Mafia Conspiracy (4)
Chapter 4: Going Home
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“I have to go, Tom.” Sunday says when the last shooting star streaked the night sky.
She stands up. Tom does too.
“Will I see you again?” He asks Sunday.
She bends down and gathers the blanket. “We’ll see.” She says and walks towards the storage room to put back the blanket. Tom follows.
“How will you go home?” Sunday asks.
“Want me to drive you home?” Tom asks.
“No because you don’t have car.”
“Well, the place I’m staying at is that building over there.” Tom points to a hotel building next to the Empire State Building.
“Good. Then, I’ll be going home now.” Sunday says and heads to the elevator pressing the button that has the arrow pointing down.
The doors open and Sunday rides the lift. Tom does too.
“Don’t I get your number?” Tom asks.
Sunday smiles. She puts her hand in Tom’s pocket and gets his mobile phone.
Tom’s jaw drops as he did not even feel Sunday’s hand. He just saw his phone in her hands. She types away and as the doors of the lift opens, she hands Tom his phone.
They separate in front of the Empire State Building. Tom walks to the hotel and Sunday drives away in her Porsche.
Soon, she arrives at a large three-storey (plus basement) Italian Renaissance palazzo at the upper-class suburb. She drives up the side of the palazzo to the garage and parks her Porsche. She then exits the garage and heads to the heavy wood front door.
A limo pulls over the front.
A man in a black suit climbs down. He has a thinning black hair that looked like it was gelled in place but now, it’s somehow disheveled. He has a clean shave and a few wrinkles around his dark eyes. He was tall and well built.
The limo heads to the garage leaving the man and Sunday.
“Papa!” Sunday exclaims in an Italian accent.
The old man chuckles. “Hi. Where have you been?” He, Antonio Moretti, asks.
“Race.” Sunday says as she opened the door.
“How was it? Did you race?” Antonio asks.
“Yes but I lost to a newcomer.”
Antonio pats Sunday’s shoulder. “The newcomer was just lucky.”
The inside of the palazzo was very elegant and sophisticated, very antiquely and Italian Renaissance-ish with lots of artworks and intricate designs. Even the modern gadgets are hidden in wooden antique cabinets.
It was the kind of palazzo you’d see in Venice owned by nobility.
Their butler, an old and Moretti-loyal Sicilian, greets them upon entry at the foyer.
Antonio and Sunday greet back and climb the grand stairs to the second floor.
“How about you, papa?” Sunday asks.
“Eh? Well, it’s the last Friday of the month.” Antonio says.
“Right. I forgot.”
The last Friday of the month is the night where the bosses of the Five Families meet in one of the bosses’ houses. They play poker and gamble privately. Privately, means just the five bosses. The one night when the bosses tone down on henchmen, bringing no one but a chauffeur. Tone down on security. Tone down on business. All for poker and bonding for the five bosses are close friends. They never did stick their hands in each other’s business but they do help if they could.
“Where was it held now?” Sunday asks.
“De Costa’s place.” Antonio says. They reach Sunday’s room and stand in front of the door. Antonio kisses Sunday on the forehead.
“Goodnight, papa.” Sunday says.
“Goodnight.” Antonio says as he walks down the hall to his own room.
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Bill wakes up. He had a hard time sitting up because his back hurt. His eyes adjusted to a bright ray of the sun shining down on him. Then, he felt something itchy on his hands that held him up.
He looks around and realizes where he is. He sees that he is still in that dandelion patch. He stands up and does stretching.
How much his back hurts, you could never imagine.
As he stood up, a piece of paper fell to the ground.
He picked it up. It says, ‘Duty calls.’ It also has a phone number.
He knew Elyse wrote it.
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Tom, Georg, and Gustav sat at a table at the hotel’s restaurant. They were eating breakfast.
“So, where’s Bill?” Georg asks.
“Who knows?” Tom replies.
“I saw his room this morning, the bed is made. It wasn’t used.” Gustav says.
“I wonder if he’s still alive.” Tom says.
“If he wasn’t alive, we’d have been called to identify his body.” Georg murmurs.
“I’m still alive!” Bill says sitting down at the empty chair in the four sided table.
“Where have you been?” Tom asks.
“I got lost at Central Park and ended up spending the night there.” Bill beamed.
Tom, Georg, and Gustav stared at him unbelievingly. “I smell smoke.” Georg says.
“You smell like smoke.” Tom tells Bill.
“It’s nothing. I just passed by a burning building last night.” Bill says. “So, what’s up for today?”
“We’re touring the city right after breakfast.” Tom says matter-of-factly.
Bill’s eyes bulge. He grabs a sandwich from Georg’s plate and says, “I better change!”
At that, he runs to his room with a sandwich on his mouth.
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Elyse wakes up and pops up from under the soft white pillows and soft white sheets on her soft white mattress in her room which the house’s whole top floor. Her house which is in the same neighborhood as Sunday’s home, possesses a modern architecture with its refined minimalism and a sharp design. Large glass windows. Modern gadgets everywhere you look. Indeed, it is sleek and modern.
She puts on a robe and skips down five floors to the ground floor where the dining place is. There, her maid has already set a nice breakfast of pancake, salad, and fruits on the table.
A large TV screen in front of her is tuned into the morning news as she ate. The ads are up and she sees an ad of Burger King’s delicious burgers. An idea pops in her head.
She speeds up her eating and runs up to her room to shower.
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Bill, Tom, Georg, and Gustav were heading to a diner nearby because all four of them received a call from their manager, Dave, to meet them there.
They enter the diner along the busy avenue in New York. It’s a typical American diner themed restaurant.
Upon entering, Dave spots the four and waves at them. So, they head over his table and join him.
That was when Bill saw her.
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Note: Burger King is a copyrighted trademark I do not own.