Taming the Monster by K.J. Thomas
Chapter 8
Avery
“There’s my girl,” Vito says to me as he comes into the library next to the recliner I’m lying on. This has been my go to place ever since we’ve been here. Even though it’s only been about a week. I just love this room.
I tried to get Asher to bring all our bedroom stuff in here and just make this our new room, but he said no, of course. It won’t be the library anymore if we were in here. It would be our bedroom, but it would be awesome.
“Are you ready?” Vito asks as he lays his hand on my shoulder. I nod my head and fold the fleece blanket that was on my lap. It’s summer, but it’s still chilly in this house. You can’t get into a good book without a blanket and a comfortable spot to sleep in or read. I smile to myself as I loop my arm through Vito’s and we start walking.
Today is the third day that he’s been showing me everything. Every single room in the house has been gone over. That was the first day and then we started with the business. Accounts, so many freaking accounts. He does have an awesome ledger that explains everything involving the different accounts and what they’re used for. Every single account had millions in it. It took a while for the gasps to subside, and for me to focus on what he was telling me.
I have no clue what I was going to learn today. I tried asking multiple times why he was showing me all this stuff. It’s family stuff and some of it’s cool to know but some of it I really don’t give a shit about. Like the accounts and where money goes, blah, blah, blah.
We walk into Vito’s office and he has me sit in his spot. He paces like he normally does.
In front of me on the desk are just folders upon folders of people. Vito doesn’t say anything, I just start sifting through everything. I don’t even ask, I’m curious, who are these people and why does he have folders on them?
Halfway down through the pile is when I land on the folder labeled Asher Mancini.
Vito smiles at me, “I have a folder on every key player in the different families. The top five families will get more information, everything I can find out. Some of the lower family members will have less information on them and that’s only if they need to be included. Basically just the ones that give us enough trouble or shit. It’s good to always have a folder for information on your enemies. In paper,” he points to the folders on the table and then he points to the computer screen, “and in text.”
Vito reaches down and quickly sifts through the folders then pulls out one that’s named Luca Delano. “Luca isn’t one of the top families, that’s what this whole thing started for.” The Delano’s have been trying to get a seat at the table for years and that makes sense that my gramps would have a folder, especially seeing how he killed his daughter and son-in-law, and almost killed his granddaughter.
Vito bends down and looks me in the eye. “Always make sure you have everything you can on your enemy, more so than your friends and your legit businesses. There will always be somebody that wants what you have. That wants to take everything away from you, and you’re not gonna let them.”
Vito kisses me on the head and stands up to his full height and then walks out of the room. I know he’s giving me a chance to understand all of the Romano’s enemies, to look through these folders. I have nothing else to do today except sit in the library, but I find this kind of entertaining.
So I start. I even read Asher’s and Luca’s files in case there’s information that I missed. Next, I go through every single other folder. Some of them shock me but not too much. It seems like every mob boss has a mistress, not really a shocker.
What’s funny to me, though, is that I wonder if some of these mob bosses know that they’re sharing the same mistress. A woman named Kitty pulls up on several of these pages as the mistresses of other high family members. Maybe they share. I laugh, I hardly doubt that even though they’re cheating on their women, these men don’t share anything, they just take everything they can, and have somebody else deal with the consequences.
I’m halfway through when a thought hits me. I don’t know why it hasn’t clicked for the past few days, maybe because I was excited to learn and see everything that was different.
Why is Vito showing all this to me? I lean back in his office chair and start to wonder. As a child, even a teenager you’re not allowed to hear any of that shit. The doors are closed for a reason. I would be forced to go somewhere else. Not now, I’m going to be nineteen soon, but I’m still pretty young and still a teenager in their eyes.
What the hell is going on with my grandfather, and why am I going through all of the shit? I’ll be honest, it’s interesting to know the ins and outs of everything, but it’s like he’s grooming me to take over.
I can feel the unbearable chill, it starts at my center and bursts out through all my limbs making me so cold, I shiver. My grandfather is grooming me to take over the fucking family business, and I want to know why. He knows I don’t want to do this and he knows I’m with Asher.
I leave the papers scattered on the desk, and jump out of my chair in a mad search for Vito. I could just call him and ask him to meet me in here, but I need to do this now, I need to see on his face what’s going on. I need him to explain everything to me.
The thoughts are going through my mind, horrible thoughts, weak thoughts. Any sick shit that I can twist up in my head.
When I make it down to the foyer, I see Carter standing there talking with one of the maids, getting a little too close.
I interrupt because it’s my fucking house, and I don’t like him that much because of what he does to Tate. “Have you seen Vito?” I ask as I move right into their small space. The girl, Minnie, I think is her name, blushes and walks away. Probably embarrassed that she was caught with the devil.
“He’s in the garage looking at the new cars they just brought in,” Carter says and walks away. He gives me nothing else, not even a quick little smile. The guy is a grouchy ass, but Asher loves him to death for some reason.
I’m still determined to figure out what’s going on, so I quickly make my way to the garage.
Vito, Mac, Asher and several of the guards that I can’t remember their names are standing next to a couple of black Land Rovers.
Asher and Vito smile when they see me walking toward them but their smiles falter when I get closer and they see my face. My grandfather looks a little guilty, but also extremely heartbroken. I make my way straight toward him, nobody else.
I don’t even acknowledge Asher as I pass him. He doesn’t say anything, he just watches with interest, wondering what’s going on.
I lift my index finger, pointing at my grandfather. I’m opening my mouth for the needed air. He holds up his hand and says. “Let’s talk in my office.”
The way that he said it, mixed in with the fatherly figure of knowing that you’re not gonna like what you’re going to hear, but you’re going to have to go through with it no matter what. The tears start to silently run down my cheeks. I’m not sobbing or shaking, but I just can’t stop what’s happening and I know exactly what my grandfather’s going to tell me.
When we get to the office he has me sit on one of the leather couches and he takes a spot next to me. Both of his arms wrap around me and he pulls me to his chest and I just let the waterworks flow.
“I have stage IV colon cancer. They gave me about six months to a year. That was right after we got here.”
A strange wailing sound comes from me. My eyes burn with fire as the tears manage to break free, faster now, not slipping out like before. I relax myself not fighting it anymore.
The sobs come out quick and ugly. I hope that my grandfather shut the door as he walked in here. I don’t want everybody else to hear this. I need to do this. I need to do this for him and for myself, but I don’t need everybody else in this fucking house to know what’s going on.
He holds me as I cry and sob for the next ten to fifteen minutes. This life can’t keep taking my family members. There’s going to be nothing else left for me. I sure as shit can’t make my way through this alone. Vito keeps handing me tissues that he has stuffed in his pocket. That makes me chuckle when I look down at his hand.
Maybe he knew this was going to happen soon, so he stuffed them in his pocket like an awesome grandma would do. I start to sob again wanting my grandmother. Maybe Vito could beat this with all this money and go out and marry somebody, so I can have a grandma.
“A cure?” I managed to spit out before I start to cough. At least I have a little bit of a window as the tears recede, I can blow my nose and clean my face.
Vito shakes his head no, “they’ve done everything they could think of. There’s no new trials or anything for as advanced as I am right now.”
Vito’s eyes shine with tears. I take one of the unused tissues, because a used one would be downright disgusting, and dab his eyes. He gives me a huge hug, his strength is still there. Wrapped in his arms I feel like nothing can ever get through to us again.
Vito leaves the office for a second to go grab me a bottle of water or something to drink. I just do what my mom told me before when I feel too much, it’s overwhelming. I start taking deep breaths in and out, releasing them until I can feel myself relax. The next thing she taught me is to get up and pace. It’ll let you do something with your arms and your head. Your brain will focus only on walking and moving. A much needed reprieve from crying your eyes out.
Vito comes back in and closes the door behind him. The sob breaks free. He didn’t know what I wanted. He brought me in a bottle of water, a Coke, tea and a carton of milk.
I don’t move closer to him, I just stare at him as I wipe the remnants of tears from my eyes. “You’re prepping me to take over for you? That’s what we’ve been doing for the past few days and that’s what we’re going to continue to do, isn’t it?”
My voice catches in my throat as the sobs wreck through again. Nothing can ever prepare you to take over everything in your family, and the loss of another family member when you hardly have any left.
Vito nods slightly and goes and takes his place back on the couch, letting me get my shit together. I’m pacing faster now. These beautiful hardwood floors are going to have to be redone as soon as I leave here.
I sit on the couch next to Vito and he holds my hand. I don’t say anything and neither does he. I don’t say anything because I’m still processing all this. I’m still trying to get it through my head. I want to lash out, I want to cry more.
Vito is an awesome man, grandfather, human. He just sits there quietly and lets me deal with it. Eventually the tears dry up and the thoughts disappear, leaving nothing except for just an empty shell, that is what I think of myself now.
A familiar hand shoots out and grabs mine, lightly yanking me up. I’m pretty sure it’s Asher. The scent of his cologne penetrates me. He wraps his arms around me and leads me up to my room, tucking me into bed and turning off the lights.
It doesn’t take long until the sweet darkness takes me away, temporarily ending this insane nightmare.