~~~~~

Downtown Valleza, Italy. Just off the busy main road, on a side street, was a small restaurant named ‘Sandra’s Diner.’ A cool little place based off a 60’s diner from America, except with alcohol. We walked inside arm in arm, when my eyes locked with someone through the doors to the kitchen. As the hostess led us to the bar, a familiar man rose to his full height, then froze. I placed an order for my favorite beverage, a Long Island Iced Tea.

“Alessandra!” The man shouted towards the kitchen; pale faced as his hands automatically prepared my drink. “We have a guest!”

My hand pulled the magnum from its holster as soon as Alessandra appeared through the door with a shotgun. We aimed at each other in silence for several moments, and everyone within the shop took a deep breath, unsure if they should run or not. A tense atmosphere settled over the place as several Romano Soldati ran into the store, guns raised as they took aim at everyone in the shop. This was escalating, but it would change the second she put her gun down.

“Settle down, we’re not here to cause trouble.” Nicolo stated, sitting his glass down with a small clink on the bar. “Mettili giù.” ‘Put them down.’

It was quite a relief, knowing he didn’t take offense to her aiming a weapon at me. Or so I thought, because while thinking it, his gaze rose to Alessandra with cold fury burning in them. For several more tense seconds, no one moved, until her aim dropped to the floor. Only then did everyone breathe again. Then the crowd, sensing the impending danger, started to stand, until Piero appeared behind our group of Soldati.

“CLEAR OUT! Slow down, everyone!” Piero shouted to the other patrons, and a rush of people made for the door. “See a guy named Marcello outside. We’ll reimburse you for your time.”

“I’m not going back.” Alessandra stated once we were the only four in the building, placing her weapon on the counter in view, then raising her arms. “But if you’re going to hurt anyone…”

“Stop it.” I hissed, then threw back the glass containing the drink, irritation curling through me. “I love how that’s the first thing you say to the daughter you haven’t seen since birth.”

Her jaw fell while the man behind the bar looked as though I’d slapped him. It didn’t take me long to work out the truth once I gained access to Vespus’s files, and now, I was angry. With them, with my grandfather, and with the requirements to become Donna. How much of what I knew was false? My gaze hadn’t really left the bar, nor had my hand dropped, leaving Alessandra frozen in place. How could they do something so horrible to a child?

“Nico, dear, meet my ‘mother’ and ‘father.’ Alessandra, and the American she fell for, Hunter Scott.” When my mother’s eyes widened, she shushed me, glancing around the room in fear. “You don’t have to worry about Arnie Vespus. He’s dead. You’re welcome.”

“You did that?!” She shouted, then covered her mouth, making me sigh. “I should have known. I suppose that’s also how you found me? If anyone could use the clues I left behind, it would be my daughter.”

“Don’t play dumb, you and I both know it was all a test to make sure I could run the Accardi, wasn’t it?! That’s why you left Vespus to me, isn’t it? Grandfather’s upstairs, right?” I ignored her question in favor of my own, and her hand reached for the shotgun again, so I continued. “Gramps, get your ass down here! I’m not here to make you go back. So you need to answer me. Why? To all of it!”

Mother’s gaze fell with her hand. I had an idea to their answers, but I wanted to hear it from them. I deserved to know the truth. The tacky red and white of the interior did not help ease the mood as an old funk song played on the jukebox. It was as if someone picked up a café from 1960s America and deposited it on a quiet corner in Italy, a silly concept considering its owners; a former cult member and previous Italian Mafia Heiress.

“I couldn’t take out Vespus, and your grandfather was too old. We couldn’t let them use the blueprints!” She started but when she noticed my narrowed eyes, she froze. “When I fell in love with your father, I just wanted to make sure he was safe!”

“There it is. You see, I understand that. I didn’t want Nicolo to become the Don of the Accardi either, but guess what?” I ventured, watching her gaze fall as my voice grew louder. “You left me to inherit your problem! If grandfather went along with your plan and disbanded the Accardi, I would be dead! Does that sound like good things for me?!”

“I…”

“You were selfish. All you cared about was those blueprints, and your husband’s safety, not your child’s. I was a sacrificial lamb sent to slaughter but you got to bring America to Italy! You got to be free!” I continued, standing to point at her with irritation reaching a new high beneath my skin. “Tell me, how much of this was planned? How much of my life did you control, acting behind the scenes for my grandfather?!”

“Blueprints?” Nico questioned, and I turned to him with an exasperated expression then remembered he didn’t know. “What blueprints?”

“For a biochemical nuclear warhead. They’ve still got them.” I replied, then faced my father with my arms crossed over my chest. “Isn’t that right, ‘dad?’ Did I say it correctly?”

Nicolo’s jaw dropped as my grandfather appeared in the door leading to the kitchen, and I lifted my hands to my hips. I knowingly stared over her shoulder at my grandfather who wore a guilty expression on his face. All of it had been planned, from the minute I asked my grandfather not to disband the Accardi. My mother was the one pulling my strings so I could take over the Accardi and take out the threat. She used me to ensure the safety of a piece of paper she could have destroyed, her husband, and their other four kids.

“But you benefitted!” Alessandra shouted, backing up to the wall as I approached her, then freezing when I put my magnum to her head. “I gave you Nicolo!”

“He wasn’t yours to give, you selfish bitch!” A familiar, warm hand grabbing my shoulder stopped me from using it long enough to remember something. “And I’m not your pawn. Where are the blueprints?”

Her eyelids widened as tears formed in the corners of her eyes. There was an agonizing pain there, hiding in her familiar brown gaze that almost gave me pause. I was angry – running on pure adrenaline – and wanted to scream at her. To beg for the information contained within the Vespus files to be wrong. They contained evidence to prove Alessandra and Hunter were living somewhere in Valleza, just not exactly where. She was clearly just as careful as my family always said she was if she could hide for this long.

“You were our oldest of five! Vespus knew your mother was pregnant when we ran. Your grandfather sent us to Valleza because of the Villa, but we were sure Arnie knew about it. Instead of going there, we disappeared into the city with millions of dollars.” My father answered, but my hand didn’t move as I glanced at him. “I didn’t want to leave you, but was assured it was for your safety. Your grandfather sent so many pictures, so even though I wasn’t there, I got to see you grow up.”

“Vespus knew about the Accardi, and wanted to brainwash you. He wanted you to create chaos on the world stage by revealing you as an Accardi Heiress. That ‘representative’ when you were a child was sent to collect you and take you back. Vespus was going to raise you to be his ‘Greatest Wife.’ He even had a plaque made for you.” My grandfather continued the explanation, making my hand fall and I backed away from my mother. “So we took his first messenger out to the ocean. Every representative after that was taken out there, too. He wanted your body, mind, and connection to the underworld.”

“We had your grandfather fake his death when they wouldn’t stop sending them!” Mother said, drawing my gaze back to her tired features. “When you met Nicolo, he told me how much you changed and how you left a job early! I thought, with Nicolo, you would be safe finally. I’m so sorry, I knew you would end up hating me for this, but I was trying to keep us all safe, I swear!”

Honestly. My eyes closed to her façade in thought. She didn’t look like someone who had it ‘free and easy.’ Mother was only a little more than twenty years older than me, yet she looked as though she were in her sixties, with graying hair and deep wrinkles along her brow. Was it stress aging? I knew it was. My mother was running this café, the Accardi, and her tinier family at the same time. Even though I was impressed at her ability, I was still angry at the position it left me in.

How many of my choices were my own? I took a seat back at the counter and ordered a refill. Every order my grandfather gave me was from my mother, and I had no idea. It wasn’t fair. I’d spent my entire life knowing nothing about them, yet they knew everything about me. My mother played an active role in my life without my knowledge. Then something occurred to me I never considered before, making my eyes open and my gaze bounced between my mother and Nicolo.

“We saw you two together at that meeting… The one you were going to disappear from?” Mother questioned, hand lifting to scratch at her cheek while she glanced away, and I heard Nicolo’s breath catch in his throat. “I was the one who ordered you to marry him. I knew you would only understand me if you knew what love was. Don Nicolo Romano could teach you.”

“So you manipulated me then too? Did you know?” I turned to Nicolo, who turned to me in shock, but I shook my head then stood. “No. You know what? Never mind. I’m done here. I’m going to need those blueprints for safe disposal. Send them through Marcello”

~~~~~

A silence descended over the group as they watched Liliana walk outside and disappear into the limo they arrived in. He thought he’d seen her angry before, but this time was different. There was a cold fury in her words, ones leaving him questioning if she was angry at him, too. When the vehicle didn’t leave like he expected, he took it as a hopeful sign and turned back to her parents and grandfather. This was not how he intended their meeting to go, now that it actually happened.

“Perhaps you could talk…”

“If you think I have any control over what that woman says or does, you have got me mixed up; apparently with you, though we all know that’s over. Instead of focusing on what keeping her in the dark did for you, maybe apologize to her?” Nicolo stated, taking a sip of his beverage, then sat the glass back on the bar. “It’s okay to admit that you failed her as parents…”

“What would you know of…?!” Hunter started, but Nicolo stood from his seat, large hands slamming the countertop and effectively silencing the three.

“I may not know a thing about having kids, but tell me something, Hunter. Could you do the same thing to your other four kids when they were born?” Then he leaned closer to jab the older man in the shoulder, his voice lowering as he towered over him. “Could you drop them off and never even speak to them as they’re growing up, yet manipulate their every move?” Their muted reactions only made him angrier, and he turned away lest he do something regretful. “Put yourself in her shoes. How would you feel, then, to find out your parents were alive after years of believing they died horrifically? Do her siblings even know she exists?”

Shame. The way their shoulders sank in unison, their gazes falling as if they couldn’t bear to meet his eyes. Their new kids knew nothing of their parent’s history, or that they had an older sister, and they felt shame for it. Or maybe this was just another act. Nicolo didn’t know, but he knew his wife. Lili was not the type to just walk away, especially when it involved people she loved. He turned to follow his wife, hoping she knew he didn’t know before today that her parents were still alive.

“What would you have done?” Alessandra questioned with a bit of annoyance in her voice, making Nicolo glance over his shoulder at her. “As someone from outside the Accardi, but still within the Mafia World, surely you would understand…”

“I would have found a way to make it work, no matter the costs, and would rather sacrifice myself and my happiness if it means my family is safe. That is the difference between Liliana and you. She might be cold, but she loves fiercely and protects those she deems worthy.” Then he looked pointedly at her grandfather with a touch of malice. “Values she learned from you. She still doesn’t know how to take an off day. And she always has a plan. Hope you enjoy early retirement.”