A Mafia Man’s weakness

ChapterFive

Nick’s POV

I sit by my desk in my study, staring out through the windows. It’s raining tonight, the soft patters creating a gentle thump on the panes. My hands wrap around my glass of scotch, and I bring it to my lips.

When the liquor hits, I wince slightly, my eyes falling on the divorce papers Alessia dropped just last night. She looked enraged, and I wish I could have done something to smoothen the horror in her eyes.

I bring the rim of the glass to my lips again, just as the door pushes open and Luca, my right-hand man, strides in.

“Your first meeting with the fourteen members of the Sicilian mafia is happening tomorrow morning. And you are hosting it in this building. Is there anything you need to be done to the grand halls?”

I have imagined being Godfather for so long that it is the only thing I have strived for. And it gave me somewhere else to pour all of my emotions and energy just to get my father off my back.

When the doctor announced that he was dead, I felt a mix of emotions, relief, and a tinge of the absence of a figure. If anyone asked me years ago if I’d miss him, my answer would have been immediate and clear. He was my hero.

But the more I found out, the more things got on the line.

Things I couldn’t let go of.

Things that I still think I can’t let go of, even though they are slowly slipping out of reach.

“Any news about the Romano family?” "I ask," sitting up and pulling my gaze from the window. Luca is still standing by my desk, his eyes watching me with concern.

And something else.

He shakes his head. “Nothing, Boss. Your father did a great job at wiping them out.”

“And his reason?”

“We are yet to find that out, Boss. But you can be rest assured that everything is under control.”

“Everything is under control,” I murmur slowly, lifting the glass off the desk again. It is rare for me to give in to sparks of emotions, but today, nothing seems to be going right. My hand wraps around the glass so tightly, as if feeding it all my anger.

And then, I toss it against the wall. It shatters into tiny shards, the scotch left in it dripping from the wall and onto the rug. The whole thing will have to be changed, but right now, it is the least of my problems.

Luca doesn’t flinch. He is used to my unusual outbursts. Still, he takes a step back, away from the ambit of my reach, knowing how fickle and unpredictable these moments can be.

“She handed me divorce papers yesterday,” I finally admit to the one person who knows about everything, right from the beginning.

“You could have told her. Your father is dead, so you have nothing left to lose.”

“It isn’t that simple, Luca,” I sigh, getting up from the chair. I move to a corner of the study where I have constructed a mini bar, retrieving another glass. When I plop back into the seat, Luca is still standing.

Waiting.

“You should get yourself a glass.”

“I still have that mission at the port, Boss.”

“Put someone else in charge,” I mutter, opening the bottle of scotch and pouring a healthy amount into the new glass. “I need you to do something else for me.”

“What is it, Boss?”

“Tail my wife, Alessia.”

“Boss…”

“I can’t let her go, Luca. What if someone else finds out?”

“I don’t think her life is in danger anymore, Boss,” Luca maintains. “A week ago, your father got information that the Romano daughter was still alive, and to the best of my knowledge, he didn’t inform any of the other families. Instead, he decided to conduct a search outside Sicily. He had no idea that she was right under his nose all this time.”

“Who gave him that knowledge?”

“You know his men barely reveal inside knowledge,” Luca says, coming closer to the desk. “But I am going to sneak in there and find out what I can from his study. Just like you, your father loved to document things.”

“He was so strong and fierce,” I whisper. “What an ironic end for someone who always said he had the heart of a lion.”

It is something I have always found funny, yet bringing myself to laugh is hard. I feel a knot in my throat and push it down with more whiskey.

“What about the pendant on her neck? Has she figured it out now?”

“No, Boss.” Luca sounds positive. “Miss Alessia still has no idea that her family was once a part of the fourteen mafia families in Sicily. And since she changed her name to Valenti the minute you married her, there was no way for anyone to be able to trace it. But now that you are divorced…”

I glare at him. “We are not divorced.”

“The papers…”

“I am not going to sign them.”

A knock echoes through the walls, and Luca turns back at the door, his eyes narrowing. He waits a beat before walking to it, pulling the door open.

“Hi!”

I cannot see who it is from where I sit, but I know that voice. Callista. Alessia’s best friend.

My wife is everything but perceptive. She needs to watch the quality of people she calls friends.

“Let her in,” I murmur, waving Luca away. He gives me a look before stepping out and closing the door behind him.

“What do you want, Callista?”

She stops in the middle of the room, dropping her startlingly pink bag on the floor. “I just…” she whispers, then stops. “I wanted to check how you were doing, with the divorce and all. I know...my best friend can be rash sometimes, but maybe this is the break you both need from each other, you know.”

I angle my head, watching her from underneath my lashes. I have noticed her subtle acts over the years, but never has she been straightforward.

Leaving her bag in the middle of the room, she edges closer to me. I notice what she has on. A slutty dress with a high slit dangerously up her thighs. If she moves the wrong way….

“You just became Godfather, you know,” she drawls, her tone low. “You need someone who understands your world. Someone loyal. Alessia is my best friend, so I know more about her than you could ever know. And this world…she hates it. It has always stifled her.”

“Hmmm.” A scowl easily settles on my face, but because of the dim lights, Callista doesn’t see it. “What are you doing here, Callista?”

“You’ve always known, haven’t you?” she whispers. “That I could love you better than she ever did. I see the way you look at me, Nick. You want me. Admit it.”

I stare at her with cold amusement. And in that moment, I knew the snake had been in my house all along.

The shrill of my phone disrupts the moment, and I lean across the table to retrieve it. My eyes fall wide open when I take in the name displayed on the caller ID.

My father.