44. Alessia
Chapter forty-four
Alessia
T his morning, I woke up alone and no longer restrained.
I stretched out my stiff limbs and noticed a glass of water on the side table, along with a folded piece of paper addressed to me.
Alessia,
You are one wrong move from making the cell your permanent residence. Do not think for a moment you are pardoned for everything you have pulled so far. I’m only allowing you more time to heal.
I’ll be down in my office most of the day if you wish to speak to me.
Your brother is coming over for dinner tonight.
Remember. This is your last chance.
Behave.
Balling the note up, I toss it across the room. “Behave,” I mutter and scoff. “ Stronzo. ”
No matter my evil plans for the day, I need to wash up first. When I head into the bathroom and grab for the toothbrush, I freeze. The damn ring I yet again threw at him is on my finger. Again! How the fuck did he slip it back on without waking me? I stare down at the colossal rock, then glance over at the toilet and then the trash can.
One wrong move from making the cell my permanent residence.
Not worth the risk. And though it’s in my nature to be stubborn and irascible, I might need to play nice for a bit if I want out of here anytime soon.
Besides, it’s just a ring. It doesn’t mean anything if I don’t let it. Just a big, gorgeous ring that I felt naked without for years. It means absolutely nothing .
Even though I took a shower last night, I need a minute before making any moves. I tie my hair up and sit on the bench with hot water running to bask in the steam. I need to switch up tactics. I can’t physically fight my way out of this. I’d have to really build up some trust with them first. Find someone I can easily manipulate and use to get me out of here.
The only problem with conceding, even if only for a moment to gain his trust, is that I risk falling into his trap, forgetting what’s real and what’s not. I risk falling madly in love with him again and I cannot allow myself to do that. If he were to break my heart again, and he will, I know I could pick myself back up and move on, but who would I become?
After hurting me once, I turned to killing people for money to cope. Hurting me a second time when I have yet to heal from the first, how would I cope with it then? Become a terrorist or something?
He had taken my heart, then crushed it. Now, he threatens the entirety of my being, and I will not allow him to lay waste to it.
Feeling as if I have detoxed enough of the bitterness to function, I get out of the shower to get ready for the day. I head into the closet to stare at all the clothing, completely at a loss for what to wear.
Part of me wants to dress sexy to toy with Massimo some. Part of me wants to dress like my old self in a modest dress to mess with him more. But then there’s a part of me that wants to show him that I am no longer the Alessia he knew. No longer the one who wears pretty dresses and an angelic smile, trying to disguise my demons.
Massimo wants to pretend like nothing ever happened, then let the games begin. Debutant it is.
When I open the bedroom door, I come to a halt. I knew there would be guards standing outside, but I didn’t expect to see his cousin. “Monte.”
He smiles and there’s no sign of what Massimo had done to him. “Alessia.” He closes the small gap and we kiss each other’s cheeks. “How are you?”
“I’ve been better.” I shrug. “So, he put you on babysitting duty again?”
He chuckles and rubs the back of his neck. “Yeah, seems like it.”
“Well, I promise not to taunt him with you again. I’ll pick on someone else.” I waggle my eyebrows and he laughs.
“Please don’t get anyone’s face bashed in.”
I glance at the other guy standing guard and don’t recognize him, but he must’ve had a good talking to because he won’t even look at me. “I’ll try not to. But you know I can’t promise you anything,” I joke.
We turn and walk side by side. “It’s been close to four years.”
“It has. So, tell me what you’ve been up to.”
“Well, other than the usual, I met someone.”
“Oh? Tell me about her.”
“Her name is Gia and we’ve been dating for about a year now.”
“Gia what?” I ask casually.
“Nuh uh. I’m not giving you her last name so you can case her out.”
Giggling, I stop at the top of the stairs. “Why not? I’m bored and I have a feeling I’ll be under house arrest for the unforeseeable future.” Until I can escape.
“You really think Massimo will give you access to the internet?”
I deflate. “True.” We descend the steps. “Well, tell me about her then. Entertain me.”
He tells me all about his girl next door Gia and how they met the old-fashioned way at the supermarket, and he thinks she’s the one. She’s clueless to what he does for a living and I’m sure it will be a major issue when she finds out. To the sound of it, a girl like her will never accept his lifestyle. A girl like her wants an ordinary man with a desk job or one who does something noble like construction. She’ll eventually want a church wedding and a house in the suburbs with a white picket fence and several kids and a dog.
Even as a young girl, I never dreamt of a life like that. I always saw myself marrying someone in power and staying in the mafia, though, in that dream, I had power, too. Right now, I feel powerless. Nothing is like it was before with Massimo. He put me on a pedestal, only to pull the rug from underneath it.
Monte walks with me to Massimo’s office, and I enter without knocking. “Hello, caro .” I saunter in and notice Ezzo sitting in front of his desk.
Massimo doesn’t respond right away as Ezzo stands up with a cheeky smirk to greet me. “So, good to see you, Alessia.” He kisses both of my cheeks. “How are you feeling?” He glances down at my cast.
“Feeling good. How’ve you been?”
“Good.” His smirk turns into a smile and goes to take his seat again.
Before addressing Massimo, I believe I owe someone an apology—a plethora of apologies, really. Turning around, I face Vinny, who is posted near the door. “Vinny, how are you?”
He remains stolid like a good little wooden soldier. “I’m alright.”
“And your foot?” I chew on my bottom lip biting back a smile.
The corner of his mouth twitches. “It healed.”
“I’m happy to hear.”
He nods his head once, silently accepting my half-assed apology because that’s as good as he’ll get out of me.
Still holding back my smile, I nod my head then spin back around to find Massimo watching me. “Have you eaten yet?”
“Don’t act like you’re not keeping tabs on me.” I can’t help my sharp tongue. The thought of being under twenty-four-hour watch is utterly affronting.
Narrowing his eyes at me, he visibly takes a breath. “Sarita requested to see you.”
“Is she here?”
“Somewhere.”
“Then I shall go find her.” I give him a cloying smile with my head tilted. “Unless you need me for anything, my love.” I bat my eyelashes dramatically.
Not finding any amusement in my theatrics, he says, “Go ahead and find her. I’ll find you later.”
“Alrighty then. And don’t you worry, my love. I’ll behave . You boys have a wonderful day.” I blow Massimo a kiss and leave as briskly as I arrived.
As soon as I’m out of his office with Monte again at my side, the smile drops from my face and I exhale. Frankly bored with the ongoing performances. Monte tries to hide a chuckle making me give him a look.
We find Sarita in one of the sitting rooms, sipping from a fancy teacup and reading a book. She literally looks like something out of an old English movie. Her light hair is perfectly styled into silky curls, and her dress is even more modest than mine, showing off the bottom half of her long and slender legs. Her head pops up, and she gives me a radiant smile, standing to her feet.
“Alessia.” We kiss cheeks and she genuinely looks happy to see me which is quite endearing. We may not have been close when I lived here, but we were almost friends. “It’s so good to see you. I cannot tell you how relieved I am to see you back here. Massimo was not at all himself while you were away.”
While I was away? She makes it sound like I was on some sort of sabbatical or retreat. They tried to put a temporary spin on it, but I knew none of them ever planned on us coming back. I’m only here because I got myself into some trouble and Massimo decided to keep me as his little pet once again. No need to burden her with my drama though, so I don’t correct her in any way.
“Come sit with me. Would you like some tea?”
I go and sit. “I could actually use a cup of coffee.”
Monte says he’ll be back with coffee for me and leaves us. Of course, I automatically think about using this opportunity to make a run for it, but I know I won’t make it far. It's better I wait until I’m at one hundred percent.
“I, uh, asked my mother to join us. I hope that’s alright with you.” She drops her head slightly to one side as she studies me.
“Oh,” I say a little surprised. “Sure, of course, that’s alright. How is she?”
“Same as always.” Her shoulder hitches briefly. “How is your mother? And your sister?”
“Last I heard they’re good. They’re home now too.”
“That’s a relief to hear. So…a hitman?” She shields her amusement with her teacup.
I return it with my own. “I prefer hit woman .” I sigh. “It was fun while it lasted.”
She giggles. “You really are a wild one. I wish I had more of your spirit.”
“You do just fine without it.” Monte comes in with a coffee for me and I thank him. “So, how’s Vita?”
The engaging smile on her face slips, giving way to a confused expression. “Massimo didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“Vita’s gone.”
“What do you mean gone?”
“She packed up her stuff and left. About two years ago. Managed to completely disappear.”
“What? Are you sure she wasn’t taken?”
“Doesn’t look like it,” she says sadly.
“And you guys don’t know where she is?”
Her eyebrows draw in as she shakes her head. “We’re still looking, but wherever she is, she’s definitely trying not to be found.”
“Oh, shit. I’m so sorry.”
Just as she opens her mouth to say something else, Celia enters the room. “Alessia,” she says smiling and I stand up to properly greet her. “Let me look at you.” She holds me by my shoulders to do a once over then frowns when she looks at my cast. “Oh, no, piccolina . What happened?” It’s not surprising she’s clueless about what’s happening. She’s usually oblivious to everything.
“Uh, got in a little accident.” She gasps. “It was quite a few weeks ago. I’m okay now.”
She joins us at the small table and pours herself a cup of tea. Her frail arms peek out of her what I like to call a moo-moo dress, and even though she applied makeup, you can see the wear on her from the depression she’s struggled with for so many years. You would think being free of Angelo, she would’ve gotten a little better, but I guess it was too late.
The afternoon I spend with Sarita and Celia is quite pleasant. I can’t hold anything against either of them because it isn’t their fault Massimo is a douche bag. And it’s a nice reprieve to put down the boxing gloves momentarily.
It was a pleasant way to distract myself from thinking about dinner with Tullio tonight. He came by to visit me once while I was behind bars in the basement. I thought he was there to rescue me, but after he saw that I was all in one piece, he decided to ream me out. He did so for so long I ended up passing out before he was done due to the pain killers I was on.
Now, I’m out of my cage that was located inside a bigger cage.
Time to mentally prepare for this.