The days that followed would come to be known as “Mare di corpi senza testa” years down the line. The events that occurred would be whispered among plenty mafia stories told as made men sat around poker tables, smoking and drinking whiskey and gin. While the innocent will speak of a serial killer who left many headless and armless bodies laying along the streets of New York City. Baldovino’s revenge was bloody, cruel and unforgiving. He offered me the heads of over 15 men, all individually placed on a silver platter. The sight should not have consoled in the way that it did as I accepted each head with grace and a smile. They killed a near and dear friend of mine, and they would have to pay the price.
My journey to recovery was a smooth one, since I had the best medical attention and care. I had been shot in the stomach and directly in the middle of my chest. I could barely feel the pain since I was high on medication at almost every hour. Baldovino thought it wise to not mention any of this to my parents and I couldn’t agree more. So I told them that I was on a romantic getaway with Baldovino and would be back when we felt like it was time to get back. Recovery was a long journey and one that was full of risks since I was shot in the stomach and chest which could have killed me and can kill me if I’m still not too careful.
“I was shot in my lower abdomen, twice now,” Roberto began, pausing for a bit as he placed the cigar to his lips and smoked it. “it’s terrible, horrible. I wanted to die at that moment.” He shook his head as if just remembering it brought it all back.
Roberto and Giovanni were visiting Baldovino and I in Baldovino’s Southampton manor. They came by almost every day and they were a welcomed distraction since we would all chat about anything and everything. Sometimes they would bring their wives along and we would all have a “game night” which results in people being cussed at and glasses being thrown at each other, not to mention Roberto’s wife once pulled out a gun on Roberto and promised to kill him if he keeps making her pick up cards in a game of Uno.
“Yes, being shot is the worst,” Giovanni added with a frown as he entered the lounge room where I had been asleep on the couch until Baldovino decided that I had been out of sight for too long, and left his bar and poker room with his friends in tow and came to interrupt me. Giovanni had a bowl of pasta and a fork full of food in his mouth. “Baldovino is used to it though. He doesn’t even blink when he gets shot. But let it be me, and I cry out all the way to the heavens.”
I couldn’t help but laugh, shaking my head at Giovanni and his tactics. “that’s because you’re a little bitch,” Roberto swore his brother, rolling his eyes. I was sitting on the large u shaped couch that was placed in the sunken in floor with a fireplace in the middle. My head was placed on Baldovino’s lap and he had his hand placed around my neck while the other arm was stretched over the couch.
“Don’t call me that. How many times should I tell you not to fucking call me a little bitch?” Giovanni snapped, glaring at his brother who looked at him as though he was only pointing out a fact and couldn’t believe that he was being chastised at.
“I’m only being honest, Gio. If you’re a little bitch, you’re a little bitch. There’s nothing we can do about it. Go fuck yourself.” I was used to the pair arguing and being childish. They argued like an old married couple but I knew it was only because they were extremely close and their bond was one that was admirable. I didn’t let their playful nature distract me from the evil that they were really capable of. Giovanni and Roberto had been at the forefront, beside Baldovino as they wreaked havoc in the city of New York after I had been shot. They claimed that it was a sign of disrespect and it was war. In which it did become war. It was a three day long war, and one where the rival gang paid the price.
“You really think you’re some fucking big shot, huh? How about you go fuck yourself, you skinny rat?” Giovanni snapped at his brother, pointing his fork at his brother and I knew that he was going to fling it in his direction as soon as Roberto tried to respond. Their fights always went down the same way, they yelled at each other, then tried to kill the other, then they will get shocked and go “hey, you almost killed me!”, then apologise to each other and be best friends for the rest of the evening.
It was peak entertainment.
Baldovino removed his hand from my neck and instead placed it below my chin and made me turn my face to look up at him. My own eyes connected with his dark and angry ones that looked down at me. He brushed his knuckles against my cheek before he wordlessly brought his other hand to my face and I looked at it, my body stilling at the sight of the small blue velvet square box. He opened the box and I looked at the ring that I was met with. My eyes looked over every square inch of the diamond ring. It was a simple gold band and at the top of it was a diamond shaped pink diamond that glistened and created a rainbow all around.
I looked at the diamond and then back at him, perfectly aware of the brothers sitting just feet from us who were screaming at each other now, but all I could concentrate on at the moment was Baldovino. “what’s this?” I asked as if I didn’t know that this was probably an engagement ring. I had been hoping that me getting shot would somehow get him to cancel everything and no longer want to marry me but seeing the ring now only made me realise that it had just delayed and nothing more.
“A ring, for you to marry me.” he told me bluntly and I raised an eyebrow at him. I looked back at the ring and how he was presenting it to me.
“Is this really how you’re going to ask me?” I asked him as I looked back at him. I had always imagined how my proposal would go down. There would be rose petals on the floor, a violin being played and candlelight all around us. Then the man would go down on one knee and tell me how special I was and how he could only see his life with me in it. Never did I think that my ring would ever just be given to me as if it was just any piece of jewellery. “you’re asking me to be your wife, you could at least say something a lot more than nothing.”
His eyes scanned my face and he closed the box before he pushed my body up and I sat up. He stood from the couch and stood in front of me but then turned to face Roberto and Giovanni, “shut the fuck up,” he interrupted their arguing in a steady voice, one that didn’t need to be raised in order to be heard. He then turned back to me and then back to them again, “bring everyone in the house into this room at this moment.”
Giovanni and Roberto looked at each other before they did as he said and in moments the once empty lounge room that had only four individuals in it, now had all of the soldiers that had been accompanying Roberto and Giovanni, along with Baldovino’s soldiers and my own, and all of Baldovino’s servants around the home. I was sitting on the couch looking at all of this go down, wondering what Baldovino was going to do. “Bald-” I was going to ask him what it was that he was doing but he told me to shut up.
He was silent, then looked around the room at everyone who was flooded in here and the room was full. He then looked at me, “I want to be yours.” He began blatantly and then began to play with the blue velvet box in his hands and then looked back at me, His eyes looked directly into my own and I couldn’t find it in me to look away. “I want this,” he gestured between the two of us, “I want us. It was never my plan to fall for you in the way that I have. It was never my plan to want you as badly as I do. You know, before it felt bizarre to think of ever falling in love with someone but with you it only came easy. With you it felt like I was meant to choose you, I was meant to fall for you and love you in a way that only I can, and it felt as though choosing you every single day only got easier. You bring out emotions that I don’t understand but they feel safe in your hands. I want to be yours, I want to breathe the same air that you do and walk the earth that you do. I want a lot of things, Abigail. I want to have you in my life, I want to have you carry our children, I want to have you in my arms every night and I want to be able to call you my wife. But in order to get that,” he paused and went down on one knee, being at eye level with me at this point and looking me dead in the eyes, “I need you to say yes.”
Baldovino was right, in life we all had choices. You make the choice to continue loving someone you know isn’t good for you. You make the choice to go to school or go to work. You make the choice to do whatever it is that you want to do. You know of the consequences that come with your choice but many people stick to it. I had the choice right now to say no to Baldovino but I knew better since I knew of the consequences. Just because he claims to love me, doesn’t mean that he won’t hurt me. I have learnt that much. I made my choice all those months ago when I signed that contract during my first interview with Baldovino.
I let out a smile, one that I knew was real and true, “yes.”
