Page 82 of Luciano (Belles & Mobsters 1)

“Luciano?” Cassio’s voice reminded me of his question.

We both had drinks in our hands. It was late afternoon and my wife succeeded in avoiding me most of today and yesterday. We had a lot to talk about, figure out but the only time we found each other was at night.

It didn’t help that I had to deal with shit, so I was in and out of the house. Nico flew back to Baltimore last night. He had something urgent going on and a shipment to take care of. Alessio went back to Canada to handle his father’s funeral and he would have his hands full for a while, I was sure. Alessio’s father was a bastard and there’d be no love lost between my friend and him, especially knowing what the sick old man did. Yes, his father ruled the Montreal mafia but only in name. Until now. Alessandro Russo was the mafia head of the Canadian East coast as far as anyone was concerned.

So it left Cassio, Luca, and me to deal with everything. With Raphael’s help.

The Romano family was hosting their annual gala. Neither Cassio nor I RSVP-ed, but we intended to make an unexpected appearance. Right after our fundraiser. Grace never confirmed that she’d accompany me to my fundraiser event, but it was a custom for the wife to accompany the husband to the fundraiser. My mother never missed a single one while she was alive, always on my father’s arm. Now that my wife was back, I wanted her on my arm. Although she kept resisting her wifely duties. Well, except in the bedroom.

Last night when I went searching for her and found her in Matteo’s room, I had the oddest feeling she was saying goodbye. Even when we went back to our bedroom. Every touch felt like a goodbye. It had to be my paranoia because Grace would give her life for her son. She’d never leave him behind.

One thing was for sure though. Something shifted between me and my wife last night. Albeit, I wasn’t sure if it shifted in the right direction.

“It’s going great,” I muttered in response to Cassio’s question and gulped the drink down.

“That good, huh?” I couldn’t fool anyone.

Even a blind man could see Grace hated my guts, resented me. Yes, her body melted under me, but that was as far as it went. Her body responded to me but her walls were strongholds keeping me away.

She avoided me at every turn. She cleared the room before I even had a chance to open my mouth. We lived in the same house, but you’d think we lived in different states as little as we talked.

“Have you tried talking to her?” Cassio asked the obvious.

I shot him a glare. “And say what? Let’s start over.”

He observed me pensively. “Well, you could start with that.”

“Right. And knowing all you do, would you start over?”

“Well, first of all. I know the entire story and know that gun was empty. She doesn’t. If I didn’t know it, I’d tell you to give it up, and you have no chance with her. As it stands, I think you have a real chance.”

I poured myself another glass. I’ve done some fucked up shit over the last three years. Those first few months after she left me, I was on a rampage. I tried to take many women to bed, desperate to get Grace out of my system. I was so fucked I couldn’t ever take it all the way. It was all wrong, with every single one of them. I couldn’t even get hard for them - they smelled wrong, felt wrong, looked wrong. They were all wrong! After three months, I realized I was doomed. There wouldn’t be a woman ever to capture me the way my wife did. But she was out of my reach. Disappeared without a trace.

Obviously, Grace had men too. She had no issues taking it all the way. After all, she got knocked up. Jealousy burned through my veins that she’d care about another man so much to have his child. When we got married, she insisted on not having children. It would seem she just didn’t want them with me.

Who was the father? I already had Massimo digging for a name. The girls’ passports and Matteo’s were all fake, high quality fake passports.

Could we somehow overcome the fact that I put a gun to my wife’s head, although it was empty? Would she ever forgive me that I left her at her uncle’s doorstep like a stray dog, that I tried to fuck a number of faceless, nameless women trying to get over her? Could I get over the fact she had another man’s baby?

These were some large obstacles. Not to mention the trust issues we both had.

“Did you get the name of the kid’s father yet?” Cassio’s question pulled me out of my thousand questions.

“What makes you think I’m looking for the name?”

He laughed. “I know you, Luciano. You are digging for that shit like your life depends on it.”

I took a deep breath. There was no sense in denying it.

“So far nothing. Those two did a good job covering their trails and paperwork.” In fact, I’d like to know how in the world they knew how to get fake passports and documentation. “Whoever they used for it, did a good job hiding their shit.”

Cassio studied me, like there was something on his mind. “If you want to say something, just spit the shit out. I’m not in the mood for guessing games, Cassio. I have enough of that going on with my wife.”

Both Cassio and I were already dressed in our tuxedos for tonight’s fundraiser. Of course, we both carried concealed weapons under our jackets. We would not be caught unaware. You never knew when the shadows of our enemies were ready to strike. Just look at my mother and sister. My father thought he was safe, and the one time he didn’t have a weapon on him, our enemies struck.

“He’s a good looking kid.” I didn’t expect him to say that at all. “Kind of looks like you.”

A bitter laugh escaped me. “Now you are just being a fucking asshole.”

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