The Don

Meditation had become a tool that she used to get herself into a better place. She was sure if she hadn’t found this and other varying coping mechanisms that she wouldn’t be where she is today. That and the loving support of her husband. The first year that she had left the mafia, things became hard for her. Guilt would eat her up like no other, and she would spend nights crying over the things she had done and the lives she had taken. Donovan would sit right next to her, rubbing her back and cuddling her while whispering words of encouragement. He was the only one that understood her pain, and even though he was still doing those things, he was able to comfort her a little bit. It was hard to forgive herself for the things she had done. To accept what she did and move on was one of the most painful things she could have ever done. But when Nadia looked at her children, she realized her decision to leave wasn’t in vain. The last thing she wanted was for them to follow in their footsteps, so when Konstantino joined the ‘family business’ Nadia couldn’t help but be a little disappointed in not only him but herself as well. But she couldn’t see her life going any other way, she couldn’t see herself marrying anyone else but Don. She was always his ride or die. Yes there were conflicting thoughts that would come and go, wondering what life would have been if she left for something ‘normal’. But this was her normal, and leaving would mean being without the man she loved. 

She hears him before he even makes his presence known. Nadia’s just coming out of her meditation and slowly breathes out, placing her hands on the soft squishy yoga mat. “Give me a minute.” She stands up from her position on the floor and grabs her sage, and burns it again. Nadia walks over to her husband and gives him a small smile before waving the bunch of herbs around his body. “I know you’re going to be angry when we talk about this. I’m just burning sage for precaution. I don’t want you to get too heated, I know you just came from work and I don’t want-” She cuts herself off to put the sage somewhere on the floor. “-you to lose your temper is all.” Nadia steps out of the room, gently pushing him out the way, Lets face it, no amount of sage will cleanse all of Don’s negative energy and calm him down. “So.” She presses a kiss to his lips. “How was your day? Mine was lovely and then well…Anyway, want to do this now? Or later? And where is Konstantino? Or is he still at work?” Nadia forces herself not to cringe. She hates what they do, but its something that she can’t control. So instead of focusing on the negative, she decided to focus on the positive.

He knew better than to interrupt her, so he stayed silent and just watched her. She was so gorgeous. He honestly doesn’t know how he ended up with her, but he was forever thankful. He simply raises an eyebrow as she waves the sage around him. “It’s that bad huh?” If she wanted the extra help of sage to keep him calm, Donatella must have really done it now. He could already feel a headache starting to form and he doesn’t know what happened yet. He wrapped his arms around her waist when she kissed him and kissed her back. He rubbed the small of her back as he listened to her. “My day was fine. Konstantino is still working, but he will be home for dinner. We may as well get it over with now. No need to let her try to think up a way to defend herself.”

She drives a minivan now. A minivan. A fucking toyota sienna of all things. Its days like these, when she realizes how she’s got here that makes her laugh. Reason one, she couldn’t keep her legs closed when it came to her boyfriend, now husband. That resulted in babies, lots of them. Babies that needed safety, security, and nurture. Something she couldn’t give while being in the profession she was in. Reason two, she was sick of it. Sick of running, sick of lying, sick of cheating, sick of hurting, sick of being a bad person. Nadia didn’t realize how sick of everything she was until she stopped. She was so used to the lifestyle that all these things just seemed normal. Running from the police, hiding from enemies,and  getting shot at was not a life. It was so easy to breathe, so easy to finally stop looking over her shoulder or worrying that someone was after her blood. Leaving the mafia was the best and worse thing that ever happened to her. Best because it finally gave her a semblance of normalcy, worst because she had to actually live with guilt of what she did. When she was in the mafia, she didn’t care about the lives she destroyed or the things she took. It was survival of the fittest. She the hunter and everyone else the prey. Nadia was convinced that if she didn’t leave when she did, she would be so far gone Donovan wouldn’t even want her. 

Normalcy still confuses her. Sometimes her mafia behavior will creep up on her. Nadia has to keep her anger in check like a normal person does. For example, when someone steals her parking spot, she has to fight the urge to slam into the side of their vehicle, or when someone gives her a smart remark at the PTA meetings she has to take deep breaths and count to ten before their stupid eight by ten pan brownies go flying on the floor. Or now when the cashier on aisle nine decides to give her the stink eye. She has to remind herself that she doesn’t have a knife hidden in her hair that she can throw to take her eye out. “That would give the bitch something to squint about.” She takes her hand off of the back of her head and focuses on the task at hand: groceries. Yep. she buys groceries now. No more Chinese takeout or kraft mac n cheese. She and Don ate loads of junk food back then. Moving from place to place warranted getting food from fast food places. Their getaway car was almost always littered with snacks from the quick mart. Ho-Hos, twinkies, and soda was all she had the chance to eat back then, which was funny because their money was amounting by the millions at that time. One would think they be dining at the best of restaurants. Now they do; but back then their version of a good meal was a packet of ramen noodles. Her diet was extremely different from how it was. Now everything is organic, grass fed, and local. After her first child was born she made sure that they put their hard earned money to good use. Better food, better everything. Normalcy was something her kids needed, deserved even. Nadia didn’t have that growing up, and she wished that she did.

Nadia pays for the food and heads towards her dumb minivan. She doesn’t even need it anymore, her kids are practically grown now with their own (way cooler) cars. But her trusty gold monstrosity hasn’t conked out yet, so she’s stuck with it until it does. By that time she’ll probably be a grandma. She laughs at the thought, an old woman whipping around in a sports car. At least she’d be happy. Sadly, she still has to pick her younger children up from school. Their keys were taken away from them. Same punishment, different deeds. Donatella and Maurizio were the ‘problem children’. Difficult is what she  liked to call them ‘trouble making fuckers’ Don liked to call them, jokingly, but to each their own. Donatella was two seconds away from going to a boarding school, and Maurizio should have been sent to reform school years ago. Nadia’s surprised that she hadn’t received a call from the school. She relishes in the moment for a bit since her day had gone pretty well without error. But then it happens, the call. Right around the time she thought it would be. Two-fifteen. A long sigh draws from her lips and she turns her bluetooth on. “Hello Mary. Which one?” “Hm, I’m going to say guess.” “Maurizio?” “Good choice, but you’re wrong. Its Donatella, again. She’s been suspended.” “This is the second time this week are you kidding me?! What did she do?!” There is silence for a good five seconds and then the voice on the other line sighs. “Its really bad this time. The principal wants to talk to you. You’re lucky she didn’t get expelled.” Nadia bites back a swear word. “I’ll be down there in ten minutes.” And with that, she clicks the bluetooth off and starts counting to ten. Hopefully she’ll calm down before she gets to the school.

A five minute drive later, and she’s at the school. She probably earned herself a dozen tickets but she doesn’t care. Don could probably get the fee waived for her, or they can pay. It doesn’t matter, nothing matters except for the behind that she’s going to tan when she gets home. Donatella is going on the first plane ride to Italy Nadia can get her hands on. No ifs ands or buts about it. The minute she steps into the school all eyes are on her. She doesn’t know if its because she’s Donatella’s mom, or if its because she looks like she’s about to murder someone. Again, she doesn’t care. She’s pissed. Nadia reaches the principal’s office, whips the door open, and there sitting behind the chair is her sister. Natalia Artigas-Dean, the principal of Notre Dame Preparatory School. Both of them look pissed as hell, and they had good reason too. “I was actually having a good day today, Donatella. A good day!” Nadia says as she sits down. Donatella opens her mouth to say something but Nadia shakes her head. “Don’t you dare say anything, I don’t want to hear it.” She turns to her sister. “Tell me quickly so we can get this over with.” Her sister sighs and shakes her head. “She was caught behind the bleachers and…yeah. They want me to expel her.” And that’s all Nadia needs to hear before she drags Donatella out of school, her son Maurizio running closely behind.

Konstantino walked over to the man on the floor and kicked him to get him awaken. “Hey, get up! Are we gonna keep playing this game or are you gonna tell me what I want to hear?” Don just stood in the back and watched his son work. He would let me take the lead until he felt the need to step in. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The man tried to say but Nico slammed his fist across the man’s face, making blood spill out. Don couldn’t help grinning at his son’s brutalness. It reminded him of the old days when he and Nadia would go along town checking out the cash houses and knocking heads together when necessary. Nadia herself was a natural. All the adrenaline after taking care of someone had led to a couple of hot lovemaking sessions in the alley against a wall or in their blacked out SUV. He’s pretty sure one of those sessions led to the birth of his eldest child. He was snapped out of his reverie by his son’s aggressive voice, “You still haven’t told me what I wanted to hear. Where’s the money? You think you can steal from us and we wouldn’t find out?” Nico’s voice had a no nonsense tone to it and the man was shaking but still wasn’t talking. 

Don felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and took a step back into the shadows as he answered it. Nadia was on the other end. She informed him that he needed to get home because they had to talk. When he asked what about, he felt a headache coming on when she replied that it was about Donatella. Oh, his youngest and namesake always had a way of turning his mood sour. He thinks this was probably what his parents felt like when he was growing up. He could see his younger qualities in Donatella and it’s why he stayed with a headache most of the time. Now knowing that he had to go, he wanted to speed up this whole process. “Nico,” He called out making his son stop kicking the man as he walked up to him. “Let me.” Nico looked a little put out but stepped back to let his father take over. Don grabbed the guy’s tie and wrapped it around his wrist, pulling the guy up and tightening the tie around his neck. He brought the man up to his face and looked him straight in the eyes. “Time’s up. You have 5 seconds to tell me what I want to know.” He used his other hand to pull a gun out of his waistband and placed it against the man’s temple. “1...2...3...4...” The gun clicked before the man screamed out, “Okay, okay! We took it.” Don dropped him on the floor and stepped back, looking at Nico. “Get the location, handle him, and then set up a raid for late tonight. Your mom needs me at home.” A concerned look came over Nico’s face. “What’s wrong?” Don rubbed his temple and then said, “Donna.” Nico just snorted, trying not to laugh. “Don’t start. Clean this shit up and be sure to be home for dinner.” Don turned around and headed out, ignoring the shot that rang out throughout the room.