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After the bizarre findings outside, Ferro and I moved past the circular driveway and towards the luxurious home before us. And yes, I made Ferro carry all the bags inside.
Built in Italianate style, the outside of the mansion had an older, polished appearance. Had it been summer, I could imagine the bare wintry trees around the home would flourish with emerald life and the huge stone fountain in the middle of the driveway would sparkle with clear water and attract birds.
Growing up, I lived in a similar house to that one, except ours was smaller and didn't have as much of a laid-back, this-is-actually-a-home-and-not-filled-with-snobs appearance. Thinking about my childhood house made me think of my parents—particularly my mother, who, had fundamentally told me, the last time I saw her, that I had still yet to reach her expectations as a daughter, and to also find somewhere to spend Christmas.
Well! I guessed I was spending Christmas at a mafia bosses house!
Ferro rang the doorbell, and its little jingle tore me out of my thoughts. A small, round, and tan Italian gentleman answered the door. He had a curled mustache and eyes that wrinkled happily at the corners.
The man's mouth fell open in an 'O', and his aging features lit up. "Ferro!" He opened the door wider. "Ciao!" He came in for a hug. "I am so happy to see you!"
"Ciao, Alanzo—" Ferro started.
"And who is this?"
"This is Scarlett," Ferro said. "She's my—"
"Oh, sì! I know who she is, I am old, not an idiot!" Alanzo grabbed for my hand and kissed it. "Ciao, bella. She is beautiful, Ferro. I approve. GINA!" Alanzo shouted behind him and startled me. "GINA, hurry! It's Ferro! And he has a woman!" The round Italian man ushered us in. "My manners! Mi scusi! Come in, it's cold! Come in! Gina was right here. Where did she go?"
We stepped into the house. Ferro dropped his bags and fell into a conversation with Alanzo, while I admired the sparkling, colorful Christmas Tree at the right of the entryway. Hanging from the tall ceiling was an enormous chandelier that casted a warm glow on the marble floors and the red Venetian plaster walls. Ferro and Alonzo traveled into the open living room to our left, and I followed them inside. The décor of the home remained in a toasty melody of browns and reds.
Was it sick that I didn't mind the idea of staying in a home like this, even after everything I knew Ferro was up to? Even after he had convinced me that he was going to assassinate the man who owned his house?
"ALONZO, did you call me?! I was checking on my cookies!"
I turned around at the new voice and watched as an elderly woman with a duster shuffling towards us. She was even shorter than Alanzo, but less round. She squinted at Ferro and I and then put her glasses up to her eyes. "FERRO!! Ferro!" Never had I seen Ferro flush so red, as he did when Gina kissed him all over his face and pinched both his cheeks. "Sono felice! I am so happy! You get more and more handsome every time I see you!"
"Grazie. Thank you, Gina." He kissed her on both cheeks. "And you get more and more beautiful."
"You make me blush," Gina beamed, then used the towel on her shoulder as a whip towards Alanzo."Alanzo, you old man!" She threw her arms up. "Why you not tell me Ferro was here, huh?"
"I did! Your hearing is worse than mine, mi amore! You scream louder than I do, too!" Alanzo rolled his eyes at me, and I burst out laughed.
Gina turned to me and gasped. "Who are you?"
Ferro tried to introduce me again. "Gina, this is Scarlett—"
"Oh. Scarlett..." She wiggled her eyebrows at Alanzo, and then rushed towards me. "Bella! It's so nice to meet you. Ah, let me look at you!" Gina kissed me on both cheeks and held my face in her hands. "You are so beautiful. Perfetto. Yes, perfect. Very skinny, but nice hips. I make dress for you, yes? You will sparkle on wedding day." She looked at my breasts and sighed. "Ok, small breasts. No problem. We get push up bra for wedding, yes?" Gina grabbed my face again. "Oh, I knew he'd bring a girl the next time we saw each other." She looked over her shoulder, at Alanzo. "Didn't I predict that, amore mio?"
"Sì! And he brought us a beautiful wife!"
"Oh," I said and refused to meet Ferro's gaze. At the corner of my eye, I saw Ferro run a hand through his hair. Clearly he didn't know how to break it to them.
Awkward.
Gina looked up at me with hopeful eyes. "You make lots of babies with Ferro, yes? I want babies."
"Oh, here we go..." Alonzo sat down on a couch and leaned his head in his hand. "All she talks about are babies." He opened and closed his hand like a mouth. "Talk, talk, talk. When you left for the city, Ferro, it got worse. Just give her one baby. Please, I beg of you."
"Gina..." Ferro ran a hand down his face. "Gina, no... Scarlett and I..."
"We need babies in this home," Gina snapped and threw her hands up theatrically. "I wake up, no baby crying. I want babies, Ferro. I want babies crying, pooping, and cooing. I tell Sammy years before, I want baby. She leaves! Jumps fence! Ha! I cry, yes? She made me sad, but I forgive. Maybe Fico and Sammy gave me baby now, maybe not. Who knows!" She shrugged her slender shoulders. "I will probably croak before there is a baby in this house!"
"Gina," Ferro said and took Gina's hands in his. "Do not say that."
"Well, I am not getting any younger, Ferro." Gina sighed and up at me, hopeful. "You want babies, yes, Scarlett? Babies? You like?"
"I...um..." I flushed. "I..." Have only had sex once and it was with a lying psychopath, not the sweet man who kissed you on the cheek.
Ferro and I made eye contact. We had one of those uncomfortable, "we-fücked-earlier-and-I-totally -just-thought-about-you-naked -even-though-we-currently-hate-each-other" moments, before both of us looked away. Fück.
"Gina, I think Scarlett is becoming overwhelmed. We've been running around all day." Ferro placed his hand on my lower back, which then ventured to my ass, before I could stop it. I wanted to karate chop that adventurous hand and feed it to a tank of hungry sharks, but decided it was best not to break it to the sweet, elderly couple just yet. "I should show her to her room," he added.
"Her room?" Gina ridiculed. "Your room, sì?"
Ferro chuckled. "Uh, sì, that is what I meant. Our room. For two. One bed, grazie."
"Come." Gina urged us to follow. "I find you room that Ben hasn't fücked woman in today. Clean sheets."
My eyes went wide. "What? Who's Ben?"
Ferro growled a little. "Nobody, Scarlett." I could have sworn I heard him mutter something like, "Isn't Jay enough?"
We climbed up the grand staircase to the second floor, then followed dark red carpet to the end of the hallway. Ferro switched the topic from our relationship to his life in the city. He was so sweet to Gina and held her wrinkly hand as we walked. I liked this side of him. Was he faking it? I couldn't help but feel a tad of jealousy over the way he treated Gina. And when I say a tad, I mean a microscopic little fücking dot of bacteria... of course.
"Here we are," Gina said and motioned for us to step inside.
"We will talk tomorrow over lunch, sì?" Ferro kissed Gina on the cheek goodbye, and then brushed past her with all of our luggage.
"It was so nice meeting you, Scarlett." Gina held both of my hands in hers, looked briefly at Ferro in the bedroom, and then pulled me off to the side, away from the room. "There is a proverb in Italian. Amore senza sofferenz e molto. It means 'love without pain is very rare'. Ferro... is like son to me. I understand him. He used to tell me everything. I see him in pain, after his poor Momma and brother passed on. He thinks I don't know how he treats women, and that I am oblivious he kills and tortures for Fico. I work for Fico's father and mother for years, as maid and caretaker. I see things, yes? I keep quiet, and turn my head, but I am not stupid. I know what Ferro is, and I know omertà. I see thick tension between you and Ferro. I tease, but I put two and two together. Men in mafia lie to those outside. If Ferro lies, it is to protect you. He is genuine, loyal, and he loves deeply."
Gina ten squeezed my hands and made her way back to the grand staircase. I was stunned. I stood where she left me for a few minutes and got lost in my thoughts. At some point, I heard shuffling in the bedroom. "Tigrotta?" Ferro called out.
I wiped away stray tears from under my eyes and quickly entered the bedroom. It was spacious, with a king-sized bed and lush carpeting.
"I'm here. Hello. Hi." I stumbled over myself as I walked in. God, could you have been anymore awkward, there?
Ferro looked over his shoulder. "Were you talking to Gina?"
"Yes..." And now I'm so conflicted. "She's a sweet woman. I like her." Thankfully, there was a bag on the floor, and I was able to fiddle with something with my back to Ferro, until he left. I squeezed one of Ferro's folded shirts in my hands and willed myself to bring up at least part what Gina said.
In a matter of minutes, Gina had already changed my perspective on this man. I was beginning to see Ferro in a different light, and I didn't like it. He was a traitor. A liar. I thought he was working for my ex boyfriend and using me to get close to Fico again, since Fico wanted information about Todd. I thought he was planning on assassinating Fico. Now, I didn't know what to believe anymore. How could I trust a complete stranger's opinion about Ferro? How could I trust anyone's opinion about Ferro, when I barely knew him myself? When everything felt like a lie?
Before I said anything senseless, I hurried into the bathroom with a fresh sweater and sweatpants. The shower was filled with shampoo and conditioner. I stripped and took a shower. When I got out, I changed into Ferro's clothes. I was too comfortable in his clothing. I told myself that the moment I saw him again, I would ask for actual clothes.
When came out of the bathroom, Ferro was gone, but his stuff was still in the room. Was he seriously planning on sleeping in the same bed with me?
"I ran into Ferro in the hallway," a voice said to my right. "He said you'd be in here."
I looked up, and there was my best friend, Samantha Arsenio, holding a giant rainbow lollipop and a bag of Chinese food.
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