Beyond What Meets The Eye

Chapter Thirty-Three

"Miss Bonanno, there's someone here to see you."

Mira stood in her father's office, peering down at the busy streets below through the wall length windows. Everyone was waiting for her to make a move, regroup and reorganize after everything that happened, but Mira had no plans moving forward. Her goal was never to find her place here, it was to find a way out. She would meet with the Lucchese and Genovese families and see if she could work out some sort of deal. She did what they asked, so hopefully, they were reasonable.

She turned towards the door, brows furrowing as an unfamiliar man walked in. He was older, in his fifties maybe, his dark brown hair sprinkled with specks of grey that poked out beneath a brown fedora. He wasn't wearing a fancy suit or anything, just an rugged pair of levi's and brown leather jacket.

"Do I know you?" Mira questioned once the door had fallen shut.

"The names Joe, we've spoken before, but I guess this would be our first formal meeting." It took a moment before the name clicked.

"It's you . . ." She said, remembering their phone call.

"That's right, in the flesh. I'm glad to see everything worked out, I was a bit worried thing's would fall through, but it went smoothly." He stated, shoving his hands in his pockets and strolling along the perimeter of her father's office, taking in the dusty shelves of books, trinkets and choice in paintings.

"Smoothly? There was nothing smooth about these last few days." She shook her head, folding her arms over her chest.

Joe glanced over at her.

"Smooth doesn't mean pleasant. You said that your plan was to prove your innocence to the organization, correct? And is that not what happened?" He raised his brows pointedly. Mira cocked her head to the side.

"So how exactly did you know my father?" She asked. Joe smiled softly, picking a book from the shelf and blowing off the dust.

"You're father and I were close friends when we were younger, both heirs to a mafia family. We had our ups and downs, but we typically understood each other. When one got himself in a hole, the other dug him out. That's what your father did for me. I did something stupid in a time of desperation, and the punishment for it was supposed to be death. You're father was supposed to kill me, but instead, he helped me fake my own death. I disappeared, taking a small group of people with me and began running my own operations quietly, off the grid. We never communicated often, it was too risky, but your father did send me a message shortly after your mother was killed. He asked that if anything ever happened to him, for me to look after you, to protect you and I don't like to be indebted to people, so here I am."

Mira sighed, falling back into her father's chair. She hated hearing about the thing's her father did for her, hated that it made her feel sorry for him. She knew nothing about his life was easy, that he wanted to do the right thing, but he didn't. He had so much blood and pain on his hands . . .

"So how'd you do it? You said everything went smoothly, so I guess that means you had some sort of plan." Mira asked after a moment.

Joe leaned forward and grabbed a mint from the jar of them resting on her father's desk and popped one in his mouth.

"I have people working for me among all the families. Their only job is to keep me in the loop, helps me get leads on business opportunity and whatnot. I had someone look for footage from the night your father was killed. Anything relevant had been erased and replaced. Made it look like no one went in or out of Joseph's apartment during that time frame. So of course, you wanted to prove you were innocent, right? In order to do that you needed evidence, and in this case, getting a confession was our best bet. Unfortunately our pal Leonardo didn't make it easy for us, cutting off all the audio for the cell they were holding you in. Against all odds, my guy was able to find a signal coming from that very necklace of yours. Turn's out there's a tracker and microphone hidden within that rock around your neck. Damned thing saved your life." He motioned to Mira's chest where the necklace Adrian got her rested against her skin. She looked down slowly at the heart shaped diamond, gently taking it into her hand. He managed to look after her even after losing his own life... how on brand of him.

"Nonetheless, I stopped by to make sure there weren't any loose ends to tie up. It's weird though, standing in Joseph's office with his daughter instead of him." He let out a long sigh. "So, everyone's looking at you now, what's your next move, kid?"

Mira looked up.

"Find a way out . . . hopefully."

Joe pressed his tongue against his cheek, nodding slowly.

"I see." He rubbed his head thoughtfully. "I'm not usually this nice, but I may be able to help you out a bit. It'll take a few day's, but I can get you a new identity, passport, birth certificate, the whole nine miles. Beyond that, I'm afraid I can't help you."

Mira managed a small smile.

"That'd be more than enough, especially after everything."

He cleared his throat, straightening out his jacket.

"Well then, it's probably best I go. I'll be in touch when everything is in order." He adjusted his hat and turned towards the door.

"Thank you again, Joe," Mira said as he reached for the handle. He paused.

"Sure, kid."

The door clanked shut behind him.