A Mob Boss's First Love (Book 1 Of The New York Mafia Trilogy)

44. A Big Brother's Advice

Francesco was sitting on a sofa next to Adele while wrapping his arm around her waist and had just heard Costanzo's account of what had happened to him. He was staring at his brother with narrowed eyes and looking deep in thought.

Costanzo was looking at his brother worriedly waiting for a verdict. There was just silence in the room now. The good sign was that Francesco was treating his disappearance as a personal matter rather than a business one from the looks of it. The first thing Francesco had done when Costanzo had arrived was dismissing all the guards from the room and only allowing Adele to stay since she had been worried and had lost her sleep ever since being informed of Costanzo's disappearance. So this was giving Costanzo hope that Francesco wasn't going to push him too hard to react in any drastic way.

Costanzo held his breath as he heard his brother break the silence by clearing his throat. Francesco first turned to Adele and spoke " Sweetheart. I think you should go to sleep now. You wanted to hear that nothing bad has happened to Costanzo and you just heard he has been treated well by that witch, Sancia that he calls his beloved. Now that you know he is fine, you should go to bed."

Adele spoke carefully " Can I stay.. Please. I would like to .... go to bed when you do. I will miss you."

Francesco smiled " I love you darling. That's good to see you want to wait for me to go to bed. That's a good sign." He then turned to Costanzo " You heard Adele. She wants to stay till the end of this. So I have to keep this short Costanzo. When I first heard from the bar owner that you had gone to Sancia I was very furious. I sent Antonio to get you since I was sure nothing good could come out of you visiting a woman who broke you to pieces by rejecting you all those years ago but more importantly I was keen to get you out of Sancia's reach because I simply despise her. Costanzo she is wrong for you. Sancia would make your life hell. Yet from what I hear from you, it seems like you had a civilised chat with her enough for her to tell you about her life and the fact that she is pregnant. So my first question is why didn't you push her away the minute she walked in. You should not have even let her speak to you. Costanzo you should have just asked her to call you a taxi and should have come here immediately?"

Costanzo sighed " I care about her Francesco. I wanted to talk to her to see if she is fine and also to see what she wanted from me,"

Francesco laughed " Really Costanzo. Is that your best answer. You must have known she wanted you. I was sure she did since her husband is dead now. Now that O'Neil is dead she seems to have realised her mistake by refusing you. Now never mind my first question. Tell me are you going to get back with her? I want to hear your decision before I tell you my verdict."

Costanzo spoke " I wish to hear your orders. I don't think it matters what I decide. You will make the final decisions and will give me a verdict. Isn't this the point of this meeting?"

Francesco spoke " Look Costanzo. I may be your boss but I am your brother too. When it comes to your personal life, I have expectations but I still give you choices. Lets be blunt about this. Sancia is a special case. When she left you, it hurt you. But it didn't make you hate her after she betrayed you. You loved her all those years ago and you still do now. I hate her because she left you and hurt you. You are my brother and that woman stabbed you in the heart and I hated how much you loved her just as much as I hated what she did to you. But more than anything I hated how I couldn't take revenge on her for hurting your feelings like that. I remember that day clearly. I remember the day she broke your heart. I remember her wedding day. I had taken over as the head of Rosarios at that point. I had signed a treaty with the Giovannis. Maybe you have forgotten but I haven't. She was not obliged to marry O'Neil that day. She chose to marry him. She could easily wait for you to ask her hand in marriage one day but she didn't wait for you like how you waited for her throughout your college years. When that wedding went ahead even though no one was pushing for it to happen I wanted to kill her. I wanted her to be assassinated so badly so I could avenge your broken heart but of course I could see that you still loved her. So I didn't do anything. I am your big brother. I am supposed to protect you from getting hurt and I failed to do it because I didn't want to make you suffer more. Now lets get to the point straight away. My verdict is.... You must stay away from her. She has to pay for her sins. She has to pay for breaking your heart and if you refuse her now it would make it all even. I want you to break her heart just how she broke yours. This is called justice. I have had the guilt on my conscious all these years Costanzo that I never did anything when she broke you by marrying a man you hated. That guilt is still burning my conscious. I want revenge on her and I can't have it unless you allow it to happen. I am giving you a choice here. You can act on your heart and go to her. You are free to do so but if you do that you would hurt me. That would mean I won't be able to avenge what she did to you all those years ago. But if you don't go to her it would make me satisfied that she suffers and would be living without the man who truly loved her."

At this point Costanzo was looking at Francesco with surprise. He couldn't believe Francesco was being so calm and rational. He had dismissed all the guards so his men wouldn't see his kinder side. A side that Costanzo didn't think his brother any longer had. Costanzo spoke honestly " I really don't know what to do Francesco. I love her but I still haven't got over what she did. I want her but part of me hates that she allowed O'Neil to be her husband. I also hate how she lives. I don't like her leading that criminal business of the O'Neils and I know it is unlikely that she would change her life for me. After she told me she expected a baby I knew ...,. it was almost over. She would not change her life because she has a baby on the way who she wants to take over the business one day. But part of me wants to believe that we could have a life together and she could change for me and do what made me happy."

Francesco sighed " Brother I said to you what would happen if you choose her. I don't like repeating myself. Now what's it Going to be."

Costanzo covered his face with his hands and shook his head mumbling something that sounded like " I don't know." He then bent over and rested his arms on his knees while covering his face.

Francesco gave out a frustrated sigh and spoke "You are taking your time I see. That woman has messed with your mind again i bet. I stand by what I said. I wont be happy about it if you choose her but would accept it if thats really what you want. She is your first love just like how Adele is mine. But if you make her pay for her sins i would be satisfied and it would save me from the guilt that I have for not making her pay. Now. It's getting late too and I Don't want Adele to lose sleep. Think about what I said and tell me your decision tomorrow. I would accept any decision you make about this. Like I said Sancia is a special case. I can't treat this issue with her like I deal with any thing else." He then turned to Adele. " Lets go to bed darling." He then got up and took Adele's hand.

Adele got up too and followed Francesco to the door, they heard Costanzo's shaky voice " I would do it Francesco. I would let her go."

Francesco smiled in triumph and spoke with out turning around " You made the right choice brother. I would find you some descent women to choose from at the ball. There are so many actresses and singers attending that ball tomorrow."

As Francesco opened the door lead Adele outside, Adele glanced at Costanzo to say good night but the words caught in her throat and her heart broke as she saw the tearful face of Costanzo. He looked totally devastated.

Francesco lead Adele to their bedroom. He held the door open for Adele and entered after her. As he closed the door behind them he spoke " Don't worry about Costanzo. He will get over it."

Adele walked to the bed and laid down on her side of the bed. She covered herself with a blanket as she watched Francesco getting changed. When he was about to take of his shirt, Adele blushed and looked away. That made Francesco chuckle " Why are you looking away sweetheart. It's all yours. You can look. But you are too innocent. I am covering up as much as I can. Because of you I wear my pyjama pants even thought I prefer shorts. Hopefully one day soon you won't mind my shorts."

Adele looked at Francesco " I won't sleep in this bed if you wear shorts. We are not married."

Francesco sighed " But even when you weren't here with me, I always wore a pair of shorts to bed. I like it that way. But don't worry I will wear what you want to bed. You are my everything." He then got into bed on the other side of the bed and pulled the blanket over himself. He then turned off the bed side lamp post and whispered good night.

Minutes later Adele broke the silence between them " Francesco...."

Francesco spoke " Hmm."

Adele spoke " I just wanted to say thank you for you know .., for listening to me when I asked you to go easy on Costanzo after you told me about who Sancia was. I know you were very angry when you first heard he had gone to her home. I can't believe you were so calm when you questioned him even though you had vowed to beat the love of that " witch" out of him. I can't believe you did this for me. I didn't think you would keep your word after you promised you won't hurt Costanzo for having feelings for Sancia." She then waited for response but none came then she heard Francesco mumble something.

Adele spoke " Francesco .... Francesco." It seemed like he was in a deep sleep and hadn't heard anything Adele had spoken.

Adele sighed and tried to put all the events of that day to the back if her mind and sleep. Getting ready for the busy day ahead,