The Mafia’s Revenge

| 8 | You must be strong now.

“Okay…” She begins, almost as if she is preparing herself to relive the memories of the previous night. “The plan was that we go to Club Million to find Mattia, drug him and take him with us…” Emeliana continues to tell Donna Aleia just as the Donna keeps her eyes on Emeliana as she talks.

“How did you manage to get close enough…?” Donna Aleia asks curiously and Emeliana gulps slightly, not knowing how the Donna will react to this part of the story.

“I seduced him… spiked his drink when he wasn’t looking…” Emeliana says cautiously as she turns to the Donna for a second to read her expression. She finds that the Donna has raised her eyebrows in surprise, not expecting Emeliana to do such a thing. But then again, she has to admit, she would’ve done the same thing to get to Mattia. As a Mafiosa, you gotta be smarter than all the men in this business…

“I see…” Is all the Donna lets out and it makes Emeliana nervous, not wanting Donna Aleia to judge her too harshly for the decision she made.

“It sounds bad, I know… but he wasn’t going to go with us willingly…” Emeliana tells her. If she had any other plan she would’ve gone with it, but this was the fastest and safest way to get him to come with her.

“I understand...” Donna Aleia encourages, noticing how nervous Emeliana is becoming as she explains the story. “Go on…” She tells Emeliana.

“You see now the problem is that, Luca saw Mattia and I dancing and he completely misinterpreted the situation… it meant absolutely nothing. I just danced with him to buy enough time for the sedative to take effect but Luca doesn’t want to hear any of it…” Emeliana continues to say as they reach the bottom of the steps and begin to slowly walk to Donna Aleia’s car.

“He needs to trust you, that’s on his part…” Donna Aleia interjects and Emeliana sighs hopelessly as she recalls Luca’s recent behaviour.

“That seems impossible right now…” Emeliana mumbles as she shakes her head.

“Tell me what else happened…” Donna Aleia speaks up, wanting Emeliana to continue the story so she knows how exactly to help Emeliana and what advice to give her.

“Okay…” Emeliana takes a deep breath and frowns, trying to remember the night before in more detail, though the harder she tries to remember, the closer the thought of Calvino’s assault rises to the surface…

“After the sedative took effect… Luca took Mattia away and-… I spotted Calvino in the crowd…” She says and Donna Aleia can tell that her voice is about to c***k and Emeliana is trying hard to keep it together. “I managed to get one of the hostesses to go pour a couple of drinks on him so he’d have to go clean himself up… after that, I followed him to the bathroom and waited for him to come out…” She continues but she has come to a stop, and the Donna slowly walks in front of her and looks down at her carefully, watching as tears fill in Emeliana’s eyes, but she refuses to let them fall.

“Once he did, I… pointed a gun to his back and took him outside… We spoke briefly… and he tried to get inside my head. He brought up my brothers and that threw me off guard… he managed to overpower me and…” Emeliana goes on, feeling herself choke up but she doesn’t want to cry about this anymore…

“And…” Donna Aleia asks Emeliana as she tries to meet Emeliana’s gaze, but instead of looking back at the Donna, she lets her tears fall.

“Emeliana…” Donna Aleia calls softly and it causes Emeliana’s breath to hitch abruptly and she prepares herself to tell the Donna what exactly Calvino almost did to her.

“He held me down on the ground, h-he was on top of me and…” Emeliana tells the Donna and the Donna’s frown falls completely, her face becoming blank and in the place of worry, anger takes its place.

“I felt so helpless… powerless…” Emeliana chokes up and by this time, her tears are flowing freely and she has no intention of stopping them.

“He tried to r**e you…” Donna Aleia says quietly as she comes to the conclusion of what Emeliana’s has been struggling to tell her.

“Yes…” Emeliana confirms. “But Adriano… he saved me…” Emeliana says as she quickly sniffs and wipes away her tears… “He pulled Calvino off me and fought with him, and during their fight is when Adriano got shot…”

“Oh my God…” Donna Aleia whispers and as Emeliana speaks of Adriano, Emeliana literally can’t keep it together while she talks about the night before, and so and instead decides to let her tears fall freely.

“He was just trying to protect me… he got shot because of me…” Emeliana shakes her head as she feels her guilt begin to eat at her once again.

“Emeliana… come here…“ Donna Aleia opens her arms and steps closer to Emeliana, immediately wrapping her arms around Emeliana and letting Emeliana rest her head on the Donna’s shoulder as she cries softly.

“It’s all my fault… all of it…” Emeliana whispers as she squeezes her eyes shut and lets the Donna console her.

“Hush now… no it’s not… do you hear me…?” Donna Aleia speaks softly again Emeliana hair as she slowly rubs her back comfortingly. “It’s never our fault…” Donna Aleia says and Emeliana slowly opens her eyes and slowly pulls away from Donna Aleia, looking at her questionably…

“What do you mean…” She questions and Donna Aleia frowns to herself, her full lips forming a straight line as she sighs softly.

“Donna Aleia?” Emeliana persists as she slowly lets go of Donna Aleia and frowns at her worriedly.

“When, I was 16… I was r***d by 5 men. They killed 2 of my friends when they tried to protect me…” Donna Aleia says monotonously and Emeliana’s eyes widen as Donna Aleia speaks of her past trauma…

“Oh my God…” Emeliana lets out softly, placing a hand over her mouth in disbelief.

“For years now I had blamed myself for their deaths… but that wasn’t fair to myself. They’re the ones that took them from me… and I made them pay for it…” Donna Aleia tells Emeliana and as the Donna speaks, Emeliana can tell that it barely bothers the Donna, but Emeliana knows it's just a front and deep down, Donna Aleia is still scarred by what happened to her...

“You killed the man that violated you…” Donna Aleia finally says and Emeliana frowns and looks away for a second as she shakes her head.

“That doesn’t make me feel any better…" Emeliana defends her emotions as she looks back at the Donna. “I-… I killed someone… I took his life from him..." Emeliana raises her voice slightly as the realisation of what she did hits deeply...

“He took yours first. Or have you forgotten that, Emeliana? Him, and Bonavelli? They stole your family from you… Have you forgotten…?” Donna Aleia finds herself raising her voice at Emeliana and it makes Emeliana purse her lips sharply, realising that the Donna is also right. Calvino did take her life from her, it all started with him and Bonavelli...

“No. I haven’t.” Emeliana says lowly as she looks away from the Donna, concentrating on the ground beneath her instead.

“Good. Never forget.” Donna Aleia lets out in a softer tone and takes a quiet breath, placing her hands on Emeliana's shoulders, making Emeliana look up at the Donna as soon as she feels her touch.

“You must be strong now my girl, hm…?” Donna Aleia tells Emeliana as she moves one hand to Emeliana's face to wipe away her tears slowly, making Emeliana smile lightly at the Donna for being s caring. 

“Lift your chin up now, no more crying, alright? She continues, placing her hand on her chin and lifting it up slightly.

“Okay…” Emeliana mumbles softly, feeling much better after having spoken to Donna Aleia. The Donna is right, she has to be strong now, she needs to stop all her crying and move past what happened... with Cavino and with Luca...

“Our dinner this weekend is still on, yes…?” Donna asks, trying to make Emeliana look forward to something during the week.

“Yes, I’ll be there…” Emeliana nods just as Donna Aleia smiles and lets go of Emeliana.

“Good. I'm looking forward to it.” Donna Aleia explains but her smile falters slightly as she notices she decides to give Emeliana some more parting words of encouragement. “Things will get better, I promise. As for Luca, give him time…” The Donna tells her. “Does he know what Calvino did to you…” At the mention of that, Emeliana becomes incredibly tense and frowns to herself, not wanting Luca to ever find out what almost happened to her...

“I can’t tell him… what good will it do, besides, it doesn’t matter now…” Emeliana shakes her head and Donna Aleia sighs at Emeliana, knowing exactly where she is coming from and why she is feeling the way she is feeling.

“I won’t force you to tell him, but I advise that you do…” Donna Aleia tells her just as she turns back to her car, remembering that her chauffeur and Stephania are still waiting for her. “I must be going now… I’ll see you soon alright?”’

"Alright, thanks for a visit, and, for everything else..." Emeliana smiles at Donna Aleia and the Donna smile before she opens her arms again and wraps them around Emeliana warmly, embracing her one last time before leaving.

"You're most welcome, you take care..." Donna Aleia tells her finally just as she pulls away from Emeliana and begins to step away from her.

"You too.." Emeliana says quietly, watching as the Donna smiles at her and turns around, walking swiftly to her car where Stephania would step out of the car and open the door for her, allowing the Donna to enter before she would enter as well. As Emeliana watches the car start up and drive away, she can't help but let the Donna's words reiterate in her mind. She does need to be strong now, she has no choice, especially for what is to come.