Eleni
We pull up to a gated neighborhood—a tall gate, but not one that looks particularly sturdy or difficult to climb, and Dante waves a plastic card at a man sitting in a booth outside. The man smiles and presses a button to open the gate. I expected Dante to have security, but I didn’t expect his security to look like a rent-a-cop. I frown as he drives inside.
The houses past the gate shock me even further. They’re bigger than the apartment Mama, Baba, Christos, and I shared, bigger than anything I’ve seen in the city, but they still look…normal. Two stories. A few big, dramatic windows here and there, but only on a few of the houses. Sizable yards, but not big enough for anything more than a nice patio and a swing set. And there are more houses than I thought, too. A couple dozen,
EleniI rip all the slices of onion off my face while looking at Mama.“Go,” she says, impressing on me with her eyes that I’m not to make the boss who’s house we’re standing in upset. “I’ll get the ‘zucchini balls’ finished for you.”I stand and join Dante in the doorway. He immediately steps into the hall, then leads me deeper into the house than I’ve been before. Now, having been in the kitchen, I can see the touches of opulence everywhere. That blue-and-white vase on an end table is probably antique. The plush carpet we pad over is probably from overseas. The leather chair in a nook is probably real.A door opens ahead of us, and I jump back a step as a beautiful woman in matching leggings and a sports bra steps out. Her long, pitch-black hair curls nearly to her waist, and her dark eyes are emphasized by smoky shadow.“Oh, sorry.” She kisses Dante on the cheek.
DanteI step into the basement beneath Piacere and shut the door behind me. Flickering fluorescents light the racks and racks of liquor, spare stool, and coils of velvet rope. To the unknowing eye, the perfectly legal basement of a perfectly legal club owner. I snort and head for the third alcohol shelf from the left on the far wall, then rap on the metal I can just reach through the glimmering glass bottlenecks. After a brief pause, the whole section of wall swings aside, and I cross into the real basement.Here, the lights are brilliant and steady. Only the best for my men. Clean, crisp metal lines the walls and the floor. Easy to clean. Hard to escape quietly over. Tony pushes the button to send the decoy rack careening back into place.“Took you long enough.” He wipes the back of his hand over his forehead, and I see blood over his fingernails. “Not that the bastard’s broken yet.”I nod. My shoes click against the
EleniI roll over and tug on the heavy blankets covering the king bed Mama and I decided to share. They don’t move, and Mama’s light snores issue through the darkness. She’s finally fallen asleep. Part of me is thankful, and the rest wishes I had enough blankets to cover myself. As soon as she finished the zucchini balls, she collapsed into one of the tall seats at the kitchen island, weeping. I’ve been at her side, holding her and offering her toilet paper because I couldn’t find tissues, since. Exhaustion still drags off my limbs, reminding me that I haven’t really gotten a good night’s sleep since the night before the auction, but I can’t sleep. I just keep thinking of the smell of blood, and the stories about Baba Mama kept trying to tell through her tears.With a sigh, I push the covers off and climb out of bed. I didn’t take Dante up on his offer of new clothes, but two new nightgowns appeared on the end of the bed between when Mama and I picked it, and when we finally decided t
EleniMy stomach drops to my toes. Dante prowls away from the door toward me. I’ve really messed up now.“Do you always break the rules laid out for you?” he asks.I swallow. There’s a growl in his voice, but it doesn’t sound angry. It tingles down my spine and warms something in my gut. I’m suddenly very aware that I’m in a nightgown again, and while this one is soft, it is nearly as thick as my old one.“Not until recently,” I manage.Something lights in his eyes. “You know, there are punishments for disobeying me in my house.”He is a boss. I should be dropping everything in my hands and sprinting away. My heart pounds in that same place in my gut.I take a step closer to him with my chin high. “What kind of punishment can I expect then?”His eyes flame. He’s only a few inches away now, so close that I could reach out and grab h
EleniI wake slowly the next morning and yawn. I can’t hear Mama and Baba in the kitchen, so I’ve slept in a little, but there’s not enough sun filtering in through my closed eyelids to be truly that late in the day. Exhaustion clings to my limbs like I stayed up all night finishing a paper, but the tables won’t wait themselves. I open my eyes and sit up.My heart slams the brakes. I’m in a huge bed in an even bigger room decorated in simple, neutral tans. Where are the soft blue walls I picked out when we were redoing the restaurant, and Baba found a buy-one-get-one sale on paint? Where is the creaky twin bed I’ve slept in my whole life? Where are Mama and Baba?At the thought of them, memories start to filter back in. The auction. Sneaking home with enough money to save our lives. Baba’s heavy expression as he carried the baseball bat to the door. The smell of Baba’s blood–and Frank &nbs
EleniI wander the halls, searching for Dante to ask if he’ll take me to the restaurant, and nearly run into another tall, suited man. I stumble back a step, and he catches me before I fall.“Did I put on my invisible suit today?” he asks as he sets me back on my feet.“What?” He’s handsome, in a square way, and he has piercing blue eyes. I know him from somewhere.“Dante always says I make a bad first impression.” He shoves his hands in his pockets. “I’m Tony Bellini, caporegime around here.”The pieces snap into place. He surrounded Frank in the auto shop. But if he's a caporegime, then finding him is almost as good as finding Dante.“Can you take me into the city?” I ask. “I need to see the restaurant.”“Why?”I take a deep breath. “I have a decision to make.”Tony shrugs and leads me down a
DanteA few days later, I stride through the quiet main floor of Piacere a few hours before opening with Tony at my side.“So, this is it, then,” he says. “You’ve finally lost it.”I chuckle. “I haven’t lost it. You’re just not seeing the whole picture.”“Oh, okay.” He holds his hands up sarcastically. “No, you’re right, please tell me what I’m not seeing in plain sight, Dante. Turn a Greek Schoolgirl into a Staten Island Saint? Is she ex-FBI, or a ninja, or?”I slug him in the arm. “You’re a douche. She’s something Luca Lombardi wants, something he doesn’t know we still have.”Talking about Eleni like this feels wrong, but Tony’s been on my ass since I told him in the car on the way back from the restaurant, and I’m tired of having this argument. At least, if he understands her as a chess piece, h
EleniMama leans away from the stove, where she’s somehow managed to gather the ingredients for what she’s calling “Italian Souvlaki” and meets my gaze.“We have to buy those tickets soon, zouzouni.”I look down at the cucumber I’m grating for tzatziki. Three days have passed since I made my decision, and I still haven’t told her. I don’t know how. I know Mama should go, but I’ve never been away from her. She still wakes up in the middle of the night, shaking and muttering Baba’s name. How can I look her in the eye and tell her that justice will only come to our family if she leaves alone? That I’ve let myself get roped into the same life that killed Baba?“I have to go to the bathroom,” I say.She nods. “Just leave the cucumber by the sink. I’ll squeeze it if you’re not back in time.”I scurry out of the room without mee