Indebted to the Mafia King

Eleni

Two days after my night in Dante's office, I sit on the king bed Mama and I have been sharing with my knees curled up to my chest. I haven't seen more than a glimpse of him since then. He helped me dress, made me promise to go to the bathroom, gave me one last searing kiss, and then...nothing.

"I feel ridiculous." Mama turns from the closet that was slowly stocked with clothes in her size and preferred style over the last week with a sweater in her hands. "I should just take everything, yes? Even if I'll never wear it back home?" "You should take whatever you want, Mama." I smooth a pair of pants in her open suitcase. "You never know if you might travel someday."

"It is free." She looks at the bright blue sweater. "What are you packing, zouzouni?"

I have gotten good at not flinching when she asks me questions like this. I really did mean to tell her that night. But when I walked away from Dante with my knees still weak and told her about the ticket, she threw her arms around me with tears in her eyes and started talking about our fresh start. How we'd never replace Baba and Christos, but we could figure out how to be happy in the world they left behind. And then I meant to tell her the next day, but she showed me a list of things she couldn't wait for me to see in Parikia. And that's how I ended up here, the day her flight leaves, without saying a word.

I don't know if I've spent more time worrying about her or Dante in the last two days. Every glimpse I have gotten of him, he's with Tony, or Tony's brother, or another dour-faced, crisp-suited man. Something is going down. I just don't know why no one will tell me what.

"You shouldn't let my choices dictate yours," I say.

She shakes her head. "You're no help."

Despite how lightly she means it, the comment stings. I will help our family by staying. I just know it.

Finally, Mama decides to pack half of the winter clothes Dante provided, just in case, and we walk down the stairs to the front door, where a car should be waiting to take Mama to the airport.

"Are you excited?" she asks. "I always thought going back home would feel like losing, but with you by my side, I can't wait to see my little hometown through new eyes."

My stomach churns, and I hum noncommittally. I'll tell her at the airport, when it's too late to change anything. It's selfish, the worst thing I've ever done to Mama, but anything else will kill me. I swing open the door to see a black SUV and Tony's brother leaning against the hood.

"Hey." He jogs up the couple front steps to grab Mama's suitcase. "I don't think we've officially met yet. I'm Sebastian, but my friends call me Seb."

"Eleni, but you already know that," I reply.

He half-bows to Mama. "So that makes this your...sister?"

Despite his obvious dramatics, she giggles. "I suppose it's nice to know some Made men have manners."

"I still believe in chivalry, miss." He hefts her suitcase and grins. "You're in safe hands."

Even I smile at his antics. Seb seems much easier to get along with than his older brother.

"Oh, zouzouni, you left your suitcase upstairs," Mama says.

My heart skips a beat. My skin turns to ice. I forgot about the suitcases.

"What suitcase?" Seb asks. "She's not going anywhere."

The world feels like it's moving in slow motion as Mama looks from him to me. Whatever she sees in my face makes her eyes fill with tears. Then, her brow furrows as she gets angrier than I've ever seen her. "Tell me this young man is wrong," she says quietly.

I can barely hear her over my heartbeat in my ears. "I can't, Mama."

Seb mouths, "Sorry," over her shoulder.

"I raised a smart girl," she says. "Your baba raised a smart girl. Where is she, huh? What have you done with her?"

"I'm right here." I put my hands up like I can ward off her words. "I thought it through, and someone needs to make sure the Lombardis pay-"

"Pay?" she screeches. "You are starting to sound like these monsters. Where is my zouzouni, my little bug? Because I know she knows that no amount of payment, no amount of revenge, will return Baba and Christos to us." I take a step back. "We don't know that Christos is dead."

"I raised a smart boy, too." She towers over me like she hasn't since I was little, since I surpassed her by an inch in high school. "After two years, either my Christos is dead, or I don't know him anymore. Give up this vlakódis plan and get in the car!"novelbin

My eyes sting with tears. "I can't, Mama. I can't let them win."

"Eleni Calimeris, you get in that car!" She crosses her arms. "Or I don't."

My chest squeezes. "You can't stay. You're going to get hurt-"

"And you won't?" She grabs my arms, and for a moment, I think she's going to shake me, but she just crushes me to her chest. "I can't lose you too."

"You won't," I whisper. "I'll make sure of it. And Dante will, too." His name tastes like ash in my mouth. "He takes care of his people."

She pulls back to meet my gaze. "You joined them."

I can't lie to her now. I nod.

She drags me back into the hug and strokes my hair. "I love your baba, but he still had a few old prejudices rattling around in that brain of his. He was determined to make Christos into his successor, to have him lead the family. But you've always been the spitting image of him. Stubborn. Ridiculous." She kissed my hair. "Determined to break my heart."

I shake my head. "This is new. I was the daughter you and Baba wanted before this."

She laughs wetly. "You are always the daughter we wanted."

Mama squeezes me one last time and lets me go. When she looks at me, I can't shake the feeling she's memorizing my face, like she's already decided this will be the last time she'll see me.

"I love you," I say.

"I know that," she replies. "And I love you too. I just...."

She lets her sentence trail away, then turns and joins Sebastian in the car he fled to when Mama started yelling. They pull out of the driveway, and my chest aches. I am not the last of the Calimeris family, but in an hour, I'll be the last in America. It's an even lonelier thought than I expected.

I'm still standing on the steps, staring at the driveway, when Gianna leans out of the open door behind me and says, "I think Dante might actually kill you if you let any more heat out."

I jump and turn. She's wearing the thin, striped shorts and matching oversized shirt I've come to recognize as her pajamas, despite the late afternoon sun already descending toward the horizon. "Oh, shit," she says. "Was today...?"

I nod. My chest hurts like my ribcage is trying to claw my heart out. I don't cry.

"Oh, hon." She wraps me in a hug, and I let her because I don't know what else to do. "I know it's hard now, but it'll get easier."

"When?" I mumble.

She rubs my back. "Hard to say. But I know a way to make it go faster."

I look at her.

"Come out with me tonight!" she grins.

I agree because I don't know what else to do. Maybe a distraction will be good.