The Chronicles of City Lights and Modern Love

In the early hours of the morning I awoke with a start, a sharp snorting sound jolting through a dream I wasn't quite ready to depart. Rolling over, I came face to face with a sleeping Carmine and, after a couple of seconds initial confusion, I recalled that he had come in to say goodnight and stayed to talk for a while. I was beginning to think that he was, perhaps, slightly narcoleptic. Either that, or I was not the enjoyable company I'd always believed myself to be.

The air was crisp, and he was on the furthest edge of the bed from myself, and atop the covers in the foetal position in an apparent attempt to retain some body warmth. Despite myself, I smiled a little at the sight before slipping out of the bed and over to the wardrobe which I'd noticed the previous day housed in its base a number of spare blankets. I grabbed one of the more substantial blankets and brought it back to the bed, laying it over Carmine's resting form. I then returned to my side of the bed and into the comfort of the goose down duvet and within minutes was transported back to Portofino harbour and the dream I'd left behind.

After what seemed to be hardly any time at all, I woke up to the sound of the bedroom door opening and closing. I slowly opened my eyes and waited for them to adjust to the now sunlit room. I looked at Carmine, who was walking toward me from across the room, and noticed that he was carrying a large tray of food.

"Honey, I made breakfast," he said chipperly, before setting the tray down on my lap. "Well, actually, I just put it on the tray and carried it here. The cook made it."

The tray carried an assortment of foods and, as a consequence, far too much food for one person to eat alone. After having set the tray down, Carmine had stepped back and was looking at me in an expecting way, and I realised that it was no accident that the tray held a surplus of food.

"Thank you," I replied, looking into his eyes, hoping that they would reveal more of what he was thinking.

"You're welcome," he said, before adding, "thank you for the blanket..." and turning and starting to walk back toward the door.

"Wait," I said quickly. "Have you had breakfast yet?"

He shook his head in reply, smiling as he did so.

"Good, because there is way too much food for me to eat on my own."



The flight to Palermo, Sicily, had departed at 4pm Eastern Standard Time and arrived at 8am Central European Time. Although I hated to admit it, I was glad that Neil had spared the extra expense to secure us First Class seats. I had been seated next to Carmine, who had been able to hold conversation for little more than an hour before drifting off to sleep and he only awoke when the plane had begun its descent. As such, I had been left to my own devices and was grateful for the extra space between sleeping Carmine and myself.

The process of disembarking from the plane seemed far more streamline than an international flight normally is and it occurred to me that this wasn't by accident. We were now in Sicily, a place largely governed by people much like my grandfather. Customs and baggage checks were for the regular folk; for the families of the Sicilian Mafia, they were conveniently forgotten.

Since exiting the plane, Carmine had held firmly onto my hand, guiding me through the airport. Whilst a gesture like this would have been used in an overbearing and demanding manner when I had first come into contact with Carmine, this time it felt more protective than anything else. His grip seemed to tighten further once we were outside the airport, and he quickened his pace and lead us toward a pair of black cars, parked unattended in the pick up zone. Once we got closer, and once I took enough interest to survey the cars, I saw that they were identical Ferrari Enzos.

"How inconspicuous..." I said under my breath, as Carmine opened up the passenger side door for me.

He rolled his eyes and laughed before closing the door behind me.

"Where did Freddie and Johnny go?" I asked as Carmine hopped into the driver's seat, having only just noticed their absence.

"They're waiting for our baggage," he answered, putting the keys in the ignition. "My priority is to get you to your grandfather in one piece."

I frowned at him. "Why are you so on edge? Am I missing something?"

He looked at me with a concerned look on his face. "Look, everything's probably fine, but word will have gotten out that you were coming here and, well, someone might see you as a threat and do something rash..."

Carmine shifted his attention back to the car and I thought about what he'd said. How could I be considered an actual threat? Especially by people who don't know me.

"Don't think on it too much," he said, noticing the puzzled look on my face. "You hungry?"

I nodded, realising that I was very hungry.

"Good," he said, smiling warmly. "I know an awesome cafe in Mondello that we can stop into to pick up some breakfast."

He pulled out into the traffic and we made our way toward the seaside town of Mondello. The roads were busy, but Carmine navigated them smoothly, ducking in and out of the lanes, taking smaller gaps than the other drivers on the road were probably comfortable with. I watched him as he drove and smiled at the expression on his face. He looked so at ease and so happy to be behind the wheel of the car. He must have caught me looking at him, because he glanced at me for a moment before looking back to the road.

"What?" he said with a smirk.

"Nothing," I replied, before adding, "I was just noticing how comfortable you look behind the wheel of this car."

He laughed. "Sure beats driving my car back home. You haven't really experienced driving until you've driven a Ferrari."

I nodded. My Dad had always been a real car enthusiast, and had a collection of different cars, one of my favourites being the Ferrari that he owned when I first got my licence. We'd go a long drives down Australia's East coast, where there'd be rolling grassy planes on one side as far as the eye could see and the ocean on the other, and we'd go for miles without coming across another car. I remember feeling so immensely happy behind the wheel of that car; to be in control of so much power was a real rush. My brother crashed and wrote off that car around the time that my Dad got his job in New York, for which he moved over and we followed shortly after, although, being older, my brother stayed in Sydney.

"I know what you mean..." I said quietly, staring out the window.

I was suddenly very aware of how homesick I was feeling. Homesick for my family but also homesick for Australia, which was something I'd been able to ignore since we moved to Manhattan because I'd been with my family, but now that I was no longer with my family, I realised how much I missed it. My dad had always said my blood must have comprised of 50% sea water, for the way I had always been so captivated by and drawn to the ocean, from which I had always lived within walking distance. As exciting as New York was, it could never be my home and I would always feel like a foreigner.

I could feel Carmine's eyes on me. I did my best to wipe what I assumed could only be a miserable expression off my face, but I knew he'd seen it. I stared out the window and realised we had left the busy traffic behind and had instead ended up on a wider, quieter road lined with palms.

"Hold on," Carmine said suddenly.

I looked at him and saw that a devious look had taken over his features. I tightened my grip on the door handle and he pressed his foot down on the accelerator. The car took off and for one happy moment I was reminded of those drives with my dad. It didn't last long though, because soon enough we had passed a sign that read "Welcome to Mondello" in Italian, and shortly after we reached the cafe that Carmine had mentioned earlier.

As we pulled in, we got a couple of curious looks. Most people looked interested, but some I noticed, appeared almost scared. A couple of kids were playing on the ground in front of the cafe, but as we approached, their mother ushered them off to the side. As we walked past them, I smiled at the woman, hoping to show her that we weren't going to cause any trouble, however this just seemed to put the woman more on edge.

As we walked in, I took in my surroundings. The back wall of the cafe comprised of folding glass doors which were all open and pushed to the sides, allowing a fresh sea breeze to drift through the cafe. There were booths lined up along this edge, facing out toward a boardwalk below and out onto Mondello beach. My first thought when we walked into the cafe was that we would struggle to find a table because it was so busy. However, as soon as one of the waiters noticed our arrival, he walked toward one of the ocean facing booths and said something to the patrons who were seated there. One of the customers quickly glanced in our direction and then stood up, gesturing for his partner to do the same. The waiter wiped down the table, then looked at Carmine and nodded.

"Look at that, best seat in the house," Carmine said cheerfully, before placing a hand on my lower back to lead me toward the now vacant booth, grinning at me all the while.

I attempted to return a somewhat genuine looking smile, but in reality, this small gesture had prompted me to have an internal panic attack and, not for the last time, fear of this trip's outcome gripped in my chest. I looked out to the ocean and took a deep breath of the salty air, hoping to calm myself down. Whenever I was stressed about something, the ocean and running were the two things that we sure to bring me a sense of calm.

As we sat eating our breakfast, a mixture of sweet and savoury dishes, Carmine chatted away the whole time, telling me about the area and about the time he spent in Mondello as a child. He told me he had brought me here because he knew it was the safest area to be in, given that he knew the main families and none of Neil's rivals dared to spend time here, given how well acquainted the majority of them were with Neil.

We had been sitting in the booth for around 20 minutes when a man about Carmine's age approached us. As he walked up, he glanced between the two of us with a smirk on his face.

"Moretti!" he called out to Carmine. "Long time, no see."

Carmine turned around and smiled, standing up to greet the man when he reached us.

"Alfano!" he replied, grasping his friend's hand and drawing him into a one armed hug, patting him on the back as he did so.

As they withdrew from the hug, Alfano looked to me and extended a hand.

"And who's this lovely lady," he said, kissing my hand when I reached to meet his.

"I'm Alessandra," I replied. "Nice to meet you."

"Ale, this is my oldest friend Giovanni -"

"Vinny for short," his friend interjected.

"Thanks for your input," Carmine laughed, before adding. "And Vin, this is Evangelo's granddaughter."

Vinny turned to me in surprise and his mouthed dropped open for a moment, but he composed himself and turned back to Carmine with a cheeky grin on his face.

"Lucky you," he said with a wink.

Carmine shook his head with a laugh, before turning to look me in the eye. "I should be so lucky."