Mafia Legacy

Chapter Twenty One-Leo/Charlotte

Leo

It had been four days since dad was arrested and we still didn't know very much, or mom wasn't telling us very much. She was distant and stressed out and I could tell how much it was wearing on her, but she was trying to put on a brave face for us. It was hard to see her like this when she was usually so strong and put together. Mom was the calm to dad's storms, but right now it was like she was drowning. We all were.

I had only been able to talk to dad for a few minutes on the phone the other day. All I could think about was how things were going in there, and if he and Uncle Angelo were okay. It was hard to focus on anything else. I knew mom and dad had had a fight about Uncle Marco and me talking about a job. Mom wanted me to have nothing to do with the business, but it seemed like the perfect opportunity with dad gone. Uncle Marco needed the extra help.

She was having none of that, though, and I heard her and dad on the phone the other night arguing about it. They usually tried not to fight in front of us, so it was jarring when I heard it, and to make matters worse, they hadn't spoken since then.

"Looks great, mom." I said, as we all sat down to dinner. She was trying to make things as normal as possible for us, and while I appreciated it, everything still felt off.

"Thanks, Leo." She smiled, setting a big salad down on the table.

"Can I just go upstairs?" Cole groaned.

"Why?" Mom frowned. "You have to eat dinner."

"I don't want to be a part of this stupid game we're all playing. I don't want to sit here and pretend like things are normal when our dad is in jail. There is nothing normal about that, no matter how many times you make us sit down for a bullshit dinner and act like an actual family instead of trying to get him out." He snapped, glaring at mom.

She was completely taken aback by the way he had spoken to her. "Okay, Cole, you tell me how we're supposed to act. What do you want me to do? I've never done this before, either." Mom stared at him, waiting for an answer. When he didn't respond, she stood up. "You can eat if you want. I don't really care. I'm going for a walk."

She disappeared out the back doors and Cole, Lucy and I were left alone.

Lucy sighed heavily and rolled her eyes. "Way to go, Cole. As if she doesn't have enough going on.

"What the fuck is your problem, Cole?" I growled, standing up. "You know dad never would let you talk to her like if he was here."

"Well, he's not." Cole quipped.

"You're lucky he's not, because he probably would have slapped you across the room."

Cole rolled his eyes, strains up so fast he knocked his chair over. "So what? You think now that he's gone, you have to step up and be the man of the house? What are you gonna do about it? Huh?" He was inches in front of me now, stepping up like he wanted to fight.

I shoved him backward. "You've lost your God damn mind."

Cole recoiled for a second but came at me hard, swinging his arm and narrowly missing my jaw as I twisted out of his way. We both fell back onto the ground, wrestling with each other.

"You guys, stop it!" Lucy screamed, but it didn't make any difference. Neither one of us was able to get a good punch off as we scrambled around on the ground.

"What the fuck is going on in here?" Uncle Marco's voice boomed through the kitchen. A few seconds later, I felt him grab me by the neck and pull me off of Cole. He shoved us to opposite sides of the room and glared back and forth between us with absolute fury.