore, but you don’t need to be in the mafia anymore, either. You hear me?”
“Whatever.”
Enzo tried to kick Matteo and Matteo hit him one more time in the face and then dropped him. Enzo sat on the floor, looking pathetic. Then Matteo walked over to Luca who was still sitting on the bed with shock on his face, he picked up Giorgio’s clothes and threw them on the bed next to him. “Get dressed, Giorgio. Hurry up, fucking get dressed and meet us downstairs.”
He looked at Luca. “I don’t know how you didn’t see it, but maybe you were just blinded by love for Anabel. I can understand that as I’m blinded by love for Emily, too, but you got to fix the house here. If you’re going to—”
“I’m not staying in this business anymore.” Luca shook his head and my heart broke for him. He looked at Giorgio, “Why didn’t you tell me, Giorgio? I never knew.”
“I, I’m not like that. I’m into women.” Giorgio struggled as he put on his clothes. “Please, believe me. I—”
“Why did you rat me out to Enzo then? Giorgio, you were my brother.”
“I just didn’t want you to get back with Anabel. When you were with her that first time you were so obsessed. You wanted her so badly. And now again, it’s not right, she ruined you the first time and I didn’t want her to ruin us again. It’s not just you, Luca. It’s you and me. You understand that, Luca? It’s always been you and me. We didn’t need any women. I didn’t even need you to be with me. I, I’m not like that. It was just us. I didn’t want this bitch here ruining it.”
“Oh, Giorgio, how could you?” Luca shook his head. He looked like he was going to cry and hit him both at the same time. “I loved you, man. You were my family. I stuck up for you. Oh, how could you do this to me?”
“Luca, I walked over to him and I rubbed his back. People do weird things when they’re in love. You know that,” I said softly. “Don’t judge him because he loved you. Don’t judge him because he made poor decisions because of that love. We’ve both been there. We know what it’s like to love someone and to lose our minds.”
Luca looked down on me, kissed me on the forehead. “I know,” he said. “I’m not a homophobe, you know. It’s not that he’s gay. I don’t care that he’s gay. I just wish he would have trusted me. I just wish he would have told me.”
“How could I tell you, Luca?” Giorgio was now angry. “How could I tell you that I loved you. You would have kicked me out faster than—”
“Enough,” Matteo said. “Let’s go downstairs.” He looked at Enzo. He looked at Giorgio and then he looked at Luca, “Come, let’s go.” He sighed and then he looked at me and he looked at Charlotte. “I hope you girls are okay. I know this has been a long day.”
I nodded and so did Charlotte. We walked behind the men and went downstairs to the living room.
“So what happens next?” Giorgio said as he entered the room. He was looking out the window. I could tell that he was broken. I wondered if he’d ever get over it, but I suppose it was better for him to be brokenhearted than dead. For I was certain that Luca would have killed him if I would have let him.
“You need to leave town,” Matteo said softly. “You can’t be trusted, and it’s going to get out about you and Enzo.”
Giorgio shrugged. “Thanks to Enzo.”
Enzo started screaming and shouting. “What the fuck am I doing here? I told you I’m a ladies’ man. Everyone knows I’m a ladies’ man. You know what? Fuck it. I don’t care about Fabiano. I don’t care about my daughter. I just want to go back to my life. You’re going to let me go. And let’s just forget about this all.” He stood up and ran his hands through his hair. “Luca, we got a deal? I promise you. It’s over. It’s all over. I don’t want you. I don’t want the body. I don’t want your girl. I don’t want nothing. I don’t want nothing to do with you. I don’t care about Fabiano. I don’t care why you don’t want to give me his body. Let him rot in hell. Right? Let my daughter rot in hell, too.”
“So you care about your machismo more than you care about your daughter?” Luca shook his head. “Sounds about rig
ht.”
Enzo tried to hit Luca, but Luca blocked him and kneed him in the gut. “Fuck you, Luca. I love my daughter, but she chose him over me. She chose that faggot.”
“What did you just say?” It was my turn to speak up. “How dare you use that word.”
Enzo grimaced. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“There’s nothing worse than self-hate, Enzo.” Luca sighed. “This is all so fucked-up.”
Matteo moved closer to the two men. “Here’s what we’re going to do for you, Enzo. We’re going to let you go home. We’re going to let you pack your bags, and we’re going to let you tell your wife and your other three kids that you guys are moving back home to Italy. I’m going to want to see you on a plane this time tomorrow. No later than that. If we don’t see you on that plane, we’re going to hunt you down and Luca and I will take care of you and all your family members personally. You hear me? Because you can’t stay in this country anymore. If we hear you’re even thinking about coming back stateside, you’re dead. Get your money, get your family, and get out of here.”
“You can’t make—”
“You think I can’t make you?” Matteo laughed. “Enzo, there’s a lot more dirt I got on you. A lot more dirt, and unless you want it all to start coming out, you better do as I say.”
Enzo stared at Matteo with such hatred in his eyes that if looks could kill, Matteo would be dead on the ground. “Okay, I’m out of here.”
“Go.” Luca walked over to him and pressed his gun to Enzo’s head. “I never want to see you again.” He squeezed the trigger gently and I could feel my heart racing. Was Luca going to kill him? “I never want to hear you use the word faggot again, and I never want to see you again.”
“Okay.” Enzo nodded. “You got it. You and your slut can—” And before he could say anything else, Luca had shot him in the leg. Enzo’s screams tore through the house and blood poured to the ground.
“Go,” Luca said, his voice cold. “Go before I kill you.”
I watched as Enzo limped out of the room, his pants soaked with blood and pee.
Now it was just us with Giorgio. I stared at Luca, what would he do to his friend?
