“Luke, you of all people should know how Angelo operates. You know exactly what’s going to happen to me, Isabella and perhaps even Moira if we so much as try to pull the plug on the deal we made with Angelo.” Isabella exclaimed suggestively, hoping to persuade Luke to reconsider his stance.
“I get it that you are afraid for your family, Isabella; you too Mario. But have you stopped to think about how Moira is feeling right now? You know how much she loathes Angelo; and then you had to make her go and stay with that madman… how could you?” Paulo responded angrily.
“We explained the situation to Moira; she understands we have no choice and neither does she. This is an extraordinary situation which none of us could have avoided. We didn’t plan this and I hope you can understand how difficult this is for us, Paulo.” Mario negotiated.
“It almost sounds to me that yo
Tony’s phone rang just as he left the Viscoli residence. He didn’t recognize the calling number but his sixth sense told him not to ignore it. After the infuriating encounter with Moira’s father, Tony was not in the best mood to make reasonable conversation. “Tony… is that you… Tony Scott?” the voice on the other end said as soon as Tony picked up the call. “Yes, who’s this?” Tony asked, half expecting it to be someone calling about his father. “It’s Ben… from the chapel. You have to meet me right now about the favour you asked of me earlier. I can’t say much on the phone, OK? I’m texting you an address, be there A.S.A.P; I’m there right now and waiting.” The phone went dead before Tony could say anything; but he was not the least bit angry at Ben for hanging up on him. All of Tony’s angry emotions from before quickly dissipated and were replaced by a sudden rush of joy. Something about Ben’s call gave him renewed hope for a miraculous solution just when he was starting to consider
Entering Angelo Manzini’s estate was reminiscent of a certain scene from the old movie Blood Diamonds which captured the heavily guarded conflict diamond fields in Africa. Moira had never seen so many armed security guards in real life, at anyone’s residence; not even the president’s. It was like they were entering some kind of bandit army base. At first she tried counting the guards but she lost count before the car went past the entrance. The guns scared her; and she wondered if she would be able to sleep at all for the next six months. Moira certainly didn’t need anyone to convince her that the next half year was likely going to be the worst in her entire life. All the way from the chapel, nobody spoke a word. Angelo’s phone had rung a couple of times but he ignored it before switching it off altogether. Moira expected him to say something… anything… even if it was just to pretend to make her mind a little settled. But Angelo just sat
To say that the day had been frustrating for Tony Scott would have been a gross under-statement. Everything that could have gone wrong with his plan to get married quickly had in fact gone terribly wrong; albeit, not in the way he could have ever imagined. Getting his bride literally wrestled from him at the altar was way beyond melodramatic. He had locked himself in his apartment since returning from Ben’s; anticipating Moira’s call which never came all afternoon and evening. Frustration kept building up and Tony was almost at the tipping point when the burner phone finally rang just before midnight. “Moira, are you alright? What’s been happening, I waited all day for your call… Ben told me about…” clearly overexcited, Tony didn’t even wait to confirm that it was indeed Moira on the other end; and couldn’t even decide what to say first to his girlfriend. “I had to be careful; it’s really awful here Tony. He
“How hard can it be to …” the line suddenly went dead as Tony frantically tried to convince his girlfriend to get aboard his escape plan. “Moira! Can you hear me, Moira?” He checked the little screen and the standby display confirmed that the call had indeed ended. “What the fuck, how do you hang up on me while we’re having the most important discussion of our relationship? And I’m just trying to help you out!” Jumping onto his feet, Tony cursed into the phone as though Moira was still on the other end. Out of frustration, he almost smashed the phone into the wall but quickly reconsidered that action when he realised that he still needed Moira to call back on the same phone. But Tony was up all night waiting for that crucial call which never came. He kept coming up with all sorts of possible explanations why the call got disconnected right when Moira was obviously annoyed by his suggestion to escape Angelo’s captivity. Whichever way he l
A vivid imagination of Angelo Manzini about to break down her door birthed an even more grisly imagination in Moira’s head; rape. Rough, forced sex in the guise of a husband rightly demanding his conjugal rights; rape all the same. She imagined the entire gang of low-lives watching and cheering their boss as he violated her. Clearly, her resistance and screaming would not deter the monster from getting his satisfaction.The fictional images flashed in Moira head as if they were a series of recent, traumatising memories; almost fooling her into believing that her nightmarish fantasies were real. Fuelled by pre-existing fears and beliefs about her new husband, whose dark reputation preceded him; Moira was terrorised by her own thoughts.Sleep would not come easily under the influence of such crippling terror; particularly bearing in mind that Moira had absolutely no one to turn to for help. All she could do was hide under the silk bed co
Still a good distance away, Angelo’s driver slammed on the brakes when he noticed that there was some sort of commotion at the gate. He could see that there was a car blocking the way, just outside the gate; and several armed guards seemed to be arguing with the driver of the car. Angelo’s driver stopped the car in the middle of the driveway and signalled Angelo to take a look at what was happening up ahead. Seconds later, one of the guards approached and informed Angelo that there was a young man who was demanding to speak with him.“Who’s it?” Angelo asked calmly.“It’s that De Luca kid, boss. He says you might be interested in what he has to say about recent developments in your personal life.” the guard said.“Luke De Luca’s kid, you said? That’s odd.” Angelo remarked, unable to hide his surprise. It was no secret that Luke De Luca despised every
Isabella Viscoli’s mind raced wildly after Moira’s call got disconnected abruptly. Taking a cue from her daughter’s own words, Isabella realised that Tony had left town; just like she and her husband had hoped he would. Although she knew how devastating the news was to Moira, Isabella thought it was also a great time to remind Moira about her engagement to Paulo, which she had almost ruined by her attempt to elope with Tony.After waiting a few minutes, during which she assumed Moira would have recovered from her initial shock at the news of Tony’s departure; Isabella finally decided to return her daughter’s call. It was important that she updated Moira on what had been agreed at the airport meeting with the De Lucas.# # # #Meanwhile, Moira’s world had literally crushed down on her. And she couldn’t help but ask God why all those horrible things were suddenly happening to her.
Having tried in vain to reconnect with Moira through the burner phone, Isabella could sense that things had gone off rails. With absolutely no clue what could have happened for the call to end so brusquely, all that was left was space for Isabella’s imaginations to run wild. Instinctively, she called her husband and explained what had happened. However, because she had not told Mario about the burner phone, Mario could not really understand what she was talking about on the phone; so he rushed back home to interrogate his wife adequately.Isabella quickly narrated to her husband how Tony had dropped off a burner phone, how Moira subsequently called then hung up , the weird call which was picked up but nobody spoke and the subsequent unavailability of the number.“I’m telling you Mario, I have a strong feeling something has happened to our daughter. We need to check with Angelo, just to be sure.” She concluded.
Ever since the burner phone incident which was worsened by his unscheduled visit to Angelo’s mansion, Paulo believed that Moira didn’t have access to her phone. And given the controversy surrounding Tony’s involvement in the whole situation, neither Moira nor her parents were keen to clear up this misunderstanding with the De Lucas. For Moira, keeping Paulo in the dark about her restored phone and computer privileges also worked in her best interests. Particularly, given her new-found feelings for Angelo, Moira wanted as little contact with Paulo as possible.As far as Paulo De Luca was concerned, Moira was in great danger of being hurt or molested by Angelo and his goons. He felt that contacting her in any way would, again, be misconstrued by Angelo as an attempt to plan a breakout. Paulo imagined that even if Moira somehow gained access to her phone or a computer, Angelo would spy on all her communication, especially with her fiancé. Just the thought of having his private conversati
Following her discussion with Sr Gustav, Moira became more confident that Angelo was more serious about her than he led on. She obviously took Sr Gustav’s word for the indisputable gospel. Yet she also realised that in spite of Angelo’s strong feelings for her, she had some explaining to do about her complicated love life.The trip back home became an obvious opportunity to break the ice and get the feuding secret lovers back on talking terms… at least for a start.“I had an interesting chat with Sr Gustav. It’s shocking how much people around us notice some of the things we think we are hiding from them.” Moira said as their car left the orphanage.“Is that so?” Angelo remarked with a tinge of sarcasm. “I didn’t know you were hiding some secrets from us, the common people around you.”“I meant things about us… dummy.” Moira whispered as she reached for Angelo’s lap and gently rubbed it. “Apparently, things between us are quite obvious to those who care enough to notice. Sr Gustav say
Meanwhile…Mario and Isabella Viscoli were pleasantly surprised to receive their soon-to-be son-in-law in their home on Saturday morning. Paulo De Luca seemed happier than they had ever seen him in recent months. Clearly, Paulo was unusually upbeat as he revealed the purpose of his visit.“I’ve been counting days… and it’s exactly two months before Moira returns from Angelo’s. And more importantly, it’s two months before our wedding. I’m not letting her spend another day before she becomes Mrs De Luca.” Paulo grinned as he eased into a sofa.“I’m glad you’ve finally looked past the Angelo complication, my son.” Mario said, simultaneously putting his arm around his wife’s shoulder. “And of course, we are all counting down to the day our girl finally leaves that mad house.”“So you want to have the wedding the same day she returns?” Isabella was a little taken aback, concern was written all over her face. “I know, you can’t wait to marry her but don’t you think you might want to give he
As the old saying goes, you don’t really know what you have until it’s gone. But fortunately for Moira Viscoli, she realised early that she didn’t need to lose what she had to recognise its worth. Something needed to be done, urgently; for the sake of her own happiness. Back in her room, Moira lay on her bed and tried to cry herself to sleep. But sleep wouldn’t come. All she thought about was the fight she had just had with Angelo. She didn’t even realize they were having a fight until Angelo threw her out of his study. She tried to convince herself that Angelo was overreacting; that he was being over-sensitive. After all, we just had casual sex a few times; we mean nothing to each other. He shouldn’t act like we are an item, Moira told herself. Yet, Moira knew that she was lying to herself. What she had with Angelo felt far more exciting than meaningless sex. And judging by his reaction to the news about Paulo De Luca, Angelo felt exactly the same. One thing became apparent to her
Moira sat on her bed; ignoring her mother’s frantic knocks on her locked door. She heard her footsteps fade in the hallway and figured she had given up trying to persuade her into discussing the Paulo De Luca matter. Minutes later, three sets of footsteps were heard descending the stairs. A couple more minutes later she watched her parents being shown to their car by Angelo.Moira sighed deeply, realising that though she had successfully avoided her parents, she would, sooner or later, have to face Angelo and set him straight on the same matter. Being a Thursday, Moira didn’t want any tension between her and Angelo during their weekly visit to CHANCES.“Sorry you had to witness that. My parents can be so overbearing at times.” Moira intercepted Angelo as he headed for his study. “Do you have a minute? I think we should talk.”Angelo invited her into his study. “What was that all
Unknown to her parents, validation of Angelo’s story increased Moira’s faith in Angelo, as far as his feelings towards her were concerned. Ever since the night of her birthday- the night she first slept with Angelo- Moira had somehow developed a certain bias towards everything Angelo. In her mind, she made up whatever reason she could conjure to justify everything that he had done to her and her family. Angelo could no longer be wrong about anything in Moira’s eyes.“Darling, is everything alright? I wasn’t expecting this kind of reaction from you.” Isabella reached for her drink and took a sip.“Oh, I’m fine, Mama. I’m just happy that Papa took care of the problem that’s all.” Moira giggled some more and rose to her feet. “I’ll go and check how Skinner is doing with lunch. I’ll be back in a flash.”Isabella exchanged curious glance
Sleeping with the Mafia Boss completely overhauled the dynamics of Moira’s stay at the mansion. Had their sexual escapades been a once off occurrence, things would have eventually rolled back to normal settings. But since Angelo and Moira couldn’t have enough of each other, a lot changed in the way they handled themselves at home.For Angelo, Moira re-kindled old feelings from an exciting past of which painful circumstances had forced him to forget about. And for Moira, Angelo became the perfect escape from the pain of losing Tony and subsequently discovering how he had been using her all along. The secret feelings they had for each other suddenly engulfed them; taking advantage of their close proximity to each other.It wasn’t difficult for Isabella to talk Angelo into allowing her and Mario to finally pay their daughter a long overdue visit at the mansion; more than three months after he forced her into his custody. Of co
Moira felt like she was reliving the day she lost Tony all over again. Only, this time, it didn’t feel like Tony was out somewhere fighting for her return. It felt like Tony Scott had just collapsed and died at the altar, right in front of her, Angelo and her parents. In her heart, Tony was as good as dead; his betrayal felt worse than being forced into a sham marriage by Angelo Manzini.She sobbed all the way back home as Angelo’s words kept echoing in her head. “I can’t believe I let Tony play me like that. I am such an idiot.”“Don’t beat yourself up over that. It wasn’t your fault; there was no way you could have known about his treachery. He obviously planned it for a long time.” Angelo said quietly as he reached out to pat Moira on the back.“I should have noticed he was not sincere. What kind of woman fails to sense such obvious fake love and affection? Surely, it was all too good to be true; I should have noticed and saved myself from all the embarrassment.“ Moira pushed Angel
What started, for Moira, as an evening promising many romantic surprises was quickly turning into a nerve-wrecking episode of shocking exposes. Up to that point, she had continued under the assumption that Angelo was just being Angelo when he forced his father into a business contract; and her into a sham marriage. But is turned out that nothing was ever what it seemed, as long as Angelo was involved.“Why do you insist on making everything more dramatic than necessary?” Moira scoffed and looked away briefly. “I get it, it’s probably someone I know and I’ll probably be shocked to learn about his secret gangster life; so what?”Angelo kept the suspicious grin on his face as he took another sip of wine.“What I’m really struggling with right now is why you had to drag me into this whole mess and cause so much drama? Surely, you could have done all this… I mean, dislodg