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It was not Antonio, though.
It was someone that probably called me for the first time in my whole life. My brother, Michele.
I only picked it up out of curiosity. I really wanted to know why after twenty years, he decided to give me a call.
“What’s up, jerk?”
I heard a soft groan at the other end. “What a lovely way to greet your brother.”
“Honestly, I thought you butt dialed me.”
“That is stupid.”
Well, it made more sense than him calling me with his own free will. My whole life, he wanted to get rid of me. When I was a baby, he put me in the washing machine, locked me in my room, and flushed the key. Also, put me in the closet with many blankets over my head so I would suffocate to death. I thought he would be happy to finally get rid of me, but apparently, I was wrong.
“I am so damn curious why you called me,” I said. There was no need for lies. People told lies to people they cared about to avoid ugly consequences. I didn’t give a flying fuck about Michele, so I was always honest.
“I wanted to know how you were doing. You are in the enemy territory, after all. Is Mazzoni treating you well?”
“Enemy territory?” I asked with a snort. “When are you going to accept we made a truce, and I am a Mazzoni now.”
“You will always be a Falzone,” he said with a harsh voice. When it came to family, he was a little over the top. “If Antonio hurts you, he will hurt all of us.”
If the same words came from Gabriele, I would find it cute. Now I only found them suspicious. “Aww, you are going make me cry. Please don’t act like a caring brother.”
“I may not be a caring brother, but I care about this family.”
I didn’t know what to think of those words. It was the truth, but I was almost certain that his hate for me exceeded his values about family. “So, what do you want?” I just wanted to hang up and take my bath.
I heard Michele breathe out between his teeth at the other end. He always did that when he was on “edge,” like his nickname. “I want to know if everything is okay. I want to know if Antonio is respectful to you. I want to know if Chicago is taking the truce seriously. I want to know what they are doing, what they are talking about in their private meetings.”
Oh, so here it was. He was again pushing me for inside information. Honestly, I had no idea what Antonio’s business entailed at the moment. I didn’t care either. I was just focused on my marriage. The work was just a natural part of our lives. I didn’t care what he did, and even if I did, I wouldn’t tell Michele a word. I would never betray Antonio for anyone, let alone for Michele.
I rolled my eyes and wished he could see it and get angry. “Antonio is quite good to me. He is amazing at satisfying me in every way.” I could almost see him wrinkle his face and smiled. “If there are no attacks, it means they are honest to the truce, and what they talk about in the private meetings only concerns them.”
“We made an agreement,” Michele hissed at the phone. It was so easy to get him worked up. He was terrible at playing games to get information. He was too tense for that.
“I didn’t agree to shit, Michele. Maybe you should try to be more useful so Gabriele would love you. You cannot try to use me as a spy to do that.”
“You are underestimating what I can do, Priscilla,” he said with a murderous tone.
“I really don’t think so.”
I heard his harsh breathing on the other side. Damn, he was getting angry so easily. “If Chicago breaks the truce, it will be your fault, you know that, right? I am just trying to protect my family. We will be so very sad to find out you betrayed our family for your husband.”
I rolled my eyes again at his dramatics. “I will tell you if they will plan on killing Gabriele or anything, okay? Can we hang up and act like we don’t know each other, please.”
He didn’t say yes. Instead, he said, “I will be waiting,” and hung up.
I couldn’t care about his tense tone or his enthusiasm to ruin the truce. I was relieved that he hung up. I didn’t want to think about him.
Instead, I took a shower. I actually considered talking to Gabriele about Michele’s weird request, but all thoughts left my head when I saw toilet paper coming out pink when I used the toilet.
I just got in my sweatpants and tried to busy my head. I didn’t want to be sad. It was too early anyway. It was normal. Yet, the dark feeling didn’t leave my chest. It only grew bigger when I got a text from Antonio saying he was going to be late tonight. Even Dario gave me worried looks when we went out to walk Apollo again in the evening. I didn’t run away from him this time. I was not in the mood.
When Antonio really didn’t come, I decided to watch a movie to empty my head. I didn’t feel tired but hoped to daze off while watching it. Apollo was lying atop of my feet as I laid down on the sofa. Pretty Woman was playing on the large TV.
“Isn’t that the most beautiful necklace you have ever seen, Apollo?” I asked my dog when the opera house scene came up. Julia Roberts looked really pretty in red. That necklace was my favorite movie item ever. I was never a “heart of the ocean” girl. This red one was better.
