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Bloody fucking hell. I clenched my fists, listening to my team of lawyers in my downtown office. My addict, fucked-up ex-wife had found a way to get on my nerves. Again. She had gone and filed for a motion for full custody of Cora. Her sudden interest in my daughter, who she conveniently dumped at the laundromat when she couldn’t be bothered to take care of her, would be laughable if it wasn’t so damn terrifying. I would never allow that woman to come near Cora, let alone give her full custody.
The divorce had gone through quickly and efficiently. Yuliya hadn’t cared, and the paperwork was done before the next death in Cosa Nostra, and I had gained full custody. But that was before she realised her father would cut her out financially, which he had cunningly only done after the divorce. Now, it seemed that she was showing her unhappiness about the situation.
I stopped my chief lawyer, Roberto Popolizio, in mid-rant. He was a man similar to my age and a raging success, spoken wildly among his peers and the media as the biggest up-and-coming lawyer in the Boston area. But I knew him long before that. We had grown up together and spent summers in Sicily. His loyalty to me and, therefore, his anger at Yuliya could excuse him from stepping out of his professionalism to rant and rave about her. But no one could be more furious than me, the father, and as far as I was concerned, the only parent to Cora.
“Does she have the finances to take this to court?”
Roberto sighed. “She won’t have the means to finish a court case. But she definitely has the means to start one. You know very well this can drag on for a long time.”
“Her lover seems to have some assets, plus she has her trust fund from her grandparents,” a young woman with blonde hair and red lips in a too-short skirt spoke out of place.
I gave her a brief look, which was enough to put her in her place. I didn't know who she was, but I wasn’t talking to her. I knew this type. Grabbing at anything and everything to get me to notice them. Hoping this would suddenly spark my attention to fuck them. Money and power. I drew women to me like bees to a honey hive.
“Signor Capizzi was speaking to me.” Roberto glared at her. He stood up, dismissing his team. He waited until they filed out, a frown forming on his forehead as he watched the girl with the short skirt close the door behind them, giving me a sultry look.
“Just like old days,” he mused. “Is there ever a girl who doesn’t want to get inside your pants?”
I ignored his comment. I had bigger things to worry about than some bimbo wanting to spread her legs for me.
“What’s the plan?” I wasn’t interested in problems. Every problem has a solution. I wanted to know mine.
“It would help if Vladislav could cut her funds.”
“He has. But Yuliya’s grandparents refuse to disown their grandchild.” I walked over to the bank of windows. I watched the pedestrians and cars moving about way down below, each with their shitload of problems. Confusion overwhelmed me. I didn’t know how to go about this without getting the mobs into trouble.
“What are her grounds?”
“She claims you’re unable to look after a child. Yuliya claims Cora would fare better with her as her mother than in the hands of your staff. She can’t win this. Worst case, she will get split custody.”
“Which is already too much. There is no way she will get near Cora,” I said tightly.
“If we could just bring up her addiction. Plus, she abandoned her child. This is a no-brainer in a Massachusetts court. You will get full custody. Both legal and physical.”
“Roberto. You know better. We cannot disgrace her family. Vladislav might forgive us. But not his sons. We need to find another way. I need this kept away from the families. I need this resolved ASAP. Outside of the courts. Capisti?”
“Certo.”
“All I have heard are problems. What are the solutions? Other than ratting her out, which We. Are. Not. Going. To. Do.”
I knew Roberto had something to say by the silence that greeted me. I turned around. “What?”
“Get Vladislav to work on his parents. That’s already a start and…”
“On it. What else?” I asked, annoyed at Roberto’s hesitance.
“Get a woman.”
“Why would I do that? I am trying to get rid of one, and I am nowhere in the mood to get involved with another,” I said through clenched teeth.
“You can show the judge you are not single. The both of you can give Cora the home she deserves. Marry. A wife is more stable than a girlfriend. We can work on finding some dirt on her lover in the meantime, which we can then show as a failure to give a proper home to Cora. That is maybe not directly hitting on the family?”
“What kind of crap solution is that?” I paced the window, agitation fuelling my movements. Like hell if I was going to bind myself to another woman. Once was more than enough.
“That’s the only one I have, Antonio,” Roberto spoke softly. “This is a delicate matter between the families. If we can’t resolve it in a direct manner, we have to go around it.”
“And how do you propose I find a nice, reliable wife for this crap idea of yours? It’s not like any of the women I have dated will be happy to play mummy or even capable of doing it.”
Roberto shrugged. “Ask Zia Maria to set you up,” he said, referring to my tyrant mother. “I am quite sure she will be more than happy to set you up with a good Catholic, Sicilian girl,” he said with a mischievous grin. He knew very well my mother's dislike for anyone non-Sicilian and non-Catholic.
