The Mafia Part II: April's Return

It always started out the same way. She was lying down in bed with him. Despite his size, he insisted on being the one cradled and she always laughingly gave in as she held him to her chest. She would run her fingers through his hair lovingly and enjoy the rare moment of blissful peace they were having because it never lasted long. And she was right because in the next moment he would get a call telling him to leave immediately, which he would instantly obey. She held onto his hand as she always did, begging him not to go for once, but he brushed her off with a kiss, promising to come back even though this time she had the feeling he would not. Once again, she was right. He never came back. April’s hazy brain would force her awake after that and she would stare at the ceiling of whatever hotel they had found themselves in this time. It had been the same for eight months. She stared at the ceiling until she imagined Angelo’s face looking down at her and then the cycle would repeat itself until a knock came at her door, forcing her awake. She was no fool. She knew she was depressed, but at the same time, the only way she would seek professional help is if she was dragged forcefully into a therapist’s office, and that was never going to happen. Today the knocking came again, but the sadness was much worse than usual. She had made the mistake of watching a romantic comedy the night before and it had planted a seed of bitterness in her heart that manifested itself as tears that refused to fall as she stared at the ceiling. The banging went on, but she had no plans to answer it. Today, she would just lie in bed. “Open this f*****g door, April!” came Zander’s demanding voice. She would have scoffed if she felt possible of showing emotion at the moment. There was nothing that Zander could make her do if she did not want to. He banged on the door some more, as if that would convince her. “Alright, fine,” he said with what sounded like a frustrated kick to the door. “I’ll just go get housekeeping.” “Ooooohh, housekeeping. I'm so scared,” she muttered mockingly, but he must have had his ear to the door, because the banging resumed. “I knew you were awake!” he said accusingly. “Let’s go! You have to eat and get ready. We have to go to Nate’s birthday party.” For a reason still unknown to her, Zander was very adept at annoying her out of her depressive funks. “f**k off!” she shouted as she sat up and reached for a half smoked joint on her bedside. She ran a hand through her unruly locks and lit it up, inhaling the smoke and embracing the rush of dopamine. “I don’t even like Nate!” To be honest, she was not even certain she remembered which one Nate was. Zander made it his top priority to surround himself with the “who’s who” of every place they went and because they were a package deal, she unfortunately rubbed shoulders with them as well. It was a reckless, meaningless existence, but that was exactly what she needed: a life that required little to no thought.  “Aw, he’s not too bad!” Zander said through the door. She heard him drag a chair near her door and the tell-tale squeak that meant he had settled onto it. It was criminal how many of their mornings started like this. He started munching on something, she could tell by his next words. “Besides, it’s on a yacht! You love yacht parties!” April liked yacht parties. She bad been to too many of them in the past eight months to still proclaim to love them. She gave a non-committal grunt as she took another drag from her joint. She searched blindly around the bed for her phone until her fingers made contact with its smooth surface. She pulled it to her, meaning to mindlessly scroll through social media until she saw the time and the amount of missed calls on her phone. She immediately stubbed out her joint and ran into the bathroom to rinse her face and make her hair look somewhat presentable, all the while muttering “s**t, s**t, s**t!” “Missed your weekly check-in with the family, have you?” asked Zander smugly as he heard her moving about the room in a panic.  “I don’t need your commentary!” she yelled as she fluffed her hair so it looked like she had just woken up and not as if she had been wrestling with her demons all night. Satisfied with her appearance, she rushed back to her phone and called her sister back immediately. She picked up on the second ring and their faces stared at each other keenly, taking each feature in. “Well?” asked Raven after a moment of just staring at each other. “Well, what?” asked April, choosing to play dumb and stretching back on her bed. “Why weren’t you picking up my calls?” her sister asked. “Isn’t it past lunch time in the Maldives?” “As you can see,” April said as she theatrically gestured to her rumpled bed, “I am just waking up. Sorry. I called you as soon as I saw the missed calls.” “Are you high right now?” Raven asked accusatorily. “What? No!” April denied, rubbing at her eyes tiredly. “I told you, I just woke up.” Another thing high on April’s roster was keeping her family in the dark about just how depressed she really was. They knew she was going through a lot, but if they found out the full extent, she had no doubt Raven would have her husband send a team to immediately come fetch her. Such was her burden as the baby of the family. Particularly when her sister was married to the Don of the Italian Mafia. “And why is it that every time I call you, you're in bed?” Raven asked with worry in her eyes. “You’re in the Maldives! Shouldn’t you be out there showing me the beautiful sights?” “Probably because you insist on calling me right when my day begins,” April said honestly enough. “That and I really don’t want to be the stereotypical tourist going around marvelling and gawking at things with people back home.” “And what about friends?” her sister demanded. “Have you made any friends? Why don’t you ever speak to me about them? April snorted. “Of course I haven’t made any friends. We’re here for a month, maybe six weeks at most. Why on earth would I want to make friends with people I’ll never see again? Plus, the crowd that hangs around here aren’t really my type of people. I can be cordial with them for a couple of hours every couple of days, but spoilt brats tend to grate very easily on one’s nerves.” The worried look in her sister’s eyes did not disappear and she could almost predict her next request. “Let me speak with Zander,” she said. April rolled her eyes and stood up. She was quite shocked that he had shut up long enough to let her have this phone call, if she were being honest. She unlocked the door and there he sat in all his relaxed glory. He had let his hair grow out a bit and its exposure to the sun had lightened the tips of it so it was ever so slightly blonde. He was as tanned as ever and she was honestly just grateful he had a shirt on. She wordlessly handed the phone to him and she saw that her earlier assumptions were correct. He had his hands buried in a bag of crisps. “Are you taking good care of my sister?” Raven asked, not bothering to greet him. “The best,” Zander enthused in a tone that was deliberately overly jovial. “You should see the place I've set her up in. Fit for a Donna.” Raven ignored his smirk. “Tell me about the place and show me around. April refuses to show me anything other than her bed. Not even her room. Just her bed.” Zander gladly leaped up to do just that. “It’s a three bedroom villa. We rented the third for housekeeping, but we didn’t know that they lived nearby and were just a phone call away. So, now we only use it to let our friends crash for the night if they’ve had too much to drink.” He said all this as he walked around the villa, going down the stairs to show off the impeccable interior design before ending right by the infinity pool. “She told me she didn’t have friends,” Raven said as she watched her sister reluctantly trail behind him over his shoulder.  They ended up sitting by the sunbeds and April immediately curled her legs on one so that the umbrella shielded her body completely from the sun. “Well, they may be more acquaintances than friends to her, but we spend a lot of time with them having fun, so I choose to call them friends,” Zander said breezily as he slid a pair of shades over his eyes. “I certainly hope you haven’t been introducing my sister to unsavoury characters,” Raven said with a thinly veiled threat. “Oh please, Donna,” Zander said, deliberately using the title. “We specifically left because we were trying to get away from the unsavoury characters. Out here, it’s only trust fund babies, models and tech start-up millionaires. Clean money only. I assure you.” “I have no choice, but to put my trust in you,” Raven said resignedly. “Give the phone back to April, please.” “Happy now?” April asked when they were facing each other again. “Not really.” Raven seemed to hesitate before she continued. “You know, April, if you’re ready to come home we could –”  “No!” she cut off, feeling bad for the hurt expression on her sister’s face. “I miss you all. I really do. I'm just not ready to come back yet.” “But it doesn’t even look like you’re enjoying yourself!” Raven argued. “Alright, I'll admit I'm a bit hungover,” she lied through her teeth. “It’s nothing a seltzer and a light lunch won’t fix. Besides, we’re going to a party later. We definitely can’t miss that.” “Oh? What kind of party?” asked her sister, interest piqued. “One of Zander’s spoilt friends is having his birthday bash on a yacht,” she said, injecting excitement she did not feel into her tone and ignoring Zander’s smug smirk. “Are you actually thing to sail or will it stay docked?” she asked in automatic big sister mode. “It’ll sail, but the captain is a professional and will stay sober,” Zander shouted loudly enough for Raven to hear him, taking pleasure in April’s eyes rolling at his interruption. “That sounds fun, then,” said Raven. “Be sure to take lots of pictures. I hardly see you post on i********: anymore.” April did not mention that it was because for the better part of a year, they had been kidnapped by her husband and intentionally kept away from technology. The constant need to post sort of went away after that, but she bit her lip and kept it to herself. Some healed faster from the same wounds as others. “I’ll make sure to send you some,” she promised. “And if you don’t, I know Zander will because I'm sure he’s listening in right now,” Raven said dryly. “I'll let you take care of your hangover now. Love you!” “I love you, too,” April said with a small, genuine smile as the call cut. Her sister was definitely one of the people who kept that empty feeling in her heart at bay. “Now you have no choice, but to go,” Zander said smugly. “I could’ve just lied to her,” she said, honestly thinking of a way to get out of going. “Nope,” he said self-assuredly. “You won’t risk her finding out how much you’ve been isolating yourself.” April’s eyes narrowed at his threat. “And how exactly would she find out?” “I’d tell her of course,” Zander said. His shades were masking his eyes, but she imagined them blinking innocently at her. “I mean, I would just have to tell her out of sheer concern.” She stood up and threw a pillow aggressively in his face as she strode back upstairs to her room. “You’re such a little b***h, Zander.” “Don't forget to shower and change into something pretty after you finish that blunt!” he yelled after her with mocking laughter. “We leave within the hour because I volunteered us to help set up.” She ignored him and threw herself on her bed as soon as she got to her room before doing just as he had predicted and finishing the last bit of it off. Then she showered and changed into a stringy top and a pair of shorts. She topped it off with a men’s beach shirt that she stole from Zander that went unbuttoned. When she came back downstairs he was already drinking and had a couple of his friends in the pool. She did not know either of them, so if they had met before, there was nothing distinguishable about them. One of them cattle called her when she settled on the lounger beside Zander and her companion immediately scowled. “Hey, knock that s**t off, Lance,” Zander spat, eyes narrowing dangerously. Although she and Zander fit in as any other one of the socialites of this world, she knew his name carried a lot of weight. So, even if he was not actively on any missions, the Andolinna name still made him dangerous. She introduced herself by the name she had grown up with, ‘Parnell’ for just that reason. One never knew when their father’s enemies were lurking about. So, when Zander raised his voice, both of his ‘friends’ took immediate notice, particularly because he was usually so easy-going. “Hey, dude,” the blonde i***t called Lance said defensively, “you said there was nothing going on between you two.” “That doesn’t mean it’s an invitation for you to step in,” he chastised. “As a matter of fact, both of you better keep your grubby paws and your f*****g eyes away from her if you know what’s good for you.” “Sorry, man,” Lance said as he swam away, clearly deciding there were way too many women in the Maldives to possibly die over one. “What’d I do?” the other one asked, bemused. “Just had to out it out there, Henry,” Zander said jovially, back to his happy, go lucky self. “You don’t have to worry about me,” Henry said. “I’d like to keep my balls intact.” April chuckled quietly to herself. “Shouldn’t we be heading out soon?” Lance asked from the far end of the pool. “I want to eat first,” Henry said. “I don’t know why you volunteered all of us to help. Nate’s a prick. He wouldn’t have done the same thing for any of us. Besides, he can afford the help.” April decided she liked Henry. They were on the same wavelength “I just like to scout any location I plan to spend time in beforehand when I can,” Zander said lowly enough for only Henry and April to hear. From that, she deduced that Henry was involved in organised crime in some way since Zander seemed comfortable enough saying that to him, but not to Lance. Henry was a dirty blonde as well and he nodded understandingly. “We should still eat first, though,” he said as he pulled himself out of the water to sit on Zander’s other side. “You know how prissy Nate can get. He’ll lose it if we touch the h'orderves before all the guests start to arrive.” They all laughed and the fear of missing out seemingly dragged Lance from his corner of the pool to finally join them as a server rolled out a cart loaded with food to the poolside.  “Way ahead of you,” Zander said as he gestured to their lunch. April practically launched herself to the cart as the munchies had her under their grip. She stacked her plate and silently returned to her seat, very aware of Zander’s friends’ looks of bemusement. She surmised that, just like Zander, they surrounded themselves with women who barely ate so as to maintain their figures for their careers. In her new life as a ne’er-do-well jetsetter, she had no ambitions to speak of, so she let them gawk as she folded her legs on the lounger and got to work on her plate. “Get me a mimosa, Zander,” she said absent-mindedly as she scrolled down her i********: and stuffed her face at the same time. She only realised it was the first time she had spoken around his two friends when Henry murmured, “Well, that’s quite the first impression.” He stacked his plate up high as well and was the one to carry her a mimosa instead of Zander. This time he sat beside her. She watched him wearily, but when all he did was eat, she continued on as well. “I had a feeling you two would get along,” Zander said lazily. He was less interested in the food on offer and more into what was in his glass. “You two have similar interests... and appetites.” April and Henry glanced at each other and she rolled her eyes before they silently kept eating. That was obviously Zander’s oh so subtle way of saying they were both stoners. Originally, he had been very vocal about being against it. He was paranoid that the news would get back to their families and they would cut their excursion short. It had happened, but not in the way he foresaw. They were in Monaco and an acquaintance of her father’s had seen her smoking. The news had gotten back to them quickly and Giuseppe, of all people, had been sent to scope the situation out. April remembered Zander’s frantic packing as he had gone through their penthouse suite in a rush as soon as he heard the other man was in town. He was already looking to purchase a couple of tickets online when Giuseppe himself had called them and told them all he was asked to do was observe her behaviour. Luckily for them, it was nothing as bad as their tattletale had made it seem... as if she were going off the rails. If anything, Giuseppe noticed over the next few days that April was less bubbly than she usually was.  He had left with this information and now her family was forever tiptoeing around her while Zander had relaxed his stance. She had traded in a rock for a hard place, but April supposed this was better because her family was too far away to give her any real grief about it. They soon finished their meals and she was left feeling impressed by how much Henry could put away because it had been at least double of what she had on her plate. “Finally,” muttered Zander, as he and Lance finished taking another shot. “We can get going now, right?” It had taken April a while to come to terms with the fact that Zander was a functioning alcoholic, but at times like these – when he had just ingested a shocking amount of booze and was still up for a lot of activity – it hit her again. “Not yet,” April said as she lazily leaned back. “It’s like swimming, dude. We have to wait a while before we do anything strenuous after a heavy meal.” “I’m with her,” Henry, whose support had officially made him her new best friend, agreed. “We can leave in half an hour.” “Neither of you are even driving,” complained Lance. “Sitting in the backseat is not what anyone would describe as ‘strenuous activity’.” “Why does he keep talking?” April muttered, much to Henry’s amusement. “Let’s go. Don’t make me carry you, April,” Zander threatened. “You know I will.” The sudden memory of him doing just that on a beach in Spain a month ago – in front of several witnesses – made her sit upright immediately. She could not handle that humiliation again. “Fine,” she said as she threw her phone in her satchel and snatched it up, making her way toward the driveway. “Shotgun!” yelled Lance as he hurriedly pulled a shirt on and ran full speed towards the car. “As if anyone else is eager to sit beside Zander except you,” Henry scoffed. April laughed as they walked side by side as if by agreement. Zander smiled at the sight. He had not been exaggerating when he said he knew they would get along. Taking care of April was not an easy task since she refused to let him in. She needed a better social structure. He knew their shared past and the selfish way he had acted then was a major issue as to why she would not trust him. So, if he could not pull her out of her shell, he decided to find someone good for her who could. *** April was almost relieved when they made it to the pier. Lance had insisted on playing the music and apparently all he listened to was dance music and dubstep. Considering that was all the party they were going to would play, she did not think it would be the best to listen to on the drive over. She was starting to realise how one dimensional Lance was. It was no wonder he practically praised Zander when he seemingly aimed to be just like him. Then she thought she was being unfair to her reluctant companion. After all, had he not orchestrated the downfall of his own sister just to buy himself some freedom? She had to give credit where it was due. They boarded the yacht only to find it was not as empty as they thought it would be. It looked like several people had the thought of helping Nate set up for his party. Some of that horrid club music was already playing, although at a volume where they could communicate, so the party had clearly not started yet. She forgot what he did exactly, but he was always surrounded by people kissing his ass, so she knew it must be something of importance. Zander cursed under his breath, knowing all the people wandering around would make his job harder. “Say hi to Nate so he knows we’re here, won’t you?” he asked April and the look in his eye told her this was not something that was open for argument. Then he looked at Henry. “Keep an eye on her. Don’t let her out of your sight.” With that, he disappeared, leaving behind a lost looking Lance. April paused for a prolonged moment. Henry looked nothing like Angelo, but the suggestion of having a bodyguard, even temporarily, had sent her back into her memories and she was reluctant to withdraw from them. Henry noticed something was up and knew he had to snap her out of it, but was unsure whether touching her was a good idea or not. Instead, he leaned down far enough for them to be eye to eye. “April. Hey, April!” he whispered urgently. It was enough to snap her out of it and look into his eyes, so he straightened back up. “Let’s go say hi to the birthday prick, yeah? The sooner we do, the sooner we can find a corner to hide out in.” The derogatory nickname was enough to bring a genuine smile to her face and she nodded. “Yeah, okay. Let’s get this over with.” The three of them made their way deeper inside the yacht with Lance looking put off at the thought of being abandoned by Zander. They saw Nate as soon as they hit the deck. He was seated down and sipping on a drink, but surrounded by a handful of people who all looked familiar. They were the same people he usually surrounded himself with. Around them were paid staff who were trying to put the last touches to the party without disturbing the group of oversized children around them. They approached them and one by one, the vultures looked at them. They seemed to zero in on the fact that this was not a common grouping. While Zander was friends with, well – everybody, it was well-known that April really only associated with Zander. She knew she had a reputation for being snooty because of that and it only amused her that they thought that of her when most of them would rather be caught dead than be seen even taking a step inside her childhood home. She was surprised when Nate himself stood up to greet them. His hair was a strawberry blonde that she rarely saw on men, but suited him very well. That along with his blue eyes and sculpted features made him very handsome and he knew it. Unfortunately, the personality did not match the face. He shook hands with Henry and Lance, but stooped down to hug her. She returned it in good faith – it was his birthday, after all – but his interest in her still puzzled her. April chucked it up to the thrill of the chase.  “Happy birthday,” she said as she pulled away. “We brought you a something. Left it on the gift table.” It was a Cartier watch that none of them had even bothered to pick out themselves. They just had the store gift-wrap and deliver it, but he did not need to know that. “Awesome. I'm so glad you came,” Nate said, then he looked around. “Zander not here?” “Oh, he’s here somewhere,” she said breezily as she leaned in as if to whisper a secret. “Saw someone that caught his interest, you know what he's like.” Nate quirked his brows in slight surprise. That made April realise that he suspected the relationship between she and Zander was romantic in nature. Perhaps that was what caught his interest. Trying to take Zander Andolinna’s ‘girl’. That theory did not make much sense, either, however because Zander was notorious for sleeping around. These people could not possibly think she was the type to turn a blind eye to that, could they? Before she knew what was happening, Nate was tugging her to his circle of hangers-on and she dug her heels in.  “We’ll be right back,” April said, panicking. She. Did. Not want to spend any more time with these people. “We have to take care of something real quickly first.” “What could be more important than spending time with the birthday boy?” Nate asked as if she gave a s**t. “Stick around until the party starts, then we can roam around while we set sail.” “Sweet!” said Lance, like the dolt he was. He was already familiar with the group, so they welcomed him with open arms as he reached for a bottle of vodka. She and Henry exchanged a glance. “Maybe if we sit for a minute we can sneak away later,” she said resignedly. He shrugged, joining them as well. The chairs surrounded a large circular table where they could see all sorts of things going on. It looked like an amalgamation of four different parties on one table. She noticed one of the couples snorting white lines, and April could not help but stare in horror. The man wordlessly offered her a hit when he noticed her stare, but she resolutely refused, so he shrugged and went right back at it. Thankfully, at that moment, she saw Zander striding towards them purposefully. He greeted their host genially before asking to pull her aside. “Thanks,” April breathed when he pulled her into a corner. “I needed a save.” “Forget that,” Zander said urgently. “Have you looked at your phone?” April pulled it out, but saw nothing of interest, so she looked back up at him. “What happened?” “Raven’s pregnant,” he said and one would think he had just announced a death.  On one hand, she was ecstatic for her sister, but on the other... They looked at each other blankly. If she was having a baby, they both knew what that meant. They would soon be called home.