"Where are your headquarters in New York?" matisse screams as Luciano slices down his arms with two different knives. "St Patrick's Cathedral!" he screams again pushing against his chains.
Luciano walks over and puts the knives down on the table. "What did you just say?" Hazel stands up and Matisse tries to calm himself down "how did they take over St Patrick's?" he hums through the pain.
"mass still happens but other than that the church is where we always are" i nod "my mother's not christian shes hellenic, so why a church?" i stand up and walk next to hazel
"I don't know, I joined the mafia 6 months ago and was sent here three months in." i nod that's why he talks so much he's a barely a newbie
"Why did you join the French mafia?" I hear Stefano speak from behind me "my twin brother owed a lot of money. He didn't have it so it was the price I never wanted in this life" damn that's embarrassing.
"That answers all of our questions" dad speaks from behind me "i have one more question" i step forward closer to him "why is my mother sending people even before she knew we were looking for her?" I tilt my head.
"she wants you to join her mafia, she needs a powerful heir, it's the only reason you were born" i pause "what?" i don't even believe him but matisse gets quite. why does that sting so much. my stomach hurts and my throat feels tight at the new information.
"okay that answers all of our questions" i don't want to know anymore. we have what we need i just have to suck it up. "i'm free to go" hope fills his eyes "no" i hear a gun click and fear fills his face "but you said" i laugh a bit "i lied idiot"
dad walks forward and presses the gun barrel to his head "i hate rats" Matisse looks up "please" dad presses the trigger and Matisse falls limp and dad pulls away
"Okay i'm going to finish my meeting, you all can take the rest of the day off" dad rubs his temples and walks out of the room. I turn my head to hazel and take her hand walking upstairs.
"I really need a drink" I sigh and she laughs. "I think we all need one." I hear Stefano speak from behind me. "I'll make them" hazel skips two steps and makes it to the top of the stairs into the hallway.
Hazel skips over to the bar and slides into the bar grabbing the vodka "what should I make?" she taps the vodka "make a cosmopolitan" stefano sits to my left and luciano sits to my right.
Hazel grabs the limes,simple syrup, and the cranberry juice from the small fridge underneath the bar "wheres alice?" i lean on stefano and he hum "she's at the bank today and the she's working tonight" i nod
vinchenzo walks around and wraps his arms around hazel causing her to laugh "i'm bartending" she shakes the ingredients in the shaker and vin squeezes her sides.
"How does that work? Her being a stripper and you guys dating?" Vin keeps his arms around Hazel as he looks up at stefano.
"Well I don't mind her dancing for men because I know that she loves me" he smiles like an idiot. "I'm just happy this whore house settled down" Antonio leans over to look at stefano.
i laugh at his fed up face "cheer up, you're in a real relationship now" i pull his lips into a smile and he swats my hand away and shoves me back causing me to laugh.
the stool wobbles and i fall back into luciano who catches me and sits up straight . i turn around and nod my head at him before switching my attention back to everyone.
"how are we going to get layouts for the church, that's not public knowledge" luciano sighs and hazel perks up "no need for that, it's where i went to church as a kid, i know that place like the back of my hand"
she walks over to the glasses with vincenzo still holding onto her. "really?" Stefano leans on his hand "yep, me and a group of kids used to walk around and memorize the place so we play hide and seek, as we got older there were other purposes" hazel looks at me and i laugh.
"Okay so since we don't have a bottle this game is spin the chalice" sitting up straight a bunch of kids from the church sit in the dim room in the basement of the church while the 12:00 mass goes on.
"so it's the same rules" jane takes her sweater off placing it on the side hazel nods and laughs "if you don't want to kiss the person you just have to suck it up" she laughs
Hazel laughs with me and everyone looks confused. She pours the drink while containing laughter. "that was so fucked up" she shakes her head as she passes us all a glass and leans two on the counter for her and vinchenzo.
"what's all this giggling about" aunt v walks over and leans on stefanos shoulder "oh nothing" i hum and hold in my laughter when looking at hazel.
"there's word you were stabbed" aunt v looks and me and i nod "i did, wanna see" i smile and she walks over "of course i do" i pull my the top of my pants down a bit to reveal the stitches and she hums "this is going to heal pretty quickly, doesn't look deep" i nod
"nice stitching" she looks at luciano and smiles just let him take it. "thank you"
...
"We leave tomorrow" I look down at my plate and hear dad hum "how are we all feeling about that?" Dad looks around to the whole table.
"i'm a little nervous, traveling so far, and then seeing mom, and then bringing her back here to tourture her '' vinchenzo taps on the top of his fork.
"I'm excited, I miss New york. we're killing mom and taking over her mafia" eating some vegetables i think about my answer "she wants me as an heir, i'm not excited at all." i take a sip of wine "How about you dad?" i look at him and he takes a deep breath
"this is probably one of the craziest things i've done, and that's saying a lot. as of right now i have no feeling towards it" i nod "okay"
"i've never been to new york, so i have no clue what to expect" stefano sips his water "it's okay, niki and i will be your guides" hazel smiles and i laugh a bit "when she gets back im beating her ass" aunt v sips her red wine "v" dad has warning in her voice.
"We both know what will happen if you try to fight it" she looks at him and he rolls his eyes "oh come on dom you hate the bitch" he hums "the hatred you have stems from somewhere else v" she glares at him.
if looks could kill my father would be a dead man. "franco never really cared for her" she shrugs "and i'm siding with my amazing baby brother may rest in peace" dad rubs his temples "he never liked her because he died when her and i had our one big fight"
"I've talked to his spirit in my dreams, and he would disagree" all of our heads switch between aunt v and dad."you know i love you dom, turn the sour face off" she smiles taking another sip of wine and dad laughs.
oh my god. It's the first time he's laughed since the funeral. I smile a bit. All dad has done is be all serious and then he goes to his room and cries. I'm not supposed to know that so I've kept it to myself.
"dominico, would you like some bourbon" the older maid that's been working here for years smiles at him. not a single maid has offered him a drink in weeks. I think they know how badly he's taking her death.
"i would love one, thank you annie" he nods and smiles
...
It's been ten days and I'm laying in bed without the comfort of Luciano again. I stare up at the ceiling, just go find him and apologize it's not thats bad, talk about it before you get to new york. or do i wait until he wants to talk i turn over to my packed bags.
I still have to pack my bathroom in the morning. We leave at 10:00. I rub my face. Why can't you sleep. I turn over and kick my legs to get comfortable but I can't.
I hear my door open and I sit up to see Hazel's figure from the dim hall lights. "niki" she sounds choked up and i reach over turning my lamp on. oh my god.
Hazel's nose is red and her face is wet with tears "hazel what's wrong" she shuts my door and i go to get up but she walks to my bed before i can.
"what's going on" i push the hair behind her ears to get a better look at her and she hands me her phone as I open my arms.
I hug her and look down at the screen. my heart sinks "oh my god" hazel sobs into me. The facebook post is a picture of a toddler on her second birthday. I look at the date yesterday.
I look at the man to the right of the baby and Hazel's mother on the left. a shiny ring on her finger and a huge smile on her face they have let her go. her mother has started over.
"Hazel this is" I drop the phone on my bed and she pulls back "heartbreaking, terrible, disgusting. yea i know" she sobs into her hands "i have a half sister and no one bothered to tell me" she wipes her face.
"I never talk about how much I wish my mom just loved me. she's started a life without me, she's just forgotten about me, my entire family"
more tears pour from her eyes and she scrolls down more on her phone. her face changes and she looks shocked. tears build up in her eyes and her hands begin to shake.
"no." she coughs and just shuts her phone off sobbing into her hands "she's dead" her head shakes as the back of her hands press against her eyes "my grandmother is dead, and she has been for a year" my heart sinks again "joanne?" hazel's nods and i take her into my arms.
"She's dead, the only person who tried to convince my mom that she was overreacting, the only person who didn't care that I was bi is dead'' I pull her back as I lean on my headboard and just keep her in my arms as she sobs.
I can't exactly make out what she's saying but the pain in her voice makes me tear up "she dead" she sobs into me for another few minutes until the tears stop and we lay in the dim light.
She wipes her face and I keep stroking her back and arms with my thumbs. We stay silence for a while and then more tears come back and she lets it all out again.
this happens a few times but i don't stop holding her, years of built up anger and sadness comes out in the tears and sobs. She's at her breaking point where she can't just ignore her feelings and force herself to be proud of who she is.
when i get my hands on cassandra jane dubois she will say so many hail fucking mary's that her rosery breaks.
She's quiet again for a while. Hazel sits up and wipes her face for a fourth time. her nose and cheeks are red as she pushes the hair out of her face.
her eyes are puffy and she takes a deep breath "i want to go see her, i know we will have time i checked the plans." I nod "Hazel, are you sure?" she nods "i've been thinking about it for awhile, when we land, the plans don't start until wednesday"
i nod "okay, we have a whole plane ride to think about that" i hold her hands "i feel better" i smile "i've just kept all that in for so long. i think crying it out helped" i nod "kind of the point" she hums "thank you" i smile
''Of course" she hugs me and we squeeze each other a bit "i love you niki" i smile again "i love you too hazel" she nods and pulls away. "okay, i think it would be good to get some rest, we're gonna have a long day tomorrow" i nod we both lift up my sheets.