My Mafia Madness 2

Chapter 30 - S.O.S

The moment Alexa met eyes with Diego, she knew right away who the older gentleman sporting an expensive tuxedo was who had stepped out onto the balcony to join them.

It was his eyes that gave away his identity to her.

He had eyes just like Dante’s…

This man was Dante’s father.

By now of course, Dante had risen from his seat and closed the gap between them, blocking Diego off from Alexa as he glared in hatred at the older man in front of him.

“Cosa stai facendo qui?” (What are you doing here?) the Reaper demanded in Italian.

Alexa knew why he was speaking to their newest guest in his familiar language; so that she couldn’t understand what it was the two were saying to one another.

But he didn’t yet know the truth.

She understood almost everything they said as their conversation continued.

“È un modo per salutarmi, figliolo?” (Is that a way to greet me, son?) Diego challenged, still keeping his smile to mask the seriousness of their heated conversation.

But it was clear from the dangerous look that Dante was giving him, the Reaper was not happy to see his father here right now.

And if looks could kill…

Diego then turned to face Alexa, as if only just noticing her for the first time.

“E chi è questo bel fiore?” (And who is this beautiful flower?) he mused, rounding Dante and strolling across to stand beside Alexa, who was still seated in confusion.

Alexa looked from Diego towards Dante as the Reaper came to stand beside Alexa as well. He was being overly protective of her for some unknown reason.

Deciding to make a stand for herself, Alexa suddenly stood up from her chair to meet the newcomer eye level as she spoke in all politeness to him, outstretching her hand for him to shake in greeting.

“Alexa Myers… It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Romano.” she announced knowingly, surprising both Romano men as they looked to her in confusion.

“Bella e intelligente.” (Beautiful and smart…) Diego mused to himself in Italian as he smiled at her and reached out his hand to grasp hers.

Instead of shaking it, he lifted it up to his waiting lips and planted a soft kiss on the back of her hand, as others had before.

Alexa could see Dante tensing up at the sight of it but chose to ignore his jealousy here right now. There really was no reason for it.

Diego was clearly impressed by Alexa at first glance. But he was there for a reason, and he needed to remain focused on it if he were to succeed here this evening.

“It truly is a pleasure to meet you also, Miss Myers.” Diego admitted in English this time, his strong accent obvious as he lowered and released his hold on her hand.

“Please, call me Alexa.” she interjected with a smile.

“Very well then, Alexa. So, tell me… how did you know I was Dante’s father?” Diego asked.

“Your eyes.” Alexa admitted proudly.

“You have the same eyes as him.”

Diego’s smile only widened after hearing this, and he gave a deep chuckle before turning and waving down one of the waiting waiters standing at the entrance.

“Una sedia, per favore.” (A chair, please.) he commanded, and the waiters immediately moved off to go and locate a spare seat for the older Don.

But Dante was clearly not liking this idea as he called out to the waiters right afterwards.

“No! Nessuna sedia. (No! No chair.)

Dante then turned to glare at his father again.

“Stai andando. ADESSO!” (You’re going. NOW!)

“Don’t be silly, Dante. Of course, your father should join us.” Alexa cut in, frowning at the Mafia Boss as if he had done something wrong.

“I’d love the chance to get to know him.”

Diego looked to Alexa and smiled in delight as the waiters quickly brought out a third chair and scrambled about to set a third place for Diego at the table.

“Why, thank you my dear.” he cooed happily.

When all three of them were finally seated, Diego spoke again, this time to Dante.

“Are we celebrating anything special this evening?”

Dante’s expression alone showed just how pissed he was that his father had crashed such an important night as he fought to withhold his rage from spilling out right now.

For Alexa’s sake.

Alexa, noticing that Dante wasn’t replying, decided to for him.

“Just sharing a nice night out.” she announced, taking the glass of water and sipping from it.

“Ah, I see.” Diego grinned again, noticing how furious his son was with him right now.

“Well, you’ve certainly pulled out all the stops with this one, Dante. The restaurant, the private balcony, the candles… I mean, it’s quite romantic, isn’t it?”

“It was.” Dante spoke under his breath as he kept his eyes downcast.

Right at that moment, Alexa was about to speak up when she felt her bag vibrating in her lap once more.

Frowning, she let out a sigh and reached inside, pulling out her phone and looking at the screen.

Another text message from Willow.

But this time, it was clearly more urgent than the last.

Both women had always used a certain codeword whenever they urgently needed the other to make contact and there, displayed on her phone’s screen was a text with that exact phrased comment on it…

‘S.O.S’

Whatever Willow wanted to speak to her about, it had to be important if she was sending her that encoded message during their intimate dinner.

Pursing her lips together, she decided to head to the bathroom and call her friend. Just to check in.

It wouldn’t take too long and she knew that Dante would survive a few minutes out here with his own father to keep him company.

Clearing her throat and standing, she surprised both men as they too stood up out of courtesy of her doing so.

Dante frowned in concern as he spoke.

“Everything alright?”

She nodded as she gave her reply.

“Yes, everything’s fine. I just need to use the restroom.” she announced, moving out from her spot at the table.

Dante nodded his head, then signalled for one of the waiters to come over.

The waiter leaned his head in so that Dante could whisper into his ear.

Alexa watched as he did so, wondering why he wouldn’t allow her to simply use the restroom on her own.

But flashes of her last trip to a public restroom alone suddenly re-surfaced and immediately put those questions to rest.

The waiter nodded at Dante and then looked to her.

“Come, Miss.” he spoke in broken English.

“This way.”

Looking to Dante for confirmation, Alexa saw him nod his head in silent approval and she then proceeded to follow along after the waiter towards the restrooms, located at the back side of the restaurant.

-

Once inside the restroom, Alexa found herself a private stall and locked it behind her before sitting down on the toilet seat and pulling out her phone.

She began dialling Willow and lifted the phone, holding it to her ear as it rang only two times.

“Lex, oh thank god. FINALLY! I’ve only been trying to get in contact with you for the past hour or so!” Willow began barking down the line in a strangely frantic voice.

Alexa frowned, confusion surrounding her as to why her friend was so worried.

“Will, slow down!” she tried to gain control of the conversation.

“What’s going on?”

Willow appeared to be breathing heavily on the other end of the line for a moment before she happened to find the words and speak them aloud.

“Lex, the test you did… the photo I took…” she began to ramble senselessly.

“Will, what are you talking about?” Alexa cut in, trying desperately to get to the point.

“He found it…”

Alexa’s frown deepened upon hearing this and she couldn’t move.

“What?”

“The test you did in my room before… Roberto, he found it and-”

“-Roberto!”

Alexa almost shouted, stopping herself by covering her mouth with her hand and looking around as if she was afraid someone may have heard her yelling.

Lowering her voice, she spoke again.

“What do you mean, Roberto found it?” Alexa questioned in concern.

Willow let out an auditable sigh before continuing to explain.

“Roberto, he… he found it in the trash in my bathroom. He confronted me about it, but I… I couldn’t come up with a lie fast enough. I swear I didn’t tell him anything, Lex. He figured it all out on his own, the smart bastard…”

“Wait, so he knows I took a pregnancy test?” Alexa asked, confirming what she needed to know.

“Yeah…”

“So what? That’s not a big deal-”

“-No, Lex! You’re not getting it…”

Willow cut in, desperately trying to speak the words she needed to admit to her bestie.

Words that would change her life entirely.

“The photo was wrong, Lex. The test, it wasn’t negative…”

Alexa’s eyes bugged wide open as she heard her friend’s next words.

“It was positive all along, Lex… You’re… you’re pregnant, girl.”

Time seemed to come to a crawl as Alexa felt the air being pulled from her lungs and somehow found herself unable to breathe in again.

Her head pulsed loudly as she sat staring ahead, blinking in silence as the shock took hold of her.

It was only when Willow spoke again that it pulled Alexa out of her shocked daze, and she breathed in again.

“Lex… you there?”

Licking her now incredibly dry lips, Alexa’s hand began to shake as she held the phone at her ear and spoke in a soft whimpering voice.

“I’m… pregnant?”

-

“Hai un sacco di palle che vengono qui, padre.” (You have a lot of balls coming in here, father.)

Dante spoke with a deepened tone to his voice.

One of obvious warning.

“Questo è basso, anche per te.” (This is low, even for you.)

“Now, now… there’s no need to speak to me in such a way, son.” Diego reminded, once more speaking in English for some strange reason.

“After all, I am your father.” Diego added, smirking.

“You are my father by blood alone. Don’t try to fool yourself otherwise, old man.” Dante argued sternly.

Diego chuckled darkly, pulling out a Cuban cigar from his jacket pocket and chopping off the end to smoke it.

He pulled out a lighter, balancing the cigar between his lips while he still somehow managed to speak.

“So…”

He drew the question out, taking the time to light his cigar before continuing.

“The girl… she seems… nice.”

“You will leave her out of this. She has nothing to do with you and your twisted games.” Dante demanded, powerfully puffing out his chest.

“Oh, don’t be so dramatic.” Diego mused, puffing away.

“You and your late mother share than unfortunate trait, I’m afraid.”

“Don’t you dare speak of her!”

Dante snapped angrily, his eyes narrowed into slits as his hand slammed down onto the table and drew the attention of people seated nearby.

“You never get to speak of her again, do you hear me? Ever!”

Rolling his eyes, Diego continued to speak as if his son hadn’t just reacted the way he had in such a public place. Even out on their own private balcony.

It was as if the two were used to speaking in such a way to one another.

“You have no idea of how important this union is, son. Of what it will mean to our family.” Diego went on to explain.

“I already told you, I don’t give a s**t about all that-”

“-Well you SHOULD!”

Diego surprised the Reaper by cutting in over him and by shouting his last word in such a way.

“This family is all we Romano’s have left. Family is everything son, never forget that.”

Dante, who held his angered gaze downwards at the tablecloth in front of him, gritted his teeth together to help prevent himself from saying anything else that would attract attention from any onlookers or nearby staff serving them.

“The De Luca’s are a growing power here in Italy. With them as partners, no one would dare to go up against us.” Diego went on between taking giant puffs from his cigar.

“Power is key son. The sooner you realise it, the better off you will be in the world we live in.”

“I’m already in love with Alexa.” Dante announced, lifting his eyes up to meet his father’s, which appeared somewhat soulless.

Diego gave a snort, waving his free hand dismissively as he replied.

“This? It’s nothing but a fling. We Romano’s don’t do love, remember?”

Dante wasn’t sure what angered him more. The fact that his father had chosen to barge in here uninvited to their private dinner, or that he was demanding he marry some woman to gain him power in the underworld.

As he glared ahead at his father, he hadn’t yet noticed at Alexa was now approaching their table from directly behind him, being led along by the same waiter who had escorted her.

But Diego had.

And he saw this as a golden opportunity to act.

Seated so that he could in fact see her, the older Romano knew the best way to stir a reaction from his son, one that would cause him to break and say something he would later on regret.

And he knew the exact thing to say to do it.

“I will hear no more of this…” Diego commanded.

“You will marry Cellina and you will be happy about it, damn it!”

“I am warning you, father. Do not pursue this engagement between her and I…” Dante snapped, standing up from his seat in order to further add intimidation to his warning.

“I will not be pushed into something merely to suit your own selfish needs.”

The he heard an angelic voice coming from behind and froze.

“You’re engaged?”

Alexa’s voice sounded pained, deeply hurt as she spoke.

Upon hearing her voice, a rather surprised Dante spun around to come face to face with her.

He immediately noticed the expression of shock and betrayal she now carried on her beautiful face as she looked into his eyes with countless questions.

“Alexa…”

Dante spoke calmly as he took a step towards her with his arm outstretched to take her hand in his.

But she surprised him when she immediately took a step back from him, preventing him from doing so.

She wouldn’t even allow him to touch her, and it caused Dante’s heart to tear in two as he tried desperately to explain what was really going on here.

“It’s not what you think…“

But Alexa felt she’d heard enough.

After just learning that she was in fact pregnant and in such an emotional state at that moment she frowned at him, shaking her head and turning around.

Without another thought on the matter and feeling utterly betrayed by the man she believed loved her, Alexa quickly made her way back into the maze-like restaurant, headed towards the front exit.

She needed to get the hell away from Dante, right now.

“Alexa, please…” Dante called out after her.

“Wait!”

As he took a step to go after her, a strong hand gripped his right shoulder and caused him to turn and face his expressionless father who now stood beside him.

“Stay… let her go back to where she belongs.” Diego almost commanded.

Dante could feel his rage beginning to bubble up towards the surface as he pulled his shoulder free from his careless father’s grip with an expression of pure hatred and utter loathing.

“You slimy son-of-a-bitch.” he sneered through gritted teeth, knowing full well what his father had just done to him.

But Diego held firm, smirking proudly as he spoke.

“It needed to be done. You’ll thank me later on.”

Narrowing his now blazing emerald eyes and pointing his finger directly at his father’s face, Dante snarled one last comment with fury.

“I swear to you, you will pay for what you have done.”

With that he turned and marched off after his woman, intending on catching up with her and explaining everything to her at long last.

Perhaps he should have done so before now, but he couldn’t think about that right now.

He needed to stop her from doing something stupid like leaving.