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“It’s true,” Mirella agrees, grinning. “Hi, Jeanie, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Fynn’s wife.”
“Nice to meet you too.”
“You’re staying,” Elise says and before I know it, she’s got an arm over my shoulders and she’s steering me toward a large table surrounded by tiki torches. A glass of wine appears in front of me as if by magic and more lights come on as the sun disappears and night falls. The women get themselves settled around the table, and I’m placed at the far end while Elise sits across from me, her back rod-straight, looking over the group with a grin.
“Please be nice to her,” Karah says, rubbing her face. “I know she’s new, but—”
“She’s a stranger,” Olivia says, not looking at me. She’s not wrong, but it still stings to hear it, especially the disapproval in her voice. “We don’t bring strangers into this home.”
“If Gavino vouched for her, that’s enough for me,” Mirella says and smiles at me kindly. “Don’t let Olivia get to you. We were all strangers here at some point.”
“I’m just saying, we don’t know this girl.” Olivia squints at me. “What’s your deal anyway? How come Gavino’s bringing home strays?”
“Olivia!” Elise laughs, sounding scandalized. “You were a stray once, if I recall.”
Olivia’s back straightens. “I was never a stray.”
“Your father married you off to my brother,” Karah says, jabbing a finger at her. “And now you’re giving this poor girl crap for ending up here?”
“I’m pretty sure nobody comes to this place with a Bruno brother willingly,” Mirella says, grinning bashfully and leaning toward me. “I was hired as Fynn’s physical therapist and ended up marrying him. And believe me, I didn’t want to get anywhere near Villa Bruno at first.”
“It was quite the saga,” Elise says, winking at me. “So really though, what is your deal, Jeanie? How come Gavino decided to break from his usual isolated and deeply unhappy self and let you stay with us?”
I hesitate as all their eyes turn to me. Olivia’s glaring, Mirella’s looking at me like I’m a lost puppy, Karah seems thoughtful, and Elise has a sharp squint like she’s measuring and judging me. I clear my throat, beyond uncomfortable, and take a long drink of wine to try to stall for time.
What do these women want? To protect their families, to make sure their children and men are happy and fed and safe. I’m a stranger in their midst, and I get the feeling that this is a close-knit group. All of these women are married to terrifying mafia men, which means all of them are strong in their own way, and they’re all older than I am by ten years at least. I can’t blame them for being suspicious. And frankly, they’re terrifying.
I tell them the truth, or at least some of it. “Gavino got me fired when he caught me snooping on my boss and he decided to give me a job, I think out of pity, and now we’re working together to close some business deal that I don’t really know anything about. I think he wants me around just to mess with Malcolm, but I’m not really sure.”
Total silence. It’s a crazy story, especially when I tell it in the broadest terms possible. Finally, though, Elise breaks the spell with a single, barked laugh. “Sounds like Gavino. That man does nothing that doesn’t directly benefit him.”
“You were snooping on Malcolm Strafford?” Karah asks, leaning forward. “Do you have a death wish?”
Olivia seems somewhat impressed. “She definitely has a death wish getting involved with Malcolm Strafford and Gavino.”
“Gavino’s a puppy dog,” Elise croons, head tilted, still studying me. “What I’m wondering is why you’d want to risk your life messing with a man like Malcolm Strafford.”
I go quiet and spin my wine glass. It rattles over the metal table. I try to think of an excuse, or a good reason, or something close to the truth that I can tell these women without actually saying why I hate Malcolm so much. There are parts of me that I don’t want to give them or anyone else, especially not Gavino, and my reason for disliking Malcolm is the biggest piece of all that. Finally, I settle for a part of the story that I feel comfortable giving away.
“He hurt my mother very badly. For years, my mother kept thinking he’d fix that hurt, right up until the day she died. Now I want to find him and make him suffer the same way she did.”
The table goes quiet. They’re all staring at me and I turn red, feeling stupid. Saying it out loud like that must sound totally crazy. I mean, he’s Malcolm Strafford. He’s famous enough that these women all know his reputation. The man’s a ruthless killer, a shark in business and a deep-sea monster in his personal life. If he realized who I am and what I want to do to him, he’d hunt me down, put a noose around my neck, and strangle me himself.
“To revenge,” Elise says, raising her glass and looking pleased.
“To revenge,” Olivia echoes, and all the women toast. I add my glass to the mix, clinking against theirs, and soon the conversation moves away from me and my dirty secrets and onto more mundane topics, mostly the kids and the men. I get the sense that I passed some kind of test—maybe to see if I’d tell them the truth, or maybe just to get a feel for the sort of person I am—but clearly, they’ve accepted me, for now at least. Olivia in particular softens, and I wonder if she likes that I’m here strictly to hurt a man that hurt my family. Hard to say, but she’s definitely intense.
I learn more about the family sitting and listening to them talk for ten minutes than I could ever learn on my own living in this house around them. Like how Mirella’s son Nathan is fifteen, a year younger than Olivia’s son Dom at sixteen, and another year younger than the oldest boy, Karah’s son Emilio. All three of them are close, and the ladies refer to them as the three horsemen of trouble.
“Just yesterday, Nathan throws his little brother Damian into the pool and it starts this big, huge fight,” Mirella’s saying, shaking her head, “and then Emilio and Camilla get involved, which only makes everything worse.”
“We have too many boys,” Karah laments. “And Camilla should know better than to get into that mix.”
“Can’t have too many boys in a family like this,” Elise points out. “You’re all lucky the men don’t have their children wearing body armor and carrying guns already.”
“Like they did when they were this age?” Karah asks, scowling at her wine before taking a long sip. “They all remember how things were. Those weren’t better days, not even close.” She smiles to herself and glances over at me. “Don’t mind us, I know this is a bunch of stuff you’re not interested in.”
“I’m actually really enjoying this. It feels good to sit around and just listen to normal family stuff. All Gavino ever does is complain and say really dark stuff and act like the world is ending. It’s nice to hear you all have just… really normal lives.”
