I felt completely drained that next morning. Luca pretty much fell asleep a couple minutes after we started talking so I was forced to try to do the same. I didn't actually end up falling asleep until 5:30 or so.
Now it was 6:30 and we were all seated around that same dining table. It was way too quiet though, so quiet that I could hear Luca on my left and Lilly on my right, chewing their food. I wasn't hungry, but they made you eat food here, so I just grabbed a couple of apple chunks and moved them around on my plate to look like I was eating them.
"He's fucked," Lilly leaned in and whispered to me, nodding in the direction of the one man I really didn't want to see right now.
I had managed to keep my head down and not look at anyone other than Luca or Lilly while I've been seated at the table, but now that changed. I looked up and over to my left to see Tony's disfigured face. His eyes were both black, one of them swollen shut, his head seemed twice it's normal size, and his lips were busted and inflated.
I quickly looked away as he looked up and at me with one eye. Luca nudged my side, "Don't look over there."
I shook my head and put one of the apple chunks in my mouth, "I'm not." Jesus Christ, they really did a number on him. I'm glad. He deserved everything that came his way and he probably still didn't learn his lesson.
There was a sudden shift in the mood. Everyone seemed to perk up, including Luca. "It's mamma D'Amico," he said while turning around.
Lilly and I exchanged confused glances, "Mamma D'Amico?" She asked and I shrugged in response. I knew just as much as she did about these people.
"Angelo's mommy," he said back.
Oh.
She turned around in her chair so I figured I could probably do the same and we both came face to face with a dark haired woman.
She was pretty for an older woman. Her dark hair was pulled loosely in a half updo, her face almost without wrinkles except for a few under her eyes. Her lips were plump and tinted a dark red, but they seemed to be in a permanent state of sadness. Just based on what Luca alone has said about her, she seemed like a nice woman, but her resting bitch face made her look everything but friendly.
Her lips twitched up in a smile as she scanned the table, her eyes eventually landing on Angelo as she ran over to hug him. "Mia vita," she wrapped her arms around his shoulder and planted a big, sloppy kiss on his cheek.
"She's such a sweet lady, she even loves a complete asshole," Luca said under his breath while laughing. "He's a goddamn Saint when she's around though so if you two have any special requests now is the time to bring them up."
The most insanely brilliant idea came to mind as soon as Luca said that.
I could use my insomnia to my advantage.
I gently put my fork down on the plate, I really wasn't hungry anyway, "And how would we bring this request up?" I asked. The sooner I could execute my plan, the better.
Luca gave me a curious look. It was almost as if he knew I was about to try something but he didn't care enough about his mob roots to try to stop me, "Um...I don't know. Just make sure his mamma is around when you do it."
I sat back in my chair and waited for everyone to eat their food. As the minutes went by more and more mafia men got up from the table to carry on with their days. Pretty soon the only people left were me, Tony, Angelo and his mother. Luca knew I was on a mission so he offered to take Lilly and keep her occupied while I waited.
As much as it pained me to be at the same table with these people, I had to do it. If my plan didn't work, at least I could say I tried.
I tried to work up the courage to speak but let's face it, no matter how much I hated them both, they were still scary and intimidating as hell. Angelo put his hands on the table and was about to push himself out of his chair when all the bravery in the world came to me, "Wait! I need to ask you a question."
Angelo looked minorly inconvenienced before leaning back in his chair. "Yes?"
All eyes were on me, well Tony had one eye on me but it still felt the same, "I've had a really hard time sleeping recently and I would normally chalk it up to the fact that I'm in a strange house with really evil people but I have insomnia and I need my sleeping pills. Is it at all possible that I can go to the pharmacy to fill my prescription?" It was in that very moment that I could tell he saw right through me. Part of me wanted to say never mind and go and find Luca and Lilly but the smarter part told me to keep fighting, "Please?"
"You can see the family doctor. She'll write you a prescription and you can go to our pharmacy." He wasn't going to budge easily.
Why didn't I think about that? Of course they had their own doctor.
I had to think of some believable lie really quick, "I've tried a million different pills and there's only one brand that works for me. I have to go to my pharmacy."
He wanted to say no really bad, I could feel it but Luca was totally right. He wasn't going to say no and be a complete asshole to a girl in desperate need in front of his mommy.
"Fine. Dom and Alfredo will take you."
Hook.
Line.
And sinker.
_______
"Are you fucking kidding me? Your 'special' pharmacy is Walmart?" Dom laughed but he wasn't in the least bit amused. "You could have gotten way better shit at home but whatever."
I'm sure the three of us were a weird sight to see even in Walmart terms. A small girl in a baseball hat and sunglasses standing in the pharmacy line with two big men in suits.
Alfredo thought the guise would make it so that people didn't recognize me but if you asked me it made us stick out more.
That was good for me though.
"Oh my god," part two of my illustrious plan starts now, "I have to pee really bad," I crossed my legs over each other and started doing the pee dance. It was a stellar performance too if I do say so myself.
"No way," Dom said, "You can wait till you get home. We're two people away."
"I can't. I have to go now."
"No," Alfredo and Dom said in unison.
"Do you want to mop my pee up because that's what's going to happen if you don't let me go right now. It'll cause a scene."
They exchanged angry looks before Dom grabbed me by the arm and started leading me to the bathrooms. "If you try anything, I'll fucking shoot you right here, I don't care how famous you are."
"I'm not going to try anything," I ripped myself out of his hold as we stopped outside of the bathrooms, "I just have to pee."
"You have two minutes and yes I am counting."
Welp, I believed him so I wasted no time in running into the communal bathroom and scoping out the perfect person to help me with phase three. I spotted a girl who couldn't have been much older than me, fixing her hair in one of the mirrors. I ripped the baseball hat and sunglasses off and ran up to her, "Hey, can you help me?" I whispered frantically.
I was just praying to god she wouldn't respond like a lunatic.
"I'm Chloe Cruise, Austin Cruise's missing daughter," there was no way in hell my dad would have believed anything Sienna told him about me. My dad wouldn't just think I was totally ok if he hadn't heard from me himself so I was positive that there had to have been a missing persons report filed against me at this point and literally everyone knew who my dad was, "I was kidnapped, can I please use your phone?"
"Oh my god, yes of course," she thrusted her iPhone out to me and I grabbed it before running into one to the stalls and dialing 911.
"911...what's your emergency?" The operator sounded less than ecstatic to be doing her job.
"Hi, my name is Chloe Cruise," I whispered, "I was kidnapped by the mafia and I don't know how much time I have."
"Ma'am where are you?"
"I'm at some Walmart in New York. I don't know the address-"
The bathroom stall was being kicked down and within seconds Dom was snatching the phone from my hand and smashing it between his shoe and the floor.
"Shit."
"Shit's right, gattina," he sneered before once again grabbing my arm and yanking me away from the stall. "You're dead," he said the words angrily, his Italian accent really coming through.
"You can't be in here!" Some old lady yelled while swinging her purse at Dom. He held his hand up and blocked it. "You. Can't. Be. In. Here," she said in between slaps, half of which hit me instead of him.
"We're leaving."
"Help me!" I screamed. Dom threw me in front of him and clasped his hand over my mouth roughly, cutting off my air supply. He was definitely causing a scene now.
"Shut up, right now," he shoved me forward, "You're a little rat, did you know that? We don't treat rats very well, Chloe."
Who did they treat well?
"You're gonna have to face the Boss when we get home," he said as Alfredo joined us. We had made it out of the store without anyone trying to stop us. Fuck Walmart people. "I hope you believe in God because you're going to need a miracle after this."
_____
AHHHHHHH!!!
It's been years!
Well...months but it's felt like years to me. It's been so hard for me to get into the swing of writing again but I've been uploading at least one story every day pretty much this entire week.
I'm getting back into the mafia scene so expect to see some more of me 😉😉
I want to thank you all for being the best fans ever and sticking around through all of my absences. It means a lot to me, truly.
Let me know what you thought about the chapter by leaving a like and a comment.
ILYSM 💋