ARIEL
"Griffin Moretti is the Don's Son. He is the Underboss to be."
Griffin Moretti is the Don's Son. He is the Underboss to be.
Don's Son.
Underboss.
Mafia.
We're men of the Mafia.
Griffin.
Moretti. Moretti. Moretti.
"Ariel?" I jump when my dad touches my shoulder. "Sweetheart are you okay?" He asks, his eyes apologetic. I look at him, desperately trying to look in his eyes.
He's in the Mafia? My dad? My dad who taught me how to swim, how to surf. How to fish then throw it back in the lake because killing a fish was too grotesque?
"You- I don't even know you." I finally let the pressure behind my eyes loose, tears blur my sight. A small sob racks through me.
"Princepessa, ofcourse you know me. I am your father, I have always been the same person." He looks sad. I'm sad too.
"What do you mean you're in the Mafia? You- what you kill people? You have guns, sell drugs? What?" I ask. He looks at me, his expression briefly hardened.
"We do whatever the Mafia needs from us." He says decidedly.
I press my hand to my mouth. I think Im gonna be sick.
"You can't kill people dad." I sob. "You can't do that, that's not your job!" I shake my head.
"It is my job sometimes and I am sorry you had to find out this way." he sounds apologetic.
"Why wouldn't you tell me this when I was younger? Does mom know?" I cry. He nods. My brain is going to combust. "And, and Lucia? Does she know too?" I ask, desperately grasping at straws. How stupid am I?
Zio nods this time.
"Everyone but me? What, did you guys sit around and plan how not to let me know? You've been hiding half of you life from your only daughter?" I ask.
"I wanted to protect you, princess. Your mother insisted you be raised in America," Zio scoffs. Dad glares but continues. "And you were estranged from your birth place and all I wanted was for you to feel normal where you were being raised." he reasons.
"I- I was born in California." I mumble weakly. I look up to find him looking blanched, guilty and upset. My lips part. "You lied about where I was born?" I ask, distaste drips from my tongue.
I press my hands against my temples, massaging them.
I don't know if I am overreacting. Or not reacting enough. All I know is I feel betrayed. Cheated. And so, incredibly stupid.
"God." I shake my head, disdain marks my words as I taste copper in my mouth.
"We had to tell you now, the Moretti boy is no good, princess. I tried and failed to stop him from seeing you. All I can do is stop you. Once you get involved, none of us will be able to save you." Zio says, his tone warning.
"You tried to stop him from seeing me? When? Why didn't he say something?" I mumble.
"That is not all he is hiding, Ariel. I know we have lied and been deceitful, but we are still family. You are to marry when you turn 25. We cannot have your name tainted by it being joined to a boy before marriage. Especially a Moretti. No one will touch you with a ten foot pole if they knew." Zio says. "He's not worth it, ragazza. He is simply looking for a good time. He doesn't care who the girl is. He'll find someone else to-" I flinch in anticipation of the incredibly misogynistic remark coming, but my dad interrupts.
"Marc, not now." Dad shakes his head.
"You have always let your heart lead Lio, and it has always come to bite you in the ass. We have to be clear with her. I am sick of the secrets." Zio Marc grunts.
"I can't- I need to be alone." I stand up, the pizza I had for lunch sloshes around in my gut, threatening to reappear.
"I am sorry Ariel. But end things with Griffin before it gets ugly. Moretti's either take what they want, or burn it to the ground before someone else can have it."
The warning in his tone is enough to pierce the melancholy so deep into my bones, it does not lessen even as I scrub myself roughly with a loofah, letting the water pour over me till my skin prunes.
I have to tell you something about me. My family. It's a life altering situation-- for you.
He is a Moretti.
The Don's Son.
You kill people?
Mafia men.
I gasp, realizing I was basically water boarding myself. Coughing out the water in my nose, I tiredly lean against the wall.
I have to tell you something about me. My family. It's a life altering situation-- for you.
I want to so badly believe he wanted to tell me himself. That he trusted me to tell me. Respected me. It had only been 3 weeks of our relationship becoming more. And maybe he was deciding if he trusted me enough.
But why hadn't he said anything. This was something he should've said the first chance he got. Before we were so close. Before he imprinted his touch so thoroughly into my skin, I could feel him every single time I closed my eyes.
I hated that I had been the subject of lies and deceit my entire life. I hated that I felt bad about being so angry at my parents. At everyone who had kept this secret for so long. I felt so naive, so angry at myself for my gullibility.
The thought that they only told me now because I was tainting some bullshit image I had. I hated everything wrong with my life.
But most of all, I hated how the only thing I wanted, as I stood there under the cold water, the tears mixing with it falling freely, the only thing that would make me feel better, would be him.
"Moretti's either take what they want, or burn it to the ground before someone else can have it."
Zio's voice rings in my ears.
Then it bleeds into a softer, more comforting one.
"Don't worry, tempesta."
I cry harder.
