Spies in Sandals [Book Four]

Chapter Six: I Meet the Godmother

Hello...this week has been the longest ever ugh I'm dying. How is there still one day left of school? We didn't get our snow day :( The only good thing is that I'm done with classes by lunch and then I just play basketball during my study hall. Anyway...I meant to upload this chapter last night but I couldn't finish it to save my life, but I thought about it and figured it out. Sort of. Eh I'm still a little displeased but it is what it is. Let me know what ya think. I have like 3 tests tomorrow I should study for but I don't care. Senior year, man. Time to go bake cookies.

Pic of Angelo up there (Luke Bilyck). Except he'd have dark eyes but whatevs. Closest I could come up with.

Gracias! <3 vb123321

Chapter Six

I Meet the Godmother

"Two types a'people live in Boston: the Irish and the Italians."

Sofia Carboni stared at Zach and me until we began gulping down our soup, and only then did she continue.

"The North End here is home to us Italians, but the Irish like to think that they were robbed of it back in the 1890s. So, naturally, we've never gotten along. Some of the old Irish families went to New York or Baltimore, but there's no denying Boston's the center. All of the powerful families hail from Boston, especially us Italians."

"Excuse me," I said bravely, not wanting to interrupt, but I was getting a bad feeling. "When you say families, are you talking, like, The Godfather type family?"

I thought I was being ridiculous, but she laughed and said, "Where do you think the plot for that movie came from, honey? Oh, sure, New York is fulla Italians too, lots of families there, but Boston has its fair share."

"Right." I tried to get a grip on it all. "So you're – you guys are like a –"

How to politely imply that they were part of the mafia? Even if it wasn't the mafia?

"The Carboni family goes back more than a hundred years, honey. Further back, even, than the Sullivans." Sofia's smile extended to Zach, but he focused on his soup. "Us two families used to fight like cats and dogs, tryna outrival each other in every job, tryna get the best connections and best grip on the town. Of course, that was before Zach's ma.

"Mary O'Malley was my best friend since I was in the first grade. One a'the only Irish girls in our school, but that never held her back." The Italian woman reached for a glass of water in the center of the table, sipping it as her eyes slid over my head. "One of the smartest people I ever met, too. From a normal family, but she knew just what we were. Tried some a'our stuff, too, got a feeling for it. When she joined CIA, we thought we were done for."

I swallowed soup too fast. "Your mom was CIA?" I asked, staring at Zach. "How?"

"They found her," he said, shrugging as he stirred his soup. "And she agreed to join, I dunno, how else do you sign up?"

"No, I meant –"

"She went to Harvard," said Sofia, her voice commanding all attention. "And, yeah, they found her there. Fastest recruiting job I've ever heard of. She got good, too, top level of CIA in just a few years, but she never mentioned she knew the Carboni family. I didn't see much a'her in those years, since she was government and all that, but then all these rumors started that she'd bumped into Connor Sullivan on a job and fell in love."

Zach's spoon clanked against his bowl, his shoulders tense as he sat on the edge of his seat. Half of me wanted Sofia to stop talking, but the other part of me was glad to finally have some answers. He didn't tell her to stop, anyway; if anything, he looked a little relieved.