Stacey and the boys were nowhere to be found. I've been searching for them for like 15 minutes. Uncle Ben's mansion is so huge that it will take a whole hour just to tour around it. What was Paulie thinking? I'll remember next time to stick to the yard and never listen to him again. Gosh! I hated when It was my turn to seek. Stacey was always harder to find because of her flexibility. She was taking her training too seriously for an 8-year-old. But age didn't stop Aunt Mi to suggest that she take combat lessons from Giovanni early to become a strong woman in the future and Uncle Ben agreed immediately. Even I and the boys only began training when we turned 10. The little cheeky cat hid as her life depended on it.
I was passing by the office from where Uncle Ben, Uncle Fred, Santino and my dad were having a meeting. It was while these meetings and talks that we got to spend time with Stacey and it was my favourite thing about coming to California. The door creaked open and I turned back to see my dad appearing out of the room with a ringing phone in his hand. "Hey buddy wrap up the game soon okay we have to leave in 30 minutes," he said before attending the call and walking down the hall towards the staircase to talk over the phone. I've heard my father talking about the family feud going on between us and the Corleones. That must be why the Carpet was held. Salvatore, my buddy from middle school is a Corleone. I hope they don't plan on attacking them or anything because Sal would totally hit the shit outta me if something happens to his father or uncles because of my father or his friends in the business. I wanted to make sure they weren't talking about the Corleones so I did the most stupid thing a kid can do in serious situations like this. I peeked in from the already creaked open office door to listen to what they were saying. The game can wait. This is more important.
"So Ben, I was talking to Santino and the capos of west and east ends." Uncle Fred began hesitantly as he stood from his chair and started pacing about in front of the huge mahogany desk behind which Uncle Ben was perched on. The desk was brimmed with files of various kinds and a computer. Santino had a drink in his hands, taking small sips while looking at Uncle Ben through the rim of the glass. "They weren't much happy with the idea of a woman becoming a Donna. The number of Donnas in Cosa Nostra is sparse and you know it."
Uncle Ben let out a sigh as he leaned on his elbows placed on the table and raked his fingers through his hair. "I thought this talk was over Freddo. You and I both know that times will change and how many Donnas or Godmothers can the Cosa Nostra have when people in power like you don't even plant the seed for it? It's already decided Freddo. I don't want any of the other Marino swines taking my place. They are far from noble like the real Marino. C'era solo un vero Marino. Ed è morto da tempo. Non c'è mai stato un uomo come Adone e non ci sarà mai." (There was only one real Marino. And he's long gone. There never walked a man like Adone and there never will.)
I could feel the tension increasing from the outside.
Santino was gripping his glass so tightly I feared it would break and spill the contents all over Stacey's favourite rug. But they both looked unemotional from the outside.
"It's been years since we joined our hands, Ben. But never in my life did I realize that you were so beyond the help of your trusted advisor or your Amico. I tried Ben.. I really did. But I can't anymore."
"What do you mean?" Uncle Ben was becoming more and more alert and his body turned rigid as each word passed through uncle Fred's mouth.
"Beh, voglio dire solo che non c'è mai stato un uomo come Benjamin e non ci sarà mai"
(Well, I just mean that there never walked a man like Benjamin and there never will.) I knew the moment those low voiced words escaped from uncle Fred that this was trouble. He was slowly walking towards Uncle Ben and Santino placed the glass near the right front leg of the chair he was sitting, on the farthest corner of the large office.
I turned on my heels and ran as fast as I could down the hall and towards the stairways that led to the third floor hoping to God that Stacey was hiding there. The right move was to inform papa about what was going on but that thought vanished the moment I doubted papa's loyalty towards Uncle Ben too. What if he knew about all this and purposefully left the room? I couldn't let him know that I had caught on to the betrayal of uncle Fred. No. I wanted to find Stacey and bring her to our place before they harm her in any way.
"STACEYYY! Stacey, I'm not playing around come out right now!! We need to leave" I yelled from the third floor and that's when I heard it. Three gunshots.
I was frozen to the spot I was standing on. My breathing erratic and my heart threatening to come out of my body. I almost didn't hear the little hurrying footsteps coming from the eastern quarters of the floor. I abruptly turned back to see a girl running my way wearing a black jumpsuit over a simple white t-shirt. Her forehead was coated with beads of sweat and her breathing just as erratic as mine. Her grey-blue eyes wide in panic and fear.
"What's happening Lulu?" She whispered as she came to a stop just in front of me.
Without answering her I took her small hand in mine and ran to God knows where. The boys knew to go to papa when stuff like this happened. So I wasn't worried about them. I led her through the small spiralling stairways that the maids used and towards the huge laundry hall they had. Stacey wasn't making any kind of protest as I was running with her, tugging her left arm with my right arm. We reached the laundry hall to see different types of washing machines and huge baskets and cupboards. Even though the area was huge, almost all the space was occupied with different pieces of furniture and machines that we had plenty of places to hide. I pulled her towards the back of a row of old dryers, settling myself facing the rear of the dryers and pressing my back against the wall guiding her to sit in front of me. Her back flushed against my chest. I didn't realize she was crying until I took a look into her face from over her shoulders. I've never seen her cry before and I couldn't bear to watch it. "Everything is going to be okay Stacey. I'll talk to papa and take you away with us to New York." I cooed into her ears hugging her closely forcing her head gently towards my shoulder.
"It was my dad? They shot my dad?"
I shushed her unable to listen to the trembling of her voice.
"Luca!" I heard papa's voice coming from the doorway of the laundry room. "Luca we need to leave right now! Where are the hell are you!?"
Stacey held on to my arms not wanting to let go as she heard papa shouting my name. The heavy footsteps getting louder and stopping just in front of the dryers we were hiding behind. Our loud breathing was enough to give away the hiding place. Papa rounded the last set of dryers and stood by our side but I didn't want to let Stacey go and held her just as tightly.
"We need to leave son. Come on" He said now in a gentler tone seeing the state in which we were. He knew that we heard it. His eyes showed guilt and sympathy. He reached his hands out to take Stacey from my arms but I didn't budge. But there was only so much a 12-year-old could do against a 35-year-old Don. He forced Stacey out of my hold and hugged her closely kissing her forehead muttering apologies and telling her to take good care of herself. Just as I was about to pull her back towards my arms, four strong arms caught me and held me back from reaching her. "Ricardo, take him back to the car with the boys and leave immediately. I'll leave with Sonny" He ordered to one of his guards who accompanied us from New York.
"No papa we can't leave her!" I couldn't believe what I was hearing from the great Vito Lombardo who was known amongst the leaders as the kindest of all dons. I started struggling aggressively as they were pulling me back to the exit. I saw that Papa was holding Stacey back from me too as she tried to reach out to me. I tried to grab her arms but just as our skin made contact, one of the guards took a hold of it and threw me like a rag doll against his bulky shoulder and started walking towards the doorway with me still struggling and yelling. "Papaa we can't leave her!!! Pleaseee.."
The last thing I saw was her exhausted figure fighting papa to get away from his hold while screaming my name. "LULUU!!"
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Mafia slang:
Carpet: A serious meeting of at least two families to discuss business.
Donna: The short form of the honorific nobildonna, the female form of Don in Italian.
So that was the prologue 😌 A girl's gotta begin from somewhere right?
This was written from the point of view of a young boy so I'm sorry if that sounded a little bit unappealing and childish cus he is a child 😌 duh..
And the kids in the picture above looks nothing like 8 and 12-year-olds so I'm sorry for that 😅
Word count:1718
Please vote if you liked the prologue and let me know what you think in the comments <3