Mafia's Redemption: Terzo - Chapter 75: Chapter 75

DANI
“What’s all this?” I watched Magnus and the other two men go upstairs carrying shopping bags and boxes. I followed him when he ignored me. “Hey, Maggie. With whom are these bags?”
“Door, please?”
I pushed the door open to Terzo’s bedroom. “Terzo doesn’t do shopping but asks you guys to do this for him?”
He had a good fashion sense, way better than mine. He also liked to purchase luxury brands. I’d seen his closets.
“These are yours.” Magnus smiled.
“Excuse me? I didn’t ask for these.” I went to check the bags on the bed. Some brands were familiar to me, while some I’d never seen before. “I can’t pay all these, Maggie.”
“Your husband called before he flew.” He raised a finger. “Scratch that. He ordered me to go shopping for you. So I just guessed your size. I hope they fit. There is a 15-day return policy. Go ahead, check them out. I hope you like my choices. The sales ladies were a great help.”
“But these are too much.” I counted the bags alone in my head. Twenty-three. Doesn’t include the boxes, which I thought were dresses, bags, coats, and shoes. “I think you went overboard. We need to return some items, Magnus.”
“Shut up and put them on. Let me know which one doesn’t fit. And don’t lie to me, girl. I know your size.” He winked at me before he went to the door.
“Wait. Why did he not tell me about this? I mean, I could have joined you.”
He released a breath. “I mentioned that to him. I even suggested that Cee could come, but he refused due to safety concerns. Would you spend this much if he gave you his card and asked you to go shopping?”
I opened my mouth to say something. I hadn’t said anything, he was already pointing at me.
“That’s why. Now go and have fun.” He got out of the bedroom, and I realized I didn’t even thank him.
“Maggie!” I stalked him to the hallway.
“You keep calling me that.” He turned to me. “You need something else?”
“No.” I shook my head and hugged him. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Next time, if he asks you again, just come to me and we'll do it together.”
“Maybe you should do it together.”
I smiled. “I hope he’s not impatient. Anyway, do you know where the cellar is?”
“You should ask him that.”
“Right. Thanks again.”
Before dinner, I went to see Celestina in the home office.
“God, where the hell is that thing?” She was busy searching for something through stacks of papers. “Puttana.”
“Can I help you with that?”
She looked so stressed. A deep frown formed on her forehead. “Oh, hey.” She took a deep breath. Apparently, there is one machine that’s not working in the winery, but I can’t find the request. So, how can I buy the parts if I know what they are?”
“I was with Terzo earlier at the winery. Let me help you.” I joined her at the desk and grabbed a stack of papers. “Is it written in English?”
“Yes. There’s a logo of Casa Stelle del Silvano on it.”
“Yeah, I know that logo.” I scanned through the pages, but I couldn’t find a paper with that logo. “Have you talked to your brother today?”
“About you replacing me? Yes.”
I put the scanned papers aside. “Are you okay with that?”
She must have felt the hesitation in my voice. She looked at me and smiled. “Are you kidding me? Since that incident, I’ve always wanted to get away and find myself, my purpose, and have fun a little along the way, but I couldn’t tell my brother. He needs someone who can tolerate his tantrums and answer his call while he’s on the other side of the world. Only a woman who cares for him, someone who loves him, can do that. So are you ready for that?”
I smiled back. I didn’t know what to say. When it involved a job, I could tolerate it. A demanding and infuriating boss was tolerable for me as long as he knew when not to cross the line.
I grabbed some papers. One was small, like a sticky note, and it fell on the floor. I grabbed it and found another paper under the desk.
“I can handle your brother as a boss. As a husband? If he can tolerate my stubbornness, I can certainly tolerate his controlling, overprotective, and uptight attitude.”
“Good. I know my brother is in good hands.”
I checked the paper I found on the floor and showed it to her when I saw the logo on it. “Is this the one you’re looking for?”
“Son of a bitch.” She took it from me. “It’s here all along?”
“No. I found it under your desk.”
She breathed deeply and shook her head. “I’m not organized.” She looked around. “Look at this? When I married Giosue, I stopped working, and I had always been like this because I depended on someone being there to pick up my mess. It wasn’t always good. I wish I had a mother growing up, you know?”
I smiled tightly as I heard the pain, the sadness, and the longing in her voice. I held her hand and squeezed it.
“Me too, I wish I had a good mother who was always there for me and taught me when I first got my period. I learned it from my neighbor, an old woman. She gave me a few bucks if she asked me to do groceries for her when her arthritis was at its worst.”
“Oh, wow.”
“Yup. After Terzo and I fought, I went to her house since my roommate found a new roommate.” I ditched the sleeping-with-my-ex-boyfriend-part. “And you know what she did when I asked if I could stay for a few days at my old room? No, you can’t. I can’t let my friends know how loser you are. I paraphrase. I’m sure your mother was an amazing woman. You’re lucky you got to spend your childhood with her.”
“She was.” The way she smiled was as if she were remembering those beautiful memories. “She would have loved you. She never made us feel that she had a favorite child.” When her eyes got misty, she blinked the tears back and laughed. “Anyway, I’ll walk through the important things you should keep in mind. Terzo always asked me to arrange a diversion if he travelled outside the country. I did that for his safety.”
After an hour of orientation, I got to learn a few things about how their business worked. Terzo and his father never traveled together nor traveled alone. He used a lot of aliases. He flew by private jets and didn’t stay more than a week in one city. He didn’t stay a day at his apartment. He was also very particular about travel routes. His men arranged the vehicles ahead of time.
I wondered how rich the Siciliano was and where they kept their money, knowing they were on the radar of Italian and American authorities. Or did they have bank accounts under different names?
“My father has an office downtown, but he barely uses it. It’s registered under Silver Star Capital. It’s a legit business, but my father doesn’t trust the authority, and his enemy can target him anytime. So Magnus is the one running the office.”
“So, I’m gonna be like working from home?”
“Yes. You can take one of the rooms in his house and turn it into your office.” When she studied me for a while with her hand on her hip, I knew she would want to ask something that might be a little intrusive or uncomfortable.
“What?”
“Are you two planning a family?”
I felt like my ears turned red. “No. I just got a depo.”
“Really?” Her brows arched. “Which doctor? Did you choose the doctor?”
“What do you mean? Isn’t she your doctor, too?” I nearly winced at her words. I was sure she was a real doctor, but I also got this feeling that Terzo might have coerced her to do something. My stomach did a nosedive. I swore I saw the injection myself, but I did not see how it was prepared.
She chuckled. “Nothing.”
I changed the subject. “Anyway, who’s assigned to send my father’s meal?”