Marcello
I lean close to her face. She must have sensed the shift in my thoughts because her lips parted on a swift intake of breath. Her gaze darts to my mouth and for a crazy moment I wonder if she is thinking about what it would be like to kiss me. Madonna, I want that. I want to taste her, to feel her lips on mine. Drink her sighs and swallow her whimpers. I want to inhale her scent.
Disgusted with myself, I stand upright.
“If you don’t want to tell me then I am leaving. Remember that if you don’t communicate, I will keep assuming that you are okay.”
She still doesn’t mutter a word. God! Thus woman is getting on my nerves.
I walk out of the room before I can change my mind.
I think I have given her room to get to comfortably. I don’t deal with insolent women. I have never had to deal with them, ever! I will have to teach her a lesson.
Elsa
I hardly managed to sleep last night. I couldn’t stop thinking about Federico and his plans. He is going to kill me. How long will Marcello protect me? He will eventually fade up from doing this. He is not going to gain anything from it after all. That’s what he claims, but I don’t believe it. He is targeting something and I am going to find out what. He can’t just waste his time and energy saving me like the knight in shining armour. There has to be a point where he benefits from all of this.
Even if he had kidnapped me as his bedroom slave, he would have done something already. He has been too careful not to get his hands on me, and that gets me wondering about many things. What does he want from me?
I feel too hopeless to even get out of bed. I have not communicated with family and I am sure they are worried sick about me. They probably think I was kidnapped, which is true as per the situation since they couldn’t find my body. I could even be dead since no one has called for ransom. It looks very doubtful that Marcello could have informed anyone of my being here.
How long am I going to be in this situation? I need answers. I need explanations. Maecwllo won’t even answer my question even though I don’t trust whatever he says.
Marcello is a gangster, a leader in the criminal network in Sicily, dealing in several illegal businesses all over Italy, stretching all over Europe. I finally remember all this. I remember my father telling me about him after he had come back from a meeting with him about two years ago. No wonder he knows me like that. Did he have some unfinished business with my father that he wanted to finish through me?
Maybe he is doing all this to get back on Federico for whatever issues are going on between them and I am just supposed to be the puppy that is played in the game. I can’t help but think like this.
There is a knock at the door.
Marcello doesn’t knock. I could be Elvira.
“Come in,” I respond. The door opens and a man dressed up in a black suit comes in. I haven’t seen him before. He looks young, but a bit older than Marcello. Like Five Years or something.
“Signore Marcello has asked to see you downstairs in ten minutes. He insists that you jeep time or else he will come here to get you himself, ” he says and then gives a slight bow before leaving.
Oh, man. He sent a man this time. Might be his bodyguard.
I have a strange notion to defy him. I hate it when he orders me around and expects me to jump at his commands. I fucking hate him for keeping me here without my consent and claiming he is protecting me, without consideration for how my family will feel. I don’t think I want to be in this bed any longer either.
I am getting my answers today and I didn’t give a damn if he is in the mood for it or not.
After setting myself in a white sundress, I comb back my hair and then take a look at myself in the mirror. Even though I have Marcello, I give a damn how I look in front of him. I don’t want I’m have an improper perception of my appearance.
Downstairs, breakfast is ready and looks good. I already love Elvira’s cooking even though I have only had a few meals here. She is friendly too. I wonder how she can stand Marcello’s guts. I guess they just get along since they are family and she is older than him. Maybe she just learned to bear with him.
Does Marcello often bring over kidnapped girls so that she can feed them? I don’t know why that seems probable.
Marcello is not yet ready so I sit at the table and pour myself coffee.
There is a clucking of heels on the stairs. I look up to find a tall lady with dark brown hair in a short red dress approaching from the stairs. She heads for the kitchen and kisses Elvira on the cheek, greeting her good morning. She walks past the kitchen toward the dining table. She looks so familiar with the place. Elvira doesn’t seem to be too happy to see her though. I have to admit she looks enviously good. She has the body of a model.
“Marcello is going to be ready in like five minutes. Still dressing up,” she says, most probably to Elvira. “I won’t stay for breakfast, today. I have to rush.”
She reaches me and looks down at me. I suddenly feel like slept over potatoes. Am I wrong?
“Hello, there,” she says and then gives an overly exaggerated smile, probably to show off her perfectly white teeth. I can’t bring myself to respond with a reflected fake enthusiasm.
I don’t think I like her at all.
She doesn’t take it personally though. She walks away without pressing it. I hope it showed how I don’t like her even though it may not matter an ounce.
Who is this woman and why doesn’t she know how long Marcello is going to take?
Did Marcello fuck her here in his house with me in it? That’s so… I don’t know why that should bother me. It’s none of my business what Marcello does in his house or with whom. Why do I even care if he fucked some woman tonight?
This shouldn’t surprise me. Marcello is an adult with needs that have to be satisfied. He can afford to get any woman he wishes to have in his bed.
oh God!
I don’t want to think anymore.
“Buongiorno, Zia,” a familiar voice sounds from the kitchen.
“Buongiorno, diletto,” she responds, with a warmth in her voice. It is obvious how much she loves him. I wonder if she has been living here with him for a long time. I feel kike she has a story. I have been afraid to familiarize myself with her even though she looks friendly enough. She has also managed to give me space and mind her own business.
“Breakfast is already served,” she tells him.
The next thing I know, he is pulling out his chair at the head of the table and sitting down.
“Buongiorno, Bella. How was your night,” he inquired, pouring himself tea.
He has the temerity to call me beautiful. Fuck him!
He raises a brow at me when I don’t answer.
“Thus the mood of yours, Bella. You have to put it under control or else we won’t coexist peacefully,” he says, his face forbidding.
“I don’t want to coexist peacefully with you. I want to go home,” I respond, my expression equally grim.
“I think we have already been through this and I don’t wish to have this conversation once again,” he says.
“You shouldn’t expect me to play along like a dummy. I want my family to at least know where I am.”
“That would be a total waste of effort if your family got to know about it. My entire plan to keep you safe would be ruined.”
“How so? Enlighten me,” I demand. I am tired of his half-baked answers.
“If your family got to know, then they would undoubtedly come for you, and when you are out of my possession, Federico will easily get you. Don’t think that everyone in your family is worried about you,” he says.
“Are you trying to say that I am unsafe with my own family?”
“Good, you are so naive, Elsa! Do you think everyone in your family was happy about you being Roberto’s ultimate heir? No. You have enemies around you. You are just too nice to notice them. The mafia is a dirty business, Bella. I don’t know if your father taught you that but he should have. We work together but we don’t want to see any one of us get better than the other. Your father was murdered in cold blood just because of his dominance in the mafia of Sicily. His cocaine business was then overthrown and taken over by Federico. When we want something we get it, even when it means bloodshed.”
I swallow a lump I didn’t even know had formed in my throat.
“I suspect that there is someone in your family siding with your enemies, Federico most especially, and it is someone close to you. I don’t know who yet but I am going to find out soon. That person got Federico all of your father’s important documents, and Federico fucked them up, including the will. Your father had much more than what you know of,” he adds.
There is a moment of awkward silence. I stare into my black coffee which I haven’t sipped since I poured.
How does he know all this about my family? Okay, he does his dedicated research but why?
“Why are you doing all this? Fine, you don’t want me to ask this but I am so confused why you have this interest in protecting me without wanting anything in return. Why does it matter to you what happens to you what happens to me, whether I get killed or not, whether there is a traitor in my family or not? Why does any of this matter to you?” I am so desperate to know.
“You wouldn’t understand, Elsa,”
“Then make me understand.”
He rakes his fingers through his neatly combed silky hair frustration written all over his usually composed face.
“Maybe you will understand this with time. Have some patience, Elsa. I will answer your questions when the right time comes,” he responds and then gives out a heavy sigh.
“And when is this right time? Tonight? Tomorrow? Next week? Next year? Can’t you see that this is driving me crazy? I can’t stop wondering why,”
“Just trust me on this, Elsa,” he demands. It’s much more of a command than a request. I roll my eyes at this.
“I don’t trust you, Don Marcello. I don’t trust you at all, and I am not about to start trusting you on anything!” I spit out bitterly.
He gazes at me in disbelief. I hope that was clear. He quickly recovers his stern composure.
“We are going to work on that. This is going to work out whether you trust me or not. Now eat before the food gets cold,” he commands.
“I have no appetite,” I mutter. How am I supposed to eat after such a conversation?
“It doesn’t matter. There is a whole lot of shit in this world we do even with the least appetite for but we still do them because they are necessary. Now go ahead and eat or I will help you stuff your mouth!” The atmosphere is suddenly sore. I reach for my fork and stab the meat on my plate.