Chapter 10
1095 Words
"We'll talk about meeting my uncle," Siena announced, getting up. "I just need to use the ladies' very quickly."
Dale nodded as she pecked his cheek.
"Be back soon," he said.
Siena nodded and moved towards the back of the restaurant where the kitchen, back door as well as conveniences were located. She stood in the small passage for a second when Drusa Trebeschi joined her there. As opposed to Siena's dull trench coat and jeans, Drusa was wearing a black corporate gown that hugged her waist, and a pearl necklace. Her dark hair fell behind her.
"I wanted to talk to you," Drusa announced crisply as she reached Siena in the dim lights of the dark passage. It was already past seven and Siena only saw parts of Drusa's features in the dim lighting but she knew it was her.
"Talk," Siena told Drusa. It was quite obvious that Drusa had followed her here- to the restaurant. If not to talk to her, what else?
"Outside," Drusa pointed in the direction of the back door. "Anyone could walk in here."
Siena went out of the passage and left through the back door. Moments later, Drusa met her outside the back of the restaurant in the cool night air. At an alleyway where the back door led, next to the main restaurant building, on the left, was a wide trash can overflowing with trash, and above the wall, a huge bulb that illuminated the area.
So far so good, Siena observed, there was no one else in the alleyway.
"You DiSuzzis are biting more than you can chew," Drusa Trebeschi started as soon as Siena turned to her.
"We've always been adventurous," Siena replied flatly. "Out with it. What has the Trebeschis' feathers ruffled up? What have we done now?"
"There is an existing system," Drusa stated. "One of order and symmetry of power. The families implicitly protect one another when this exists. This will not happen when one family wants all the power and will step on the toes of the others to do so. Why has your family taken over part of our territories in the north? You took our men out and stole our trading spots. Why trade in areas where you know is exclusively ours?"
"Because it is nature," Siena replied coldly. "Survival of the fittest; natural selection, whatever. Let kingdoms rise and die according to their strength...If you cannot stand the heat, then get out of the kitchen."
Drusa looked totally enraged. "You have a lot of guts, Siena. Do you have any idea who you're messing with? Do you even realize you're not just messing with the Trebeschis, but me?"
Drusa walked menacingly towards Siena, but Siena stood her ground.
"Drusa Trebeschi," Siena said quietly, calculatingly. "The Trebeschis have grown to power under the late Giuseppe- bless his soul-" Siena made a mock-sad face and watched Drusa's reaction which was impassive. "But things have got to change, Drusa," Siena continued. "They will change. The DiSuzzis will crush any family that allows itself to be crushed and we will rise to become the most powerful family in New York. You either accept it, Drusa, or you accept it."
Drusa stopped short.
"You daughter- of- a-"
Siena raised a hand to shush her. "Now, now, Drusa," Siena said." Let's not get caught up in ethics. We both know that neither of us has a moral high-standing. It would be pointless to complain now. And even more glaring is your reputation as well as the suspicions about you having a hand in Giuseppe's death. So you see, even though I might be a devil, you are hardly one to be pointing fingers."
"If you know what they say about me," Drusa replied quietly. "Why still mess with the Trebeschis?"
"I am hardly the one you should direct your complaints to. After all, my uncle is Boss. I am only a lowly underboss."
"Yet you seem fully in support," Drusa answered.
"That's because I am," Siena replied with a smile. "Wait till I am boss: you Trebeschis will be begging to leave the US-"
"-Why you little-"
Drusa reached for Siena and gave her a slap to the face. The slap caught Siena totally unawares. But the second time Drusa tried it, Siena was more than prepared. Before Drusa could reach Siena again, Siena had brought out a gun from her trench coat and she pointed it at Drusa.
Drusa stood still watching Siena and her gun. Then her eyes drifted to the side and her hands lifted in surrender.
The action would have gratified Siena if she did not sense that something was wrong. Her eyes immediately followed Drusa's gaze and settled by the back door where standing at the top of the short flight of steps was Dale.
Oh crap.
Dale's eyes were filled with shock and something on the brinks of fear.
"Thank you sir for coming just in time," Drusa said now, facing Dale. "This woman just pulled a gun on me."
Dale's eyes moved from Drusa to Siena, a question in them. Drusa left then, a small smirk hovering on her lips. Siena quickly slipped the gun into her coat.
"Dale," Siena said. "It is not what you think-"
"You pulled a gun on a defenceless, unarmed woman!" Dale cut her off quickly.
Defenseless? Siena wondered. Drusa, defenseless?
"Look, that was not a defenseless woman, " Siena said. "She is Drusa Trebeschi- Boss of the Trebeschi family-" Siena blurted without thinking when Dale interrupted.
"You have links with the mafia?" Dale asked." How do you know her? Why did you pull a gun on her?"
"Look, Dale," Siena replied. "Let's just sit and talk this out and I'll explain-"
Siena did not want to reveal too much, yet she felt she needed to do some explaining now that Dale knew what he knew.
"Were you going to kill her?" Dale asked now.
I don't know. Probably not? I was definitely going to shoot her if she touched me again.
"Not really-" Siena was saying.
Dale went through the backdoor in a second, muttering: "I thought you were normal...Now you're involved in organized crime?"
"-Dale just calm down-"
But he was gone.
Siena cursed audibly as she watched him, wondering whether to go after him or give him some time.
Her phone began to buzz then. It was her uncle, the boss of the DiSuzzi family.
"Uncle?"
"Siena. See me immediately," he said.
He sounded angry, but Siena couldn't care less. She wasn't in a good mood either.
- Writer
