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“All her young life she has tried to please her father, never quite realizing that, as a girl, she never could.”
~ Alice Walker
LIAM
“She’s not all right,” Mina whispered to me when I got to the door of her office. “I tried to tell her to stay in the hospital but she wouldn’t.”
“I got it, go home,” I said, opening the door. She sat on the floor of her office, her heels off to the side, the blinds closed, a bottle of red wine in her hands.
“He’s lying,” she said, as she drank from the bottle. The wine spilled over the corner of her mouth but she didn’t care. She drank until she needed to breathe and then wiped the side of her mouth before adding, “That’s what I first told myself. He was lying or he has to be insane. But then I thought to myself, Melody, why were you so shaken when you looked at him? What was wrong? I realized it’s because he looks like Orlando. His eyes, he has my father’s eyes. And when I realized that, I thought to myself, how stupid am I? Of course, my father could have another kid. It wasn’t like he was celibate. I clearly remember women coming in and out of his room. I forgot that men like to fuck multiple women because everyone in the Callahan clan is so passionately in love with their spouses. How did I forget that? It is the number one thing you learn as a female. And just as I am kicking myself, I start to laugh, Liam. I’m laughing my ass off because guess what?”
I said nothing and she lifted the bottle to drink again.
“I have a brother and he is trying to kill me.” She snorted, laughing again. “Think about it. First my mother, who should have been dead, came out of nowhere and tried to kill me. Then my grandfather, who was the head of the FBI, tried to kill me. Now I have a half-brother, who is the mayor, also trying to kill me. Liam, I’m a living breathing telenovela!” She laughed harder. “I’ve even come up with a name for my life: ‘Las pasiones de Me
lody!’ I am currently casting for the next season where we are going to introduce you to my evil twin sister who is going to murder me and try to live my life. But!” She held her hands up. “I won’t be dead. I’ll come back in some dramatic way to kill her but, oh no, she’s pregnant. And even though you feel betrayed by evil twin Melody, you can’t let me kill your child! It’s soap opera gold!”
“Are you done?” I asked, hoping we could fast-forward through her crazy talk. She had an imagination, no doubt, and it only came out when she was either far too drunk or pregnant.
She took a deep breath and relaxed back against her desk, lifting up a piece of paper. “He sent me this a letter Orlando apparently gave him years ago. The handwriting is my father’s, that is for sure.”
Walking over to her, I took it, once again proud that I had taken the time to learn how to read and write in Italian.
Emilio,
If you are reading this letter, it means your mother has told you who you are: a Giovanni, the son of Orlando Giovanni, a man who came to this country from the small town of Bosa with nothing except my grandfather’s pocket watch and a new pair of shoes I stole from my neighbor’s son. Of all the questions you have for me, the most important one to you would be why I am not in your life. It’s very simple: our name is ‘Giovanni’, the one shown favor, but it is actually a lie. Nothing ever comes easy for us, nothing is given, we must take everything we want and defend it until there is no air in our lungs. My whole life I fought for my name. I will not just give it to you. You will fight and only if you survive can you stand as my son. Can you rule as I have ruled, as the head of the Italians? With our people, respect is earned, so earn your name. Fight for your name. Until you can do that, you can never be my son.
This is the lesson, the training I’m giving you. One day, maybe, if I’m lucky, I’ll get to see you, get to see my legacy and the family name continue.
Orlando Giovanni
“It was a lie,” she whispered when I was done reading. “All the times he pushed me and tortured me, he said it was so no one would doubt me when I took over. It was a lie. He wasn’t counting on me. He was bored or maybe he just set me up as the final obstacle for his son. Either way, the one person I thought was always proud of me, always saw the best in me, is the same person who planned to backstab me. My own father. I can feel the knife in my spine, Liam. I got played.”
“Melody, get up.”
“Liam, I’m not in the mood—”
“Get your ass off the ground!” I snapped at her.
Sighing, she pushed herself off the floor, wobbling slightly as she stood in front of me. Grabbing her, I spun her around. “I’m not sure who this woman standing in front of me right now is, but I do know she is not my wife.”
Pushing her hair to the side, I zipped down the back of her dress.
“Liam—”
“Shh.” I kissed the back of her neck, my hand slipping into her dress. “I’m taking the knife out.”
I could feel myself getting harder as she relaxed against my chest, breathing in slowly. I wanted her…badly…but I couldn’t, not yet. She was already pushing herself, the last thing I needed to do was add any more stress on her heart, whether it was positive or not. Instead, I just held her close to me, leaving kisses up and down her neck and shoulder.
“You aren’t just a Giovanni. You are a Callahan. I am proud of you. I see the best in you. That’s all that matters to me. When your father died, he entrusted you to me. I don’t give a fuck what the piece of paper says and you shouldn’t either. So, have you returned from crazy land or am I going to have to keep listening to the plot of ‘Las pasiones de Melody?’” I smirked.
“I’m telling you, we’d make a killing on that show.” A smile spread across her face. “But yes, I’m back. A little tipsy, but back.”
“We are going to have to kill Emilio, you know this right?” I knew she knew it, but it needed to be said.
“I’ve killed everyone else in my family already, why not him?” she muttered. When she tried to move away, I held her tighter to me.
“It is not the same. He started this. The whole reason he became mayor was just so he could publicly announce he was your brother, and in doing so getting the Italians’ attention. You are going to have to go personally to remind them who you are.”
