Act like my wife

Don Patrizio

"You bastard! You must be enjoying this. Sleeping with the wife of the man you murdered!"
I thought my words would bring out any form of emotion from this man, but no, his smirk did not falter.

He put his hands inside his pockets as he walked slowly toward me. He stopped two feet away from me and watched me practically feel worthless under his gaze. Then he held the back of my neck and pulled me closer. "Geraldo was the cause of his demise, guilt-tripping me will not help you. Up until a few minutes ago, you were burning with the desire to have me inside you. You're just as rotten as he was, don't act a saint, Veronica Russo."

I couldn't believe that all this time, he wasn't as crazy or clueless as he let on. What sick bastard are you, Patrizio? I grimaced. "The whole Mira nonsense was your ploy to make me feel sorry for you, wasn't it?"

Instantly, his smirk was replaced by a deadly glare. "Don't ever refer to Mira as 'nonsense'. You're only lucky you have her face, or else, I wouldn't even spare you a look, and you'd spend the rest of your miserable life repaying the debt your useless husband incurred. Because trust me, Chris was never going to let you go." He turned around and walked to the table in the corner that had a computer on top.

It's true that when I married Geraldo, it was never my intention to live a life as a lady of the night. But after Geraldo's death, the truth about his life revealed its hideous face, and one of those faces was Chris... Chris was not only a trafficker but a loanshark whom Geraldo borrowed a huge sum of money from. Before his death, Geraldo complained a lot about his boss, Don Patrizio. Yes, I knew Geraldo had his hands in the wrong places, but I loved him and accepted his means of making money... Something I am not proud of, and have been paying the price for since.

"Why am I here?" I asked more calmly. Patrizio already was busy on his computer, typing away on the poor keyboard.

He stopped typing and swiveled his chair until he was looking straight at me. "I don't usually make deals with my enemies' wives, but you're in luck. Become Mira for a whole year-"

"You seem to missing the most important point of all, Don Patrizio," I said with my hands on my waist like a teacher scolding her pupil. The questioning look on his face made me realize he didn't know what I meant, so I clarified... "Who is Mira?"

"My late wife. Given that Geraldo told you so much rubbish about me, you'd think he'd fill you in on that tiny detail."

"We didn't talk much about his work". I said defensively. Why would Geraldo not tell me about her anyway?

Patrizio rose from his chair and took something out of his drawer. He then handed me a photograph.

I looked at the picture and saw a gorgeous woman in red, with little Gio in her arms. "How is this possible?" I asked out loud.
The woman and I are almost identical, except that she has blonde hair as opposed to my brunette hair. And of course, her clothes, accessories, and demeanor screamed a higher class.

"This is Mira, my beloved wife," Patrizio explained with a heaviness in his voice. I could feel his pain through those words. Loss is never something one could get used to. Geraldo may have been a lot of things, but I loved him. And I'm sure Bella will miss him a lot even though she was just newly born when he died. Don Patrizio continued: "She was murdered on Gio's third birthday by someone unknown.

"Why do I have to act like your dead wife if everyone knows she's dead?" I think it is reasonable to say that no mere mortal just wakes up from the dead. Mira is not an exception.

"No one knows she's dead" He stared dead into my eyes when he said this.

"What?"

"You have to convince everyone that Mira is still with us."

"To what end?" I folded my hands on my chest in anticipation of his genius response.

"Simple. I want to catch the killer, and what better way to confuse a killer than to make them think that their plan failed? As of now, Veronica does not exist... You are Mira. You will talk like Mira, walk like Mira, and act just like her. Are we clear?"

"No! No way! You want to put me at risk just because of your stupid quest to find the one who killed your wife? I'm sorry, Don Patrizio, my Bella still needs me, I will never ruin her chance to be happy with at least one of her parents. You killed her father, you can't kill her mother too." I grabbed my handbag and headed for the door.

Just then, my phone rang in my handbag. Don Patrizio snickered behind me. "You might want to pick that up"

I took out the phone and answered the call from Natasha. "Hello? Nat?"

There was crying on the other end. "Veronica, honey, I'm so sorry".

"What? Why are you-?"

"I dropped Bella off at daycare this morning, but her teacher just called... they can't find Bella. We've called the police..."

I became petrified by the news that my legs were not strong enough to carry my weight. I fell to the floor as news of my daughter's disappearance hit me like a bomb. Whatever Natasha said afterward wasn't clear to me. I just wanted to carry my baby in my arms. I am such an idiot!!

I got from the floor and grabbed Patrizio's neck. "Where the fuck is my child?! What did you do to Bella?! I swear if you so much as touch a hair on her head, I will kill you, Bastard!!!"

He forcefully removed my hands from around his neck and threw me on the bed. "Bella will return to you after you have fulfilled the mission. Or else, you will never set eyes on her again!" He said this while rubbing his neck, the place where I pressed.

"I HATE YOU!!" I cried out, but he didn't care.

He just stood there while I ranted and wailed. I threw anything I could find at him, till I had no strength or tears left. Then he continued. "You have a week to learn everything you have to learn about Mira, including about her relationship with Gio. My son must know that his mother is back. Don't mess that part up, or Bella will have you to blame". After he said this, he walked away.
I didn't care to look at him, I despised the sight of him. Everything about him irked me to the bone.

One day, Patrizio, you will regret doing this to me.