Chapter Five

"Boss, I think you made the wrong decision this time". Antonio declared as he pushed a trolley full of food into Bruno's office.

Bruno squared his brows in question "What are you talking about?" he asked, removing his jacket as he noticed it was lunchtime.

"I'm talking about Leah, of course, she is too innocent to get involved in our world. She is just not fit for you!"  Antonio complained for the nth time that week

"And I told you, you are just reading meanings to it.  What else do you want to hear? I'm only repaying her for saving my life. " Bruno argued

"Maybe you should have thought more about it. If the other gangs notice our frequent activities around her you and I both know they'd read meaning into it and that's not good for her" Antonio complained

"She's Henry's daughter, how innocent to anything can she be? " Bruno asked casually, the name sent a sore taste to his mouth

"Either way no getting her involved in her father's business is the best"

"That's not for me to decide now Is it?" Bruno asked,  handing over a brown envelop to Antonio,  

Antonio peeled open the envelope and read the documents in it, his eyes turned dark with anger as he clenched his fist around the envelope.

"Fucking son of a bitch!" he swore in anger at the content, "And you agreed?" he asked the indifferent-looking Bruno

"Would you rather he goes to the Romano with the same offer?" Bruno asked as he dug into his meal

***

"What are you doing here father?" Leah asked her voice monotonous and cold, she took her seat in front of the middle-aged man dressed in a white strip button-up shirt, his hands fumbling the brown envelope as he tried to avoid his daughter's eye.

Leah watched silently, her eyes showing curiosity and surprise,

Her father was sober.

He wasn't drunk or high, or delirious

His eyes are clearer than the last time she had seen him two years ago.

"I found someone I like" he announced catching Leah off guard, since the separation of her parents, her father had done nothing but wallow in more debts, alcohol and drugs, but now he found someone he liked? She was curious, his words got her full attention

Was that why he was sober?  'So love does so many things to people' she chuckled darkly to herself

"Well, that's good news. It was high time you moved on from mum" she remarked, her voice genuine "Was that why you got sober?" she asked

"Well., uh… yes.  She said she won't be with me until I got help and I want to be better for her, I got into rehab six months ago, and she helped pay for it" he explained, his hands going to go brown hair roughing it up before stretching it out to hold Leah's hands.

Leah removed her hands from the table and away from where he could reach it,  

"That's good news, Father," she said emotionlessly "Are you here to invite me to your wedding?"

"No, I came for something else" he replied, taking back his hands from the table, Leah watched a glint flash through his eyes and she prepared herself for his next words.

Only she was not fully prepared.

"She won't marry me because of my debts Leah, I tried talking to her, I got a job even and worked to pay back but it's too slow and she… I can't wait" he complained,

"I don't have money if that's what you came for, I can barely take care of myself, how do you expect me to get such huge money to help you?" anger bubbled in her heart as she remembered all that her mother went through to make sure his debts were paid

She worked jobs Sunday to Sunday just to make sure the debts were cleared off and they had food to eat and all he did was spend his money on drugs and alcohol

"Of course not! I'm not here to beg you for money!"

"Then get on with it! As you can see I'm at work and I need to get back to it" she snapped, her voice showing her irritation at his presence

"You see, I found a way to pay the debt" he drawled out

"Then congratulations, I wish you the best in your new marriage" She could tell from the way he was beating around the bush that whatever he came for wasn't anything good.

His dubious and mischievous attitude which had been with him since Leah could remember was slowly seeping out of his facade, making her skin crawl with anticipation

"Just so you know, if your way of paying pack debt includes me signing any kind of documents as your guarantor, I would never do it. Remember what I told you before I left home? You can fucking rot in hell for all I care!" she gritted out,

Henry's face morphed into anger from his pretending soberness, "Watch the way you talk to me, bitch!" he seethed, his hand itching to slap her

"Or what? You'll hit me? Go ahead!" the more she was  before him, the more the buried memories of her childhood surfaced making her skin crawl in anger

He laughed and a smile appeared in his eyes "I don't need to hit you and whatever that needs to be signed has been signed" he said and threw the brown envelope at her

She looked at the envelope and back at his smirking face, with dread in her stomach and shivering hands she pulled out the documents in the envelope.

The more she reads the more appalled she is at her father's behaviour, she couldn't help but whisper

'Thank goodness I had stayed instead of younger ones' amidst the misery she is about to face.

"Bruno Moretti, he takes the whole face for a tooth, not the best person to cross"

"Bruno Moretti? Not any kind of wimp can get to be called the underground emperor you know?"

"Not even the government will be able to save the situation this time, the emperor of the underworld is getting involved himself"

Those words floated through her head as she read the words on the paper, signed by her father, and a tear slipped down her face.