The Godmother

Chapter 39: Stutters and Foxes

The room was silent. I opened my eyes to see their reaction. Their mouths were slightly agape.

"R-Rochelle?", Gomorrah stuttered. Before they could tell me to get the fuck out, I began explaining the best I could.

"So um, Dad died and I never knew I was adopted or whatever and I joined the FBI, following his footsteps", I said.

"The FBI?", Vito said in a curious tone.

"And so I worked under this Boss who sent me undercover here to get information on you guys. He turned out to be the confidante of the Gambinos and he also kinda wants me dead now", I rambled on.

"Gambinos? Confidante? Dead?!", Gomorrah turned white with every word.

"Shit that sounded wrong. Don't worry, I didn't leak any vital information about the Luccheses just yet", I said nervously.

Studying the expression on their faces I just realised my statement."Wait that sounds even more wrong, Its not like I plan on leaking anything in the future either", I rubbed the nape of my neck in anxiety.

They both just stared at me with wide eyes and a still faces. I sighed.

Let's try this again

"Mom... Dad... I've come back and I'm planning on taking down the Gambinos and their confidante. I understand if you want me out of here. I'll just... Yeah", I said cooly and headed to the door.

"Wait!", Vito Lucchese screamed.

I turned back to see them both approach me, just as I was getting into my defense position out of the good ol' case of 'Mama Trauma'. But they engulfed me in a tight hug.

"Welcome home, cara", Vito whispered as Gomorrah kissed my cheeks over and over. "We missed you", she said in a genuine smile as she cried.

"You're not mad?", I croaked from the hug and partially from the tears I was holding back. "Why would we be? I thought that the day we find you, you'll be mad at is for leaving you", Gomorrah confessed.

They're your parents now, dumbfuck. You're still calling them as if they're your clients.

True. I was home now... With my real mother and father. Mom and Dad.

I remembered Giovanni as I conversed with them and told them my entire life story from the start. They had so many questions that needed answering. I should've felt overwhelmed but I didn't, for the first time in decades, I felt fulfilled.

***

"So let me get this straight. Your Boss is Robert Williamson? The same stronzo that works for the Gambinos?", Dad fumed. I nodded in agreement.

I informed them about Gus and the ways in which he helped me. They were more than willing to forgive any breach in the mafia that we had made because they were overjoyed that I was back.

"Can I ask you something?", I began as our conversations got drier. They looked up at me as if to ask, "what?"

"How did you guys know Papa - uh - Giovanni?", I asked. They empathetically glanced at each other. Finally Gomorrah spoke up.

"We actually knew Giovanni before all of this, we were old schoolmates that used to meet from time to time, he was our bestfriend. He helped us with anything and everything unless it was something illegal. So when we had you... We entrusted you with him, because he was the only one who could even remotely protect you.

Then years went by and things got harder to deal with so we lost a little contact every now and then.

When we got information that a guy named Giovanni was working undercover in the Gambino Mafia, we saw it as an opportunity to expose them.

You see, we only dealt with weapons, drugs and booze during the prohibition.

It may sound bad, Rochelle but we didn't have a choice because businesses were failing and the government couldn't give any fucks towards the working class, the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. Only the capitalist entrepreneurs benefited.

Since we were immigrants, most of us ended in the working class or dirt poor. America didn't sound as dreamy as we had heard about it back in Sicily, but there was no turning back, we had to make it work. So, the Italians formed associations to riot against the capitalist system.

Eventually, they declined us of jobs. So we create our own by selling their own products, smuggled by us, back to them. Prohibition was where the mafia gained all the attention. We were some of the only suppliers of alcohol.

Overtime, things changed and we had to diversify when the Prohibition ended. We began selling weapons, running small businesses and what not just to stay afloat. All the mafia gangs were merely trying to get themselves a livelihood.

But the Gambinos... Started a sex trafficking chain. Something we clearly decided against as mentioned in a pact that was drafted a long time back.

Since the Luccheses were initially the head of the 5 families and the strongest... We had to intervene. The Gambinos and us had some petty gang fights and clashes which then turned out to be alot more serious. They killed Giovanni... I was furious. That was the day we became sworn enemies... And the oncoming mafia war will decided who'll win."

I curiously listened to every word she uttered and sat there not saying anything for a while. "I know this is too much to take in cara, but the war is inevitable... We have to be ready to face them", Vito said with dullness.

"There is a way to prevent it", I proclaimed to them. They stared at me with disbelief. "Is there?", Gomorrah asked breathlessly.

"Yes. Let's call all the families for a meeting tomorrow and tell them, it's best that we avoid a conflict and stop the war", I proposed. They both stared at me again. Then they burst out laughing.

"Sorry cara, you're an angel. It isn't that easy to reason with the mafia, they're cunning foxes", Vito said in between his laughs.

"The plan isn't finished yet. Plus, I happened to have some experience dealing with foxes before"

"Rochie dear, they really aren't that easy to convince. I don't trust them", Gomorrah said with a sigh as she placed a motherly palm on my cheek.

I held her palm and smiled. "Then trust me"