AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Alright,” Alessio says, speaking on theborgata’s behalf during his brother’s absence. “We’ll agree to your deal. Send Vari back now and Dahlia will perform for the rest of the production and our men will make sure that you and your show will be protected.”
“Excellent. Just remember that if you try to double-cross me, I have all the evidence I need to tie Vari to the death of the leading male actor.” Hector responds. “Expect your boy back shortly.”
I race upstairs to find Lucas and tell him the good news. When I reach his door and peek in, I see him and my mom sitting on the floor acting out a scene with the Batman action figure saving the day. After I’m invited to join, I sit down and join them. “Your dad will be home soon!” I tell him with a reassuring smile. He beams back at me before returning to Batman. My mom gives me the nod that says “I’ve got this,” so I return to the kitchen where Petre and Alessio are.
“We’ll increase security even tighter around the building,” Petre says. “And Dahlia, I’d suggest you stay here until this is all over and the show has run its course. There’s no telling what else Hector has planned, and it’s easiest to protect you if you stay here.” While I hate the idea, I have to admit that it makes sense.
Within the hour, Vari shows up at the door. But when Petre opens it, I’m not prepared to see how beat-up Vari looks. I expected that Hector wouldn’t treat him with kindness, but I guess I also thought he would be returned unharmed. I guess “unharmed” in mafia verbiage means “still alive.” He stumbles inside his apartment, holding his hand to his chest as if he’s trying to keep cracked ribs from snapping further, brandishing a blueish jaw and black eye. Alessio goes to give him a brotherly hug and pat on the back, happy to see him alive, and it makes Vari let out a small groan in pain. “Glad to see you home, brother,” Petre smiles, saving him the painful hug his brother gave. “You’ve looked better, but this will do, I guess.”
As soon as Lucas sees his dad, he runs up to him and Vari reaches down to touch the top of his son’s head. Then he looks over at me and breathes a sigh of relief. “Good,” he says. “You didn’t run away again this time.”
16
VARI
When I’m returned to my apartment, I’m relieved to find both of my brothers, Dahlia, and her mother all there along with my son. Already, Alessio has bolstered security around the building, and even though I’ve been in better shape, I’m happy to be home. At least until they explain to me about the deal they made with Hector.
“You what?” I ask, furious that anyone agreed to Hector’s demand that Dahlia return to the stage. “After all that I endured to get her away from Hector, the lot of you decided to hand her right back over?”
“I’m not being handed over,” Dahlia says. “I’m simply going back to work to finish up the show. After that, I’ll be done.”
“You’re never going to just be done with Hector,” I say. “He doesn’t operate that way.”
“Same could be true about the mafia as a whole,” Iris adds. She’s not wrong, although her input at this current moment isn’t entirely necessary or appreciated.
“There’s no way I’m going to let you go back to work with that scumbag,” I snarl at Dahlia. “I’ve done my best to ensure your acting career isn’t taken as collateral damage in all of this, but you can’t go back to finish the show. It’s much too dangerous.”
“I’ll be protected,” she says in a voice that instantly softens me. “I’ll have you.”
In my current shape, I’m not much good to anyone. I’m roughed-up and my negotiating hands are tied. But at least Dahlia is safe for now and I’m back with my son. That said, all hell is going to break loose when the rest of the mafia finds out that the play is going to continue to run its duration on Broadway.
By now, I’m sure that word of this fiasco has reached Brutus’ ears as well as some of the others. There’s no way they’ll all simply stand by and let the show continue on uninterrupted.
“Alright, I need to get some rest so that I can think clearly,” I decide as the beating I took to my head starts to throb. Hector delighted in having a few of his lackeys take shots at me while I was held down. “I’ll deal with all of this in the morning. At least everyone is safe for now.”
My brothers leave and take Iris back to her apartment in East Harlem. I tell Petre to assign a few men to look over her just as an extra measure of protection for Dahlia’s mom, even though I know Iris would hate the idea of it. Then, I walk Lucas up to his bedroom to tuck him back into bed and talk to him a bit to ease his worries.
“Did you get into a fight?” he asks as I sit on the side of his bed and turn his nightlight on.
“Only a small one,” I smile. “I’ll be good as new in the morning.”
“I’m glad you’re home.”
“Me too, kiddo.”
“Dahlia was really nice and took care of me until you came back. She gave me hugs and everything. Iris was nice too,” he says with a sleepy smile. “I wish that they could live here with us.”
“You do?”
“Yeah, they remind me of a mom and a grandma,” Lucas says as his eyelids start to get heavy and close. “It’s nice having them around.”
I’m starting to see that I’m not the only one who cares deeply about Dahlia—Lucas does too. She is intuitively stepping in to fill the hole of the mother that Lucas lost, and it might be one of the best things for him.
When we’re finally alone at night, I forgo some sleep to sit and talk with Dahlia over a stiff drink. I don’t actually think that anything is broken inside my body except for maybe my pride at getting the shit beat out of me. I soothe my ego by reminding myself that it was five on one. The alcohol helps to numb the soreness of everything else as I lament what we are going to do now.
“I really don’t want to do this,” I say, mesmerized by her glittering eyes in the low light. The city lights seep in just enough through my penthouse windows that they seem to illuminate her eyes like that of a cat’s.
“I know,” she sighs. “But I don’t think you really have a choice, right? I’m guessing that if you go back on your word, there’ll be hell to pay?”
