Author: Priscilla
Chapter Two: Unwanted Surprises
I was accepted to Duke University's Law program, and lived on campus for all of the six years I was there. Those were happy times. I mean, as happy as you can be by yourself. I was a loner by nature; couldn't help it. It was impossible not to be, when you were in a place where image and money was everything. I may have had looks, but money was another thing. I don't know what I had expected before arriving at Duke, but it certainly hadn't been the never-ending parade of trust-fund kids, with their snobbery, and their holier-than-thou complexes. Aside from that aspect of it, school was not as bad as I thought it would be.
Mark and I continued to be close, as ‘close’ as you can be without being able to see someone in person. It seemed he was getting ‘really serious about his girlfriend.' The mere idea about what that statement could possibly mean coming from him made me cringe. I mean, Mark Wahlberg: Mr. Player extraordinaire, different girls every week, anti-commitment to the core, getting serious about a girlfriend? That was some scary shit, but I accepted it for the time being.
Josh and I started speaking again. I wondered how he had gotten my number; no doubt smooth talked it out of my mother. Anyway, we tried the 'let's just be friends' thing for a little while but that, like the rest of our relationship, was over with fairly quickly. I stopped trying, he stopped trying, and it was over for good before it had really begun. That proved to be a gift in disguise however, because a couple of weeks later I met William Corinthos.
William, or Will as I started to call him, was a soft spoken brunette with the greenest eyes I'd ever seen on a human being, which was good enough for me, but he was also a fellow New Yorker (from Bensonhurst), funny, smart....and not just in the book sense. He had such a quiet confidence about him, a quiet strength, that made my knees weak and I let myself fall in love with him. When he proposed, I'd been shocked speechless, tears had streamed down my face, but I accepted. I never thought it would happen; me getting married, but suddenly there it was, and it wasn’t a dream. We were married less than a year later.
Two years after graduation, we found ourselves running a very small law/accounting firm in Syracuse, New York. Will had decided to go into practice for himself as an accountant and I'd agreed to go with him. We chose Syracuse for its closeness to where we had both grown up. In the beginning, everything had seemed to be going perfectly, beyond my wildest dreams, and for a time it really had been. Then it all went to hell. To the outside world, I was a happily married woman and a successful practicing attorney. Inside however, I was dying. It's a shame things rarely turn out to be what they seem.
Two years after moving to Syracuse I started noticing changes in William I didn't like. He was quiet, edgy, and became withdrawn. He would stay out all night and come back smelling like cheap booze, but I ignored that. I ignored a lot of things then. Ignored how money would be missing from our joint account one week, and be replaced double with interest, the next. That wasn’t the worst part of our relationship. The fights were getting worse and worse, the put-downs and accusations of adultery getting more and more vicious.
I remember the first time he hit me. How I’d hit the floor so hard the breath was knocked out of me, and how I got up and walked away like a wounded dog with its tail between its legs. The realization that I had lost complete control of my life, pulsed in my brain like an embedded bullet. But I ignored that too. Nothing was going to get in the way of my imagined happiness. Maybe it was naive of me, maybe not, but I felt like I deserved happiness for once, and I forced myself to live up to the lie we projected.
For three whole years, I let myself be molded into what Will perceived to be the perfect wife. I survived the abuse; I took the slaps and the name calling, swallowed down the embarrassment, covered up the bruises, but the birth of our first child, Stella, strengthened my resolve to do what I had to do to leave him. Bruises fade over time, I kept reminding myself as I drew up the divorce papers, but what do you do with the pain that remains? And are you willing to sacrifice your daughter’s future happiness to keep him? No, I wasn’t. In less than two days, I had the papers drawn up.
I probably broke every traffic law known to man in my haste to get home and drop that thick envelope on his lap, but when I got home Will was nowhere to be seen. I checked the home office, the gym, and nothing. I walked back downstairs to the kitchen, took my coat off and sat down at the table. I had dropped Stella off at my mother’s earlier in the day, so I wouldn’t have to worry about her until after all of this was over.
I couldn’t have been sitting down for more than two minutes, when the phone rang. I picked up the receiver, and before I could utter a word, a man with a thick north side Irish accent spoke.
“Is your husband home, Mrs. Corinthos?”
“Who is this?” I asked, not recognizing the voice. I received no answer, and after a few seconds of complete silence I realized I wasn‘t going to get one. “No he isn’t, why? Do you know where he is?”
“I might,” the man chuckled on the other end. I rolled my eyes.
“Either you do or you don’t, so which is it?”
“Sacred Heart church in half an hour. We’ll talk it over. Make sure you come by yourself.” The line went dead before I got a chance to respond, but I’m not sure what I would have said if I had been given the time. Whatever hole Will had dug for himself, he had obviously included me in it. I had to know what was going on.
I drove to Sacred Heart church in a haze, it was a place I hadn’t visited in years and wasn’t sure I wanted to step back in to now. There were dark memories buried there for me, memories I wanted to keep buried, but I didn’t have a choice did I?
It was raining hard as I parked my Explorer across the street from the main doors, and I had to run in order to not get completely soaked. My heels echoed loudly on the old tiled floor as I walked through the main entrance, and I had to take a moment to adjust my eyes to the sudden gloom of the interior of the church. I realized that the whole place was empty as I slowly walked to the altar. I genuflected and crossed myself, then walked back to the first pew on my right and sat down to wait.
After just a few minutes, I heard the squeak of wet rubber-soled shoes approaching from behind, and fought the urge to turn around. Someone came and sat in the pew behind me. The smell of stale cigarette smoke and Old Spice aftershave hit me almost instantly.
“Good to see you again, Jade, your looking well.” He said in the same accent I’d heard on the phone. I had to fight back the laughter when I finally figured out who it was.
“Jimmy the Pik,” I said, without turning around. “And to think I was all scared on phone…” I said shaking my head at the wimp I had become. Years ago, I would have laughed at him when he’d called earlier, and then hung up. But that was a long time ago, and I was a completely different person now.
“Yeah, well, it’s not like we left off on good standing last time we spoke. You’re lucky I like you.”
Jimmy ‘the pik’ O’Connor was a small-time hood from Boston’s Irish mob and an old ‘acquaintance’ of mine. He’d sought out my counsel so often in the past five years, I had lost count of how many times I’d represented him in court. They called him ‘the pik’ for his preference to using an ice pik to torture his victims before he killed them. His last murder would have earned him a seat on death row, if his boss hadn’t had several high standing politicians in his pocket at the time. The record for that Jimmy O’Connor read DECEASED on the front, and contained a long report on the occurrences leading up to his murder, while he was serving his sentence at Lampoc Federal Prison in California.
“I heard you died a while back Jimmy, something about a stabbing in the lunch room.” I smiled when he snorted in annoyance. He didn’t say anything about his supposed death though, but something I found even more intriguing.
“That husband of yours is one lucky bastard, you know?”
“And why’s that?” I asked, leaning against the back of the pew, feeling myself relax a little bit. Whatever info. Jimmy had on Will had to be miniscule. Jimmy hadn’t been privy to pertinent information since the day he’d botched his first job.
“All the people he owes, that want him dead, it’s a miracle he’s still breathing.”
“Get to the point Jimmy. What do you want?” My annoyance seeped into my voice without my consent, but it seemed to help in moving Jimmy along.
“I thought I made that clear? I know where you’re husband is hiding himself, and I know why too.”
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, giving myself time to calm down before asking what I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. I was long past thinking of my husband as the saint he’d portrayed we had been dating. He was no boy scout. What could he have done? Warning bells started going off in my head. Accountant. His job was to handle other people’s money. What if he’d ripped some mafioso? Shit. “What’d he do now?”
“He’s been a busy boy at the race track lately, for all the good its doin’ him. Hasn’t been paying his bookie.”
“How much does he owe?” I asked, my stomach threatning to lurch up into my throat with each breath.
“Almost 1.5 million.”
“What?!” It came out in a harsh whisper so loud it seemed to bounce off the walls in an echo. Jimmy just chuckled behind me. I had to close my eyes for a minute and try to control myself.
“What am I supossed to do?” I asked, not really sure if there was any point to asking. Maybe Jimmy’d just thought it would be nice to drop this on me and then leave, watch the fireworks as I internally combusted.
“Aye, that’s why I wanted to come talk to you, here, on holy ground. Maybe we can come to an arrangement.” He said, stressing the last word, then he said, “If William pays back what he owes in the next 48 hours, I might be able to persuade my bosses to forget about their current plans for him.”
“And if he doesn’t, or can’t?” I more felt than saw him shrug, something in the sound of shift on his leather coat.
“You’d look lovely in black.”
I turned to look back at him, to say…something, but he was already walking up the center isle, almost at the doors, when he turned back to me, “Oh, and one more thing, Michael Lapaglia sends his regards.” And he walked out. Soaked through black trench coat, a silver hoop earring glinting in the dim light, chucky shoes still squeaking as he went.
I closed my eyes for a brief second and tried to remember how to breathe. The Irish mob was pissed at my soon-to-be-ex-husband, and eventhough there was nothing left in me except disdain and something keen to hate for him, I had to get to the bottom of this. I knew how people like Jimmy the Pik and the people he worked for did things; I grew up seeing it. They wouldn’t hurt Will to get back at him, they would hurt his family……and that was all the thinking I was going to do for now.
I stood, and walked out of Sacred Heart, got into my car and headed to my mother’s. On the way there, I decided to call her and let her know I was going to pick up Stella. She picked up on the second ring, and it felt like I’d been waiting for hours. “Mom, could you get the baby ready for me? I’m gonna go pick her up now.”
“Stella’s..not with me, Jade.” My mother said, voice sounding unsure and a lot less cheery than it had been a second ago.
“What?” My mouth had gone dry in an instant, and I vaguely wondered if this was what having a heart attack felt like.
“Will picked her up about an hour ago,” She said, and my jaw practically hit the floor. I felt light headed all of a sudden, like I was going black out any minute. My fingers were white against the steering wheel.
“And you just gave her to him?!” I screetched into the phone, anger overriding any fear I felt for myself at the moment.
“Jade, what—“ I cut her off. Yes, it was rude, and no, I didn’t care.
“Nevermind ‘ma, I gotta go,” I said hanging up, and dialing the number for the house. My heart felt like it was going a million miles an hour, it pounded in my head like a never-ceasing jackhammer. I had to fight to keep control of my emotions as I drove. Now was not the time to get killed, now was the time to figure out what the fuck I was gonna do.
There was no answer at the house, and there was only one other place Will could be on a Thursday. We’d bought the pent house a couple of months before, and Will often used it as a place to entertain prospective clients. I drove to the Sheraton Manhattan Hotel like a lunatic. I deftly avoided dealing with the vale by parking the car in an almost empty lot across the street from the hotel. I ignored the strange looks people were giving me as I made my way through the lobby like a bat out of hell. Once inside the private penthouse elevator, I punched the button to the top floor.
The ride up felt like an eternity, and I had plenty of time to think about what the hell I was gonna say or do once I got up there, but the ‘ding’ came and went and I still didn’t have a clue. Johnny, one of Will’s door men/bodyguards was waiting at the front of the elevator when the doors opened, but he stepped aside once he realized who it was.
“Mrs. Corin—“
“Is Will here Johnny?” I asked him, staring up—way up—into those brown eyes of his. Johnny was a walking and talking wall of muscle, and Will’s right hand man.
“Yes, he is. But I need to call and tell him you’re here.” He said, once he’d managed to get his wits. I shrugged, tried to move past him.
“I don’t care what kind of trash he’s with, Johnny. I Just need to see him. Can’t leave until I do.” Johnny raised one of the giant paws he calls a hand to my shoulder gently to stop me. He swallowed, and I knew that he had been given very strict instructions on how he was to deal with me if I showed up.
“I’m sorry, I still need to clear you.” I chuckled.
“Why? You think I’m armed and dangerous or something? I might be you know, its not like he doesn’t deserve it.” Johnny shook his head at me.
“Don’t say things like that—don’t make threats.” I raised an eyebrow at him but said nothing. He was fiddling with his walkie-talkie when I asked, “Is my daughter with him?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He said and now he was confused as to why I was asking where my own daughter was, his eyebrows knitted together. But that was all I’d needed to hear. I quickly, snaked my hand out his when he made a grab for me, and started banging on the pent house door. Johnny looked like he was going to shit a brick any second, but before either one of us could say anything, Will swung open the door, a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes on his face. He looked like he was about to say something, when I interrupted him, put my finger in his face.
“Who the fuck do you think you are taking my kid—“
“Lower your voice.” The smile he’d worn when opening the door had quickly faded, and his voice was suddenly as dark and flat as his Emerald eyes.
“Fuck you,” I seethed. “Where is my daughter?” I surprised even myself with that tone. Amazing what having people witness your marital squabbles did for a relationship. Instead of cowering away from him I could stand up to Will, and he couldn’t smack me around with the other people walking around and gawking.
“She’s fine. Upstairs.” He answered, nodding towards the inside of the pent house.
“Let me see her.” I said crossing my arms over my chest as a means to stop my hands from shaking. Pretending not to be scared of someone and actually not being scared are two very different things. I was beginning to understand the concept.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Whatever,” I said before trying to push my way past him. Will’s hand came up and shoved me backwards. Not hard enough to make me fall, but hard enough to send a message. I wasn’t getting into the house. Johnny had come up from behind me, and now had a tight grip on my right forearm.
“What the fuck are you doing!” I said, struggling to get out Johnny’s vice grip on my arm.
“Heard you went to see Jimmy O’Connor today. All day I’ve been thinking, what the hell could they be talking about? Why would Jade, my wife, need to see Jimmy the Pik? You wanna walk around having secret meetings in churches with people who wanna kill me? I don’t really give a fuck. I’m through with you, but Stella’s staying with me, and you’re not allowed near her again.” Will said, closing the distance between us until we were at eye level. I heard murmurrings ‘…call securty...’ and ‘what is going on?’from the people who were staring, but no one made a move to stop any of it. I held my ground as the anger surged through me. Before I knew it, my left hand had left my side and came up in one strong swoop to connect with the left side of Will’s face. It left a giant red welt on his cheek, and I tried not to smile. To not feel elated and like I’d just fucked myself over royally at the same time. Will touched a hand to his cheek and smirked; grabbed my chin roughly in his hand, I clentched my teeth together as his hand tightened on my face. I saw him silently battling himself, knew that he was struggling against the urge to hit me like he would have if we’d been at home alone.
“Get her the fuck outta here,” He said between clenthed teeth, releasing my chin, and taking several steps back. I was in shock as Johnny pulled me away from him, but when Will turned his back on me to go back into the pent house I snapped, screaming and slapping at Johnny. I wasn’t going to be dismissed. Not anymore.
It didn’t do me much good however; Johnny just kept walking towards the elevator. He placed one of his giant paws over my mouth to stiffle the screams, as the elevetator doors closed.
Once downstairs in the lobby, Johnny released me, gave some bullshit excuse about what had happened upstairs to the head of security and walked me out of the hotel with a strong grasp on my arm. “Where’s your car?” He asked in a soft voice and I nodded my head across the street.
“Over there.” I said. He walked me to my Explorer; watched as I unlocked the driver’s side door. I turned back to him, met those hard brown eyes with my blue.
“I’m gonna get my daughter back, one way or another. Even if I have to go through Will to do it, you make sure he knows that.”
“I told you upstairs, Mrs. C. Do me a favor-- and don’t make threats.” I climbed into the driver’s seat, looked out the windshield at the Sheraton, shrugged. I looked back at Johnny.
“Do what you have to, Johnny.”
He looked down at his shoes, shook his head at me. “All due respect, Mrs. C, this is a bad idea.”
I nodded, shut the car door and left him standing there watching me as I drove out of the parking lot with my head swimming, unable to wrap itself around what had just happened. I started thinking about what my options were. My marrige was over, but I had no intention of giving up my rights to my daughter. The police wouldn’t be able to give me the help I needed. Besides, I didn’t want to file reports and wait for court hearings. There was only one person who could help me, and I hadn’t seen him in years. I didn’t even know where to find him, but I knew someone who did. He could laugh in your face, I told myself. But what choice did I have? I wanted my daughter with me, and I would go through heaven and hell to get her back.
Title: The Gauntlet
Author: Priscilla
Chapter Three: Deal With the Devil
“Hey Tommy,” I said walking down the short alleyway and over to the small group of five or six boys. They watched me wearily as I approached, taking a last puff from their ‘cigarrettes’ before they skitterred away like cocoroaches. When I reached where they’d been standing, only Tommy stood there, twitching like someone was sending tiny bolts of electricity through his body every five seconds. Tommy Faulk was a 17 year old drug dealer who’d been addicted to heroin since he was 13. I’d known his parents growing up, and unfortunatley, I wasn’t surprised he’d turned out this way. I grimaced as I approached him. He looked very old.
“He-Hey, Mrs. C. Wassup?” He stuttered, and I smiled. When had everyone started calling me Mrs. C.?
“Came to ask you something.” Tommy shrugged, hugged his scrawny arms around himself to fight off the cold. I couldn’t tell if it was because he was truly cold, or because he needed a hit.
“Shoot.” He said.
“You know where I can find Mike Lapaglia? I know you’ve been running for him.” His eyes bulged at me, and he shook his head frantically.
“I ain’t—“ I put my hands up.
“I didn’t come here to bust your balls, alright? I don’t care. Just tell me where I can find him.” He gave me a once over from head to toe. Two flat black eyes staring back at me.
“He might not wanna see you.” He said finally. I shrugged.
“That’s my problem.”
“You know that old assembly place across from Phil’s Steaks on 138th?” He asked, I nodded. “He usually runs things from there on weekdays. 3rd floor.”
“Thanks Tommy.” I said, and then it was my turn to look at him. He was deathly pale and rail thin, and that shaking thing he was doing….was freakin’ me out. I dug into the pockets of my coat, pulled out two twenty’s and a ten, grabbed his bony hand in mine and placed the money in it. “Take this, get something to eat ok? Don’t snort it all.” He nodded a couple of times, held the money in his hand tightly.
“You’re alright. Mrs. C. You know that?”
“Call me Jade. I’ll see you around Tommy. Thanks again.” I walked back up the alley to my car, surprised at the fact that it was still in one piece and not resting on cinder blocks like I’d expected, got in and drove to 138th street.
***********************
I looked up at the tall red brick building that used to be an assembly factory for escalators, the building which Mike now used as a second headquarters for the gun running part of his ‘business’,and sighed. I probably looked like shit, but that was the least of my worries at the moment. I got out of my Explorer and up to the huge metal doors of the main entrance. There was a red button on my left by the doorframe and I pushed it, crossed my fingers, and hoped that it was a doorbell. Seconds later a small window opened in the door and two small milky brown eyes stared back at me.
“State your business.” He, or what I at least hoped was a he, said.
“I want to see Mr. Lapaglia.”
“Your name?”
“Jade Corleone, I’m an attorney.” He didn’t ask me anything else, but a couple of seconds later one of the heavy metal doors slid back and I was ushered inside. The milky brown eyes belonged to a tall kid with a red pinched face who couldn’t have been older than 19. He looked me over from head to toe with a little smile on his face. Maybe I didn’t look as shitty as I thought.
“Take the elevator up to the 3rd floor, then turn left. Someone will tell you where to go from there.” He said, pointing down the hall to where I could see the elevator. I nodded and walked to it. I tried to keep myself calm as I rode up to the third floor, but the ‘ding’ came and I still hadn’t pulled it off.
I walked out of the elevator and into an empty hallway. Remembering what ‘pinch face’ downstairs had said, I walked to the end of the hall and turned left. Great, I thought as the group of men down the hall came into view, it’s a fucking thug congregation. Mike’s probably not even here. All conversation ceased when they saw me, all eyes were now on me.
“I need to see Mr. Lapaglia.” I said, extremely happy that my voice hadn’t betrayed me.
“Who’re you?” One of the guys said. He could of been Johnny’s cloan for all I knew. The same kind brown eyes, same baby softness to his face, but there was no denying the danger that hung off this man like a second skin.
“Jade Corleone, I’m an attorney.” His eyes flickered over me, to someone behind me to my right, and back at me. He walked over to a closed door at the end of the hall, knocked and then stuck his head into the room.
“S’cuse me Boss,” He said in a low voice. “Someone’s here to see you.”
“Who is it?” I heard Mike say through the door. He sounded bored. The beefy guy turned his massive head back to me and flickered his little beady eyes on me for a second. He shrugged, turned back to the room.
“Some broad. Name’s Corleone.”
A few minutes ticked by in complete silence, and then, “Let her in.”
“Your lucky day, sweetheart. Says you can come in.” The guy said, liked I’d suddenly turned deaf. He waved me over while he opened the door and stepped aside so I could queeze past him. Probably gave him a little thrill, to be that close to a woman again. I didn’t take my eyes off him.
“Shut the door Vito.” Mike said from behind me, and ‘Vito’ nodded before doing what he was told. I finally made myself look at the man sitting at the desk behind me.
“Have a seat,” He said, gesturing towards the two empty ones in front of the desk, and I humored him by sitting down. I’d been surprised when he’d let me in, like I’d almost expected him to have me shot on the spot. We stared at each other across the glass top of his massive desk, and I took a minute to give him a glance over. He was still very handsome, milky white skin, big blue eyes, great dark hair, strong jaw line, beautiful pouty lips, built like an ox. The fabric of his suit streched to accomadote the gurth of his massive shoulders. He was the kind of man you’d strain your neck trying to stare at while he walked down the street. He smiled at me, a small tug at his lips.
“Jade Corleone,” He said, the words rolling across his tongue as if he could taste them. “Been a long time. I can only guess, that the reason you’re here is because you want something. So what do I owe the pleasure of this unexpected visit?”
“I need your..help, Mike.” I said. He shook his head, and my heart plummeted into my stomach.
“I can’t help your fuck-up husband, no one can.” It was my turn to shake my head.
“I’m not asking you to.” Mike shrugged, squinted his eyes at me.
“So what are you askin’?”
“Will has my daughter.” I said, almost as if I’d expected him to know what the whole situation was about from those few words. Again he shrugged.
“And what, exactly, would you like me to do about that?”
I took a deep shaky breath. Let the full weight of what I was about to ask and its repercusions flicker through my mind for a second before I shut them off.
“Get her back. Please.”