America
"A man who doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man"
-Don Vito Corleone
Mariana's POV
It's been two months.
Two months of trying to recover from this pain in the ass gunshot.
I forgot how much getting shot hurts
Alfie hasn't left since the day he moved in, he takes care of me, makes me breakfast, goes to work and then comes home and fusses over what I've done during the day.
It's been quite nice though, having someone there to worry about you, to sleep with at night, to make sure you're taking care of yourself.
There was a minor hiccup when Alfie had gone looking for my painkillers... finding my cabinet of meds that I failed to take.
I then had to sit down and have a conversation with him about the medicines I'd been prescribed over the years.
They were supposed to help, to stop the horrible thoughts in my head.
As well as the voices, the visions... the shadows...
But they never worked, not for me anyway, so I never took them, causing me and Alfie to have a huge bust up over it.
He insisted that I take them, that meds weren't prescribed for no reason, we didn't speak for 3 days until I finally let up, agreeing to only take a few.
They were a pain in my ass now as well, they made my head hurt most of the time, and my body ache, but it had got Alfie off my back.
I also wasn't allowed out of the house, Sabini was kicking up a fit down his end and Alfie was worried someone would 'get me' as he kept saying.
So I was confined to these four fucking walls.
I had to conduct all business through the telephone, or when Dorothy and Ruth would come and visit me.
I spoke to Pol every now and then.
She updated me on everyone when she'd ring, I also talked to Nala as much as I could, she's worrying about me non stop and although I appreciate her care... it was getting fucking annoying.
She was young, she needed to live her life and stop worrying about me all the fucking time.
I haven't heard anything from Tommy since that day at the Derby.
I don't know whether Pol's keeping him away because she's still mad at him or whether he just doesn't want to speak to me.
Either way, it's nice to have a bit of a break from him.
I was now sat by the fire, Evelyn had gone out with some friends so it was just me, Harley and Cyril.
Cyril had moved in about a month ago when Alfie still refused to leave me living alone.
The dogs had taken to each other rather quickly, both snuggled up under the window as I tried to sort through the mountains of paperwork I was behind on.
Mariana's Outfit
I'd managed to move around a bit more these last few weeks, the cuts and bruises were near non existent, the scars would remain though.
I'd even managed to make dinner for me and Alf tonight.
It'd be fucking cold by the time he gets home though, apparently a bunch of shipments have been muddled up... bet his men are loving that.
Alfie agreed to keep my women happy as well, to get them what they needed when asked for.
He seemed to be a lot softer on my workers than his.
Whether it was because they were mine or because they were women I wasn't sure, but I appreciated his efforts.
I was halfway through reading a contract from a Walter Thomas when I heard the door click
I looked up confused, Alfie was going to be late, and Evelyn had left barely an hour ago.
I reached over the table, grabbing my gun and silently getting up, I made my way to the door and hid behind it.
The handle turned and slowly opened, I waited quietly, seeing the back of a man enter the room, with greyish hair.
I put my gun up to the back of his head, he sighed and put both hands up
"Who the fuck are you?" I asked harshly, frozen in place as I then felt a gun pressed to the side of my head, I glanced sideways to see another man, in a suit, holding a gun in his gloved hands.
"If you put the gun down I can tell you podsolnukh" the older guy said, his entire stance radiated power, like he didn't give a fuck that a gun was pointed at his head.
He also had an American accent, with a hint of Russian it seems.
'Sunflower'
I lowered my gun, in turn causing the other guy to lower his
"Shall we?" The older guy said, not sparing us a glance as he sat down opposite the seat I was sat in
Harley and Cyril didn't seem to batter an eyelid... some fucking dogs.
The other guy sat down next to him, another man I hadn't noticed shifting from the doorway to sit the other side of the old man.
I sat down where I originally was, stacking all my paperwork back up and closing the folder.
I didn't know who these men were but they seemed quite bright, even if they were dumb enough to stroll into my fucking house
I wasn't going to chance one of these fuckers looking at something they could later use to their advantage.
"You're not going to ask who we are?" The man asked slightly amused
I shrugged
"I figured if you strolled in here unarmed like you owned the fucking place... you'd have some idea of what you wanted to say no?" I asked with a slight tilt of my head.
He smiled
"You're just like her" he said, I know he wants me to ask who... but I'm not playing into his games, so I stayed silent.
"You have her eyes... that kind of green that mesmerises a person... but hers were green with envy, yours... they're green with power" he stated.
"I'd appreciate it if you didn't talk about my mother like she was a jealous whore" I said casually, trying to seem unaffected by his words.
It was obvious he was talking about my mother, and I wasn't an idiot, I'd heard the story of my father time and time again, I was obsessed with hearing about him as a child.
He was from America, and had left my mother for his own family.
Anyone with eyes could tell these two fuckers sat next to him were his sons.
So that meant this guy was either my father... or knew him.
So I took a gamble
"Mr Cortéz I presume" I said simply, making his smile widen.
"I've heard stories about you podsolnukh, kept track of you all these years, they said you were ruthless. But I didn't expect you to be so... smart" he said with a slight chuckle
So he was my father
"What do you want?" I asked, leaning back on the sofa.
"Time... to connect" he said
"Fuck off, you had 32 years to 'connect' with me... and David" I said bitterly
I didn't like thinking about David, it hurt so much to think of him dying in a trench somewhere without his family.
And this bastard sure as shit wasn't family
"So what do you want?" I asked again
He sighed
"My name is Raymond... these are my sons- well your half brothers actually, this is Harry... and Lawrence" he introduced, signalling to each 'brother'.
Harry was definitely the oldest, with fair hair I'm assuming he gets from his mother as Raymond seemed to have dark patches running through his grey
Lawrence had dark hair, like me... and a blank expression on his face as he watched me.
"I didn't ask for an introduction... I asked what the fuck you were doing in my house" I said again, the younger one smirking at my words
"I'm here for business... for a few weeks... and I'd very much like to spend some time with you... we all would" he said casually
"We?" I asked, he nodded
"Your brothers... your sister... my wife" he explained, making me scoff.
"You knocked my mother up... and left. You chose the prim and proper family over the shameful gypsy one. And you want to connect now. Now... once I've actually done something with my life, now that David's dead. They're not my brothers. And your little printsessa ain't my sister. You weren't my father then and you're not my father now.
And you expect me to just run to you like a zhalkaya malen'kaya chertova devochka" I shouted towards the end, standing up.
He just stared at me, both brothers still silent
"You speak Russian?" The older brother asked
"Get out" I said simply, sitting back down to continue my paperwork
"Come now podsolnukh-"
"No! Don't you dare call me that. I'm not your fucking sunflower and I'm not your fucking daughter... so fuck off" I said dismissively.
"Dad let's just-" the older one tried, the younger one still had yet to speak.
He cut him off by holding his hand up
"podsol-"
"Mariana" I seethed
"Mariana. I would appreciate it if you came to dinner this Saturday" he explained, sliding a card for some fancy hotel over the table.
I looked it over and scoffed
Of course they're living in luxury
I threw the card back across the table, but he made no effort to take it back.
It was at that point I heard the front door open, Harley and Cyril immediately ran off into the hallway, so I knew it was Alfie.
"Alright love... just came back for that Anders-" he stopped talking as he entered the living room, seeing the three across from me, an almighty glare setting on his face
"You!" He grunted, storming towards the youngest son who had yet to speak, he gripped him by the collar and pushed him against the wall.
"Me" the son smiled
"You know him?" I asked, standing up
"Course he does... met each other in the hospital didn't we Alfie?" Lawrence smiled, only aggravating Alfie further and making Raymond stand up.
"I told you to check on her, to scope the place out not talk to the fucking boyfriend!" Raymond shouted at Lawrence
Jesus this guy really has bad parenting skills.
"Sorry... he was just too pretty to ignore" Lawrence smiled, making Alfie tighten his grip on his neck
"Who the fuck are they Mar?" Alfie asked
"Well why don't you tell me seeing as you clearly fucking know them" I seethed.
"I think we should be leaving boys, think about dinner podsolnukh" Raymond said, buttoning his coat up and heading for the door.
Harry also made a move to leave, hesitating by the door as Alfie still hadn't let Lawrence go.
A man who didn't seem at all fazed that Alfie Solomon's had his hand round his fucking neck.
He came across as a windup, that much was evident as he laughed in Alfie's face.
"Let him go Alf" I said simply, he grumbled under his breath but let him go nonetheless.
When the sound of the front door closing resounded throughout the house, I was at a loss for words.
With my so called father. With Alfie.
"You saw him at the hospital?" I asked quietly, looking into the fire
"Dove-" he said softly, coming closer to me.
"Did you know who he was?" I asked
"No. He just said he knew who we were, that soon we'd be family" he explained, winding his arms around my waist.
"And you didn't think to tell me?" I asked, turning around in his arms
"You were stressed enough as it is with everything going on, your recovery, Tommy... it just didn't seem like the right time" he explained
"What about Tommy?" I asked.
What the fuck did Tommy have to do with any of it?
"Nothing" he dismissed
"Alfie" I warned
"It's nothing darling, you just didn't need all the extra hassle" he explained
"What are you not telling me? What's going on with Tommy?" I asked.
He sighed
"He uh... he's getting hitched" he said simply, keeping one hand on my waist and the other rubbed up and down my back.
Tommy's getting married? Fuck.
I never thought I'd see the day. It has to be Grace then.
"Wait... why wouldn't you tell me that?" I asked, looking up at him
"I just didn't want to worry ya" he said gently
"Worry me? My half brother waltzes into the hospital and you think that's not worth mentioning? Tommy's getting fucking married and that's not worth telling me?" I asked with a dry laugh.
"I was trying to protect ya... you needed to recover" he said, raising his voice to match mine
"Oh I need to recover, that's always it isn't it... I'm always recovering from something so I'm kept in the fucking dark!" I shouted.
"It weren't like that" he grunted
"Whatever, go back to work" I pushed out of his arms, only to be grabbed back into his chest
"Don't get sarky, I did what I needed to" he grumbled, I pushed him away.
"No you just avoided the hassle, avoided the drama, you can't keep shit from me Alfie... fuck sake" I said, rubbing my forehead to will the headache to go away
"Just... just go back to work..." I said, leaving for the stairs.
"I'm not leaving now, you're upset" he said from the bottom of the stairs
"Yeah well why don't you just pretend everything's fine... you're good at that" I said storming to my room.
Which may be childish. But I was pissed off.
I heard the front door shut as I closed my bedroom door
I'm sick of everyone keeping shit from me just to spare my feelings.
You can't be apart of this world and let emotions hold you back, that's what I've been doing for far too long.
And I didn't want Alfie getting into the habit of lying to me just to spare my feelings for a while.
I climbed into bed, my eyes becoming glassy once again as I willed myself to not cry.
This was all too much.
My so called father just strolls into my life after 32 years and wants to start playing happy fucking families.
If Alfie had just told me about itwhen it had happened at the hospital, then I could have gotten a jump on this.
It wouldn't have been such a surprise.
I wouldn't of been completely shitting it when three strangers waltzed into my house.
My mind then thought back to the offer of dinner, maybe I should go, prove I'm not a vulnerable little girl.
I was a woman.
Who clearly needed to sort out the people around her.
Alfie's kept this from me for two months
And god knows how long Tommy's been engaged... but Pol's phoned me nearly everyday and chose to leave that bit of information out.
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