My Mafia Romance

Capitolo Cinque

The rest of the week went by smoothly with Domenico usually out of the house or locked away in his office. I spent more time with his family than he did. I also didn't give him a reason to complain, I was the perfect Sicilian housewife, all I did was cook and clean. It was endlessly boring and time consuming so much so that I couldn't enjoy the simple things like the seaside view or a nice cup of tea with a good book.

"Apollonia," I heard him yell for me throughout the house. It was the first time he had directly spoken to me since the incident in the bedroom several days before.

He came into the kitchen where I was finishing washing the dishes.

"I have a business partner who has insisted on taking us out to dinner tonight, so be ready by 7," he said leaning against marble kitchen island. "Who is this business partner of yours?" I asked curiosity getting the best of me. I remembered when my mother would ask my father those questions and get a slap across the face as a response. But Domenico had said that he would never do that to me and I decided to take him at his word.

"Emilio Marrone," was the simple reply from my husband. Just the sound of his name had the hair on the back of my neck standing straight up.

Emilio Marrone was the most ruthless man in the mafia world, he didn't care what you said or if you were a woman or a child, if he wanted you gone ... you were gone.

"Why are you friends with a person like that, Domenico?" I questioned my husband. He gave me a humorless laugh. "Business partners and friends are two entirely different things Apollonia."

I didn't like the way he said that particular statement, he made it sound as if no one was able to be trusted.

"What restaurant will we be going to?" I asked continuing to wipe down the marble countertops. "Gino's," he said. I inwardly shuddered due to the fact that Gino's was a frequent mafia hangout and my husband was basically dragging me there.

"That's a dangerous place Domencio. I don't think it's a good idea for us to go there," I looked up at him begging him not to take me there.

"You will be fine Apollonia," he blew off my concerns with a roll of the eyes. "Besides I will be there."

'As if your presence will protect me from getting racked with bullets,' I thought to myself. I couldn't believe my husband was seriously considering taking me to a place where I would be a huge target for enemies of my father and my husband.

I spent the rest of the day cleaning the house alongside our part time housekeeper and old family friend of the Manzoni family, Giovanna. She was a sweet and soft spoken young lady around my age, who had been raised by her alcoholic father in a neighboring village after her mother died.

When the time came for me to get ready for dinner I wore a navy blue pencil dress with a beaded collar that ended just above the knees and nude colored pumps. I left my hair in its dark brown natural curls.

The car ride to Gino's was silent as I kept to gazing absentmindedly out of the window and into the dark night. Domenico meanwhile stayed preoccupied with his cell phone and checking his watch repeatedly. His body language was generally relaxed but I did anxiousness come across his face once or twice during the seemingly neverending car ride.

The driver who's name I had learned was Frank, pulled the car up alongside the curb of the restaurant underneath the awning. Domenico exited the vehicle first before reaching down to help me out as well. I turned to retrieve my clutch purse and noticed that black SUVs had been following us, no doubt for protection aganist anything that could happen in the restaurant.

"He hasn't arrived yet," Carmine came up with his cell phone in hand and a gun in the waistband of his black dress pants. Domenico nodded in response with an unreadable expression on his face than grasped my wrist lightly and tugged me behind him to the entrance of the restaurant.

As we entered the red brick building several other men exited giving what appeared to be an all clear sign to Domenico and Carmine who was in step behind us. I saw that there were more men seated in booths towards the front of the restaurant with guns laid out on tabletops that would eventually be hidden in their waistbands as the night progressed.

"Apollonia you will be sitting on inside of the booth," Carmine's serious tone broke me away from my own thoughts. "There is a door underneath the table with stairs that leads to the side of the building. When you get there run towards the front and get into the car you two came in."

"What's going on?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Just do what he says Apollonia," Domenico said. "It's for your own safety that you listen to Carmine's instructions."

'My own safety?' I wondered to myself. 'If you cared anything about my safety you wouldn't have brought me to this hell hole in the first place.'

"He's here," one of Domenico's men said after hanging up his phone.

"Let's go," my husband stated dragging me to the booth in the farthest corner and shoving me in.

Everything suddenly appeared normal in the dimly lit restaurant and then a dark and unsettling feeling spread like the plague across the restaurant, and in walked Emilio Marrone.