12. Evelyn
Two days down and a lifetime to go. The way Alessandro masters my body”s orgasms has my thoughts wandering to him throughout the day. However, something feels different after he took me through the escape tunnel.
Lorenzo is quiet for most of it. Every answer to my questions is short, simple, only giving me the information I need to know. Questions asking why Alessandro threw him against the car go unanswered completely.
Instead of prying into their issues, I focus on my menu for Sunday dinner. Alessandro”s right about giving me some time to sort it out. The majority of my day is spent putting it together. The dinner, our first in front of both Families as a married couple, has to be perfect.
As Alessandro De Luca”s wife, everyone needs to see I”m onboard. I”m supporting my husband and my father, the Rossis and De Lucas, like the perfect daughter I”m supposed to be. Maybe now they”ll see I”m just as important as Shana to the organization. I”m more than the Rossi princess, more than a wife.
One delivery after another comes throughout the day for me to start making dough. Some of the dough is for garlic bread, and another batch of flour is for pasta dough. I”m falling in love with his kitchen. There”s so much space, especially without my niece and nephew running around. By the time Alessandro comes home, he looks just as beat as I do, but I”m still up proofing dough and making ravioli.
He smiles, approaching me in the kitchen. ”You”re really amazing, mio dolce. When all of this is settled between our Families, we should sit down to discuss some business ideas. I”m going to hit the bag and then shower.”
”Would you like me to join you?” I ask, with ideas flowing from our last two nights together.
The way Alessandro sighs tells me there”s rejection coming. The hesitation in his voice as he speaks doesn”t do much to shield my ego from the hurt. ”We won”t get any sleep if that happens. I have an early client meeting in the morning too. I”d hate to wake you, mio dolce.”
A chaste kiss on the corner of my lips doesn”t soothe the disappointment. I watch him head upstairs, leaving me to finish my meal prep. I”m not sure how long it takes me to finish in the kitchen, but by the time I take a shower and pass out, there”s no time for me to miss Alessandro”s touch.
Two sexless nights as Alessandro and I fill our days with his focus on contracts and clients. Mine? Up to my elbows in flour, basil, garlic, tomatoes, and a variety of cheeses as I master one dish after the next, freezing some, refrigerating others, all in preparation to impress the De Luca organization.
My father”s people already know I can cook, but I want to be sure the other organization understands Alessandro”s not married to some schlub who doesn”t know her way around the kitchen. I don”t want to be seen as an asset. I want Alessandro, and more importantly, my father, to see that I can be a team player, the anchor to this treaty.
Lorenzo arranges for the delivery of everything I”ve prepared, and Alessandro arranges a room for us in his uncle”s glorious home. When anyone thinks of Staten Island, opulence isn”t the word that comes to mind. There are multimillion-dollar mansions nestled in the nooks and crannies of the smallest borough. Oscar Baldoni”s is one of the most lavish.
Alessandro sits tensely beside me as we pull up to the ten-feet tall, black wrought-iron fence. It encases a property that looks like it belongs in Atlantis. A gold fountain statue of Zeus is at the center of a circular driveway. I”m in awe, to say the least, but I keep my composure.
Alessandro leans over, whispering to me. ”Thank you for going along with all of this.”
”It was my idea for Sunday dinner.”
”Yeah, but I mean everything, from the wedding on down.”
He looks ready to say more, but there are other cars pulling into the driveway behind us. The raucous sounds of my niece and nephew echo into the early Sunday air, pulling me out of the car. The moment Roman and Courtney spot me, they come galloping into my arms.
”Zia Evie! Zia Evie!” Roman”s eyes are wide as he points to the statue. Courtney”s giggle is one I haven”t heard in a while. She makes her way over to the fountain to splash water at her brother. Roman screams and is ready to retaliate, but I can”t have them making a mess of themselves before dinner.
”Oh, no you don”t, you two. Don”t start and drag all that water into the house,” I warn them, but their sulking is only temporary as they begin to chase each other, playing tag around the fountain. My mother sidles up beside me with my father joining Alessandro, Lorenzo, and Jenkins in front of the steps leading into the extravagant home.
”You see all of this, Evelyn. Look at what your father did for you. You married good and wealthy.”
Zena Rossi is a girl from Bayonne who fell in love with a guy from Brooklyn who ended up as the head of the Rossi organization. Her aspirations are to live like Alessandro”s uncle, but I”m content with living under the radar.
”This is his uncle”s place, Ma.”
”Tomato, potato, the family money must be long. Their property in the vineyard is highly sought after. Perhaps you can convince your husband to add you to the deed.”
I cut her off. ”Really, Ma? You”re here twenty seconds and already trying to figure out a way to weasel some money out of these people.”
Before she can reply, there”s an odd shift to the air around us. A stillness right before the sounds of something zipping past us. The first pop isn”t a familiar sound, but the commotion that comes after it can”t be ignored. Several shots follow the first. Chips of the extravagant fountain fly. The men split up with Alessandro and Jenkins running toward us.
My father scoops up Courtney and Roman as Alessandro dives in front of me, yanking me by the waist to pull me onto the ground.
”Get down, Evelyn!” Alessandro shouts, covering my head with his arm and sheltering me against the car. Chunks and chips of marble spray with every bullet ricocheting across the property.
Lorenzo moves with stealth to the trunk of the car, pulls out a few guns, and passes them to a band of men who take off in a bunch of directions.
”What the hell is going on? Who”s shooting at us?” I ask him in a panic. My pulse races and my eyes dart around. ”Where”s my mother? My niece and nephew?”
Lorenzo hands Alessandro a handgun, and he checks the clip before taking off his jacket. Alessandro looks over his shoulder just in time to see my father speeding out of the parking lot, but Jenkins is coming over to us.
”You”re rehired,” Alessandro snarls at him. ”Get Evelyn out of here.”
”Come on, Evelyn.” Jenkins holds his hand out, but fear keeps me in place.
Alessandro grabs me by the shoulders to shake me out of my trance. ”Evelyn, get out of here. Now! Go somewhere safe.”
I snap out of it in time for someone to yell in the distance. ”We got the fucker! We got him alive! We”re bringing him to the pool house.”
Alessandro growls, anger radiating from every pore of his body. ”My razor, Ren.”
Lorenzo pulls out a straight razor and hands it to Alessandro, who turns angrily to me and Jenkins.
”What the fuck are you still doing here? Get her out of here. Make sure you”re not followed.” The darkness in his voice scares me as Jenkins moves me into the car I came in. Lorenzo tosses him the keys as he and Alessandro stalk off somewhere to the side of the house.
”Uh, Jenkins, you can take me to Anita”s. You remember the address, right?”
”Yes. No problem, but I”m not sure we should bring whatever happened to her doorstep.”
”I just want to feel safe. I can”t go to Shana”s. That”s the only place I want to go. I need some space to think and calm down. Just get me there, Jenkins,” I practically shout at him.
He keeps his mouth shut and does as I tell him, driving me around in circles with his eyes darting back and forth to the rearview mirror. It makes me turn over my shoulder a time or two to see whether anyone”s following us.
Eventually, the adrenaline subsides. Jenkins pulls onto a wide street in front of an apartment complex in a so-so area of Brooklyn. It used to be a great neighborhood when we were kids. A place where everyone knew everyone. Then it went to shit, falling to the wayside when a local gang took over. Now?
It”s leaning toward gentrification with some Eastern Europeans taking over. After sending Anita a quick text, she meets me downstairs in her building”s lobby where she hugs me tightly. We head upstairs where Jenkins waits outside the door. Although Anita”s parents left her the apartment for sunnier pastures in Arizona, she keeps the two-bedroom pretty much the same as when we grew up.
”What the hell is going on, girl?” Anita asks. Skin as radiant as dark honey, full lips, and green eyes similar to mine stare at me with sympathy and worry. ”I”m just getting ready for dinner. You can tell Jenkins to come in. It makes my neighbors nervous when he”s out there like that.”
”I just needed a minute to gather my thoughts and I didn”t want to check into a hotel. There was a shooting at this house on the island. We were supposed to be having a Family dinner when all hell broke loose. Alessandro told Jenkins to get me out of there. There”s rumors about the Montegnas going after our territories. I wouldn”t put it past them to try something like this. The problem is we were there. So were Ma, Roman, and Courtney.”
”Women and kids used to be off limits,” she says. ”You want something to eat? I”m about to order something for lunch.”
”What am I thinking? I shouldn”t be here. What if the Montegnas have somebody on me or something? I don”t know what”s going on. Everything”s been up in the air since Peter took off. Now I”m married to Alessandro, and the day I insisted on doing Sunday dinner, it gets shot up before we can even break bread.”
”Calm down,” she says, holding my hands. ”No one”s coming into these buildings looking for the Rossi princess. No, wait, it”s the De Luca queen now, isn”t it? Tell me about Alessandro.”
”He”s a force in every room he steps into. There”s a ruthless honesty about him, and I”d hate to be anyone on his bad side. Sometimes, the way he looks at me, the way we are, we just have a natural rhythm about us that I can”t shake. It”s like we”ve lived this life before, but there”s still so much we don”t know about one another.”
”Take your time, then. What”s your next move?” she asks.
I shrug. ”I”ll probably head home and wait for Alessandro to get there. He”s got one hell of a setup that makes me feel like it”s going to be the safest place for me. I shouldn”t have come here.”
”Girl, for the last time, it”s fine. I get it. You can lose anybody on the BQE, and at the very worst, you can lose anybody within five square blocks of these apartment buildings.”
My heart races. ”Shit, no, this is wrong. I”m going to go home. I”m sorry, Nita. Jenkins was right. I just, I just?—”
”You just needed to feel safe,” she finishes for me. ”Girl, I told you. I got you. Always have and always will. Besides, you know I can still hop a good fence and pop those locks to the roof if I need to get out of dodge.”
”Just hearing you talk like this makes me sick. I”m not staying, but thank you for everything. Always. You need anything?”
”I”m fine, making lesson plans for the kids for the rest of my day.”
A knock at the door makes us both jump and laugh. Jenkins calls from the other side. ”We should get going, Evelyn.”
We hug one last time as she tells me, ”Take care of yourself.”
”I will, and thank you for this. I”m going to be a better friend.”
She nods. ”Of course, you will, by making me your maid of honor when you renew those vows in front of all your friends and family.”
She winks, giving me one last hug as I leave with Jenkins. The quickness of his pace has paranoia all over it. He remains by my side, speaking in a low tone. ”Alessandro just sent word that he wants you back at the house as soon as possible.”
”Did he say anything else?”
Jenkins turns to me briefly. ”I”m the help in his eyes. I”m just following orders for now.”
We”re only a few feet away from the car when I notice a guy leaning against the trunk of the car.
”Move it, pal,” Jenkins commands the stranger.
”I”ll move it soon as you turn over the keys, old man. Oh, yeah, you can toss the bitch in the back too. I”ll show her a good time.”
I look around at the brightness of the Sunday afternoon, wondering where a police officer is when you need one.
Jenkins growls with frustration. His long legs don”t take long to get close to the guy causing trouble. Only he pulls out a knife, but that doesn”t stop Jenkins from attacking. They trade blow for blow until I see the keys to the car fall to the ground.
After grabbing them, I pop the trunk, remembering Lorenzo”s arsenal. There”s only a handgun left, but it”s enough to get my point across. I grab it, eject the clip, cock it, and point it at Jenkins and his brawling buddy.
”For fuck”s sake, lady. You got it,” the guy says. He looks so much younger now that I can see the fear in his eyes. He scurries away, and Jenkins takes the gun from me before putting me into the car to get me home.