15.Alin
Alin
Two weeks have passed since the conversation with Luca, and I’m still sleeping in the guest room, even though Luca wasn’t pleased with this arrangement at first. After that night, he disappeared for two days, and when he returned, he assumed the persona of a cold, threatening monster, devoid of any trace of humanity.
He checks on me occasionally, but his gaze portrays no emotion. It seems he’s only verifying that I still have a pulse.
Living with Luca in his apartment makes me feel lonelier and more hurt than ever.
I lie in my bed in the guest room, my thoughts drifting back to that day in his office.
His touch ignites every part of me, his gaze mesmerizes me, and the image of his perfect body, etched in my mind, reawakens a longing in me.
I chastise myself as the realization hits me: I have deeper feelings for him than just desire.
I want him by my side now, more than ever, and I feel hurt that he’s abandoned me like a child losing interest in a toy he’s forced to keep.
I could never understand their world. It’s much bloodier than it is rosy. But none of it scares me, and it doesn’t seem to scare him either. So why is he distancing himself from me?
I haven’t spoken to Cora much over these last two weeks. I’ve secluded myself in the apartment, even though I remember Luca explicitly mentioning that I could go out as long as I’m guarded.
I have no desire to go out, and I don’t want to encounter Cora until I can sort out my thoughts and figure out my next move.
I don’t feel any hatred toward her, nor anger for keeping things from me, but I need my time to process all the information Luca gave me, without hearing her side. That way, I can decide what’s right for me without her opinion influencing my decision to stay or leave.
I feel selfish for leaving her alone in her situation. She probably thinks I hate her right now, but I needed to make sure I’m staying in New York and not planning an escape.
I decide it’s finally time to talk to her and leave my room. It’s at the beginning of the hallway on the third floor. I look towards the direction of Luca’s bedroom at the end of the hall. The door is open and there’s a light inside. I get excited, quickly walk toward his room, and peek inside.
Disappointment washes over me when I realize I just missed him. His room is empty, but his familiar scent lingers in the air. I open the door wide and wander around his room. His scent is so strong here that I regret not accepting his initial request to sleep here with him.
His room looks just like Mariano and Cora’s, only with different colors: black, red, and white, giving off a feeling of loneliness and coldness when no one is around. Both apartments have the same layout but decorated with different tastes and colors.
The cleaner and the cook doesn’t stay here most of the day. They come to do their work, finish quickly, and leave before Luca returns. I learned from them that they live in the staff quarters on one of the lower floors of the building.
I continue to scan his room, which screams cold, minimalist modernity. I pass by his perfectly made, enormous bed and look at a few family photos on the nightstand, one of which shows him as a child.
If I couldn’t see his gray eyes clearly, I wouldn’t be able to tell if it was him or Mariano. They look so alike.
My eyes land on another photo, of a tall, tanned woman with blonde hair and light-colored eyes.
Her eye shape and color remind me of Luca’s, and it’s not hard to guess that she’s probably his mother.
She’s beautiful, I think to myself, as I run my hand over Luca’s bed.
The black sheets are neat and clean, The cleaner leaves no trace of human life in the room.
I leave his room a bit disappointed and decide to call Cora. She answers almost immediately. “Alin?” she asks hesitantly.
“The one and only,” I try to sound confident but fail, my voice shaking with embarrassment.
“ Are you okay?” she asks without adding much more, and I hear the sadness in her voice.
“ I’m fine, I just needed time to process everything,” I tell her, trying to sound a bit optimistic because it hurt s to hear her like this.
“ Can I come over?” she asks in a weak voice.
“No need,” I reply and immediately hear a sigh of despair in her voice. “I am coming down to you now,” I add, and I can almost feel her smile widening. I end the call and quickly head down to her apartment.
The door is open when I arrive, and Cora is standing there. As soon as she sees me, she runs to me and pulls me into a tight hug.
Neither of us seems to know how to start the conversation that hangs like a dark cloud over our heads, so we just remain silent and head up to the second floor of her apartment, her playroom.
We sit down, and Maria immediately serves us coffee and cookies, as if she read my mind. I hold the cup and sip carefully.
“I understand from Mariano that Luca told you everything,” she says. I nod in response.
“Not everything. I still don’t understand your connection to this well-structured crime system,” I reply, my voice filled with curiosity.
She straightens up and starts to explain, seeming excited that she can finally get it off her chest.
“I’m sure Luca told you he was born and raised in the mafia, as were Mariano and Pedro.” I nod, realizing that Luca didn’t tell me much about his personal life, only about the mafia.
“I was also born into the mafia, but to a different family. I grew up in Las Vegas, groomed and trained to be a good wife for my future husband. My future was sealed from the age of two. In the mafia, you can’t marry for love or desire, only for the sake of strengthening alliances,” she explains, pausing to look at me.
It seems like she’s waiting for my permission to continue.
I’m surprised and angered by her words, but I nod, and she goes on, “The family in Las Vegas wanted to strengthen their ties with the family here in New York. Luca, Mariano, and Pedro’s father, Francesco Spallo, was the underboss and successor to the boss of all bosses at the time, also known as the Capo dei capi, who was based in Italy and managed all his business from there.
When he passed away, Francesco took his place, while also still functioning as the Capo of New York.
My father’s way of getting close to him and elevating the family’s influence was to give me, his only daughter, to Luca, Francesco’s eldest son, as his wife. ”
I cringe at the thought of Luca marrying another woman.
“Francesco had other plans for Luca and managed to satisfy my family by offering Mariano instead. Neither I nor the Spallo brothers could refuse the union, and so it was. Five years ago, at the age of twenty, I married Mariano.” She finishes her story and smiles at me sheepishly.
I take another sip of my coffee, which has cooled slightly while I’m absorbed in her story.
“I don’t understand, you and Mariano seem so happy together. It doesn’t look like this was forced on you at all,” I say, my heart going out to her.
She immediately laughs. “I was terrified for my future until my wedding day and even a bit after. I knew I was moving to New York to live with a man I had never met, and I was still a virgin. I adored my parents and had a lovely childhood. They didn’t deprive me of anything but didn’t let any man come near me since I was promised to Mariano.
I was so scared but never naive so I did my research.
I knew much more about the mafia than what my father wanted to reveal to me.
Women are not supposed to get involved in these matters,” she pauses, takes a cookie, and dips it into her coffee.
“I was proud of the honor I brought to my father by getting married. But I was afraid he was marrying me off to a monster. The rumors about Mariano’s father preceded him.
He instilled fear in anyone who even heard his name.
Because of that, I didn’t let Mariano get close to me.
On our wedding night, we did our duty. But after that, I kept my distance from him.
He saw the fear in my eyes, and instead of punishing me, he tried to make me happy in other ways.
He would send me flowers, watch movies with me, and slowly I started to fall in love with this man, who was my husband.
It seems I captured his heart from the first glance,” she says and smiles at me.
I laugh; her smile is infectious and impossible to ignore. It seems the black cloud in the room is beginning to lift.
“I’m glad you got your happy ending,” I say, feeling a bit of sympathy for the life she led. She places her hand on mine and says, “I can be overprotective at times, but you’d have to be blind not to see what happens when you and Luca are in the same room.”
I shake my head in disagreement. “Maybe it was like that until two weeks ago. Now, not so much,” I reply, my voice tinged with disappointment. She falls silent, probably aware that Luca has been distant. She’s really good at getting information out of the brothers.
“Let’s go out for a drink tonight!” Cora suddenly exclaims, trying to change the subject with enthusiasm. “These two weeks apart made me really miss you.”
I hesitate but realize I need to shake off the dust that has settled on me over the past weeks. I agree.
“I don’t feel like going to a club tonight.
Let’s just go to a bar, have a few drinks, and then come back to watch a good movie,” I suggest. She seems pleased and suggests we go to a new dance bar that opened about fifteen minutes away.
I smile, agreeing, and she immediately drags me upstairs to her room.
She dresses me in a white mini skirt and a tight purple crop top. I’m surprised when she decides to dress similarly, only in different colors. “Are we going for the Powerpuff Girls look?” I ask, laughing, remembering how we used to watch that show on my laptop when we first met and were drunk.