The Mafia Killer’s Wife by Rosa Milano

Thirteen

Ethan

She sits down and picks up a fork, eating without looking at me. "What do you want to be?" I ask her. "If you could be anything, do anything. What would you do?"

"I don't know," she replies. "I never gave it any thought."

"You mean your parents never let you hope you could be anything but what they want you to be. If you could do any job, what job would you do?"

"I've no idea."

"You must have some clue."

She shrugs. "I don't know. Maybe something with animals. I like animals."

"You have any pets at home?"

"Nope. Dad doesn't like them, and Mom says she's allergic. No idea how she knows when she never leaves the house long enough to meet any."

"What pet would you have if you had the choice?"

"A dog. Definitely."

"What type?"

"Collie probably. Maybe a German shepherd. Something intelligent."

I chew my food for a while. "You will not have to remain married to me for long," I tell her. She looks up and for the first time there appears to be hope in her eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean what I say."

"But marriage is for life, isn't it? The families don't divorce."

"Who told you that?"

"My mom and her friends. They all say it."

"You hoped Benito would divorce you."

"I didn't really believe it."

"Divorce is possible when you are not beholden to other people's ideals. I am retiring. I am my own person. Divorce is a natural outcome when you are not marrying for love."

"Oh. Good." She sounds a little disappointed. I know why. Marriage means certainty. It's doubt she struggles with.

"I'm not marrying you because I love you, Mandy."

"Why are you marrying me then?"

"Because Benito wants you."

"Is that all this is? A pissing contest between two men?"

"No. I will explain this as simply as I can. The Mancini family and the Gianni family do not like each other." I think of all the blood spilled because of those words. So much blood. "I marry you. Benito becomes angry. Him and his father come after me. I deal with them both. Once that is done, I annul the marriage and Don Gianni will set you up with a job somewhere, something working with animals."

She blinks slowly, like a veil is lifting from somewhere inside her. She's letting herself hope there might be more than the fate other people have decided for her. "You'd do that for me?"

My watch beeps. I know what it means, but she doesn't.

"What's that for?" she asks as I resist smiling.

"When the elevator opens, you'll get to meet someone I think you'll like."

"Who?"

"You'll see. Listen to me, Mandy. This is very important. Don Gianni is my boss. His main rival is Primo Mancini, Benito's father. They want Don Gianni dead so they can take over his turf. I wish to protect my Don but I can't kill Primo and Benito without sparking a war. There is a commission of families that would punish me and the Gianni's for breaking the truce. So I marry you instead. Mancini comes after me. I deal with him entirely in self defense. Don Gianni is happy. I'm happy. No war so the commission are happy. You're happy because you're set free. Understand?"

"So you're using marriage to me to get to them?"

"Not to get to them, to bring them to me."

"Are you...are you going to kill the two of them? Primo and Benito?"

"Does that idea scare you?"

She's moving food around her plate with her fork. "I don't know. But if you want them dead so much, why not just do it? Why all these games?"

"There are rules in here and rules out there. I can't kill for no reason. The commission would have me whacked the same day. The Mancini famiglia come gunning for me for marrying you and I have that reason. I am simply defending you, a civilian who plays no part in this. Your father isn't a wiseguy, is he?"

"What's a wiseguy?"

"A made man. A soldier in the mafia. The Davis name is nothing. You're just a civilian and he's a gopher for a bookmaker."

"I know that."

"So you're a civilian family. Killing you is off limits."

She's still pushing her food around. "You done?" I ask her.

She looks up. "I'm not hungry."

The bell goes off by the elevator. I cross over and unlock it. "Someone's coming up to meet you," I tell her. "Be ready."

She winces at me like she's not sure what I'm doing. I think about telling her but it'll be better as a surprise.

The elevator doors open a minute later and Fitz comes bursting out, panting like crazy, tail wagging as she jumps up at me. "Fitz, sit," I tell him. His butt goes to ground an instant later, tail sweeping the rug. "Mandy, meet Fitz," I tell her.

Fitz notices her, running over and dumping himself at her feet, a paw on her leg. "Hello," she says, patting the top of his head. "You're a lot friendlier than he is. Where did you come from, boy?"

"I have a man who walks him when I'm busy. Albie puts him in the elevator when he's done."

"You have a collie?" she asks, still fussing him.

"You sound surprised."

"It's just you don't seem like the type to have a dog, that's all. You're more the brooding hitman type. Live alone, die for Riley, never let anyone in, protect Natalie Portman from Gary Oldman. That kind of thing. I've never known a hitman have a dog."

"John Wick had a dog."

"That got killed."

"He wasn't as professional as I am."

She manages a laugh. Fitz spins on the spot, letting out a bark as if he's laughing too.

"Hey boy," she says. "How you doing?"

"He's supposed to be tired after his walk," I say. "Fitz, go to sleep."

He takes a look at me, his ears and tail slowly going down. He walks over to his corner in a sulk, but by the time he's there, he's already yawning. He circles his rug three times and then drops like his legs don't work anymore. His eyes glaze over within seconds. "You train him to go to sleep on command?" she asks, looking over at him.

"Training is simple," I reply. "Getting the trainee to obey? That's the tricky part."