Nine
“Who are you to say you’re done, boy?” Vito screams, spittle spraying from his blubbery lips. “You’re done when I say you are.”
He swings back his arm, but I’m ready for him.
I’ve trained with Mika for years. Mixed martial arts.
I can’t get close to being able to beat the Cosa Nostra heir, but I can hold my own against most. And certainly against Vito.
He’s overindulgent, flabby, and out of shape since he never does any of his own dirty work.
Until now, I’ve never stood up to him.
Yeah, I ran into my good-for-nothing father when I was fifteen and forced him to tell me the sum. Things may have gotten physical. Too bad for him.
“At minimum wage for a forty-hour week, that debt would have been paid in 3.3 years, and we both know the things I did for you were worth a whole lot more than minimum wage, and that I did waaay more than forty hours a week, so that’s being generous.
That gives you 4.7 years’ worth of interest, which means my father’s debt has been returned to you more than doubled. ”
He looks at me with eyes wide with shock that turns to a dangerous anger, but I’m not scared of this stronzo.
“And since I’ve turned eighteen, I figure you have no hold on me anymore, so when I say I’m done, I mean I’m done.”
“Nobody walks away from La Cosa Nostra,” Vito spits, his eyes flashing furiously. “I’ll make certain you regret it.”
I’m not so naive that I think this will be easy. That’s why I’ve taken precautions. A security provision against anything the Viper might try to pull.
“Oh no, Vito.” I get right up in his face. “If anything happens to me, you’re the one who will regret it. You see, I’ve made sure I have a little insurance policy. Enough evidence to put you away for life without any chance of you squirming out of it or paying anyone off.”
Vito puffs out his chest like he might burst, and his complexion turns a ruddy shade of puce. If steam coming out of your ears was a thing, I think that would be happening right now, and it gives me a ruthless satisfaction.
“You would do that to the famiglia?” he sputters, almost beside himself.
I give a slow, satisfied shake of my head. “On the contrary, the family is perfectly safe; even the Don himself. I’ve made sure the only person incriminated is you. After all, you’ve been bitching about how you’re the brains of the operation for years now.”
He opens his mouth as if to say something, but I hold up my hand.
“Photographs. Videos. Copies of invoices with your name on them. Anything happens to me, and it’ll all be released to members of both the local authorities and the FBI. Multiple copies will be sent to people I know for certain aren’t on your payroll and who you won’t be able to corrupt.”
He looks like he wants to argue. I don’t give him the opportunity.
“Is it a chance you want to take?”
I turn and walk away, feeling a lightness I haven’t felt since I first came here. Sure, it’s the only home I’ve known for as long as I can remember, but I’m on my way to a better life.
“You won’t get away with this,” Vito screeches, his voice like nails on a chalkboard. As usual, he wants to have the last word.
He’s not getting it.
“I already did,’ I throw over my shoulder as I head out of the door for the last time and let it close to a resounding thud behind me, cutting off whatever empty threats the Viper might sputter.
I may have made a mortal enemy, but we both know I’ve won.
“I now pronounce you man and wife.”
There’s no fanfare. No guests. No reception to look forward to.
Rosa and Helene, Aspen’s mother, are our witnesses, and Aspen’s little brother, Milo, is banging on something in the background.
The registrar turns a leather-bound folder towards us so we can sign the marriage certificate, and a flash goes off, telling me someone - probably Rosa - has taken a photo.
I glance at Helene. She’s a pretty woman with a ready smile, but today, even though this should be the happiest day of our lives, she looks somber.
I know she thinks we’re too young at eighteen, but she must have known this would always be the end of our story. Aspen and I have been inseparable since we first met, and she’s been my girlfriend for years.
But not your first. That little voice in my head will always taunt me, but I push it away. She should have been my first. My first and only. Would have been if it wasn’t for the Viper.
Again, not something I want to sully our wedding day with.
I’m finally getting away. Vito - the Viper - Rossi may have stolen my childhood.
I’ve been free labor for the past eight years doing all the things no one else wants to.
The depraved and dangerous things. The things that would get me put away faster than I can blink.
And in all that time, I’ve been Vito’s personal punching bag.
But I’m an adult now, and I make my own decisions. And my decision is to leave. To walk away.
I’ve paid my father’s debt, probably ten times over if I do the math, and believe me, I have. Many times. It makes me angry every single time.
Not today, though, I promise myself.
Aspen and I, we may not have much, but we have each other. That’s all that matters.
That’s what I tell myself, anyway.
I know it’ll be harder than that. I don’t have a decent job - not that I ever did.
Not a paid one, anyway, so I figure I can only be better off in that regard.
Unfortunately, I don’t have an education worth shit, either, so as smart as I may be, there’s no handy certificate I can hang my future on, so I’m reduced to picking up any work I can.
Usually, the shitty ones nobody wants. But, hell, I’m used to that.
Whatever. As long as it pays for a roof over our heads and food on the table.
Aspen has a part-time job working at the reception of the Newark Museum of Art while she goes to school, and that pays the rest of our bills.
Sure, it’s a struggle, but nothing worthwhile ever comes free.
And when I look at Aspen, when I see the light of adoration reflected in her pale green eyes, the color of seafoam, flecked with amber, I know, without a doubt, it’s worth every sacrifice. I will do anything and everything for this woman.
Whatever is necessary.
“You look beautiful,” I whisper, nuzzling her ear, our heads close as we sign the document that will change my life. That will tie her to me forever. “La mia bell'angioletta.”
Her lips tip up, and as the sun streams through the small windows, lighting her pale hair, she looks just like the angel I call her.
Her modest dress, a knee-length cream with a swingy skirt and lace on the bodice, adds to the illusion, as do the flowers threaded through her hair.
I’m in my best suit. At least working for the Viper meant I always had one of those.
“Ti amo,” she whispers, her lips whispering over the side of my mouth.
I turn, making the connection more real.
“Anch'io ti amo. I love you, too.”
I’ve never been formally taught Italian, but after eight years of being surrounded by it, I’ve picked up much more than anyone knows…
except maybe Aspen. Languages come easy to me, and I’ve made a point of learning what I can, especially those used by our competitors.
Russian, Ukrainian, Spanish, and Cantonese.
I also know a little Heihua, the secret language of the Triads, thanks to an old groundsman who took me under his wing when I was about thirteen.
He wasn’t there long. Maybe a year, and I still think he might have been a spy.
That’s my own little secret. You wouldn’t believe what titbits people drop when they think you don’t know what they’re saying.
“Come on,” Helene says, hurrying us along since the next couple are already waiting. “I’ve booked a meal for us.”
One day - I make a promise to the universe - I’ll give Aspen the big wedding she deserves.