Cole
He stood on the ground, swaying slightly with reaction. He was home, back in the USA; free from the dominating talons of Lucien Delano. And he was going to make sure that he turned the tables on the man who should rightly be making him a partner of the Club.
He quickly strode out of the airport, eager to get to a safe place, a place that the Monk had promised to take him to.
Sure enough, the vehicle which the Monk had told him would be waiting outside, was there, and in a matter of minutes, he was gliding away, to begin what he imagined, was a new chapter in his life…
*
Paddy
It felt as though he had been asleep, he thought as he slowly willed his body to move. His eyelids fluttered.
But his brother, Claude, had just got up and had left, after having been beside Paddy, at his bedside, for a few hours, or so it seemed to the man who had been lying prone on the bed now for months, or was it days?
He felt like a person trapped within a box, unable to speak, to do anything but flutter his lids weakly. The nurse who was tending to him was cleaning him, to prevent bedsores, he thought tiredly and then, it was too much of an effort. he drifted back into a drug-induced haze, where he could forget the pain his poor battered body was still enduring, but he knew that he had to warn his father, the formidable Lucien Delano. Had to let him know about the diabolical plan the other man, the man who went by the name of the Monk had planned…
He shut his eyes and went back to the zone of painlessness.
*
Maja
She stood, her hand on her cheek, staring at her son.
Magnus had just slapped her.
Hard.
Maja was no stranger to physical abuse; towards the end of her marriage, Tommas regularly beat her but she had hung on for a while. Magnus was taking after his father, she thought bitterly as she stared after her son who walked out of the kitchen.
She had just caught him sneaking into the kitchen, taking the cash she sometimes left in the cabinet, the money she needed for some urgent task. She had begun calmly enough, asking him why he was stealing. But one look at his glazed face, the tiny pinpoints which were his eyes, and the knowledge had made her heart sink. So it was true, Magnus was now using …
Losing her temper, she had lashed out,
“Why are you doing this?’
And then he had changed before her eyes, into a monster, rearing up, his eyes narrowed with rage and he had slammed her body against the kitchen wall. When she had cried out, he had smashed the glass on the table and slapped her. Violently.
*
Lucien
He noticed, almost absently, how beautifully they suited each other, his beautiful wife with her head of mahogany tresses, her pale face tilted to look at Schwartz, his best friend and most trusted lieutenant. While the man in question held her to him, his arms like a protective band around her, one around her waist, close to her full breast, noted the Boss in jealousy.
But the look on their faces, it was so pure, a kind of gaze that made him overcome his madness. As he stood, she broke away and rushed to him, unsteadily.
Grabbing his lapels, she cried, her voice trembling, eyes wild with despair.
“Philippe?”
The Mafia Don grabbed her wrists more forcefully than needed and saw the twinge of pain on her face.
‘The f*ck you want, Woman?’, he snarled,’ Haven’t I told you never come to my study? Get the f*ck out of my sight and…’
But to his surprise, she did not move away. Instead, she stiffened her spine and glared at him.
She stood up to him, her body rigid, and said in a clear, soft voice,
‘Lucien Delano. That boy is someone very dear to us.’
Proserpina took a deep breath, her eyes glittering with fury, controlled but just in check.
She went on,
“I. NEED. TO. KNOW.’
Her unexpected fit of anger piqued him; she cared for the young man, and of course, so did he. Young Philippe had been the one who had accompanied her to Europe, searching for the Boss when he had disappeared. He had also killed to save the life of the Mafia Don. His first kill, thought the Boss, his face hardening.
Yes, he owed the Capo, big time.
In a gentler tone, his baritone rough with passion, the Boss said, gathering her close,
‘The plane he was on has been hit. We are waiting for news.’
She looked at him, wildly.
‘No, no…’ she whispered, turning to look at her best friend, who stood, arms hanging limply at his sides, dejected as he met her gaze.
A fresh wave of hot jealousy flooded the Don but he controlled himself. This Woman belonged to HIM and Schwartz knew it.
The love bite on her pale, creamy mound as she twisted in his arms, was proof of who owned her, who got to f*ck her every night.
In a voice rough with emotion, he growled,
‘Woman, we are doing everything…’
She interrupted him, her face turning even paler if such a thing was possible
‘Ria? She does not know, does she?’
*
Tara
She was gazing at the screen, her palms sweating in excitement.
The person she had been chatting with had come on Facebook and sent her an invite, which was immediately accepted by Maddie on Tara’s behalf. Tara had an account that she had rarely used; just to gawk at the football star she crushed on. But that was it.
To her astonishment, the person, who identified himself as Ben Iusuf, was chatty and identified himself as being fifteen years old, and living in California.
He was also a fan of Cristiano Ronaldo and that sort of sealed things for her. She giggled as they chatted, with Maddie doing the typing as she was quicker than Tara. The young girl pushed her blonde braids back, her pretty face pink, with pleasure as Ben kept talking about himself and his family, the dog they had, named Obie, and his sisters, who were always troubling him. Chatty Ben told her that his mother was a nurse while his dad worked at a factory.
She shared, or actually, Maddie, gave the details of her family. When Ben came to know that Tara’s pappa was a Mafia Don, he sent an emoji that showed shock.
“Hey, will he get me killed for chattin’ with his beautiful daughter?’
Tara blushed and dissolved in giggles, just as Maja’s voice came, sharp and annoyed.
“Maddie, did you inform Tara’s mom that she was going to be here?’
The girls exchanged exasperated looks as they wound up the conversation. Maja hammered on the door, furiously.
“What?’ screamed Maddie, flinging open the door. And she stopped.
Claude Delano stood in the passage, his face glowering.
He looked furious and Tara quaked.