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My mother and Alexei continued to exchange heated words in Russian. Even Nestor intervened, but it seemed like he was trying to calm them down.
“This is not how I imagined things would be...” I said to Damiano, who also observed the chaotic scene. I glanced at him, noticing the frown on his face before he raised his gun. “Damiano, wait -” My words fell on deaf ears as he fired.
Horror filled me as I looked at the others, but I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized he had fired above their heads as a warning.
Alexei and Nestor reacted quickly, aiming their weapons at Damiano. I wasn’t worried, though, because I knew no one was going to shoot.
Still, a smile crept onto my lips as I noticed that Alexei had instinctively grabbed my mother and pulled her behind him to protect her. She would always be his Solnishko, and he would always be her Lunnyy svet. No matter how much they tried to deny it at the moment.
“Do you want to die?!” Alexei shouted at Damiano.
“Quiet.” Damiano spoke calmly with authority. “You can all kill each other for all I care. But my wife is a priority, and she needs answers, and she better get those answers right now before I shoot your brains out.”
“Let me just rephrase that real quick.” I sighed and patted Damiano’s arm to calm him down. “It looks like you have a lot of catching up to do, but before that, can we please get to the point where I’m involved first?” I asked, hoping to divert their attention from potentially killing each other for a moment.
“Of course, honey.” My mother replied with a smile, but quickly frowned when she noticed Alexei’s arm around her. “Let go of me. I don’t need your help.” She pushed his arm away.
“Ungrateful woman.” Alexei scoffed.
“Stop it!” I snapped at them, having enough of their fighting already. They both shot glares at each other, but fortunately, listened.
My mother sat me down on the couch, holding my hands in hers as she thought of how to explain everything to me.
I knew there wasn’t much that could surprise me at this point. I just needed to understand how and why she had made the choices she did. Whatever the truth was, I trusted she had good reasons for every decision she had taken.
“Okay.” My mother began, and I was finally going to hear the truth.
My mother came from an influential Greek family, and her father was in fact a mob boss back in the day. However, with the rise of Italians and Russians taking over territories faster than ever, the Cirillo Family, known as Oikogenia Tsirillo in Greek, struggled to maintain a name for themselves.
Over time, they got overshadowed by the many Mafia organizations that were expanding and simply couldn’t keep up.
My mother’s father refused to let that happen to him. It was his honor and pride, and he would rather die than watch it all crumple like that.
My grandfather firmly believed in traditional patriarchal values, and since my mother was an only child and female, there was no way he would allow her to take over and lead. Even though mother had silently watched everything and gained the skills and knowledge to take over as a leader. It was naturally her birthright, but he refused.
When my mother was young, she was allowed to get an education, giving her the opportunity to travel and explore the world while she took her semesters abroad.
That was when she met and fell in love with a certain Russian man.
They wanted to get married and live their lives together, but life was never that easy. Alexei Vasiliev was next in line to take over the Russian Mafia, and when she proposed the idea to my grandfather, he erupted in fury and refused.
“…because no one likes the Russians, but I do.” My mother let out an innocent smile, and a light blush crept on her cheeks. It almost had me giggling. It was the first time I had ever seen her like this.
“That didn’t exactly stop me from seeing him. I would sneak out to meet him, and I guess I was living in my own forbidden love fantasy. But then…”
Grandfather had fallen sick, and it was only a matter of time before he would be gone. When my mother’s semester ended and she had to go back home, her hand in marriage was promised to Gaetano Volante. Marrying my mother off to Gaetano gave him the power to take over the Cirillo Family as their rightful leader.
My mother couldn’t have an opinion on it and the wedding was rushed just in time for Gaetano to take over before my grandfather’s passing. My grandmother was a prime example of a submissive wife; always obeying her husband’s decisions and never challenging his authority. Hence why she never tried to stand up for her own daughter.
When my grandfather passed, she was in deep sorrow, and a few years later, she followed him to the grave.
“I despised that way of life and their narrow perspective on gender roles. I never saw eye to eye with it. According to those men, I was stubborn, opinionated, and they believed I needed to be put in my place.” My mother rolled her eyes.
“I had no way of reaching out to Alexei to explain my situation. Once you become a Don’s wife, you have eyes following you everywhere and reporting back on every single thing you did. It took me time to figure out how I could get out without being seen.” She continued.
I gave a slight nod in understanding. Damiano made sure I had protection from the very beginning, and they reported everything back to him.
My mother then looked slightly awkward about telling the next part.
