The Games Of The Heart

I feel the sunlight on my face, and I don’t understand why because I am sure the curtains were closed last night before I went to bed. I hear footsteps around me, and I finally understand why my beautiful sleep was interrupted. I turn away from the sunlight and try to go back to sleep. That all goes out the window once I hear her voice.

“Honey, I know you are awake, so do yourself a favour and open your eyes,” My Mom, Rosalia, says

“Good morning, mom,” I say, peeling my eyes open and look into the same eyes like mine. They are as blue as the ocean, one of the prettiest eyes I have ever seen in my life. Her wavy pitch-black hair flows down to her waist against her beautiful tan skin. Her oval face holds a smile on those rosy lips of hers, which says she is happy to be disturbing me from my sleep. Like every little girl out there, I believe my mom is the most beautiful woman in the world, even though I am far from little. The only things I inherited from her are her beautiful eyes. I am the female version of my father.

“I can’t say the same, dear; you need to get up and get ready. Our flight time has changed; we leave in an hour.”

“An hour! Weren’t we supposed to leave tonight? Why are we leaving so early all of a sudden?”

“Something came up, so we have to leave early. Your father will explain at breakfast, which you have 20 minutes to get ready for.”

“Wow, mom, I haven’t even finished packing.”

“How are you not done packing? We have been talking about this trip for a week now.”

“I planned to finish during the day since we were meant to leave at night.”

“Sorry dear, get ready for breakfast. I will have someone help you finish packing.”

“Alright,” I say, getting up from the bed to walk to the bathroom.

I walk downstairs for breakfast after I finish freshen up. I walk outside to the pool area, where my whole family is seated. I join my father, mother and brother at the table.

“Good morning, everyone,” I say, taking my seat.

“Good morning, dear,” My dad, Leonardo, says while reading the newspapers. He is 6 feet tall, well-built for a man of his age, has dark brown hair like mine and grey eyes. I am not as tall as him; I am 5’6 feet.

“How was your night, little sis,” My brother Santiago says while taking a bite of his French toast. He is 6 feet tall like my father, has a well-built body, dark brown hair. We both didn’t take after my mom in hair. He has the same ocean blue eyes as mine.

“It was disturbed by our beautiful mother here.”

“Sorry about that, dear, but we had to move the time of our flight to Italy,” Dad says

“And why is that? I still had something I wished to do today before we leave” The whole family is travelling to Sicily. Dad has a business meeting over there and asked us if we would like to come along.

“My business partner asked me to come earlier than planned because he might not be available for the rest of the week.”

“Oh, alright then.”

We left for Sicily a few hours ago, and the plane is about to land. During the flight, I wrote new chapters for my new book. I am an author, but I studied business management in school with a minor in English literature. I have not published any works of mine, but I plan to someday. I am scared people might criticize my work more than they like it.

The last two days have been spent sleeping. The power of jet lag is not to be joked with. I hear a knock on my door, and I drag my lazy ass to open it. I open it to reveal mom at the door; I step aside for her to enter.

“Good morning, mom,” I say, walking back to my bed.

“It is far from morning, young lady,” Mom says and pulls the blinds. I shield my eyes with my hands from the sunlight but remove them once I realize it’s dark outside.

“Oh my God, I slept through the day again.”

“Yes, you did, and I need you to get the hang of your sleeping pattern.”

“I will, mom.”

“Good, and I wanted to ask you if you would like to come along with me tomorrow. I am visiting an old friend, and her daughter is also one of yours.”

“You are visiting Mrs. Costanzo.”

“Yes, and I felt you might want to see Aurora. I know it’s been ages since you guys last saw each other”

“Yes, it’s been ages since we last saw. What time are you leaving tomorrow?”

“11 a.m. Katherine and I plan to have brunch together, so make sure to skip breakfast like always.”

“Don’t worry, mom; I will.”

The next day I wake up in the morning for the first time since we arrived. Mom and I are on our way to the Costanzo estate, and we should be arriving in a few minutes. I still remember the first time I met Aurora and her family. It was one of the most terrifying days of my life. If I remember correctly, I was a junior in high school around that time. Mom picked me up from school, and we went to the mall together. We had a lovely time shopping, and when we were about to enter the car and go home, everything went south. I was about to step into the car but stopped because I felt someone was following us. I looked around, but I could not see anyone, so I brushed it off. Little did I know those little seconds I spent looking around were what saved mom’s and my life. The second the driver opened the door was the same time his life went up in flames. I was never more afraid for my life and mom’s like I was that day, and you would think been born into the mafia world would prepare me for such moments, but it does not. The minute our car went up in flames was also when the glass windows around us all started breaking into pieces from the gunshots fired around us. The bodyguards were quick to action by firing back, but it did not stop my pounding heart that day. Mom and I ran back into the mall to get away from the shooting. She quickly called dad and asked me to hide in the bathroom of a store and handed me a gun in case I needed it, but I prayed I wouldn’t. Coming from a mafia family does not mean I like the idea of killing someone, but I understand sometimes it’s needed to be done to stay alive. Dad was quick to send reinforcement which made it possible for us to leave the mall alive that day, but it did not mean the fight was over. What caused the attack on mom and I’s life was because another gang was angry at dad for stealing a client of theirs. They felt killing us was going to cause him far more pain than killing him. To keep us safe, dad sent mom and me to Italy. We stayed with Aurora and her family until dad made it safe for mom and me to come back to California.

I hear the driver talking to someone through his window and realize we have arrived at the Costanzo estate. The driver drives through the gate that leads to a magnificent home. He parks the car in the driveway and quickly comes around to open the door for mom and I. I step outside to be greeted by Mrs. Costanzo on the doorstep. Her face brightens up once she lays her eyes on mom and me. Their front lawn is adorned with beautiful red roses all around.

“It’s so good to see you, Rosalia; it’s been ages,” Mrs. Costanzo says, pulling mom into a hug.

“It’s good to see you too, Katherine. I have missed you,” Mom says, hugging her back.

“I have missed you too, and how are you doing, dear,” Mrs. Costanzo says, leading us into the house.

“I am fine, thank you for asking.”

“That’s good, dear and Rosalia. I can’t wait to show you my new wine cellar; you are going to love the new bottles I have added to my collection.”

“I can’t wait to taste them,” Mom says, smiling.

We walk into a majestic entryway with crystal chandeliers in the ceiling and two stairways with a black handrail. We walk towards the right into the living room. Like everything in this house, the living room is also a beauty. There is a golden chandelier that goes really well with the white and golden painting of the walls and ceiling. The chairs are traditional white sofas, and there is a golden glass centre table. I take my seat on a one armchair while mom and Mrs. Costanzo sit on a two-arm chair. I hear footsteps walking towards us, and I assume it’s Aurora, but it’s the maid with drinks for us. I decide to ask because I can’t imagine sitting with these two women as they complain about their husbands and other topics I have no interest in.

“Mrs. Costanzo please, where is Aurora?”

“Oh, forgive me, dear, I totally forgot to tell you. She is training in the backyard. I didn’t tell her you were coming to surprise her. Let me get someone to call her for you.”

“There won’t be any need for that. I rather surprise her when she least expects it”

“Alright then, and do you still remember your way to the backyard.”

“Yes, I do,” I say and get up from the sofa to walk outside.

I find my way outside with no difficulty. I find Aurora in hand-to-hand combat with a man, and I must say, I feel sorry for him. Aurora is finishing him off with punch after punch. The man blocks a few, but Aurora is still winning the fight, and to finish it off, she has him between her legs with him on the floor; he either taps out or chokes to death. I walk closer to them so she could see me, and I think I just saved that man’s life because his ego was stopping him from tapping out. She releases her hold on the man and quickly stands up from the floor to pull me into a bone-crushing hug.

“What in God’s name are you doing here,” She says while crushing the life out of me with her hug. Aurora has blue eyes, brunette hair and is 5’7 feet tall, and a body that can put any man to his knees.

“My family and I are in Sicily for vacation, and I know you are very strong; please stop killing me.”

“Oh my, I am sorry, I am just so excited to see you. Can you remember the last time we saw each other” She says, releasing me from the hug.

“I can’t remember, but I am thrilled to see you too.”

“I can’t wait to hear about everything going on in your life; we have a lot of catching up to do.”

“I know, and I can’t wait to hear yours too, but you need to shower first.”

“I know; give me a couple of seconds to put my guns away, then we can go inside together,” Aurora says and walks back to where she was training.

She puts her guns in their case holders and asks the guys around to clean the place before they leave. Aurora’s family is like mine. They are also a mafia family. That was one of the reasons it was so easy to become good friends with her. I didn’t have to worry about her finding out my family’s secret because it was not a secret to her. Our fathers are old-time friends but hardly see each other. That’s why we are not really close.

Aurora and I walk back into the house while talking about everything that has happened in our lives these past years. After Aurora is done freshen up, we have brunch and continue catching up.

“So tell me, Andrea, any man in your life I should know about,” Aurora says while enjoying her food.

“Unfortunately, there is none, but how about you.”

“You won’t believe it, but I am not dating anyone right now.”

“Are you serious? What happened? The Aurora I know always had a boyfriend or had a thing with some guy.”

“Let’s just say I grew up and decided I wanted to experience real love and was tired of those men wasting my time.”

“Good for you; I am happy you believe they were wasting your time and want to experience true love.”

“Thank you, and I hope you started dating.”

“Yes, I did, but so far, no guy has wowed me yet, so I am still searching.”

“I know how you feel, and with time, we will find them.”