Pentangeli.
Suicide is your worst choice at this point, ma'am.
Chapter 5
Gerard’s POV
I could tell she was sick of hearing about her party, and hearing me trying to be modest. Really, who am I lying to? We all know that I’m gonna take over for Don Bucareli, because he trusts me more than Mikey. And it’s not just the whole him leaving school thing. I think that the Don secretly knows how I feel about her. And he still expects me to marry her! Call it twisted logic, but I think it would be near impossible to be married to Kitten when I have feelings more her. Let me explain: if we were to ever really get married it would most likely be (the other reasons are just wishful thinking) to keep the Family unified. And since she would assume that there would be no feelings toward each other involved, then of course she would go and sleep with other guys. Which is perfectly socially acceptable in our family when things like this happen. But then I would have to lie there night after night, knowing she making love to another man, whereas, is we don’t get married, then I won’t have any proof she’s doing it.
Sounds twisted, right? Fuck. That’s what I get for being drunk for two years.
Anyways. Back to the party. It’s for her nineteenth birthday. And I can tell she’s going to go insane. The poor girl only just recovered from her eighteenth.
“Yeah well…” I mumbled.
“Gee! Stop being so modest! We all know it’s gonna be you.” She rolled her eyes at me, then leaned her head back on my chest. “Just do me a favor, m’kay?”
“Anything.” I said as I stroked her hair absent-mindedly.
“If Mama or Papa or anyone else asks me one more thing about my party, shoot me, will you? And then tell them to go plan it for Frankie instead.” She laughed, but it was a hollow laugh.
I shook my head. “Don’t talk like that, Kata. You don’t know what some of us would do if you died.”
She looked up at me with disbelieving eyes. “You know they didn’t want me. He wanted a boy. Who would be sad if I died, if not my parents?”
Oh God, she can’t be talking about killing herself. No God, oh please God, don’t let her. I would die without her. “You might not have been what was desired,” I said, fighting to keep my voice steady. “But they love you, probably even more than they would than if you were a boy. And not just your parents, either. Do you know how much all the Aunts and Uncles love having a daughter? They can’t dote on us like they do on you. They can take us shopping in the city. They can’t talk all day about furniture and dowries and diamonds. And that’s not even counting us.” I paused to take a breath, and seeing that she was starting to smile, I plowed on. “I’m serious, Kitten. Your father made the five of us swear to protect you. If you killed yourself, then we’d have to kill ourselves too, just to be able to protect you in Heaven.” She was smiling wider now.
“But isn’t Heaven supposed to be safe?” She poked my side as she asked.
“Well yeah,” I answered. “But I’ve heard stories about what happens to men who see such beautiful angels.” She started giggling genuinely, and I lowered my head to kiss her cheek. “And besides,” I whispered. “If you die, who am I gonna marry? I love you too much to find anyone else.”
We stayed together on the couch for who knows how long, until I heard gunshots from upstairs. Judging from the look of terror on her face, I could tell she had heard them too. Not saying a word, I jumped up off the couch, and raced towards the stairway. As I pushed open the door to the first floor, I motioned for her to crouch down behind me. She did as I told her, and we began to crawl slowly towards the front room. When we got there, we found it crowed with people, crouched over a figure lying on the ground. As the people shifted slightly, she screamed an ear-splitting scream that I bet could have been heard in the city. “Papa!!!!!”
Gerard’s POV
I could tell she was sick of hearing about her party, and hearing me trying to be modest. Really, who am I lying to? We all know that I’m gonna take over for Don Bucareli, because he trusts me more than Mikey. And it’s not just the whole him leaving school thing. I think that the Don secretly knows how I feel about her. And he still expects me to marry her! Call it twisted logic, but I think it would be near impossible to be married to Kitten when I have feelings more her. Let me explain: if we were to ever really get married it would most likely be (the other reasons are just wishful thinking) to keep the Family unified. And since she would assume that there would be no feelings toward each other involved, then of course she would go and sleep with other guys. Which is perfectly socially acceptable in our family when things like this happen. But then I would have to lie there night after night, knowing she making love to another man, whereas, is we don’t get married, then I won’t have any proof she’s doing it.
Sounds twisted, right? Fuck. That’s what I get for being drunk for two years.
Anyways. Back to the party. It’s for her nineteenth birthday. And I can tell she’s going to go insane. The poor girl only just recovered from her eighteenth.
“Yeah well…” I mumbled.
“Gee! Stop being so modest! We all know it’s gonna be you.” She rolled her eyes at me, then leaned her head back on my chest. “Just do me a favor, m’kay?”
“Anything.” I said as I stroked her hair absent-mindedly.
“If Mama or Papa or anyone else asks me one more thing about my party, shoot me, will you? And then tell them to go plan it for Frankie instead.” She laughed, but it was a hollow laugh.
I shook my head. “Don’t talk like that, Kata. You don’t know what some of us would do if you died.”
She looked up at me with disbelieving eyes. “You know they didn’t want me. He wanted a boy. Who would be sad if I died, if not my parents?”
Oh God, she can’t be talking about killing herself. No God, oh please God, don’t let her. I would die without her. “You might not have been what was desired,” I said, fighting to keep my voice steady. “But they love you, probably even more than they would than if you were a boy. And not just your parents, either. Do you know how much all the Aunts and Uncles love having a daughter? They can’t dote on us like they do on you. They can take us shopping in the city. They can’t talk all day about furniture and dowries and diamonds. And that’s not even counting us.” I paused to take a breath, and seeing that she was starting to smile, I plowed on. “I’m serious, Kitten. Your father made the five of us swear to protect you. If you killed yourself, then we’d have to kill ourselves too, just to be able to protect you in Heaven.” She was smiling wider now.
“But isn’t Heaven supposed to be safe?” She poked my side as she asked.
“Well yeah,” I answered. “But I’ve heard stories about what happens to men who see such beautiful angels.” She started giggling genuinely, and I lowered my head to kiss her cheek. “And besides,” I whispered. “If you die, who am I gonna marry? I love you too much to find anyone else.”
We stayed together on the couch for who knows how long, until I heard gunshots from upstairs. Judging from the look of terror on her face, I could tell she had heard them too. Not saying a word, I jumped up off the couch, and raced towards the stairway. As I pushed open the door to the first floor, I motioned for her to crouch down behind me. She did as I told her, and we began to crawl slowly towards the front room. When we got there, we found it crowed with people, crouched over a figure lying on the ground. As the people shifted slightly, she screamed an ear-splitting scream that I bet could have been heard in the city. “Papa!!!!!”