zentrolao
Most people knew me as Helena Rinaldi's tagalong. She was the rightful heir to the Rinaldi family.
I'd been a penny-pincher since I was a kid. If I could've split a penny eight ways, I would have.
My proudest moment was getting my best friend and me through a month in the slums of Queens on ten dollars.
Then I learned my best friend Helena was a mafia Don's long-lost daughter. When he brought her home, she packed me up and took me to the estate with her.
So she could take better care of me, she landed the family a ten-billion-dollar Sicilian arms-smuggling deal.
They all said she was an angel sent from heaven.
The family even took its crews and territory back from Camilla Rinaldi, the adopted daughter, and put them in Helena's name.
Helena gave me three billion dollars and put me in charge of the smuggling operation. She even said I could skim a little off the top.
So I did as she said. All I spent was $10,000, to bribe the old man who watched the docks.
Then, today, the smuggling operation ran into trouble. The cargo ships were seized, and the money was tied up.
It turned out the whole line was a trap Camilla had set with a rival family to bring Helena down.
The old Don, Enzo Rinaldi, and his wife, Lucia, were so furious they ended up in the ICU. Helena sat in a corner, pale and silent.
Camilla kept pressing her. She slid a contract across the table, demanding the Rinaldi family's territory.
"The family raised me, so I'll clean up this mess for you. Just sign every dock and casino over to me.
"Otherwise, the five families will come after you and the whole Rinaldi family. They'll leave you dead in the street!"
Helena's eyes were red. Her fingers shook as she picked up the fountain pen.
In the dead silence, I scratched my head and asked a perfectly sincere question.
"Huh? Can $10,000 really bankrupt the mafia?"