Affliction (14 page)

S
ophie flung open the door. Coming toward her was the smug Israeli with a deli bag that Sophie was certain the guards examined.

“
Shalom. I have brought kosher sausages to cook,” he said. He had not seen Amelda until he walked inside. “Shalom.” He nodded in her direction.

“Buongiorno,” Amelda
responded. She understood her mother’s anxiety now. The foreigner was obviously her secret lover. Amelda probed. “You know my mama well?”

Yosef smirked. “We are very good friends.”

“Hum, I see that.” Amelda walked to the door. She wondered if Giuseppe was aware of their mother’s friend. “I will talk with you later mama. Ciao.”

“Ciao,” Sophie said as her daughter scurried out the door.
She turned on Yosef when they were alone. “You cannot come to my home whenever you want.”

“I called many times to tell you I am bringing breakfast. We must celebrate.”

“Celebrate?”

“My divorce is final. We can marry.”

“Cosa?”

“Yes, we marry today Sophie Dichenzo.
We fulfill our agreement.”

“The painting has to be found. You and I are dead without the painting Yosef. Aye, your celebration is premature.”

Yosef put the bag on the table to embrace Sophie, and peered at her with hooded eyes. She was his lioness. She was the hand he needed at his side. “I celebrate an impending union and the joy I will have when I can make love to you at leisure.”

His mouth covered hers. She moaned at Yosef’s power to make her knees weak as only
few men had done.

Luzo
and Carlo, respectively.

C
HAPTER ELEVEN

How nice of Maria and Bruno to take the children after school for the weekend. Her husband tried his best to get punany last night but his attempts were foiled by her period, and her determination not to give in until his ass confessed his crime. She was mad at him for a host of reasons, ruining her dress was foremost, screaming in her face and making excuses for not going to Calabria as promised to look around the Giacanti house. He avoided the topic, and she wondered whether he disliked the idea because the estate was where a massacre occurred as well as Alberti’s murder. Either way, he couldn’t ignore his duties to honor his father’s last wishes. She’d do it without him if she could but that wasn’t her place.

Anyway, t
hanks to Alfonzo’s antics in Puerto Rico they’d lost Anita. The domino effect occurred when she had to can the part-time nanny she hired not long ago because Allie said she was mean and that is how it started. When a child doesn’t like somebody, a parent should listen. Allie says everybody’s mean if they don’t tolerate her crap but a mother had to investigate and asked Sal indirectly about the lady.

“The new nanny has to adjust to our family. How do you think she’s
handling the responsibility so far sweetheart?”

Sal said, “Mom, she’s alright, but she’s always
sneaking to watch novellas when I get home from school. She lets Angelina and Vincent run around tearing up the house when you aren’t around. Sorry, but she’s lazy. We might as well be by ourselves.”

Well that settled it, so long, bye-bye lazy nanny
and if she hired another helper she’d make sure to check in regularly via video.

H
ere they were, the Diaz’ in Sicily without Anita or domestic help. Selange didn’t mind the cleaning, cooking is where she required assistance or else an uprising was coming. But, she tried.

During the quiet,
Selange concentrated on completion of yet another proposal to secure more reputable sponsors for the charity. Selange finished the last proposal after two hours and e-mailed it to her assistant Cam in New York.

She
stood and then stretched before walking through the renovated spaces of her new home. Strange, that each threshold crossed brought fresh beginnings. Maybe, coming to Sicily might undo all the bad plaguing her family lately, she thought. This was where Alfonzo truly belonged, besides, his father had suggested once Alfonzo returned priceless items to their rightful owners then he’d have less enemies.

Selange went to the exercise room. Of course, her husband
needed his sweat area. The equipment was brand spanking new. Even with the lights off, the chrome and black rubber shone in the dark. She turned on the light. How considerate of him to provide a private sanctuary adjacent to his for her yoga work-outs. The only issue she had with his thoughtful gesture is she must enter his area to get to her enclosure. Oh, thank goodness he had made the rooms sound-proof, because the sounds of weights, grunts and fighting isn’t peaceful at all.

Her cell rang suddenly and she dug her hand in
her pant pocket. She had to tug for a minute because her darn jeans were tight. These were the pants she had from high school, believe it?

Nostalgia.

Yeah, children had added on the extra pounds. But, she rather liked how she looked. Besides, who could complain about a lingering gift from precious children who brought joy to her life?

She eyed the
screen once she yanked the device free of the worn denim. The number was blocked, the word
PRIVATE
told her.

H
esitantly, she answered. “Yes, may I help you?”

“Mrs. Diaz?”

“Who may I ask is calling?”

“
Yo, I’m just a dude who can be either a friend or frenemy.”

There were muffled sounds in the background. Was that a train and sirens?
Noises of the city are what she knew well. The caller had an unmistakable New York accent, yep, the slang confirmed her hometown.

“
Yeah, so what’s up?” she asked, stooping to his level.

“
People with money sometimes pay for their friends. Money can be the reason to stay quiet about what I witnessed.”

Selange froze
her in her tracks. Trepidation crept in and she walked slowly through an entryway of tall ferns to her feng-shui get-away.  Curiosity led her to ask, “Quiet about what?”

“
What happened to ‘D’ at that auto shop and who came out of there the same night he got killed.”

Selange
sank to the bamboo mat and crossed her legs. She stared at the burgeoning gut of Buddha the size of Sal. Too bad she couldn’t go inside the waterfall behind the statute and drown out the sound. This guy saw Alfonzo, didn’t he, what other reason could there be for this call?

“
Go to the police if you saw who did it,” she said.

“
Nah, I don’t think you really want me to do that unless you don’t care what happens to your man.”

“I don’t
.” Selange bluffed. “That bastard doesn’t care about me. He’s running ‘round with other women, fuck his ass!” Selange cringed at her vulgarity. Dang, she sounded crass. But, sometimes that’s how people communicated. Alfonzo was educated but he used profanity all the time.

“Damn, you’re cold.”

“Gotta’ be you know what I’m sayin’?” she asked in her best imitation street lingo. She had to put more attitude and bass in her voice or else he’d suspect she was being disingenuous.

“Word
. But, mami you ‘aint willing to negotiate, nada?”

“I ‘aint putting out dinero for a motherfucker having kids with
other women. He’s not around half the time. He acts like I ‘aint nothing but his carpet to wipe his feet on. Nah, negotiate, nah. It wouldn’t matter anyway. He’ll be out the next day, doing the same old shit and I’ll be out the money I use for me and my babies. You hear what I’m sayin’?” Selange’s eyes rolled. She forgot, it’s, ‘
you know what I’m saying
?’ Ugh, talking this way was an effort, talking slang was too hard!

“I
’ve seen pictures of you. You look good mami. Maybe, what you need is a real piece of dick; I heard friends are made that way, too.”

The caller
had dropped his guard; the request for money had now become a sexual proposition. She wanted to keep him talking to accurately pinpoint his location. Darn fool had no idea what satellites and expensive technology were capable of.

The cell she had could track the moment she had the caller linked in.
She took controlled breaths. Presently, she was thoroughly repulsed. “I like ‘em thick and long. Putting my lips on a lollipop ‘aint what I want. I like having my mouth full.”

“Damn mami, word you’re something else. Your man must not be
hitting those corners, but I’ll gladly take your pussy on a roller-coaster ride and that ass too, word.”

Ew!

Selange went silent. The house alarm gave notice of an entry. She looked toward the monitor to see Alfonzo strolling in. She didn’t move, how could she when her mind was trying to calculate her next move. This was definitely a game of human chess. One thing for certain, nobody was getting away with blackmail or threatening to send her honey to prison. No matter how mad she was at Alfonzo, her love was always greater.

“
Oooh damn I’m feeling that!” she said quickly before the caller became suspicious.

“
We need to hook up.”

“
I’m down, when and where?”

“Word?”

“Word. I’ll pay you just to fuck me if you need money that bad.”

“I like you mami. I like you a lot.”

“At least text me a picture of what you look like ‘cause you sound sexy as hell,” she cooed while rolling her eyes at the words a dumb stranger believed.

“Definitely.”

“All right…all right,” she sang in his ear.

“Mami I can’t wait to meet you, for real. Can we meet tonight?”

“Where?” she asked. Obviously the fool didn’t know she lived in Europe.

“You know the boroughs, right?”

“Duh!”

He chuckled.
“There’s a motel on Rockaway Boulevard not far from JFK called the Kennedy Inn. I’ll hit you up with the room number when I check in. There’s parking in the rear if you’re driving.”

What did he
think; she’d take the bus if she was stupid enough to go?

“Okay,” she paused. “You like jewelry?”

“As long as it’s real.”

“Diamonds and platinum baby
, my husband won’t even miss them.”

“Well, hell yeah.
He’s a big baller I know he got nice shit!”

“Sure do and some of it I bought.”

“Well bring something real nice and if he got any chains, 24k works.”

“No doubt.” Then she said,
“My friends call me Sela just so you know.”

“Sela, I like that. I’m Jesús.”

“Don’t forget to send a picture, I gotta’ see if you look as fine as you sound.”

“Hold on, let me do that now.”

Alfonzo went in the kitchen. He had his head in the fridge and then a beer appeared in his hand as he marched to the stove. The greedy man sampled her casserole. Then she noticed his face contorted in disgust before he rushed to the wastebasket.

Oh no he didn’t just spit out my food?

Yes, he had. Now he guzzled the beer. She stopped watching the screen when Jesús’ picture came through.

“Got
it. Oooh you look good,” she fibbed. The guy looked like Herman Munster. “I can’t wait to meet you. Can you cop some mollies?”

“
You do that too?”

“What don’t I do?”

“Ah mami, we really gonna have fun. See you tonight, your ass better not stand me up!”

“What, I ‘aint had none in days. This pussy’s ready to squirt. I’m there, word.”

“Well damn, I know that’s right, later.”

He
then blew a kiss and Selange recoiled, ‘ugh’. “Yeah later.”

Asshole!

Selange sat there until Alfonzo found her.

“I figured you might be in here. I noticed you cooked
,” he said.

“Yes.” Selange answered softly.

The food smells good but, I planned to take you to dinner.” He’d taken his shoes off before entering. He sat beside her, smelling good. “We need a night out and to talk, nena.”

“But I cooked,” she said toying with him.

“I know but I made reservations to a nice place. I wanted to surprise you.”

“You know I’d love to g
o but I think you might have your hands full tonight with important business.”

“Nah, I plan to spend time with my babe
, nothing’s more important than you love.”

Selange frowned. Alfonzo was the best liar ever. She looked down at her cell as her finger touched icons. “Listen to this and don’t say anything until
the conversation’s done.”