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The way this confrontation is impacting me.
“But by then we were already married, already committed to the same vision.” I face him, taking my place with my hips against the counter, my arms crossed, shaking hands hidden. “Your family needs to be stopped, Paulie. And I’m going to be the one to do it.”
“Who the fuck do you think you are?”
I ignore him and keep speaking.
“You’re a poison to this family, just like your grandfather was. We’re going back to the way it used to be—helping the community, making money, living life, but not fucking over the innocent.”
“You don’t know anything. That’s not how it fucking works.” He steps forward, pinning me to the counter the way he did months ago in the back room of Jerzy Girls, but this time, I don’t panic.
I’m no longer a scared princess without the whole picture. I’ve come into my own, have become the all-knowing queen who is tired of the petulant prince’s tantrums.
I stare in his psychotic eyes and lay it out for him.
“You’ll be given a choice, Paulie: fall in fucking line or go down,” I say, my chin held high. I’m almost relieved this is happening. I’m tired of hiding. I’m tired of not being a queen.
I’m tired of not being Dante’s.
“What does that mean?” he asks, his face barely an inch from mine.
If someone walked in, it would look like a lover’s spat or like he was about to kiss me.
“It means whatever you want it to mean. It means don’t be fucking stupid. It means you play by our rules—my rules—or you’re done.”
“Who the fuck do you think you are?” he asks, spit flying from his angry mouth onto my face.
But then a new voice joins the fold.
“She’s your new Donna, Paulie. Don’t be a fucking idiot and get yourself killed just because you can’t stand the idea of not being a piece of trash.”
It’s not Dante.
It’s not Marco.
It’s Teresa.
She walks into the room in a tight black dress, heels clicking on marble tile as she does, her arms crossed on her chest and shaking her head like she’s never been so disappointed.
“Get the fuck out of here, Mother.”
“No,” she says, clearly shocking her son. Paulie moves away from me, taking a step toward his mother.
“No?”
“Paulie, I think you forget, I don’t have to play by your rules.”
“Just because you have shit on—” She smiles before interrupting him.
“Do you really think it’s just him, Paulie? That my long list of lies and wrongdoings is limited to Tony fucking Carluccio?” She rolls her eyes like he’s an absolute idiot. “Do you think that’s what was keeping you or your grandfather or any of the men who you thought bowed to you from taking me out? No, Paulie. I have something on everyone. You don’t get as far as I have, live as long and as well as I have without ammunition.”
“What could you possibly have on me, Teresa?”
Gone is Mother.
Gone is respect.
Her smile is feline and if I were Paulie, I would be scared.
