Chapter 11
Leo
New York, 2017
For me, New York was cinematic. I knew America from the movies, which I watched very little of, and the first thing that had struck me when I landed here, was that it wasn’t so different from Naples. The buildings were taller, people were dressed smarter and they all seemed to be in a rush to go someplace, but that was it. It was the same noise and the same hustle.
I was sitting outside at a cafe, drinking a watery cup of espresso. I missed the coffee back home, but that was the least of my problems. I was on a mission, and I didn’t have much time. It had taken me three years to get here and I couldn’t afford to make any mistakes.
That day, three years ago, when I was lying on the wooden planks of the dock, watching the boat leave; I thought my life was over. I knew it wouldn’t be long before the Cavallini’s would smoke me out and make me pay for everything that Marco had done to them and the rest of the families of Naples.
Limping, clutching my shoulder wound which was bleeding buckets; I tried to make my way back to my apartment. Isabella was gone, Marco had forced her away from me and I didn’t even know where to begin to look for her.
When I got to the apartment, Gino Cavallini was waiting there for me, alone. My gun wasn’t loaded, I thought he was going to shoot me to death but instead, he sat me down on my couch and told me that Claudio, from the Giovanni family had pleaded with him to spare my life. Claudio had vouched for me, he had put his life on the line for me. He had told Gino that I wasn’t the same as Marco.
Gino Cavallini proved to be a merciful man. I had spent so many years fighting him and the other families in Naples. I had spent so long being Marco’s soldier, that it took me a long time before I could trust Gino.
Over the following months, Gino enlightened me on what was really going on behind my back. He showed me parts of Marco’s operation that were kept from me, the things I wasn’t privy to.
Marco and the Aducci family were involved in human trafficking.
That was a revelation that had shocked me. I had refused to believe it, until Gino showed me the facts. Marco’s network still existed in Naples and all around Italy, even though he was gone. Gino was on a personal mission to break that network down, and he took me along with him.
We spent the next three years, conducting raids and rescuing women and teenage girls who had been kidnapped and in the process of being trafficked out of the country. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, what we were uncovering. I had no idea that this was what Marco had been involved in behind my back.
It was all beginning to make sense now. Where that sudden surge of income was coming from, why Marco was so ruthless and violent with the people in this city, why we had lost all our allies. Marco had known all along, that if I found out about this, I would go against him. He still needed me. I was his loyal and faithful servant, he needed my muscle power and for me to train his new recruits; but other than that, he had kept me safely in the dark about his underground business.
After we had successfully broken down the slave trade network in Naples, I knew that I wanted to revenge. I wasn’t alone in this. Gino hadn’t forgotten and neither had he forgiven Marco for the death of his father, and what he had done to our city. I wanted to find him. I wanted to find Isabella and take her to safety, and Gino agreed to help me.
We spent the next three years trying to uncover where he could be hiding. He had planned on someone searching for him, so he covered his trail. He was using multiple aliases whenever he did business. We eventually sniffed out a trail. Marco was beginning to grow a new operation…it was going slow but he was building it up from the ground. This time, he was doing it in America. They were back in New York.
There was very little information I could find on Isabella. She had no phone number, email or social media accounts I could reach her on and I could sense that she was under the watchful eye of her father.
All we could uncover was that she was in New York with him, and that she lived in the same house.
Once we figured out all the information, I caught the first flight to New York. Finally, in the first time in three years, I felt like I might be able to see Isabella again. Even though I wanted to go alone, Gino came with me. We had become trusting friends over the past three years. He had shown me mercy and opened my eyes to the atrocities of Marco and the family.
“This tastes like shit!” Gino spat the espresso out and lit a cigarette now, as we sat at the cafe together. I smiled and shook my head. The one thing I had realized about Gino over the years, was that he wasn’t a polite man. But he was honest, and that was what mattered to me.
“Forget about the coffee. I’m going to go stake out the house,” I said, standing up from the chair. I couldn’t wait any longer. We had been in New York for two hours now and I had an address in the pocket of my leather jacket.
“But we decided we were going to do it tonight, together,” Gino exclaimed.
“I’ve waited three years to see her, I’m not waiting any more. I’ll stay in touch,” I told him and walked away from the cafe leaving him behind. I needed to do this alone.
***
The red brick house in Queens, which had Marco’s black Mercedes parked in the driveway, wasn’t nearly as close to being the mansion in Naples; but it was a pretty sweet house considering this was New York. It was obvious that Marco had taken the money with him, and he was living comfortably now.
I was sure that the house was constantly being watched. Knowing how Marco operated, I knew that he didn’t trust anybody and especially not this new country he was living in now. Matteo and Francis were on guard for sure, and if my doubts were true; he had hired more men to keep a watchful eye on the property.
I stood at the end of the road, and unlike in Naples; it was easier in New York to stake out a place because there were so many spots to hide and nobody knew me in this country. I had a pretty good view of the house from where I was standing, and I had made up my mind to wait there for as long as it took, until I finally had a glimpse of Isabella.
I hadn’t spent a single day, in the past three years, not thinking about her. I couldn’t get her out of my mind. Even though there were several times when Gino told me to just let it go, because I would never find them. But now I had, and my body twitched with excitement at the thought of seeing her again.
I’d been standing there close to an hour before Marco finally appeared at the door. He had Matteo and Francis in tow as usual and I watched them descending the porch steps and heading straight for the car. I had to clench my fists, to stop myself from marching over and pumping bullets in all their heads.
The car pulled out of the driveway and I looked up at the house again. I couldn’t be sure if Isabella was still inside. Whether she was or wasn’t, I was sure that there were still guards in there. It would be suicide for me to try and sneak into the house now, without backup. Instead, I decided to keep waiting, hoping that she might come out soon.
I waited another hour before there was finally any movement. It came from the back of the house where the garden was. I crossed the road, feeling more confident now that Marco had gone and I walked closer to the house. There were French sliding windows in the back of the house and instead of Isabella, I saw a little girl run out into the garden.
I stopped in my tracks, confused. What was a child doing in their home?
The little girl ran to the swings that had been set up in the garden and she jumped on it, swinging herself. I walked closer to the house, now at the red brick waist-high wall that surrounded the garden.
I watched her as she continued swinging. She was very young, three or four years old from what I could tell. She was swinging her legs wildly and humming some childish tune to herself.
My eyes scanned over her, taking in her long dark hair which had been tied in two pig tails at the top of her head. Her eyes were dark, glittering, and there was something familiar about her face. Her nose…her chin…she looked like Isabella, she had her pouty pink lips. But there was something else, and I felt my heart stop when I realized that she also looked like me!
I jumped over the wall, my heart racing in my chest and I rushed towards her. I didn’t give a fuck about the house anymore, or who was watching us or the guards. All I could think about was getting closer to this girl, to speaking with her.
“Hi,” I said, walking up to her. She hadn’t seen me coming and now she twisted in her swing and looked at me, with wide dark eyes. She didn’t react the way I thought she would. She didn’t scream or call for help, instead she just looked at me curiously.
I crouched down in front of her, my eyes flitting over her. I couldn’t control the smiles that were erupting on my face. She was my daughter. I could feel it in my bones.
“What’s your name?” I asked, in my accented English, hoping that she would understand me.
“Sofia,” she replied. The sound of her voice was like music to my ears. I wanted to reach out and hug her tightly to myself. This was my daughter! Isabella’s daughter too. There was no mistaking it.
“Hello, Sofia…” I began to say and then I heard the click of a gun behind me.
“Step away from her or I’ll fucking shoot!” it was Isabella’s voice and slowly, I raised my arms up in the air.
“Mama!” Sofia squealed now.
“Go into the house, baby. Now, run! Listen to mama!” I could hear her saying. I watched Sofia wriggle off the swing and run away.
“Isabella…it’s me,” I said, hoping that she had just not recognized me.
“Turn around slowly, if you make a move, I’ll shoot. I swear!” Isabella hissed. I could hear the quiver in her voice.
I turned, holding my breath. I had waited for three years to see her, and these were not the circumstances I was hoping for.
I saw Isabella now. She was clutching the gun tightly in her hand and it was pointed straight at my chest. Her hands were shaking and she was only a few feet away from me. In her eyes, I could see her conviction. She would shoot me if she had to. She was a lioness protecting her cub.
“Isabella…what are you doing?” I asked her, in a deep whisper.
“Shut up!” she screeched and I looked up at the house. There wasn’t a stir inside. Sofia was there, standing behind the French windows, looking out at us. I could see the fear in her eyes.
“You’re scaring Sofia, put the gun down,” I said, looking at Isabella again.
“Don’t you dare say her name!” she screeched again, keeping the gun pointed at me.
***
It had been three years, Isabella was twenty nine now and even though she looked a little different, she was still the same. She had cut her hair, it was much shorter now, just beneath her shoulders and she looked tired. That spark in her green eyes, which I had fallen in love with was much dimmer now.
“Put down the gun, Isabella, I’m not going to hurt Sofia. Why would I? She’s my daughter,” I tried reasoning with her.
Slowly, she lowered her gun, but it remained in her hand, cocked and ready to be shot. She stepped away from me, peering into my eyes.
“Why are you here, Leo? What do you want?” she asked, and I could hear the quiver in her voice.
“We have a daughter?” I said, looking over at Sofia.
“Don’t look at her. Answer my question or I’ll call for my father!” she shouted and I looked back at her. I wanted her to know how happy I was to see her, how relieved I was that she was okay. How joyful I was that we had a child together. Finally, it felt like the past three years hadn’t entirely gone to waste. But I could see that Marco had turned her against me. I had two days with her, while he had three years to turn her mind.
“I’m here for you,” I replied and took a step towards her, but she moved away from me and lifted the gun up in her hand again.
“Stand back. Stay away from me!” she shouted.
“Isabella…I’m here now. You don’t have to be afraid anymore. We can go, we can take Sofia and go,” I said, but she was already shaking her head.
“How many times do you think I’m going to fall for this act? You think you can do it again? Use me against papa?” she hissed, narrowing her deep green eyes at me.
“He’s been lying to you, Isabella. Whatever he’s told you about me, has been a lie. He knew the house was going to be attacked that morning. He’d already gathered the men and he called for me, because he knew I would have done anything to protect you and him!” I explained.
Isabella’s lips were trembling, her eyes were pooling with tears. She shook her head wildly.
“You’re lying to me. Papa would not do that to us. He is a rough man, he has his beliefs, but he wouldn’t trap you and he wouldn’t trap me!” she shrieked. She was pointing the gun at me again and I kept my distance from her.
Inside, Sofia was still standing at the windows, staring at us. This was not how she should have gotten to know her father.
“Isabella…that man had been doing things behind my back, I had no idea about. We should sit down and talk. Let me explain everything to you. I can tell you in detail what happened that day,” I growled.
“I don’t want to talk. I don’t want you messing with my head again. You need to leave, now. I don’t want to have to shoot you. Not in front of Sofia,” her voice was shaky and weak now. I knew that I could have battled the gun out of her hands if I wanted to, but I didn’t. I didn’t want to scare her even more by overpowering her.
“I tried to come to you that day, but your father wouldn’t let me. He used his goons to keep me back and sent me into battle. He thought I would die there in the house,” I explained. Isabella shook her head, tears gushing down her cheeks now.
“You’re lying. You’re lying!” she kept repeating.
“Why would I come back here for you, Isabella? I’ve been the last three years searching for you,” I tried.
“I don’t know what you want, but I want you gone from my life. I don’t want Sofia to see you or know you. You betrayed us, you used me! You…used me because you knew…you knew I was falling for you!” she cried and the gun dropped from her hand.
I stepped towards her, in the hopes that now maybe I would be able to pull her into my arms but Isabella gasped and looked up at me with fear in her eyes. I hated the fact that she was scared of me. Three years ago, she had told me I made her feel safe, that I was the only one she trusted.
Now, I just needed to win back her trust again.
“Okay, I’m going to go, but I’m not going away,” I said and slipped out a piece of paper from the pocket of my jeans. I dropped it on the grass, I didn’t want to get close to her or touch her in this state.
“That has my phone number on it. I won’t try and get in touch with you again, but Isabella…think about everything I’m saying and you can reach me on that number. We can meet on your terms and discuss everything. If you’ll just let me explain,” I said.
She said nothing, just stared at me with tears pouring down her cheeks. She watched me as I turned and walked back to the brick wall and jumped over it.
I turned to look at her when I was on the street, but she was already running back into the house. She slid the windows shut and locked it and through the glass I could see her lifting Sofia in her arms and then yanking the curtains close.
I didn’t know what I was going to do. There was nothing left to do. All I had was more time to kill and wait for her to see the truth.