Page 33 of Memento Mori
His eyes grew larger in surprise. “Yes, boss.”
Franco shifted his focus onto Aaliyah. “I’m sorry for the disrespect Donna. It won’t happen again.”
“Thank you for your apology, Franco,” Aaliyah said. “Could you please tell Marianna, the Don and I will be down in a few minutes?”
He gave a nod and quickly left my office.
I went back to my desk and pulled Aaliyah onto my lap. I’d keep Franco close to me. He was young and impressionable. I would use it to my advantage before others did.
“What do you have in mind?” Aaliyah asked, rubbing her fingers through my hair again.
It was something she did to calm my anger. And if it wasn’t for her, I’d string my mother up and gut her like a fucking pig, for the disrespect.
“Don’t make a scene, bro,” Alessandro said, cutting through my thoughts of how many ways I could torture my mother before putting her out of her misery. “Just wait until the guests leave, then handle everything. So, it doesn’t look like you’re not incontrol. That’s what she wants. She wants the other Families to question your leadership.”
My mother’s dislike for Aaliyah grew stronger after our wedding, and so did my own hatred for her. When I was younger, I thought my mother’s love was unconditional. Then my view of her changed with her treatment of my sister. The person she was, she couldn’t hide from me anymore. She loved no one but Marianna Rizzo.
“He’s right, Tony,” Chantal agreed. “Marianna knows what’s she’s doing. She’s trying to drive a wedge between you two through your men. Make you look incompetent to outsiders. Don’t let her win. Wait and call a meeting when everyone has left.”
“And what do you think,Bella?”I asked when I gazed into her beautiful brown eyes.
Although I valued the advice of my sister and Alessandro as my Consigliere, Aaliyah was my Donna, and we decided things together when needed.
“I agree. We put on a united front, and when everyone leaves, we let the men know what we expect of them. You and only you are the head of this family. It’s time everyone learned to follow or face the consequences.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do.”
I planted a kiss on her lips, then took a sip of liquor. There comes a time in a man’s life when he had to make tough decisions to ensure the survival of his family. Marianna showed me every day while we shared the same blood, she was no longer my mother—she was notfamiglia.The one thing she would find out soon was I didn’t take kindly to people fucking with my family. Marianna’s days were numbered.
Chapter Thirteen
IT WAS TIME TO CHOOSE A SIDE
Aaliyah
Descending the grand staircase of the Rizzo mansion was like walking into the lion’s den. With Antonio and me leading the way, and Alessandro directly behind us, followed by Chantal and Razor, all eyes were on the children of Antonio Rizzo Sr., and especially on the new Don and his Donna just as we expected.
We needed to command the room.
Most of the people gathered were our enemies, many being a part of the Rizzo family itself. Only a few remained loyal to Antonio, as they were to his father. Now was the time to weed out the disloyal ones, including my dear mother-in-law.
The older members of his organization loathed me. Even though they remained respectful when in our presence their eyes tolda different story. When I was younger even before I understood his lessons, Abasi always told me to always look into a man’s eyes if I ever wanted to know a man’s truth because their eyes would never lie even when their tongues did. It was something I never strayed from and today we were in the midst of traitorous snakes. They couldn’t hide from what I saw in their eyes, even when their words said something different.
They always spoke their slurs and smears behind closed doors or behind our backs. Did it bother me? No, it didn’t. Antonio and I both knew from the beginning how this would all play out. Having an African woman as Donna of the most powerful Italian crime family on two continents was unheard of, disrespectful in the eyes of many. But their Donna was no weakling, despite their beliefs. No other woman would run this family by Antonio’s side. It was best for all involved if they got behind the direction the new Don was taking his family.
Holding Antonio’s hand, our fingers intertwined, we approached his mother. Of course, she turned her back to us when she saw us approaching. Or when she saw me approaching. But it was okay. I learned we would never have a relationship and Papa Rizzo told me never to try. She wasn’t to be trusted. It was best I kept her at arms-length, and that was what I intended to do once she was properly taken down a peg or two.
“Marianna, Franco said you needed to see me.”
Using her first name made Marianna bristle. Antonio stopped calling her mama months ago after she continued to degrade me, and because of her never-ending attempts to get him away from me. She blamed me for corrupting her son, just like Chantal’smother had corrupted her husband. That was the nonsense she spewed. I never responded to any of her insults, but her day was coming. While many in this organization looked down on me, I was the daughter of Abasi Sefu. They would all learn soon enough.
“Yes, I sent for you. Not her,” she sneered.
Her eyes, a vivid shade of green like spring grass, burned with contempt and anger. Marianna was a beautiful woman. Her hair, black as a raven’s feathers, cascaded down to her waist. Despite her age, her skin remained flawless. But despite her beauty, she had an ugly soul. No amount of beauty on the outside could cover the ugliness on the inside. Her soul was as dark as they come.
“Well, Marianna, where I go so does your Donna,” Antonio responded with as much contempt as his mother had for me.
She scoffed. “This is your father’s repast, and you are nowhere to be found. How does it look for the new Don to ignore his guests who are gathered to pay their respects to your father?”
