The Mafia's Good Girl
The Mafia’s Good Girl – Chapter 61

~ Violet ~

– – – – – One Week Later – – – – –

“Do you really have to go?”

Violet sighed and watched as Damon’s men threw their suitcases into the trunk. It was early in the morning and Damon was already wearing his sleek work suit. Standing in front of her, he forced out a sad smile and pulled her into a hug.

“I’ll be back before you know it,” he said.

“How long will you be there?” she whined, clinging onto his jacket like a little girl.

“One week tops,” he replied.

Violet let out another sigh. She couldn’t imagine what she’d do for a whole week without Damon here. Late last night, Damon received a strange phone call from Italy and he held an emergency meeting with Adrian and his guys. A few hours later, they decided that they had to leave for Upstate New York this very morning. Violet didn’t know the details of their trip, but she had a feeling it must be serious, otherwise they wouldn’t be rushing out at five in the morning like this.

“I’m gonna miss you so much,” she said as she stood on her tippy toes, kissing his cheek.

“I miss you too, sweet girl,” he held onto her face for a second longer before planting a k**s on her lips. “I love you,”

“I love you,” she whispered back.

Damon gave her one last look before pulling away and walking towards the car. Talia and Adrian were also standing nearby, hugging each other, and saying their goodbyes. Violet watched with a gloomy face as Damon got into the car and Adrian went after him.

“They’ll be alright,” Talia said as if she knew what Violet was thinking. “Damon knows what he’s doing,”

“But it’s a whole week…” she whined. “It feels like an eternity,”

Talia nodded her head knowingly. She knew what Violet meant by that, she was feeling the same thing, but this was business and she was used to it. Forcing out a smile, she waved at the cars that were leaving the estate. Adrian could be seen waving back from the car’s window.

“Hey, it’s almost over,” she told Violet. “Once they’re done with Victor, they’ll never have to do these things again. We can live freely. We can even go outside and not have to worry about anything,”

Talia was smiling from ear to ear as she imagined what life would be like after their enemy was eradicated from the world. Violet almost felt hopeful just looking at her.

Talia’s right. It’s almost over. Just four more weeks and it’s done.

Violet forced out a smile and waved as Damon’s car went past her. He was smiling at her too, but his eyes were wishing that he could stay. Even as the car pulled out of the gate, Damon kept his eyes on Violet from the rearview mirror. She was still standing there and waving her hand, wishing that the week would come by fast.

Actually, it was more than that. Violet was wishing that all the weeks would fly faster. As soon as Damon was finished with his revenge mission, life would go back to normal. She and Damon would get to travel again, and Damon would get a chance to meet her mom…

“Come on, let’s go inside,” Talia’s voice woke Violet up from her daydream.

Violet nodded her head and followed Talia into the quiet estate. Only the maids and several bodyguards were left to guard the house. Everyone was gone and Violet threw her gaze out to the gate again, watching the last car disappearing out on the horizon.

And everything will be fine. Everything will be just…

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

– – – – – One Week Later – – – – –

“ADRIAN!!!”

Violet woke up to a loud yell coming from downstairs. The past week felt long and torturous, but Talia always reminded her to stay hopeful. And finally, the week had gone by and it was time for Damon and his men to return.

Violet had been waiting for his arrival all week long, but this was not how she expected it to happen. It was about four in the morning and she heard loud noises and the sound of people screaming. Violet quickly jerked up from the bed, grabbed her robe, and raced downstairs.

“Oh my God!” she gaped as she saw the scene unfolding before her eyes.

Liam and Beau were seen carrying a wounded Adrian into the living room. Adrian’s face was pale as snow. His suit was soaked in b***d and they were dripping everywhere on the marbled floor. Talia was crying hysterically at her husband’s condition and Damon was walking behind her. His face was dark and stoic, it was unreadable.

“What happened?” Violet asked as she raced over to Damon.

Damon pulled her into a hug and let out a sigh.

“He got shot,” he said.

“We need to get the bullet out,” Liam said as he ripped through Adrian’s suit, revealing the bullet wound on his arm. “Victor laces his bullets with poison,”

“s**t,” Beau murmured as he put pressure on the wound. He himself was still wearing a bandage over his arm. He got shot at their last mission in Trenton.

“It wasn’t Victor who shot me…” Adrian croaked. “…It was Hugo,”

Hugo DeSantis?!

“Where’s the fúcking doctor in here?!” Damon roared and Dr. Lee came rushing out. She was still wearing her sleep clothes, but she got the emergency surgery kit in her hand.

“Adrian! Adrian!” Talia kept crying over her husband as Adrian was slowly losing his consciousness. Her nightgown was soaked through and through by his b***d. “Oh my God… Oh my God…!”

“Get her out of here,” Damon ordered.

Liam and Beau tried to get Talia away from Adrian, but she was being stubborn. She was being too disruptive and Dr. Lee couldn’t get to work. Violet stepped in and put her hands on Talia.

“Tal, come on, let Dr. Lee take care of him,” she said.

“No… Adrian!” Talia kept sobbing hysterically.

“We have to let the doctor work, come on,” Liam said as he pulled Talia away forcefully.

“No! No!” Talia cried again.

Liam and Beau used all their strength to take the girl away. Violet followed them as Talia was being brought to the next room and they closed the door. Talia broke out in tears and she sobbed on the kitchen counter. Violet couldn’t do anything but hug her friend and apologized for what happened.

“I’m so sorry, Tal. I’m so sorry…”

“He’ll be alright,” Beau said in an effort to calm her down. “Dr. Lee knows what she’s doing,”

“Yeah, listen to Beau,” Violet agreed. “Adrian’s gonna be okay,”

Talia couldn’t stop crying. Violet pulled her into a hug and she cried into her chest. Violet stroked her hair and cooed her, she kept whispering words of affirmation, telling her that Adrian would be okay. But in all honesty, Violet also didn’t know what was going to happen. How did something like this even happen? Adrian was the consigliere, he was Damon’s right-hand man. If someone could get to him, someone could’ve easily gotten to Damon too.

Violet pushed aside the negative thoughts and continued saying hopeful things to Talia’s ear. And through the small window in the kitchen, Violet could see into the living room and she caught Damon’s eyes. She searched his eyes for signs of hope or affirmation, but his eyes were cold and dark. There was no hope there and the only thing she could do was say her prayer like a mantra. Maybe if she said it enough, it would eventually come into reality.

He’s going to be okay. Everything will be okay… It has to be. It has to.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

~ Damon ~

– – – – – One Week Later – – – – –

That was so close. So motherfúcking close.

Every time Damon closed his eyes, all he could think about was that last meeting between him, Hugo, Victor, and Adrian. The purpose of their trip to New York was for this meeting to happen between the three families. Hugo would act as the mediator while Victor and Damon sort out their beef. It was mostly for formality because Damon knew Victor wasn’t going to let things go so easily. He himself wouldn’t choose the route for peace.

The purpose of this meeting was to show the world that there could be no peace as long as one of them still exists. Either the Van Zandt family or the Maranzano family had to go. This meeting was supposedly held on neutral grounds and there was no violence allowed. They signed an armistice for the week and they were supposed to just talk.

The meeting started out fine, but they soon escalated when the topic of Joe Luciano and Isabella was brought up. According to Victor, the killing of the Luciano family had nothing to do with Damon because it was between him and Joe himself. They had been feuding for years and Joe got Victor’s dad killed back in the 90s. Basically, he claimed that the killing of Joe and Isabella was justified.

Since Damon and Victor couldn’t see eye to eye, the meeting had to be put on hold for a few days due to the roadblock. When the meeting resumed again, they moved on to another topic which was the killing of Giulio Maranzano. Damon told Victor that he couldn’t prove Giulio died because of him. There was no proof, there was only Victor’s hunch. Damon then brought up Violet’s kídnapping and it was the justified outcome for Leo and Luca’s death.

“If they never kídnapped my girl, they would still be alive right now,” he said.

Victor was outraged because he still couldn’t accept the death of his sons. They tried to continue the meeting in peace, but the tension was rising high. Victor told his men to draw their weapons and Damon told the same to his men. The upstate mansion was filled with hundreds of guys all holding up their weapons and it was an eerie sight.

Finally, in an effort to neutralize the situation, Hugo suggested that they move the meeting to a smaller location. Not everyone was allowed to come, only the leaders and their consigliere were allowed. That was how on the last day of the meeting, there were only six people allowed in the room. Damon went with Adrian, Victor went with his consigliere, Michael, and Hugo went with his consigliere, John.

And then it went downhill from there.

* KNOCK * KNOCK *

The sudden knock on the door woke Damon up from his daydreaming. He was sitting in his office alone, planning his next move. Normally, he would do this with Adrian, but the consigliere was still resting under Dr. Lee’s close watch.

“Come in,” Damon said as he looked to the door.

The door opened slowly and revealed Violet standing there.

“Hey,” she said.

“Oh, hey,” he replied. “I’m almost done, just give me five minutes,”

A week had passed since Adrian got shot and he was still recovering from his injuries. Violet and Damon would come by his cottage every afternoon to check on his progress. Apparently, Adrian suffered from multiple gun wounds, one was a through and through bullet and the other was lodged into his arm. Fortunately, Dr. Lee assured them that the worst had passed and now it was just a matter of recovery.

“Damon,” Violet said suddenly, breaking the silence in the room.

“Yeah?” he said as he looked up at her.

“Why did Adrian say it was Hugo who shot him?” she asked the question carefully like she had been thinking about it all week. “I thought you and Hugo DeSantis are allies,”

Damon let out a sigh and closed the file on his desk. Standing up, he then grabbed his suit from the chair and walked over to Violet in the middle of the room.

“Hugo and I are playing a little game. He’s been pretending to be Victor Maranzano’s secret ally for years, but in actuality, Victor’s working with me,” he explained.

“So… he’s like a double agent?”

“Basically, yeah,” he nodded. “Victor and Hugo were good friends from way back, but after a falling out that happened a few years ago, Hugo decided to change sides,”

“But, how do you know he’s really on your side?” she said with her eyebrows furrowed. “He’s doing it to Victor. He can do it to you too,”

Violet looked extremely worried and he knew where she was coming from. She never liked or trusted Hugo in the first place. It was only natural that she’d think this way.

“Hugo shot Adrian because Victor was gonna shoot him first. If Victor was the one who shot Adrian, he wouldn’t be alive today,” Damon explained.

Victor was known to lace his bullets with poison. If he had shot Adrian, he would’ve been dead within ten minutes. When Hugo saw that the tension in the room wasn’t subsiding and Victor kept getting mad, he knew that violence was inevitable. In the end, Victor drew his gun and Damon was forced to retaliate. They pointed their guns at each other and took the shot. Damon dodged the bullet from Victor and Victor’s consigliere took the bullet aimed at his boss. Michael Maranzano fell down and covered Victor’s line of sight. In a fit of rage, Victor was about to shoot Damon, but he and Adrian were already running to the door. Hugo saw that Victor was aiming for either Damon or Adrian, but he was having difficulty because Michael’s body was covering him. So Hugo acted fast and decided to shoot Adrian, aiming for his arm because he knew it wouldn’t be fatal. This would ensure Hugo’s ‘alliance’ with Victor while allowing Damon to escape unscathed.

It was fúcking close. But we made it out.

After Damon told Violet everything that happened in that meeting, her eyes were filled with tears and she couldn’t stop herself from crying. Damon pulled her into a hug and cooed her gently.

“Hey, why are you crying?” he said. “Don’t cry,”

“What if it was you… what if they…” Violet said through her sobs. “…I don’t know what I’ll do if something happens to you…”

“Nothing’s gonna happen to me. Everything’s all planned out,” he said reassuringly, tilting her face up to him. “Hey, it’s you and me, forever and always. That’s my promise,”

Violet wanted so much to believe him, but her fears were getting in the way. Damon wiped the tears away and pressed his forehead on top of hers.

“Listen, we can be each other’s rocks. We’re each other’s strongest allies,” he said, pausing for a beat before continuing, “I can’t do this without you. So I need you to be strong for me, okay?”

Damon closed his eyes and felt Violet’s body molding into his. She wasn’t used to this kind of life, so of course, she was scared to death. Knowing there was nothing he could do to change that, he just held her for as long as he could and whispered sweet nothings into her ear.

“Just two more weeks and it’s over,” he said. “It’s you and me against the world, and then it’s you and me forever,”