Power & Pleasure

Chapter 17

The next few weeks flew by. Nothing too major happened; life has pretty much stayed the same for me -- except I've started to incorporate more Mafia related things into my life. The day to day stuff is still the same: I get up, get ready for work, drive into work with Mateo and Catalina (who have come to form a weird sort of friendship?), do work all day, then drive back home with them. Once I get home, I normally sit out in the gardens with Catalina, Valeria and Natasha. Valeria and Natasha are exactly like Catalina and I; they've known each other for many years, have been through a lot together, and are practically like sisters. Valeria is a lot like Catalina: free spirited, spontaneous, and a little crazy. Whereas Natasha is more like me: more relaxed, structured, and stuck in our ways. Although Christina and Santiago are our bestest friends, Natasha and Valeria have quickly become our closest friends in the house.

After I catch up with them in the gardens, I normally change and meet a trainer in the gym at 6pm. His name is Micheal, but everyone calls him Mick. We normally train for about an hour and he teaches me a ton: different self-defense techniques, good fighting skills, and helps me put more muscle on. After our session, I normally go to my room and shower before I come down and meet everyone for dinner. Then, after dinner, I sit on the couch with everyone and watch tv, chit chat. Sometimes I'll read my books if I'm more tired that day. Typically major Mafia meetings happen on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays -- so I attend those after dinner if there are any. Something I've learned about the Mafia is that they like to handle things at night, they like meetings to be fast, and they only like to handle meetings on those three days. Most "trades" happen on Mondays and Tuesdays, and breaches happen Wednesdays and Sundays. Mateo says its because Wednesdays and Sundays are the two days of the week that most people have their guard down, since they are tired and stressed out... so it's the best thing to happen.

As for my weekends, there isn't too much. Catalina and I still do wine & gossip night on Fridays with Christina and Santiago, except we've been doing it at Santiago's new house because he moved a few days after Catalina and I moved into the Mafia house. His new house is beautiful, it's in Staten Island, and it's gorgeous. Normally Catalina and I spend the night, along with Christina, then we all go out to brunch in the morning. That hasn't changed -- and I'm happy about that. Mateo was a little worried about letting us go at first, but he agreed as long as he keep "body guards" on us at all times. We hated it at first, but they've quickly become like apart of the group, in a weird and strange way.

Catalina and I ended up telling Christina and Santiago about Mateo and his secret life since we were now involved. Christina had already known, since she works closely with him. Santiago, on the other hand, was shocked. So you can imagine how they were when I told them that I also was getting involved. Both of their jaws dropped, and I swear their faces stayed like that for a good five minutes. Once they both finally acknowledged it, their reactions were not what I expected.

"Girl, you're like a total badass. Like, you're the next female fatale!" Christina said, holding up finger guns and pretending to "shoot" someone. I laughed, shocked that she took it better then I thought. Christina has always been more reserved, so I was worried that she would judge a little bit about my decision -- so I'm happy how supportive she is.

"Honestly, I'm not surprised. I always knew you had a wild side," Santiago said, winking at me as he took a sip of his mimosa. I knew he would handle it well. Similar to me, he's always had a fascination with the Mafia and their lifestyle -- so I knew he'd be okay with it.

After brunches, normally we just walk around the park in Staten Island and talk about life and everything in between. Around 3pm, Catalina and I always head back to the house... where we either: 1. spend the day with Natasha and Valeria, or 2. I spend the day with Mateo and she spends it with Chris. I've noticed that she's become much more closer with him; but she insists it's nothing so I let it be. Sundays are a "family" day, as Mateo calls it. Typically the whole house spends the day together, training and preparing for the week. Dinner is normally much earlier, being at 4pm instead of 7:30pm. Having dinner early on Sundays is popular in the Spanish and Italian culture... so I'm quite familiar with it. After dinner, the guys usually go play sports in the backyard and the girls (although there isn't much), usually drink wine and relax by the pool.