Tainted Faith

One: Uno [re-written 08/12/20]

Liliana slumped into the dreadfully uncomfortable aisle seat, avoiding the gazes of those sat around her - knowing there would be at least one of her papà's associates keeping a close eye on her. They would no doubt have followed her ever since she left Sicily. And when it wasn't one of her papà's men watching her, it was someone working for Marco - her eldest cousin.

Sighing, she shifted once more in her seat and dug out her mobile from the pocket of her jeans, staring at the unlocked screen.

Liliana hadn't seen her papà in almost two whole years.

Though stern to the public eye, Antonio Fiorenza was the kind of father who always had her best interests at heart. At the age of sixteen, Liliana had pleaded to attend school in her home town in Italy under the watchful eye of her cousins and her papà had relented almost immediately - confessing how much safer she would be away from his work where his control in America was still being established. He much preferred the idea of her in Italy, where the Fiorenza name was already well established and feared. Her four cousins, who worked under her grandfather's command, were the most feared mafiosi in Italy.

She truly hadn't wanted to leave their small, modest home in Sicily. With her mama dead, her aunt Zia Adelina was the closest thing she had to a motherly figure in her life, and as an only child she relished the time spent with her cousins who she considered to be like brothers.

Her nineteenth birthday was nearing however, and her papà had arranged a vacation in Belize to celebrate. Afterwards, he wanted her to finally return with him to New York. She didn't know why the prospect of seeing her father again left her so anxious to board the fifteen hour flight, or the short boat ride promptly after to the small island her grandfather Valentino had rented for two weeks.

Despite the worry that had her stomach churning — or perhaps that was just the concept of being on a boat — Liliana was sure that as soon as she laid her eyes on her papà once more her anxiety would dissipate. It helped knowing that her grandfather would be in attendance.

She had always been close to her grandfather, despite the fierce reputation that followed his name. He was a wise man, full of experience, who only chose to speak when he felt his words were needed - and when he did, Liliana listened. He had been the one to encourage her to finish her remaining education in the beautiful land of her birthplace, alongside her younger cousins. She had truly enjoyed spending more time with him these past three years in Italy, visiting him frequently in his own Italian home. He always seemed to put her weary mind at rest, and she only wished that they had talked before she began the long-awaited journey back home.

"Ma'am, I have to ask you to please turn off your device for take-off," called a polite voice from above Liliana's stooped head.

Startled at the disruption from gazing intently at her phone's screen — where the brightly lit numbers of her papà's mobile shone and were now successfully burned into the back of her eyes — Liliana jumped in her seat, brutally elbowing her neighbour in the stomach much to the bulging man's annoyance.

"Sorry," Liliana mumbled, her smile strained as she tried to ignore her own queasiness and the filthy scowl of the man sat next to her. With one last longing glance down at the phone, she turned it off completely, praying — just as a baby began to wail loudly despite its mother's panicked cooing — that she would make it off this plane alive.

Liliana had decided very firmly that she hated travelling.

After an hour of being held up at the airport because of a humongous group of egotistical hotshots tramping through in their suits and sunglasses, and what seemed to be hired guards catching the attention of everyone, another half an hour trying to find her grandfather's driver, and now an agonising fifteen minutes of praying she didn't fall overboard and get devoured by sharks, she was very much near her breaking point.