EPISODE 5: COME TO COLLECT
I whip around to look at my father, horror thinly veiled on my face.
"Enzo," my father begins, putting on the air of a business man, straightening his shoulders. "So lovely to see you!" He holds out his hand, which is swallowed by Enzo's.
"Yeah, yeah!" Enzo booms, "Don't skirt the question, now, Abel! I hear the girl fainted to get out of accepting my sons most gracious proposal. Explain!" I have never heard anyone bark orders at my father, and I expect him to refuse, but he does nothing. There is no reaction.
I notice Cesar standing smugly in Enzo's shadow. Jasper, of course, has taken the liberty of closing the door on the prying eyes that bulge into the room. Nobody else needs to see the great and dangerous Abyss bend the knee to anyone.
"Sir, Lilliana is somewhat delicate," I swallow my pride and let myself sink onto the day bed once more, fanning myself and feigning delicacy.
"Delicate?" Enzo shouts.
"She's been just a little ill," My father emphasizes, "just ill, and she found herself dizzy and overcome on the dance floor this evening." My father turns to look at me pleadingly before turning his placating gaze back to Enzo. "It was not a snub, I assure you."
Enzo lumbers over to wear I am perched on the day bed, praying desperately that I look a little pale and green, and that the heat of my anger hasn't left me flushed. He leans down and peers into my face, cocking his head this way and that.
"Fine! Get her some water and we'll get her back out there. It'll be done tonight, as agreed." And just as quickly as he arrived, he is gone, barging his way back out through the giant oak doors. Jasper follows him out, his eyes lingering on me as pulls the doors tightly shut again.
We are left in a ringing silence that reverberates in my skull.
"Lilliana-" My father starts, but I turn on him.
"I'm not stupid, you know?" I hurl the words like daggers. "I have shadowed you for years, I know exactly how this sort of business works! I know what sells." My voice is a dark whisper now. His eyes go wide and the blood drains from his face.
I straighten myself, composing my face into a hardened mask. "You sold me, to pay off your debts, didn't you?"
His mouth opens and closes, like a fish yanked out of water.
"That's what I thought." I turn to check my appearance in the mirror, since my performance isn't over tonight.
"And what are the terms exactly? Why does Cesar think that he will own me tonight if this is supposed to be an engagement?"
He clears his throat. "Because, there is a minister here waiting to marry you both, away from the eyes of the crowd. The large wedding planned for next spring is just for appearances. It is the price of making them wait until you were 21, instead of 18."
I am reapplying my lipstick, making sure the red is crisp and set as he says these last words, as if there's any way this is actually a gift.
"Well, thank you for giving me that, at least." My voice is dripping with a sarcastic disrespect I never would have dared given him before - but the woman I was an hour ago is gone.
An hour ago I was just the daughter of a Mafia Lord who'd made a good match with a decent man; a match that would secure both family's fortunes. Now, I was no more than a fast car or a yacht. I was just a piece of property to be bought and sold. I am the literal embodiment of debt.
Not to mention I am still struggling with the idea that my mother had been ransomed, likely tortured, and that her son - my brother - had been so brutally killed out of spite. A mere infant, probably only hours old. It sounds terrible, but I hope my mother was already dead when it happened, so that she didn't have to ever know what happened to him. Somehow I doubt it.
I am an adult now. The veil has been lifted and I have been granted a first row seat to the realities of the world. I have a part on this stage, a script written and a plot all worked out for me. I just have to step forward and follow it. I don't even have to think.
"What happens if I refuse?" I whisper quietly, watching my painted lips move in the mirror.
"What?"
I turn slowly to face him. "What happens if I refuse to marry him? If I refuse to just be an item they can buy?"
"I don't want to know what they'd do to you, or to me for that matter." My father's voice is small, and his weakness roils my stomach.
For years my father has been my hero, my savior. But now I see he's no different than any of them. He let his grief for my mother break him, let it turn him into a monster.
"If she were still alive, she would be so disgusted by what you've done to this family's name ... and to me."















