40 years old
Silver River, South Mississippi, USA
Present
It had been ten years since I became Capobastone, yet people still had the ability to surprise me.
I looked at the mug between my hands, where the colorful marshmallows had begun to melt, and then at the waitress who decided it was a great idea to serve such a childish drink to a grown ass man. I slid my fingers across the porcelain, wondering how much more that tiny, cheeky thing could tolerate.
Senator Madeleine Jones was a bitch in every aspect of her existence. She walked in as if she were better than everyone else, too important for that establishment, and decided to humiliatethe little waitress by dumping her drink on the floor. Judging by the indifference of the other customers, this kind of behavior must be common.
I turned slightly, not enough to attract the senator's attention, but sufficient to observe the situation unfolding behind me, and gritted my teeth. There was something particularly infuriating about seeing the smiling petite creature who had served me moments ago kneeling beside Madeleine Jones, cleaning the floor with a rag.
But what did I expect from that old bitch?
Senator Jones had voraciously pursued political power for the past ten years. She used my brother and my cousin as a kind of banner for her cause. Every year, Alessandro Lombardi had to perform legal miracles to prevent the bitch from putting what was left of my famiglia on death row. Because, for Senator Jones, ‘crime must be severely punished’.
She also used Valentina’s murder, and the child’s as well.
She took what had been classified as one of the most heinous crimes of the past decade and made it the bulwark of her heroism. Senator Jones would make all criminals pay dearly so that, in her words, no other innocent person would suffer the same fate as Valentina Messina. Of course, she had no evidence, not even a clue, as to who was really responsible for the death of her beloved Assistant District Attorney.
And those were the reasons that dragged me out of Italy to that rural city in South Mississippi.
Senator Jones was starting to cause us too many problems, which is to say, she was wasting too much oxygen. I thought Valentina's example from ten years ago would have been enough to deter her from her ambition, but no. Senator Jones continued to insist on her crusade in the name of hypocritical justice that leveraged her political career, even leading to the former District Attorney having to be appeased.
The previous District Attorney, Sallie Moore, authorized Valentina to lead the investigation against my famiglia, paying little attention to it. She was the type of woman who didn't like to put much effort into her work, but after Valentina died, Senator Jones decided to pressure her to reopen the investigation into the Vicari business with the sole objective of forcing the court to review the sentences of my brother and cousin. We tried to delay the District Attorney's execution as much as possible to protect Mario and Lorenzo from any reprisals, however, last year, time ran out when we discovered that she had gotten her hands on new evidence.
No, we couldn't allow that.
In a tragic accident, District Attorney Sally Moore burned to death in her vehicle, along with all the evidence. At that point, the only leverage the American justice system had against us was the evidence from ten years ago and whatever Senator Jones still held.
We knew that the senator got her dirty hands on something, but we had no clue of what it was orwhoit was. That's why I was there. The new District Attorney, Olivia Goodwin, was in a standoff with the senator, and according to our sources, it wasdue to some kind of personal feud. A feud that benefited us immensely and got me the time I needed to tie up that loose end.
From the moment the Senator tried to send my brother and my cousin to death row, it became personal. And personal matters, I liked to settle with my own hands.
After a few more minutes of hissing something to the waitress, Madeleine Jones threw her a few bills and left the establishment without looking back. I raised an eyebrow, watching the little thing pick up the bills from the floor as if she was some kind of well-trained puppy. This had not been a mere power play. No. It was clear that there was some history between the two women.
I wondered if it would be worth finding out what it was.
Chapter 14
Daisy Peonia Mary Parker
July, 2025
Silver River, South Mississippi, USA
It was one o'clock in the afternoon when Oliver left to pick up my Aunt Lizzie, leaving me alone to close up.
Slowly, feeling trapped like a fly caught in a spider's web, I looked to my left and cursed inwardly. Oliver was so nervous about being Aunt Lizzie's date that when he left, he didn't even notice that the stranger from that morning was still in the diner. To make matters worse, Mr. Arnold had already left too, which meant it was just the two of us.
The menacing guy and I.
With wobbly legs and my insides turned into water, I took a deep breath, pushed my nerves aside, and forced myself to smile. I walked over to him, who had been facing me for the last half hour, inspecting me without any restraint.
“Hello again, sugar! I’m sorry, but we're closing early today. If you could—”
“Is it customary to call all the men who come here ‘sugar’?” My eyebrows rose at the sound of that question.Damn foreigners. “It means sweetie, right?”
