Mafia Love

Chapter 8

Two weeks have passed since the incident, and I'm not as sore, the bruises are starting to fade, and my ribs and arm are healing. Gio and the other guys have been spending a lot of time with me at the apartment which I enjoy, but they have been acting strange. We're at the apartment now, hanging out in the living room, and I have had it with their strange behavior. 

"Alright, why are you guys acting weird? You've been like this for almost two weeks," I demand looking between the four of them. 

Lorenzo, Salvatore, and Matteo look guiltily at me as Giovanni says; "Um, I have something important to tell you."

When he doesn't continue, I groan out; "What?" 

"Um, I, ah, I killed your mother a week ago," he seriously replies, and looks like I'm going to yell or something. 

I burst out into loud laughter since I believe he's joking; "Yeah, okay. You killed my mother. How did you kill here, and what did you do with her body?"

"I shot her in the heart, and buried her body in a wooded area," he replies straight faced. 

Looking between the four of them, the smile instantly drops from my lips; "Oh my! You're not fucking joking! You really did kill her!"

Bolting from my seat on the couch as my stomach twists, I run into the bathroom to vomit harshly into the toilet. Bile burns my throat, and tears burn my eyes. A large hand lands softly on my back, and rubs circles there. I dry heave for several minutes, and I peak from the corner of my eye to find Giovanni there. 

"Why would you do that?" I sob, dropping onto my ass, and bringing my tear filled eyes to his hard eyes. 

"She did horrible things to you, Hunter. She didn't pick you up from the train station, causing you to be severely beaten. She needed to be taken out of your life permanently, so she couldn't hurt you anymore," he calmly explains. 

"She promised me she was going to get help," I sob. "She was going to check herself into a mental health facility. She, she -" I sob unable to finish as I start to hyperventilate. 

"Hunter, you need to calm down," he tries to sooth as he moves closer to me; scrambling away from him, I curl myself into the fetal position as I sob. Clenching my eyes shut, and try to come to terms that mother is dead, and that Giovanni killed her. 

"What's going on in here?" dad asks from the door of the bathroom.

"I told him the truth about Kerry," Giovanni answers him.

My eyes snap open to lock eyes with dad, and demand absolutely shocked; "You knew?" 

"Yes, I knew they did this for you," dad replies. "Giovanni and his father came to see me at my lunch break one day before they did the hit."

"Hit?" I squeak out, completely shocked and horrified at this. "You are okay with what they did to her? I know she had her demons, and did things she shouldn't have, but to kill her for these?" 

"Hunter, you have to understand that if I had killed her, the police would have been after me. This way, they won't even thing to look at Giovanni or his family," dad tries to reason with me. "Your mother beat you with barbed whips, put out cigarettes on your skin, cut you with knives, and would beat you. She didn't even pick you up like she was supposed to because she was in jail for prostitution. How can you be upset over her death?"

Fresh tears well in my eyes, but don't fall as I ask them a question I don't really want an answer to; "Do you have ties with the mafia? Yes, I know she did those things! I lived through that, but she was going to get help, and get better!" 

Dad and Giovanni look at each other briefly before looking back at me with dad answering; "Yes. Giovanni's father runs the Italian mafia here, the Rossi Mafia, and I am friends with a couple of men who are in the Irish Mafia in Jersey."

"Who?" I demand of dad not believing him. 

"Evan, Collin, and Kevin," he instantly replies with a shrug of his shoulders. 

"Fuck. You used to let me be around them, and I even stayed at their houses over night when I was a child," I breath out, completely freaking out now. 

"None of them would ever harm you, Hunter. You were safe with them," dad remarks with another shrug of his shoulders. 

"Do seantuismitheoirí know about this?" I quietly asks hoping they don't know about dad's mafia connections or what happened to mother. 

"Of course they don't," he replies with a frown. "Why?"

Surging to my feet suddenly, I rush past them and head into my room. I need out of here for a few days to clear my head and think. Grabbing my duffel bag from under my bed, I pack three days worth of clothes as Gio and dad enter my room. 

"Where do you think you're going?" Gio asks sadly. 

"I'm going to seantuismitheoirí's for a few days. I need to think and clear my head," I reply not looking at him or dad. 

Grabbing my wallet, cell, and my duffel bag and school bag, I try to leave the room, but they block my exit; "Move please."

"Hunter, we did this for you, love," Giovanni softly says as he brings his right hand up to ring his fingers to brush against my cheek, but I move away from him. 

"I need time to think over everything. Please move," I calmly say even though I don't feel calm. 

They move to the side, allowing me to walk out, and toward the living room where I find the other guys standing in the middle of the room. They stare at me with wide eyes, and I silently move toward the front door to slip on my shoes and grab my sweatshirt. 

"How are you getting to your seantuismitheoirí?" dad asks as he and Giovanni enter the living room. 

"I'm going to ride the bus there," I tell him flatly. 

"Text me when you get there, please?" dad requests, and Gio seconds this request. 

"Sure," I agree, briefly glancing at them. "I will be home Friday after school."