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.
After a couple of days of recovering from his run-in with the infamous mob boss, 24 year old Paulo De Luca still could not answer the one question that kept ringing in his mind; who the hell is Tony? Angelo had mentioned that name in relation to Moira; in a way that suggested that this Tony character was not one he should just brush off as ‘a nobody’.For days, Paulo had debated the wisdom of confronting the only other people who could give him answers; his future in-laws. Yet, he also wanted to keep his meeting with Angelo secret, particularly from his parents who had always strictly forbad him from having any sort of voluntary interaction with the mafia boss. Besides, being a man who lived to keep up good appearances, Paulo could not risk scandalising himself over one stupid meeting just to satisfy his curiosity.However, Paulo soon realised why curiosity was often referred to as a real bitch. He couldn’t sleep or concent
From as early as she could remember, Moira Viscoli- the only child of Mario and Isabella Viscoli; had it hammered into her DNA that the Manzini name was synonymous with blood and the darkest evil imaginable. Her father had made it his parental duty to teach her never to get involved up with a Manzini man, particularly Angelo Manzini who had just taken over from his father as the boss of the mafia empire. He figured that Angelo, being young, rich and powerful; could easily lure young ignorant girls into his world of drugs, crime and every social vice conceivable.So growing up, Moira was never oblivious to the evil that Angelo and his family were responsible for all around the country. It seemed like wherever she turned, someone was bitterly complaining about being hard-done by Angelo or someone within his organised crime syndicate. Her father’s warnings about Angelo were proven with each one of these sad incidences; and she had grown to respect her father’s judgement of character.But
After a month of crying and feeling sorry for herself, Moira finally decided that it was time to embrace her reality. Despite being caught up in a very difficult situation, Moira told herself that her fate for the next five months had already been sealed. And so she needed to use that time for something worthwhile; otherwise she was just going to make it much worse for herself.It was exactly one month since the forced marriage; and all she had done over the month was sit around crying and mopping over her problems. She hadn’t left the house even once; and she’d only left her room a few times to go to get snacks, fruits, drinks and other supplies for her solitary living. Still, it had been a month of very little conversation since nobody in the house seemed interested in talking to her; perhaps because she had not created the inviting atmosphere to trigger any conversation .However, that morning Moira woke up with a totally diff
Taking advantage of the slightly more relaxed atmosphere prevailing in Angelo Manzini’s mansion following the day Moira started helping with the cooking, Moira thought it would be a great time to explore the mansion and admire some of its out of this world interior décor and external landscaping.Accompanied by Skinner, who had been opening up to her more each day, Moira took a tour of the mansion, a multi-level work of architectural genius constructed at the top of a small hill and spreading down the sloped side to the foot of the hill. From the front- at the bottom of the hill- all three storeys were breathtakingly visible. But from behind it- atop the hill, only the top floor could be seen; as though it was a small structure perched right on top of the small hill.A massive six car garage, a huge, open plan fully equipped kitchen complete with walk in pantry and breakfast area; and a luxuriously furnished dining room adjoined to an equally luxurious lounge made up the lowest level.
“So, what’s a girl like you really doing here? I know your parents are some big shot business people and you guys have a nice house here in the city; which means you definitely aren’t just visiting here. What’s the real deal with that?” Skinner, turning towards Moira, folded his arms across his chest as Moira helped him prepare dinner a few days after the tour of the mansion.“You mean you actually don’t know why I’m here?” Moira turned and faced Skinner, her face wore a slight frown; highlighting her surprise.“The boss doesn’t talk much, in case you haven’t noticed. Everything is on a need to know basis; I don’t know a lot of things that happen in his life, believe me.” Skinner shrugged; then returned to rolling beef meatballs on a wooden board.Moira found it hard to believe that Skinner was completely clueless about why she was at the
The day after Moira toured Angelo’s mansion was a Friday; and Skinner’s schedule said he had to do the weekly shopping for groceries. His conversation with Angelo, right after another silent breakfast, confirmed the butler was going to be out for at least two hours. Hearing this, Moira knew she was going to be alone in the mansion.Judging from the butler’s demeanour that morning, she was still getting the silent treatment from Skinner; and Moira realised that she might have underestimated the respect that the butler had for Angelo. Though she had been looking forward to the shopping day and expecting to finally be allowed to accompany Skinner on the excursion; the vibe between them told her that it was not going to happen. It was going to be yet another lonely day alone in the most luxurious house she had ever set foot in; albeit the loneliest place she had to endure living in.An hour after Angelo left, Skinner also did.
From a very young age, Moira’s parents could pick up that one of their daughter’s most obvious traits was her inability to suppress her thoughts. If she had something nagging her mind, she’d do everything possible to resolve it. Sometimes, even at the risk of getting herself in trouble. As she grew older, this trait defined who Moira Viscoli became as a young lady; an outspoken, independent go-getter.Moira only managed to keep the secret of her snooping for the rest of the day; exactly how long she needed to get back to talking terms with Skinner. Saturdays were more relaxed for Skinner; mainly because Angelo always ate out… somewhere… and practically spent most of the weekends wherever it was that he ate his meals.So Moira invited herself in Skinner’s room for a chat just after breakfast.“I have a confession to make. But promise me that you will hear me out and not be
After yet another week of nothing but helping Skinner with the same repetitive house chores, Moira could not stand the boredom inducing routine anymore. She sorely missed her friends, mum and dad and even Tony, whom she hoped might still be waiting for her- by some remote chance.It was Thursday; and the next day, was going to be Skinner’s shopping day, as usual. So she just walked up to him early in the morning and asked him to speak to Angelo on her behalf; about allowing her to tag along on the shopping trip.“Why don’t you just ask him yourself?” Skinner continued gathering ingredients from the pantry onto his tray.“Come on, Skinner. You know that he will listen to you; he probably trusts you more.” Moira reasoned.“And what gives you that idea? Why would he listen to anything I say about you? I hardly know you and the boss knows it as well as you do.&rd
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