Little Mafia Boy - Chapter 21: Chapter 21

{Nico}
After Mikhail and I left the cemetery yesterday, he kept making sure I understood what we were. It was cute. His lips were puckered into a stubborn line. He didn't stop asking me if I understood what he meant until I asked him to be my boyfriend exclusively. His eyes widened and then softened. He said he would but wouldn't hesitate to leave me if I annoyed him. He wasn't serious, obviously. I could tell that dating was something new for him. As we walked side by side he kept fidgeting. He didn't know what to do with his hand as it was interlocked with mine.
In an effort to stand closer to Mikhail, I put my arm over his shoulder while maintaining our hands holding. His face was flushed a red color as he kept his eyes on the ground. Emotions weren't Mikhail's forte so I knew he had trouble expressing himself fully. I also knew how much it meant that Mikhail was the first to kiss me all on his own. It meant that he was serious about me, about us.
I worried about news of Mikhail and I getting together traveling to Eli's ears. The last thing I needed was him going after Mikhail so he could take, yet another, important thing from my grasp.
I told Max as soon as I got home after walking Mikhail back yesterday and, even though I was really skeptical, I told Sera. I didn't want to believe that she would ever choose Eli over myself. I realized I had been a bit too rude to her and I apologized as well. I was letting my fear of Eli being here consume me and I took it out on Sera. She cared about both Eli and I and it wasn't fair of me to put her in the middle and make her choose a side. I was just lashing out on an easy target.
I was sitting down in Max's room reading one of the many manga books he had in his room. The only thing he ever bought with his own money was manga and even then he only chose volumes that he absolutely needed. Well, to be honest, I was only skimming through the pages rather than actually reading it. I had nothing better to do and Max was still not allowed to move out of bed. Making sure the idiot didn't injure himself more than necessary was my job for the day. Sera was on the opposite side filing her nails silently.
Neither Sera or I were really talking since Max decided to take a nap. Or at least he was trying. After about two minutes he groaned loudly, "I can't sleep with you two hovering over me!"
I peaked at him from behind the manga and said, "Shut up. Think of us as your personal guards for today. Go back to sleep."
"We could hit you on the head. I Heard that does the trick." Sera added. "Knock you out real easy."
Max shifted in his bed roughly, not even minding his bandages, until he was sitting up against the wall. "Don't touch me." He pointed a leveled finger at Sera. "This is dumb. I don't need bodyguards. Don't you two have better things to do then to hang around in my room. Get out." He pleaded.
I rolled my eyes and dropped the manga on the side table. "Why do you want us gone? Are you going to call Droopy again?" I asked. They had been talking for hours on end, perhaps even more so than Mikhail and I.
"His name is Dylan and maybe? Why do you care?" He asked crossing his hands over his chest. "He's just worried."
Sera smirked softly, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you have a crush on Dylan."
Max started coughing and then glared at Sera, "What!?... No! I- I- well, You like Dan!" He said back.
"Pft!" I put my hand to cover my mouth as a flustered Max threw out a kindergarten comeback at Sera. He was usually better at them. "Good job, Max. You showed her."
Sera laughed and shrugged her shoulders, "It's not that." She insisted, "I don't really have romantic feelings for her. It's just something to pass the time." Both of my eyebrow shot up as I looked at her. Max was slightly glaring at her. "What?" She asked looking at both of us.
"Isn't that a bit harsh? She's obviously into you." I told her.
"Ah, well, I never asked her to be."
"Not exactly how that works." I added.
"Besides," Sera said ignoring my comment. "it's not like I went out of my way intentionally trying to get her to like me. I was just being my usual self."
"The problem with that is that you only have two sides. Around us you're just an annoying bitch who nags. Around others you tend to be a bit of a flirt." Max spoke up.
"No I don't- wait, seriously?" Sera asked like she wasn't aware of it herself.
I nodded, "Oh, yeah. Definitely."
"Ahh, it'll be fine." Sera said waving us away with the back of her hand. "It's not like I'll see her again."
I frowned slightly. Sera had never been interested in relationships. I don't think I even remember her ever having a steady boyfriend or girlfriend. She's always been focused on me and the family. She's always put that first on her list. I forgot how cold Sera could be with others who she didn't care about.
"Did you forget? Mikhail and Nico are now, and I quote, exclusive. You'll probably be seeing a lot of Dan if Nico decides to drag all of us out." Max said.
"That reminds me." I snapped, "We're all going out on the night before New Years with Mikhail and his friends. I've already cleared it with Doc. As long as you don't move too much, Max, you should be fine." I smiled and leaned back into my chair, relaxed.
"What!" Both Max and Sera said at the same time.
"Why do we have to go? Wouldn't it be better if just you two went alone. It'll be really awkward for us to go." Max whined, "I don't want to!"
"I agree with Max on this one. How the hell am I supposed to let Dan down kindly when couples around us are going to be kissing after the New Years countdown?"
"Sounds like a you problem." I said with a grin and a shrug. "It's gonna be like a double.. triple... double? Date so it's fine." I tried convincing them. I seriously thought Max would have been more overjoyed to finally see Glasses. Then again, it was Max and he was probably more stubborn than Mikhail and I combined. As for Sera, I figured it would be better for her to just let Dan down sooner rather than later. Before the poor girl actually fell in love. She seems like the type to fall quickly and break harder. I just hoped their problems wouldn't seep over to Mikhail and I. As selfish as it may sound, things were finally moving forward for us. The last thing I wanted was Dan crying to Mikhail and then our alone time would be severely cut down.
"You always make decisions by yourself." Max said in a grumpy voice.
I reached over and pinched his cheek. He swatted away at my hand and I smiled mischievously at him."That's why I'm the boss. Quit being so grumpy. It'll be fun. It's nice to just let loose every once in a while before I actually turn the Head of the family. When that happens, we won't be able to just hang out as casually as before." I said trying to stay calm but, really, I was just a sentimental mess on the inside.
As soon as I became the Head everything would be different. I wouldn't be able to go out alone without guards. Everyone would speak very formal with me, which I hated. With Max, hopefully, going to school there was the possibility of him finding his true calling and leaving the Mafia. I knew I should be happy if that ever happened, he didn't belong with us in the first place, but I had a problem with people leaving my side. Especially with someone who is as close to me as Max. Of course, I would let him leave. He would be free to go and come as he pleased. He would probably take Glasses with him too if Glasses held his end of the deal and waited until Max graduated high school.
I would then be left alone with only Sera. She would be strict and nag at me to get work done. I would have to attend every meeting with the multiple companies who we are in business with. Don't get me wrong, I love Sera as much as I do Max but Max and I are always the crazy ones. Sera is more calm than us and always keeps us out of trouble. It's always been like that ever since they both arrived to live with me.
Things would change and that scared me.
"Nico? You good?" Max asked looking worried.
I had lost myself in my train of thought and smirked softly, "Fine. I was just thinking that the burrito I had for lunch really didn't agree with me."
Sera rolled her eyes and leaned in her chair, "Aw, gross! Too much info, Nico. Too much!" She scowled.
I laughed and shrugged, "I'm not sorry." I admitted. We all burst out laughing. Really, there was no specific reason to be laughing but it was nice to just be with everyone calmly for once. Max was actually laughing, more like grinning. Sera was laughing quietly.
There was a knock at Max's door. The door opened to show a maid standing l politely in the door way. "Nico, sir, your father and Naomi are calling for you."
Max visibly tensed up beside me, "Thanks. Dismissed." I told her. She bowed quickly and shut the door as she hurried off.
"What's that about?" Max asked.
I did a quick mental check on what the day was. "Probably medicine pick up for father." I said and stood up.
Every month towards the end, father sent me to go pick up his medicinal tea from our supplier. He didn't trust anyone else to go for it because that would leave him open to an assassination attempt. It would be a simple task for someone else to replace the tea with poison. These were the kinds of things I would have to worry about soon enough as well.
"Want me to go?" Sera offered.
I shook my head and said, "Nah. Stay here with Max and keep a watch on him. I don't need his uncle contacting him or even coming for him."
"He won't." Max said confidently, " I don't need a-"
"Maybe not." I interrupted Max's whining, "but it'll give me peace of mind knowing that someone is here with you. Quit complaining."
"Tch." Max clicked his tongue.
I rolled my eyes and then looked at Sera, "Stay safe. Call if anything goes wrong?"
"Will do boss." Sera mock saluted me.
I walked out, hearing Max trying to convince Sera to leave him alone. It was quite comical for me to see Max almost begging Sera to leave. He just wanted to call Glasses without someone listening in. The problem was that I didn't want him contacting his uncle and doing something stupid. I already had enough on my plate that I didn't need Max to go missing again.
I stretched my arms in the air as I walked down the hall and pressed the button for the elevator and waited. I normally wouldn't have taken the elevator but I didn't feel like walking all the way to the fourth floor to father's office. Given, I was on the second floor but stairs are tiring as all hell.
My phone rang once. I fished it out of my pocket and immediately got annoyed to see it was a chain mail from Junky. 'Send this to fifteen friends within the next 10 minutes or you'll lose those important to you' is what the message read. Seriously? Did private investigators really have nothing better to do but to send chain mail to Mafia members? I scrunched up my nose and deleted his message. Ridiculous. As if a simple chain mail could predict the future. I didn't even have fifteen contacts in my phone. It's not like I would actually forward the message even if I did.
The elevator arrived and opened. I stuffed my phone back in my pocket and looked up, about to step inside. Elisha was leaning against the wall with a smirk. "Nico." Eli said in a way that made my skin crawl. I sighed softly and stepped inside, doing my best to ignore him. Eli stepped forward and kept his finger on the button to hold to door so that the elevator couldn't move. "Again with the disrespect." I swallowed the spit in my mouth and kept my eyes forward. If I talked, it would give him something to use against me. "Did our Father call for you?"
"Yeah." I said, simple and quick.
"Interesting." He laughed out. "The old man really doesn't trust anyone besides his golden child, huh?"
"Not when it involves his life." I told him. "I'm not the golden child. Father had high hopes for you but didn't assign you as the successor to protect you."
"Protect!? Ha! Good one." Eli said spitting venom with every word, "What a good way to protect his eldest son. Sending me away and giving this place to you. I'm known as a failure now. Leaving me nothing but a bitter taste in my mouth. That's called abandoning, not protecting."
"Are you that dumb?" I asked frowning as I finally looked at Eli. "You have the chance to go away and live your life without a care in the world. No guns aimed at your head. No one after your life every other day. You're not cut out for this life style. Admit it. That's why father made me his successor."
"I never asked to be looked after!" Eli shouted. "I was supposed to be the next Head. This was supposed to be my life! Then our stupid, stupid father had to go have an affair with some skank! You came along and ruined everything for me. I knew I should have killed you sooner. I thought you would have lived your worthless life with your mother. That was an error on my part. I should have planned the feelings of others into my plan." He breathed deeply and huffed out angrily. "I don't know why I'm wasting my breath talking to you." He said. He pressed the fourth button then and walked out.
I clenched my hand into a fist and kept my arms tightly at my side. How dare he call my mother a skank. He didn't even know her. Before I got too angry to talk or Eli left completely, I asked, "Eli, Would you have turned your back on me if father made you the successor. If... if I never got involved with father and the Mafia?" I needed to know if anything would have been different if father had chosen Eli instead of me. I wondered if Eli would still have been my older brother if we were under different circumstances. The idea of losing my brother forever pained me deep inside, even if I didn't admit it out loud.
Eli stopped just outside of the elevator. He didn't turn around so I was staring at his back once more like when we were kids. The image of his back still engraved in my memory. My eyebrows furrowed as the doors began closing. I thought he wasn't going to answer but before they shut all the way he said, "... There's no point in thinking about the past anymore. Hate me with every cell in your body. That's all you should focus on right now."
My eyes shot open as he confessed himself honestly. I sprang forward to reach out to him but the doors closed, "Damn it! Eli!" I shouted as the elevator started rising. I banged once on the door and then let my head forehead touch the cold metal.
What kind of a response was that? It sounded like to me that Eli was still stuck up in the past like I was. His vague answer annoyed me. How was I suppose to react? Hate him? Of course I did but being told that by him made me worried. He was planning something. I had a bad feeling in my gut telling me that I should be prepared for the worst.
I took a step back from the doors as I reached the fourth floor and the doors opened. I ran a frustrated hand against my face and stepped out. Walking in the hallway, I couldn't get Eli's words out of my head.
I walked up to my father's office and knocked, "Come in." He said weakly and coughed multiple times.
"Pardon the intrusion." I said stepping inside and walking over to his desk. Naomi was standing beside him with a proud look on her face. Father had a blanket wrapped around him whileNaomi was dressed in expensive fur coats father must have paid a fortune for.
"Son." My father said with a small smile, "Is everything going okay?"
"Of course."
"What about that man I asked you to check up on a few weeks ago?" He was referring to Mikhail's father.
"He paid everything back. I've been holding on to it. I'll put it into your account." I told him. Okay, well, Mikhail's father never paid anything back, but I did for them. So that Mikhail's dad wouldn't be in debt with us anymore. Not entirely for his dad, but for mikhail. He didn't need all the extra stress weighing him down.
"Good. He seemed like the man who would run away. I guess I can't judge people by their covers. I'm glad you managed to get him to pay everything back. "
"So am I." I said without thinking. I didn't even want to think about what father would have me do to Mikhail and his father if I hadn't paid off their debt. Naomi looked at me curiously and I quickly added, "Spilling unnecessary blood would have been only more work. It's busy around here as is.."
Naomi laughed bitterly, "Busy? Please, explain to me all the business you've been doing? From what Elisha has told me, you're just messing around each day with your friends. You didn't even attend the party on Christmas." Naomi said. Father stayed quiet by her side. He was probably thinking the same.
"I thought I wouldn't need to. No one important was going-"
"Making connections is important for the success of the Delacroix future. I'm sure even someone like you understands that much."
Before I could stop myself, I blurted out, "and what exactly is someone like me, Naomi?"
"A bastard child." She said so bluntly that it threw me off for half a second before my face hardened. I laughed out once at a loss for words. I looked at father but he didn't say anything.
I didn't blame him. I couldn't.
I was a bastard child. Father was married to Naomi when he had an affair with my mother. He had a wife and a kid already. His life was on the right track. I messed multiple people's lives by simply being born into this unfair world. I wasn't supposed to exist. I was nothing but an unplanned child he had with his secret lover. I was that night of spontaneous sex without a condom.
Really. What was I expecting?
I nodded and said, "I just need to go get the medicine, correct, boss?" I kept my eyes staring past father at the wall behind him. My fist was clenched tightly behind my back.
"Yes." He said, "Nico, I-" father looked hesitant to speak in front of Naomi. She realized this but showed no sign of leaving the room. "Be careful out there."
"Yes, sir. Excuse me." I bowed slightly and turned around and walked out the door.
"Honey, are you sure he can handle this? He's such an incompetent child-" Naomi's voice faded as I shut the door behind me. I sighed loudly but kept walking. Getting out into the sun and air would do me good. I was feeling suffocated inside the house.
Yes, there was a side of me that didn't want to be the next boss, but there was the other side that did. Once father retired, he would live on some island off the coast of Mexico or elsewhere with Naomi. I wouldn't have her around to belittle everything I do. That would be one problem out of two out of my hair.
* * *
After about thirty minutes of silence inside the car, I asked, "Why did I get chain mail from Junky?" Frederik was driving me to my father's supplier.
"Junky forwarded the mail to you as well? Idiot. I didn't think I had to have the 'Don't message the Mafia as if you're friends' talk with him. He's ridiculously superstitious and gets way too friendly. Just ignore his messages." Frederik said glaring quickly at me through the rear view mirror, "Are we going to follow Eli as well?"
"Eli? No, why?"
"I saw him talking to someone outside about five minutes before you walked out. He left on foot. I thought you came out  after him because we were going to follow him.
"No, I'm getting stuff for my father." Was as much as I was willing to tell him. Just because we were temporarily working together didn't mean I was about to tell him everything about the Delacroix. "Did you manage to hear who he was calling and why 'as well'?"
Frederik glanced again through the rear view mirror. He knew I wasn't willing to tell him anything else besides information about Eli. Even then, what I told him was limited to what I thought would help them catch Eli. "No and I have someone else from our team following him. I wasn't sure if we would follow so I had our team track him."
"Course you did." I said sighing.
I was staring out the window and wondered if they could even successfully follow him. Yes, they probably had high tech equipment and gadgets to trace him wherever he went. As well as a whole team focused on Eli, but was that really enough? Eli was really slick at disappearing when he wanted to so if he even had a feeling that he was being followed, he would instantly disappear from sight.
"Is this it?" Frederik asked, dropping all the 'sir' and 'mr' since we were alone and both knew that he didn't technically work for me.
"Yeah. Wait here. I'll be out in like two minutes." I said getting out of the car and shutting the door behind me. I walked into the little tea shop. It was run by some old women. I only ever talked to her when I came by for the medicinal tea. She kind of freaked me out. Imagine the witch straight out of a horror story without the huge mole on her face and that was basically this lady. She always wore black clothes and walked with a cane.
I stepped inside and the bells chimed, announcing that there was a customer. Merda walked out from the back room, her cane smacking on the ground roughly with every step. In her free hand she had the medicinal tea in a bag. I handed her the money and grabbed the bag from her hand, "Has he gotten better?"
"Well, sorta." I told her. I didn't really trust her since she wasn't originally someone my father picked out. Naomi had done so. Apparently they often worked together on jobs or whatever that meant. I wasn't too sure, I didn't pay attention.
Merda nodded. She was handing me back my change as the door behind opened. I looked back because I thought that it was Frederik coming to tell me they had lost Eli. I was at a loss for words as I saw Mikhail's father carrying in two boxes of herbs and merchandise.
"Hello, Merda. I've brought you your usual order." He said, he hadn't seen me yet. He grunted as he placed the boxes down.
"Thanks, hun. I appreciate it." Merda said looking past me to Mikhail's dad.
His dad stood up straight and stretched his back. I hear it crack in a couple different places, "Crap. I'm getting too old to be doing all this heavy lifting." He continued to stretch out his back without looking at us.
I probably should have said something sooner but what was I supposed to say? He probably would have thought that I was after the money they no longer owed, thanks to me. Besides, he most definitely wasn't too fond of me after the great first impression we had at his shop. Also, I didn't think Mikhail would have mentioned is dating to his dad.
"Hm, I can imagine. Take a break once in a while. Want some tea?" Merda asked.
"As much as I would like some, my boss will fire me if I stay here again drinking. I need this job-" he turned around and froze as I was staring back at him with the same shocked expression. Seriously, wasn't he supposed to be an idiot father who couldn't take care of himself, much less his own son.
"Nico Delacroix? What- why?"
"Nico is just fine. Hold on! Hold on!" I said quickly as he took a cautious step back. "I'm not here to kill you or anything." I said quickly. He looked like he was ready to make a break for it. "I just came on a personal errand." I lifted up the bag in my hands to show him. "See?"
He eyes the bag and then looked over to Merda who nodded quickly. "Ah, I-I see. Uhm, can we talk outside?" Mikhail's dad asked as he pointed towards the door.
"Sure?" I said "I'll wait outside." I made my way outside as he walked towards Merda. Probably to get her to sign her name documents and such. I looked back at him for a quick second and found it hard to believe that he was the same man who got bossed around by his own son.
I let the door shut behind me and walked over to the car for a quick second. I knocked on the window and Frederik rolled it down. He was holding his phone in front of him. Done?" he asked me.
"No? Who are you talking to?" A confused women's voice was heard from his phone he had on speaker.
"The Delacroix boy." Frederik replied. "Did you really already forget? Why do you think I called you in the first place?"
"To offer to buy me lunch? Hell, you're the one that always reminds me to eat. Hurry up and come back. Everyone else is so useless here." Frederik's boss said.
"I take offense to that!" An unknown man's voice was heard from her side of the phone. "You are so cruel to me 'T'. I'm going to go and find an employer who finds worth in my existence."
"Shut up, drama queen. Go suck dick and get out of my face."
"You offering?" He said with a laugh. Although they were saying rude things to one another, they didn't sound hostile in the slightest.
"I'm a women jackass." The detective boss said.
"Could have fooled me." He retorted back. It sounded like she threw something across the room as breaking glass was heard.
I looked at Frederik with a confused look as he shrugged slightly. I could tell he was used to the back and forth banter. "Are you two done over there? You're making a scene in front of a future Mafia boss here." Frederik said with what looked like a faintly annoyed expression.
"Oh, right. The case." The women said in realization, "Hello there, Nico. I'm the boss of Winter and Junky, It's a shame we can't meet in person but I've been made fully aware that you don't want to."
"No shit. I'd rather not self incriminate myself to people who are working for the F.B.I."
"Working with." She clarified,
"No, for is more accurate." I told her as I leaned on the car door with my upper half inside the car.
"Well, tomato toe-ma-dough. Right?" She said with a small laugh. "Anyways. What can I do for you?"
I bit my lip gently as I stated at the phone and then the bag in my hands. With a deep breath I asked, "You think if I gave you a sample of some medicinal tea, you could run a few tests and see what's actually in it?"
"Tea?" Frederik asked curiously,
"It's just. A lot of my connections at the moment run things by my father first. I'd rather keep the fact that I'm running tests on his medicine a secret."
"Hm," she said, "Well, does this benefit our case with your brother in anyway shape or form?"
"Not necessarily."I admitted. "Just a personal favor since we're all after the same goal at the moment."
"Sounds interesting." She said with what sounded like excitement in her voice. "I expect that you'll owe us something? A favor in return?"
"Tch." I clicked my tongue. I wasn't expecting to get this for free but owing investigators a favor wasn't something I was looking forward to. Then again, this was something I had to do. I needed to make sure that Naomi wasn't adding any poisons into the tea by having someone she knows slip it into the herbs. "Fine. Name it."
"Ah, ah, ah. Slow it down, cowboy. Not now. I trust when we come to you in the future you'll do good in remembering this?"
"Yeah. Whatever. I just need you to check if there's anything else besides medicinal herbs inside."
"Roger that. Give some to Winter and he'll give it to me."
I looked back as the door opened and Mikhail's father walked out. I dropped the bag on the passenger seat so that he could take some and hit the side door twice gently, "I'll leave you two to your talk then." I pointed at Frederik and said, "roll up the window. If you listen in on my conversation, I'll snap your dick in half and throw you out in the middle of nowhere."
Frederik didn't look fazed as I threatened him. "Lovely." His boss said with a snicker.
"Quite." Frederik replied and pressed the button on his door to slide the window up.
Mikhail's father was standing over by his delivery truck. I walked over, not sure what to expect. I wasn't sure why he suddenly wanted to talk to me. Perhaps Mikhail had told his father about us after all. So, I wasn't scared. It's not like he could do much against me but I was worried that perhaps Mikhail and his dad had a fight about us. I really didn't want to mess up another family because of my existence.
I stopped and leaned my shoulder on the truck, facing him. "What's up? Why'd you want to talk to me?"
"Don't tell Mikhail that I'm working." He said so straightforward.
"Huh?" I asked. "Why? Isn't this a good thing?"
"Usually it would be, right? Except I'm not really working to make bill payments. It's more of my own personal business."
I squinted my eyes at him, "What do you mean?"
"Ahh, how do I explain? Basically, I'm going to use the money I earn to go traveling. I can't stay cooped up here in this town where I'm reminded of my wife everyday."
"Traveling? Are you taking mikhail?"
"No. Not exactly. I'm waiting until he finishes high school and goes off to college. I'm thinking of selling the shop as well. There's nothing for either Mikhail or I there anymore. That shop was his mother's dream. Not his. Not mine." His father said with a small frown. He kept his eyes looking straight into mine. He didn't even sound ashamed that he was doing this all on his own without consulting mikhail. Mikhail was attached to that shop. Even I could see that.
"So," I said trying to get my thoughts together, "when Mikhail thinks you're off drinking yourself asleep, you're out here working to abandon him?"
"No!" His dad said strongly, "I'm not abandoning him. It took me months to make this decision. This is for the best. Mikhail won't leave the shop on his own free will. Attending to the flowers forever isn't his dream. He just thinks he has to stay because it's what he thinks his mom would have wanted."
"Would she?" I asked, "would she have wanted that?"
His dad shook his head, "No. This was originally supposed to just be a hobby for his mom. After she died, Mikhail made a promise that he would look after the shop in her honor. He was so determined that I got dragged in as well."
No matter what he said, in my eyes, it just looked like he was running away from everything that reminded him of his dead wife. The town, the house, the memories, Mikhail. He was scared or maybe this really was a way for him to move on. Perhaps this would really help him get his life together after her death. Still, I couldn't help but feel it was a little selfish. After years of Mikhail working hard for his dad, this was how he would repay Mikhail. The more I thought about it, the more shitty it made me feel.
"Was it hard?" I said suddenly that I even surprised myself. He looked confused so I clarified, "Losing someone so close to you. Someone who knew you better than yourself."
I couldn't help but think of my own mother. I was so young that I didn't even know myself yet at that age but my mother swore she had me figured out already. I wondered if losing a parent and a lover were the same type of sadness or if it slightly differed.
"Oh... Yeah, of course. I think about her everyday." He admitted. "I know Mikhail does as well. That's why I have to do this. I need to free Mikhail from the shackles he's placed on himself." He said speaking in a soft manner.
"I won't.. I won't tell Mikhail on my own but I won't keep it from him if he asks." I told him, "I won't lie to him. Honestly, I think you should tell him now and get it over with."
His dad eyed me carefully and changed the conversation, "Are you interested in my son?"
"Huh?" I responded, stupidly.
"Call it a father's intuition." He let out a long sigh, "I've warned him about you. You're not good for my son."
"Bullshit. I can protect him from the world." I said back with a harsher tone than I had intended.
His dad lifted an eyebrow, "Really? How so? You're in the Mafia. You're going to have dangerous people around you all the time. He's bound to get hurt both physically and emotionally as long as he's by your side. You'll only break him"
Something snapped in me as I reached out and grabbed his shirt collar. I was an inch or two shorter than him but it didn't matter. I was sick and tired of everyone saying that I wasn't enough for anybody. I liked Mikhail. A lot. I didn't believe that his father could tell me who I was and wasn't good enough for.
Wasn't I also allowed to be happy?
"I don't want to hear that from the man who's leaving his son to fend for himself." I said. Mikhail's father didn't try to pry my hands off of him as he was glaring back at me.
"The truth hurts, doesn't it?"
I ignored him and continued, "You don't think that you're hurting him? You drink yourself drunk and sleep with women in the streets. You waste all your money on cigarettes." I said remembering Mikhail's dislike for cigarette smell. "You don't lift a single finger to help him at home but come out and work for your own gain. Adults always have this mentality that they're always right. It pisses me of. Take a step back and look around you. You're all alone. The only one beside you is mikhail now. Treasure him before you lose him."
"Is that a threat?"
"It's advice. Take it." I finished and pushed him back, letting go of his shirt.
I walked away after that. I tried not to let his dad's words get to me but they were all I could hear. Mikhail would get hurt by my side. I knew that. Even so, I couldn't bare the thought of mikhail leaving me. I had just gotten him. I'd protect him. Better than his father or anyone else ever could.
I got into the car and told Frederik to drive me home. I was so mad that everything his dad told me wasn't a lie at all. They were all things I've told myself before. Not only about mikhail but previous people that were no longer in my life.
Wherever I went, disaster was bound to follow.