La Cosa Nostra

Chapter 3

We head into Luciano's office and I immediately look around. It's huge, everything in mahogany and dark colours. He's sitting behind his humongous table, flipping through some documents while Angelo is seated on the chair opposite him, scrolling through his phone.
"Don, she's here." Luca says and Luciano looks up, a hard look on his face. I maintain a neutral expression, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of knowing that his earlier remarks hurt my feelings a little bit. After all, I wasn't here to form a bond with him, I was here to get the job done and that's it.
He stands up and heads towards a door. We follow him and I realise that we are now in the meeting room. This room was huge considering it had to fit his men. There was something about Luciano that had surprised me though. I noticed that Angelo and Luca would only call him Don when they were working or around the rest of his men. When it was just them and family, they would converse with each other casually. No longer were they boss and employee, they were two best friends or two cousins. I had met other mafia leaders before and many of them were pretty uptight and conservative. Even their own siblings would call them by their titles. Some didn't even allow their spouses to call them by name. Luciano was clearly not like that. And I had to admit that seeing him with Frankie this morning did threaten to make my ovaries burst. Although, could you blame me? I'm sure if you saw a really hot guy smiling and playing with a cute little child in his arms, your ovaries would burst too.

Snapping out of my inner monologue, I focus on the projector screen in front of me. Luciano is leaning against the table while Angelo is behind the computer. Luca has taken a seat beside Luciano. Not wanting to be near the asshole, I lean against the other side of the table, scanning the picture on the screen. It looked so familiar and I racked my brain trying to remember.

Angelo looks at Luciano who nods, indicating that he start.
"So, a few weeks ago, we caught chatter from our contacts in Ireland that Connor O'Sullivan was alive and well. At that time, we brushed it off as rumours. I'm sure Thomas told you that we had teamed up with the CCC and bombed Connor's place down. However, a few days ago, we received this photo." He brings up a blurry picture on the screen but I could recognise that face anywhere.
"Connor was spotted here in New York. Word on the street is that he is trying to reestablish the Irish mafia's presence here in the States again. He also is rumoured to be planning several attacks on the Italian mafia's dealings and businesses to exact revenge and take over."
"You guys seem to have everything under control. Why do you need the CCC's help or rather my help?" I ask.
"Connor has enlisted the help of Liam Murphy. He has made him his second in command." Luca pipes in and I nod in understanding. Liam Murphy was part of the Irish mafia before Connor's 'death' and a skilled hacker.
"He's been causing trouble for you guys, hasn't he?" I ask.
Luciano nods angrily,"that fucker has been hacking into our surveillance systems and trying to sabotage our businesses. We have everything under our control for now but it's only a matter of time before he tries again."
"He's been targeting the Russians as well as other major gangs in the city. We believe Connor is using Liam to steal intel as well as possibly launder money and weapons without leaving a trace." Angelo says before pulling up the photo that had me thinking earlier.
"This is where his base of operations is. It's an abandoned mansion an hour outside of New York. The Irish mafia was using this as their residence before the bombing and we believe Connor is now using it as their operations base. We tried hacking into their security system but with Liam on his side, it's proven to be quite the task."
"The blueprints over at city hall are old and outdated. Connor has had some renovations done to the place and we can't get anywhere near the place because there's security cameras all down the road leading up to the house." Luca exclaims in frustration.
I swallow thickly as realisation dawns over me. I knew why that place looked so familiar.

"The house is pretty much like your standard house. The first floor has your usual living room, kitchen etc. He's done some renovations and built a huge room that's their control centre. The second floor is where the bedrooms are. The first bedroom on the right belongs to Connor. The second one belonged to his former second in command while the rest were empty. The basement is where he keeps his prisoners. There aren't any windows and all his prisoners are kept in separate cells. Some are chained to the wall while others are left to roam freely in their cell. He has guards stationed everywhere. At every entrance, all over the perimeter. He also has security cameras all over the place. There were a few blind spots but there's guards walking around all the time. He doesn't have much staff around the house. However, there's a lot of girls who come and go. I think you know why."
The three men stare at me in shock. I could understand why. No one had inside information like this.
"How do you know all this?" Luciano asks suspiciously.
" I've been there before."
I hear Angelo go "What" but Luciano cuts him off. He slams his hand on the table loudly before glaring at me angrily.
"I am not going to work with one of Connor's whores."
Did he just say what I think he said? Straightening up, I pin him with an icy glare. "I was not his whore! I was his prisoner, you moron."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sure your bedroom felt like a cell" he replies in a snarky tone.
Oh god, I had only been here a day and I already felt like killing him.
"What the fuck is wrong with you? I didn't have to feel like I was in a cell because I had the pleasure of being in one, chained to the wall like a fucking animal."
The snarky look is wiped of his face in an instant as he stares at me confused.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"I was there for 2 weeks. Dealing with that scumbag."
Luciano remains silent while Luca pipes in, shock in his face. "You tried to assassinate Connor and got caught?"
I sigh, leaning against the table.
"No. Connor had come to the CCC a few weeks earlier. I bumped into him and I guess he liked what he saw. He kept pursuing me after that but I ignored him. One day, I came home from
work and his men were in my apartment. They caught me and brought me to him."
"If he liked you, why did he chain you to the wall?" Angelo asks.
I give him a humourless smile. "According to him, I had to be punished for my insubordination."
"Wait. If you were chained to the wall, how do you know so much about the rest of the house?"
"For starters, his guards are complete idiots. They spoke freely in front of me, even when I was conscious. I had been there for a week when Connor gave me a proposition. Marry him or die. So, I pretended like he had finally broke me and begged him to release me, saying that I'll marry him. He fell for it and took me upstairs. I spent a week recovering from my injuries while learning everything I could about the place."
"Why didn't you kill him then?" Luca asks.
"Honestly, I thought about it. But I was in no shape to take him on. Although I had mostly recovered from my injuries, I still had 3 broken ribs and a broken arm. Even if I did manage to kill him, there was no way I could make it out of there alive. So I continued playing the part of a defeated woman, stroking his ego to fool him and one night, I escaped."
"How?"
"His guards change shift every 2 hours and there's a 2-3 minute window where there's no one at the post. I jumped from my balcony during the change and took it from there. Knocked out a few guards, stole their guns and escaped through one of their blind spots. Of course, Connor caught on half way so there was a bit of shootout but I survived. Only got a shot in the leg too." I say proudly.
Angelo stares at me like I'm crazy while Luca just shakes his head at me. Luciano who has been quiet this whole time speaks up.
"You said that Connor's men were waiting for you at your apartment?"
I glare at him, still pissed about his earlier comments. In a stony voice , I answer him.
"Yeah. Why?"
"I don't believe you."
"Excuse me?"
"Don, you honestly don't think she's -" Angelo pipes in but Luciano cuts him off.
"I believe that you were held prisoner and all that. What I don't believe is that Connor's men caught you at your apartment."
"What's so hard to believe? They ambushed me and I was outnumbered."
He gives me a dry look, "you're the best assassin in the country and you're telling me you had no clue they were waiting for you?"

I don't let it show on my face but I'm freaking out mentally. There's no way he knows. If he does, everything would fall apart.
"Alessandra, for this to work, we need to be able to trust each other. And I can't trust you if you don't tell me the truth." He says in a hard voice.
Raising an eyebrow at him, I counter,"that's rich coming from you. I just told you details about the house and you immediately assumed that I was one of his whores." I say in a sour tone. His face looks almost apologetic and I see a flash of regret in his eyes.
"For that, I apologise. That was out of line. Now, tell me. How did Connor and his men get you?"
I stare at the three men for a few seconds before giving in. Luciano was right, this partnership would not work if we kept secrets from each other.
"They did not get me. I went to them. I turned myself in."
"Why on earth would you do that for?" Angelo asks in shock.
I focus on a black dot on the wall as the memories come rushing back.
"I don't have any friends but Isabelle was the closest thing to that. She was a waitress at the diner where I got my coffee every morning. I'd go in, we would chat a little, she would hand me my coffee and I'd tip her well and leave. About a week after Connor started pursuing me, I went in one morning to get my coffee but Isabelle wasn't there. The other waitress said she didn't show up for work that morning and no one knew why. At the time, I brushed it off but when I was on my way home that evening, I got a message on my phone. It was from
Connor. He said he had a present for me and sent me a location. A part of me wanted to ignore him like I had for the past week but something told me this time was different. So I went. It was a dark, empty alley. That's when i saw her."
I looked up at them with anger in my eyes,"that bastard had killed her and dumped her in the alley near her apartment. He left a note saying that if I didn't come to him, he would start killing random girls and leaving their bodies as presents for me to find."
The boys curse angrily, mumbling how sick this guy is. I laugh humourlessly," this was all a game for him. He did it because he could, because he was bored. So, I went."
Everyone stays silent for a while, absorbing what I just said. After a while, Luca speaks up. "Why did you not tell us this in the first place? Why say they caught you?"
"I couldn't let CCC find out what really happened."
"What do you mean?" Angelo asks in confusion.

I swallow a lump in my throat before continuing. " Isabelle was a single mum. She had a son, Isaac. He was 4 at the time. Their next door neighbour was this sweet old lady who would babysit him while she was at work. When Isabelle didn't come home that night, she filed a missing persons report. When I found the body, I made an anonymous 911 call. The police came and ruled the case as a robbery gone wrong. I hacked into their database and listed myself as Isabelle's next of kin. I made sure she had a proper burial before I took Isaac to DC."
"What's in DC?"
"There's this rich couple who lives there. They've always wanted kids but can't so I faked adoption papers and they adopted Isaac. Let's just say they know who I am. I told them what happened and they were more than willing to adopt him. We made a deal that when he was older, they would let him know that he was adopted. I left a box filled with some trinkets from their apartment, photos of Isabelle as well as the location of her grave. There's also the police report stating what happened. Thankfully, he was still too young to fully comprehend what was going on so it made things easier. I check in on him from time to time without them knowing of course. He's doing well, he's in a private school and they're taking really good care of him. He's happy so that's good."
"I still don't get why you didn't tell the CCC about them."
Luciano who again has just been watching me quietly this whole time speaks up when he notices me hesitating.
"You were afraid they were gonna recruit him like they did to you."
Why did he have to be so perceptive. God damn it.
"I was an orphan when Thomas adopted me at the age of 6. While I'm thankful that he gave me a life, I would not have chosen this path for myself. I'm the reason Isaac lost his mother. The least I could do was make sure he had a bright future ahead of him, far away from the violence that turned his life upside down in the first place."
Luciano's face is full of understanding as he looks at me. For the first time, I actually see his eyes soften as they look at me. Luca gives me a nod, showing his respect for me while Angelo surprises me by giving me a tight hug.
"We are gonna kill this bastard, you hear me?" He says as he looks down at me. Smirking at the three of them, I say "Oh, he is not gonna know what hit him."

Connor O'Sullivan was going to be a dead man and this time, he was going to stay dead. I would make sure of that.