My Mother's Boyfriend

What Could goWrong Again

Alejandro

In a dimly lit secluded room of a local restaurant, adorned with pictures of Sicilian landscapes, Angelo and I sat puffing on our cigars, the room thick with smoke and tension. I, with my brow furrowed, broke the silence, "Paul, cosa è successo alla spedizione di merci?" (Paul, what happened to the shipment of goods?)

The grey-haired superintendent has his hands clasped in front of him. His black suit is immaculate, and his facial features are unreadable. He might as well wear a mask. I could never read the guy, and it bothered me at times, but in all the years my father had worked with him, he trusted the guy.

But I know these guys will turn on you in the drop of a hat to save their own skin. I would never put my trust in a copper wholeheartedly.

Angelo exhaled a cloud of smoke, his expression grave, when the officer of the law spoke, “È sparita nel nulla, I. Nessuna traccia.” (It disappeared into thin air, I. No trace.)

Of course it did. There was always no trace because our pilot knew how to fly low under the radar. Undetectable always.

My eyes narrowed. “Chi potrebbe essere dietro questo?” (Who could be behind this?)

Angelo took a long drag on his cigar, contemplating. “Forse i Corleone. Hanno sempre avuto un occhio su questo territorio.” (Perhaps the Corleones. They've always had an eye on this territory.)

Paolo then entered from the washroom and my jaw clenched. His hands are now clean and void from the blood he had inflicted on himself when he repeatedly cuffed the wall minutes before. We must remember to tip the server a few hundred dollars this time for cleaning the blood on the wall.“Allora dobbiamo fare qualcosa. Non possiamo permettere che ciò accada impunemente.” (Then we must do something. We cannot allow this to happen with impunity.)

Angelo nodded, his mind already formulating a plan. “Prepareremo una squadra. Troveremo chi ha osato sottrarci ciò che ci spetta.” (We will assemble a team. We will find whoever dared to take what is rightfully ours.)

Our brother shakes his head. He thinks it a set up by the police. But why when we have them on our payroll? Practically the entire community worships us. Feared us, but worshipped us, nevertheless. We supplied the local hospitals and homeless shelters that uncle Austin handles. Heck, we even opened up and ran an orphanage until the age of twenty.

My mother did it in remembrance of our father. Education is part of it as well. College is paid for by the ones that showed promise. I know. Ironic considering what we do, but the point is to please the people. Loyalty can be bought in many ways.

“An entire plane does not vanish!” Paolo raked his hair, his eyes wild as he pinned the officer with hatred in his eyes. The sergeant holds his hands up, shaking his head, denying the accusation, again.

“I would never, I have too much at stake myself here, and I would never betray the Michals family. I owe my life to your father and my loyalty lies with him.” A testament to the power and influence of our Mafia power there. The man owed my father who had taken a bullet meant for him years back.

Sargent Paul’s phone rang, breaking the intense atmosphere. He glanced at the caller ID and said it was his close cousin, Sofia. She is the wife of the person who piloted the craft. With a sigh, he answered, "Pronto, Sofia. Cosa c'è?"

We spoke in a different language in case of eavesdroppers.

I exchanged a worried glance with Angelo and Paul put it on speaker. Paolo takes a seat next to the man and rudely puts his hand against his palm that he has braced on the table. Paul’s tone was soft, “Sofia, ti prego, calmati. Ciò che è successo è terribile, lo so. Ma non possiamo fare altro che sperare che un giorno venga fatta giustizia.” (Sofia, please, calm down. What happened is terrible, I know. But all we can do is hope that justice will be served one day.)

Sofia's voice quivered, “Ma come può scomparire un intero aereo senza lasciare traccia? È come se il cielo lo avesse inghiottito.” (But how can an entire plane disappear without a trace? It's like the sky swallowed it up.)

Swallowed? Sophia had no idea her husband was a transporter. Paolo pulled at his lips and shook his head no, understanding my thoughts with my deep frown and I nodded back.

I sighed heavily, feeling the weight of Sofia's anguish. “Lo so, Sofia. È un mistero che ci tormenta tutti. Ma prometto che continueremo a cercare risposte, finché non ne troveremo una.” (I know, Sofia. It's a mystery that haunts us all. But I promise we will continue to search for answers until we find one.)

After consoling Sofia, he ended the call, his mind already burdened not only with the disappearance of the shipment but also with the unresolved tragedy that had befallen his cousin's husband.

As if that wasn’t enough problems, Jon had fled the country, we learnt. Mexico will not save him. My father has a large following there as well, so we could pull some strings and get him. He knew the consequences of stealing from the mafia. He left his family as collateral.

Two days later, Jon’s ex-wife Ashley, called Peter screaming at him to give her back her son. The last time we saw the boy was when we left him at his grandmother’s house with his sister, his mother and her boyfriend.

Since Jon and his wife were very much not together, we left them alone. The boyfriend had been hiding upstairs that morning we went in search of Jon. It dawned on us that Jon wanted us to rid him of his family.

Surely not.

Not the Jon who worked for us with a friendly smile and jokes. It showed how much you think you could be fooled into thinking you knew someone and that could just be a facade. His wife leaving him is the reason for it. A hurt man is a dangerous man.

And in Jon’s case; also, a foolish man.

Angelo instructed Paolo to go meet with her and give her the great news. That Jon left her to the wolves, but the wolves weren’t hungry at the moment and that was her chance to keep quiet.

He returned informing us that he had somehow promised her that we would use our influence to locate the boy.

Angelo took a turn on him, his voice thundering. “Why bring added drama into our fcuking lives Paolo, hmm? Things aren’t hectic as it is? We have millions of dollars lost, a fcuking thief that we employed and might be working with someone to empty our stash. Possibly working with the feds here and this is your contribution towards it?”

Paolo bent his head and looked from him to me to see where we were in the gym.

“What could go wrong again?” Angelo dropped the weight he was lifting and left, his eyes showing all the curses he was throwing our brother’s way.

Many things brother.

Last night Maya told me that she had been accepted into the program and I offered her kind words about her achievement. Saying her hard work and dedication paid off.

She didn’t say anything till we were in bed. “It’s a two-year internship in New York.”

How am I supposed to handle that? She wanted to go clearly. Meanwhile, I haven’t been able to sleep since. My heart feels weird. It aches. Like a piece of me is being cut open...but in my chest.

She wanted to leave me. I treated her well. I even put up with her...girlish games that nearly sent me insane at times and she wanted to go from me still?

Haven’t I been good to her? I could have gone the other way and been exactly what she had been under the impression I was, at first. I can still become that man.