Page 26 of The Mad Don
I lift my glass to her father.
“Ricci,” I say. “It’s been a while.”
“It has, Don Mondi.” His voice is even, but his eyes are not. “You have kept your distance ever since you publicly humiliated my daughter.”
I smile at him.
“Don’t say that, Ricci. Valentina is important to me.” The lie comes out clean. “I am simply not in a position to get married.”
Ricci’s jaw tightens. I see it move under the skin. But Valentina lights up.
“I knew it,” she says, and her hand goes to her chest. “I knew you still cared about me. I told Papa you still —”
Her eyes fall on Yana. She stops talking.
“Who is she?” Valentina asks. Her voice has changed.
I slide my arm around Yana’s waist and pull her gently against my side.
“This is my new girlfriend. Yana.”
“What?” Valentina says.
Ricci laughs. It is a bitter, ugly laugh that does not reach his eyes. He opens his mouth to say something more, but the announcement bell rings from the dining hall, and the crowd begins to move.
I bow my head slightly to Ricci. I take Yana’s arm and turn her toward the hall. She doesn’t say anything, but there is disdain in her eyes. “If it’s any comfort,” I say, “she has been sleeping with mycapo. But I am generous. I let her keep her dignity.”
Yana does not answer. Her face is doing the soft smile again for the benefit of the room, but the eyes underneath are flat and very tired.
The meeting takes an hour. The matter on the table is the transfer of ownership of the Bellante family shipping concern, which has been in limbo since old man Bellante died without a clear successor. There are three families with claims. There is one family without a claim — my family. I half-listen; I am only here out of obligation.
The other half of me watches Yana.
She is seated to my right. She is doing the soft smile and the small nods, and occasionally, she turns to look at me with a smile that would convince anyone in this room that she came here freely. Her eyes do not light up when she smiles. Her posture is too straight, with her back against the chair. The hand in her lap is closed into a small fist.
But the smile itself is good. Anyone who did not know her would believe it. I find myself wondering what it would look like if she smiled at me like that and meant it. It is not a useful thought. I push it down and listen to the next clause being read.
Chapter Eight
Giovanni
After an hour, the meeting ends. Hands are shaken, and the room breaks into smaller groups for drinks and the soft work of after-talk.
I lean toward Yana.
“I’ll be going to the bathroom. Want to join?”
She looks away with a fixed smile. I chuckle and walk across the hall through the side corridor to the gentlemen’s room. I run the tap, wash my hands, and look at myself in the mirror.
The door opens behind me, and Ricci walks in with three men.
I exhale slowly, turn off the tap, and reach for the towel. I knew this was coming. From the moment Valentina ran to me across the room, I knew Ricci would find a way to have this conversation tonight.
“Ricci,” I say, drying my hands, “I know I am not in your good books, but must we do this here?”
He nods at his men, and they attack me all at once.
The first one jumps to the right. I step away from his reach and drive my elbow into the side of his head. He drops against the sink. The second one swings, I catch his wrist and twist it. He goes down on one knee with an embarrassing sound. The third one is smarter; he waits for me to commit to the second man, and then he comes in with a hook that hits the side of my jaw.
