THE ITALIAN BOSS

CHAPTER 3: THE LAST NAIL TO THE COFFIN

ANASTASIA

Every morning when the alarm tone reaches my ears, I swear I want to ask God, why am I still alive. My life is cursed and my future is completely ruined. What is my purpose of living, but then again I remember the actual reason that I have to live… my baby girl!

Days are really hard, but for my baby girl, I have to be strong. After switching off the alarm, I just lay on my bed facing the roof. It is already 4AM and I am awake – not because I have to get ready for work… I am unemployed, but I need to prepare breakfast for everyone in the house, get my daughter ready for school, clean my parents' room and then I have to get ready to go to the Ferrari Metricsilo Pty Ltd offices. I have been going there for weeks, trying to find out what is taking so long for my father's inherited money meant for me and my siblings to come out. It's been over five months, but nothing. My father worked there as a data analyst and was very loyal to his job until he "supposedly" had a heart attack which killed him. Now, they don't want to compensate us for his loyalty.

When I was there yesterday, I was told that the "big boss" or rather the CEO would be at the office today, so I told them I am going to show up again today.

Very faint knocks on my door disturb my thoughts. It can only be my daughter, but why is she up so early in the morning? She still has at least an hour and a few minutes before I wake her up. I open the door and immediately carry her to my bed.

"Hills, why are you up? Are you feeling sick?" I ask her, feeling her forehead with the back of my hand. She doesn't feel hot so I guess she is okay. She eventually shook her head.

"I saw papa." Papa? Papa is her grandfather, my day. I guess she had a dream about him.

"Oh, really? What did he say?" I try to maintain a smile. Deep down, I am upset at my father.

"He said I should tell Mommy that he is sorry." Now I feel rage taking over me. But to avoid exposing it to my daughter, I kiss her forehead and cover her with my fleece blanket and tell her to sleep. She obeys, closing her eyes.

I leave the door half-open and walk out of my room to her room to make her bed neat. I now then walk out, but find Junior coming out of the bathroom.

"Morning, sis?" He greets.

"Morning, Daniel Junior." Daniel, our late father's name, ugh! I walk past him to our parents' bedroom, but stop when Junior calls me.

"Yes?" I question him, looking at him.

"Let me do it for you?" My eyes pop out at his question. I already know what he is asking and my answer is obviously…

"No!" So early in the morning and he is already asking me gibberish? "I will never let you." I firmly said and left him standing there.

Going Into the parents' room, I wear a new clean face mask and surgical latex gloves. Before anything, I open the curtains and then the windows to let in some air in the room.

I turn to my mother, only to find her awake and staring into space. "You better tell that husband of yours to stop visiting my daughter in her dreams. If he wants to tell me something, he better come and face me like a man and stop being a coward that he is." I am angry, not only at my father, but at my mother too.

You know, the night that my father died, when my mother had a shock, the next day I had to go and write my exam which I did. As soon as I was done, I rushed to the funeral parlor which my dad had all of us signed to and submitted every document that was requested for me to bring and thankfully, they didn't waste any time; they went to the hospital to fetch my father's body.

When I arrived at the hospital, I received other bad news about my mother. She suffered an Ischemic stroke. It was too much for me. My siblings had to come back from school only to find out that dad is no more and more is dead outside, but alive inside. I can remember how my daughter didn't understand what was happening, but because everyone was sad and crying during the trying times, she also cried. I had to explain to her what was really going on, she needed to know.

I am happy that we gave my dad a dignified funeral, but my mother was very selfish! She thought only about her feelings and decided to have a stroke. I hate her, with my dad. They were both selfish enough to make me attend my graduation ceremony alone. I had no one. Do you know the pain of seeing my fellow mates taking pictures with their parents? I felt alone and hurt, because my mother is just breathing for the sake of it. She can't move, feed herself, take herself to the bathroom or at least speak. Like now, I am changing her diaper. It is very traumatising to me, now imagine what would be of Junior when he wanted to do it. I can never allow him to do it.

"I am a qualified chef for goodness sake, not some self-made nurse! I am supposed to be doing something productive about my life, but here I am forced to clean after your dirty diaper. I am tired ma, don't you feel for me?" Not like I am expecting her to answer me, because she won't. The last time I heard her voice was the day my father died. All she does at least is just stare, breathe and sleep.

***

We were all at the breakfast table, having breakfast. I was feeding my mother while also trying to feed myself. It is what I do everyday.

"Sis? In two months time is our prom. Will you please pay for us?" Dewald asked. I closed my eyes, blocking my tears from falling out.

It hurts me because we don't have money. The only money we had was the pay out of my dad's life insurance policy. It was only £1 983,19 (R35000) which had to balance groceries, toiletries, transportation for school, electricity bills and others. I am grateful that my dad paid upfront for the twins and my daughter's school fees, but what of the next month and the next coming months?

Sigh!

"Alright." I said it like I have a plan of how I am going to get the money. It would make me sad knowing that I did attend my prom and now my brothers can't go because our parents decided to be selfish. I can't even go to work because I have to look after a whole grown up adult!

"How much is it?"

"£84.99 (R1500) for each of us."

£84.99 each!? That's too much! I don't even have a plan on how to get it. I am not even sure how today will go.

"I will get the money for you. And the outfits too." But £169,98? How am I going to get that money? On top of that I am still promising them outfits? Now I have totally lost my appetite.

"How?" Dewald asks.

"Dewald, why are you asking me that?" He is not even eating, but busy playing with the food on his plate.

"Sis, we don't have money in this house, dad used to provide for all of us here. The money that we had from dad's death is probably coming to an end. How are you going to get the money? I don't think I want to go to that stupid prom." He pushes his plate away from him and then gets up.

"Dewald!?" I am shocked at his behaviour. He never used to be like this.

"I'm off to school which we might be kicked out of soon due to outstanding fees." He says in an angry tone. I quickly stand up and follow him behind.

"Dewald, stop! The bus only comes at 7." He doesn't listen to me, instead he hangs his backpack and walks out of the door. "Dewald!" He ran down to a black BMW 3 series and jumped at the back before it went off.

I stood outside, watching the car disappearing out of the hood. A pang in my heart! This cannot be good. The people Dewald left with cannot be good.

"Sis, we are leaving for the bus station." Junior says, holding Beverly's hand. Their schools are not far from each other, so when they get off, they first make sure that my daughter enters the school safely before they go to theirs. They fetch her again in the afternoon when they come back home.

"Junior, who are those people Dewald just left with?" He shys his eyes away from me. "Junior! I am asking you a question!" I yell.

"I am sorry sis. I tried telling him how dangerous those people are. Junior has been ditching school lately to hang out with them. They are Two-Sec's people." He muttered very nervously.

"What the hell is Two-Sec's? What does it even do? For how long has he been out of school?"

"He doesn't pitch everyday at school. Two-Sec is a dangerous Mafia in Naples. He actually owns Naples. I don't know him, but I heard very scary stories about him. Sis, we really have to go." He says. I kneel down to my daughter and peck her lips.

"Mommy loves you." I say.

"I love mommy too." I earn myself a hug.

"Please look after her for me." I tell Junior, who gives me a nod.

***

"I am going out for a bit. I will get back as soon as I can." I push my mother on the wheelchair to the lounge.

I have bathed her, fed her and she is wearing a clean diaper and she smells fresh too. I just need at least two hours out and then I'll be back.

"How is that? Is it fine?" Again, I don't receive any feedback from her. I changed the channel for her to the reality shows. She used to love them.

It is a cold winter, so I at least put on the fire for her to make the house warm and then I covered her with a blanket. I bid her farewell and then left the house, locking her in. I cannot afford to have someone looking after her. So, everytime I go out I always limit my time so that I don't leave my mom for too long.

***

The bus stopped exactly in front of Ferrari Metricsilo Pty Ltd offices. I got off and walked into the huge building. I was very relieved when I was told that the CEO or the "boss" was available today. The receptionist sent me through the elevator and told me at which floor to get off.

The elevator stopped at the 39th floor and I walked down the passage until I got to the only office on the side of the floor.

Strange!

When I was about to knock on the door, it opened and a nice lady in a short skirt who looked like she was crying bumped into me and never said sorry. She just went off. Maybe the boss is angry. Now I am getting cold feet. Maybe I should just turn on my heels and leave. I will come back some other time.

I finally got the courage to knock. I heard a male voice shouting "in!" And that is when I entered.

Oh my God! The last time I saw this man was months ago at his restaurant when I was still doing practicals. He tortured me in his office! But still, I decided to have a crush on him. I was hoping to see him again throughout my practicals, but that time he cornered me on the shelves in his office was the very last time I saw him. The man with green-forest eyes.

I can tell that he is also shocked to see me as I already am shocked to see him too. Nice and neatly combed silky hair, nicely shaved and trimmed beard, broad biceps… gosh, he even looks good in his outfit. White shirt, navy blue slim fit Chinos and white sneakers. He was standing with his butt balanced against the table. One leg crossed to another and arms folded.

He cleared his throat and I just realised that I have been staring.

"So, you are the signora that's been disturbing my staff?" His deep sound of a voice makes my blood shiver.

"I am sorry sir, but it was important that I come here and talk to you." I nervously say.

"Have a seat." He says, pointing at the chair in front of his desk and then goes around to sit on his chair. "How do you want me to help you?"

"My father used to work here as an analyst. When I reported about his death, I was given papers to sign and I was told that my family will be taken care of financially for 12 months, but it was all in vain." He frowns and leans back on his chair.

"What is your father's name?" He asks.

"Daniel. Daniel Griffiths, sir."

"Mmh. Let's go." He stands up, taking his phone with.

"Where to, sir?" I ask.

"Signora, don't waste my time. Just get up and follow me." His voice deepened hard and I found myself asking no more questions and doing as he says.

We got down the elevator and reached the HR department. We got in and found at least four people working in that area.

"Mia, I need you to help this lady here. Do you remember Griffiths who used to be a data analyst?" He asks a lady sitting in an office.

"Si, signore. I do. How may I help?" (Yes, sir.) She asked and bore her eyes at me. Just when I was about to answer, Mr Ferrari replied on my behalf.

"This is her daughter, Anastasia Griffiths…" I must say I am shocked that this man happens to remember my name, while I don't even know his. I only know that he is Mr Ferrari. My crush! Gosh, we are going to have beautiful babies with green eyes. He just doesn't know yet.

"Miss Griffiths!" The lady who I learned that her name is Mia shouts and I realise now my eyes move from Mr Ferrari to her. Gosh, what's with me and staring. I was staring at him again. I'm so embarrassed.

"I'm sorry, uhm…"

"The documents, please!" She says.

"Alright, now I'll leave you to it, ladies." With that said, Mr Ferrari turns his sexy self and leaves. Now I feel a part of me leaving me… I'm so sad.

After giving her the documents, she started typing down her computer which took about 3 minutes and then she moved her eyes on me.

"Signora, I'm sorry but your father was only covered with medical aid. No monetary compensation was assigned to you." She said it so professionally.

"No! It said there that every month for 12 months we will receive £496,68 (R8700). Why are you denying it now?" I can feel my tears threatening to fall out of my eyes.

"I am not denying it. Your father recently got a permanent permit before he passed away, right? When he applied for the after care monetary, he had to wait for at least 6 months before you can claim the money, but he died just before 6 months. In that case, his application has elapsed due to also outstanding payment." Now I honestly feel like the world could swallow me. Why is this happening?

"So, all this time I have been wasting my time and energy for nothing?" I ask. I could feel a lump growing in my throat. I need to get out of here; I have embarrassed myself so much in this building, trying to get what is rightful for my family, I was embarrassing myself for nothing.

"I'm sorry, signora."

I got up, taking the documents before I ran out to the elevator. As soon as it dinged, opening it's doors, I jumped in as if it will pass if I take too long. Not realising who was in the lift, I started sobbing.

"Signora?" His voice echoes in the elevator. It's just Mr Ferrari and I. I don't like him anymore, for what his company is doing to me and my family. I just want to get out of here and go home.

I roughly wipe my tears and sniff.

"Did you get the help you needed?"

"Sir, with all due respect. Do I look like I got the help I needed!?" I ask in an angry tone.

"Little girl, you don't dare to raise your voice at me." He says so calmly, almost sounding scary. I am too angry to feel scared.

"And you are not my father to tell me how I should talk to you."

"I am warning you, little girl. Anything can happen in here in just 2 seconds. Don't push me." He threatens in a sonorous voice.

"Are you threatening me?" I told my arms. His hand stretches to the buttons of the elevator and it immediately stops moving. My heart beats as he moves very close to me.

"I don't do threats, signora." He put his hand on my neck and pressed hard on it, I started wheezing, slapping his big hand off me. "Signora, I don't like it when I am being disobeyed. I like my woman listening to me and she should never raise her voice at me."

"I'm n-not yo-your woman." I say with my tears rolling down to my cheeks. "You… are ki-killing meee…"

"How can I kill you little girl when I still haven't got a taste of you?" His other hand touches my coochie. Thank goodness I am wearing tight jeans, or else I might have been a rape victim.

He let's go of my neck and I cough out the itch on my throat, rubbing it. What was I thinking, having a crush on an abusive man. I loathe him.

He takes out a handkerchief and hands it to me. I grab it only to throw it hard on his face. He groaned and anger was visible on his face. He clenched his fists.

"I am rushing to a meeting and I am going to leave you for now but I will see you soon. If you don't want things to be this ugly, you will change your behaviour." He put the handkerchief on my hand and closed it in with my fingers. "I'll come back for it. I'll have my ways of finding you." That made my insides twist. He pressed the emergency button and the elevator opened. He walked out and I followed behind, but we went separate ways.

***

When I arrived at home, I found my mother sleeping on the wheelchair. She must be tired. I pushed her to the guest room downstairs and put her on the bed. It's not easy, but I have to do it.

Walking out of the room, I went to the living room and threw myself on the couch and started bawling. It just gets worse, everyday. How are we going to survive? I need a job, but how am I going to work when my mother will have no one to look after her? Either way, I won't even have money to pay someone to look after her.

Now, there is Mr Ferrari who threatened me and harassed me twice! What did he mean when he said, "I'll have my ways to find you?" I regret going to that building.

A knock comes through, and I use the handkerchief to wipe my face wet of tears, before striding to open the door.

"Signora, please sign here for me?" A man holding a white A4 envelope and a clipboard says.

"What is this?" I ask after signing.

"I'm a cherif. You've been served." He hands me the envelope and leaves my doorstep. I open the envelope and I realise that this is the last nail to my coffin.

NOTICE!!!

There is an outstanding amount of £11000 that needs to be balanced. Please make sure that it is paid by the end of the week or you will be forced to vacate the house.

***