Chapter 3

“Papa, what is this? How could you allow such a thing to happen? Angelo… of all the men, how could you sell me out to such a dangerous man?” Moira protested in an angry but hushed tone since they were just a stone throw away from Angelo.

“I had no choice, sweetheart. You have to believe me, he forced my hand.” Mario explained. He tried to hold his daughter’s hands in a bid to be more reassuring but Moira stepped back away from him.

“Don’t touch me!” Moira hissed.

“Your Papa is telling the truth, Moira. Please believe us, we never planned this. You know we have always wanted what’s best for you.” Isabella Viscoli tried to calm her daughter down.

“And this is what you thought was best for me? Hijacking my wedding auctioning me off to the mafia boss? Is that your idea of what’s best for me, Mama?” Moira was clearly not having any of it.

The two parents were overcome with grief for letting down their only child. Neither of them could find the right words to convince Moira that what had just happened was beyond their control.

“I am not going anywhere with Angelo. I will not have anything to do with that cruel, ruthless killer. You two brought him here so you deal with him. All I want is for you to chuck him out of my face and out of my life.” Moira continued churning out ultimatums.

“But you have to, my daughter; otherwise you know exactly what will happen to all of us. Please understand, we too are caught between a rock and a hard place.” Mario pleaded with his daughter.

“What are you talking about? No still means no, right? Or are you going to force me to sleep with him, too?” Moira scoffed.

“Of course not; you know we are not the monsters you are trying to make us to be, Moira. It’s just, there is something else you should know.” Mario began to explain. “You remember a few months back our fleet was impounded on allegations of smuggling contraband across the border? Though our company was cleared of any criminal offence, the drivers concerned were convicted of smuggling. The police concluded that they were using the trucks for their illicit side deals without our knowledge; but It turns out none of the drivers had anything to do with it, either.”

“What? So how did their trucks wind up with the illegal stuff on board? How could the drivers not know?” Moira was surprised. She remembered the incident vividly.

“It seems they fell victim to tricks perpetrated by Angelo’s people; I understand that’s how they move all kinds of stuff illegally across borders. They sneak their contraband onto trucks without the drivers or the truck owners knowing anything about it. The unspoken rule is not to say anything if you happen to see anything on your truck. That time, our fleet manager noticed something and reported the matter to the authorities.” Mario responded.

“But what does smuggling have to do with me marrying this despicable man?” Moira was a bit confused.

“Everything.” Mario exclaimed, “ A few days ago, Angelo paid me a visit at the office. He claims we owe him for the loss incurred through that incident and wants to use our trucks to move more stuff. Obviously, he’s trying to tell me to avoid a repeat of that incident.”

“Don’t tell me you agreed to aid his criminal activities, Papa! That’s blackmail and you ought to report it to the police.” Moira cried.

“And tell them what? To who? You know how Angelo controls every powerful office in the country. Trying to go against him is tantamount to signing our death warrants. I had no choice; I had to do it.” Mario frantically tried to justify his decision.

“So what if you agreed to be Angelo’s accomplice? I still don’t see why marrying him was necessary in that equation.” Moira sneered at her father.

“It didn’t even come up until this morning. Believe me, this is not something I ever discussed with Angelo. I didn’t even know that was what he was planning until we got here. I was just as shocked as you and Tony were but I couldn’t stop him and his goons.” Mario said.

“I don’t understand; Mama, what is Papa trying to tell me?”

“We were sitting in your father’s office when Angelo came and told us that you were eloping with Tony; it seems he has been watching you both for days. We thought he was helping us prevent you from marrying that boy, so we jumped at it blindly. But in doing so, we fell right into Angelo’s trap.” Isabella explained.

“Once we were here, Angelo changed his attitude. He demanded that we allow him to marry you as some sort of insurance for the smuggling deal.” Mario added.

“Papa, this is not a marriage… I’m being held hostage, can’t you see that? How could you agree to such a lopsided deal? Whatever you do, we lose and Angelo wins, can’t you see?” Moira was horrified by what she was hearing.

“We tried arguing against it, dear. But you know the kind of man Angelo is. We worried what he’d do to you if we didn’t do as he said. We felt we were already trapped. Besides, it’s not like he was asking for our blessing; he was simply telling us what he was going to do- with or without our permission. We really didn’t have a say in it.” Isabella reasoned. The passion in her voice expressed her sincerity but Moira was too angry to admit that her parents could not have stopped Angelo from ruining her life.

“How long… the smuggling deal… how long are you doing it for him? He lets me go once the deal is done, right?” Moira asked when she finally realised that she, too, was trapped in the weird contract. It was no longer just her happiness with Tony that hung in the balance; it was also her parents’ lives, livelihood and reputation on the line.

“He wouldn’t say. He insisted on the wedding first before discussing the terms.” Mario said sheepishly, realising how stupid it sounded to his daughter, who immediately threw her hands in the air while sarcastically rolling her eyes.

“Hang on right there, honey before you take us for total dumbasses. We did fight him over this in particular. You think we didn’t realize that he was further entrapping us… we were desperate but definitely not that stupid. But your father and I couldn’t do much under the circumstances. Angelo already had us where he wanted.” Isabella jumped to their defence before Moira could even utter the accusations.

Moira’s heart sank. She contemplated what Tony could be feeling about all this and realised that unless she could tell him to wait for a specific time, he’d never believe it wasn’t entirely her family’s fault. But going away with Angelo indefinitely was tantamount to telling Tony to move on. And Moira was not ready to lose Tony, not even in a million years.

“Then Angelo better have some answers for me.” Moira remarked as she turned towards Angelo, who was still standing by the altar with the priest. At that point, she noticed that Tony was no longer at the altar and she was kind of glad he wasn’t there to hear this atrocious piece of news from the rude stranger who had hijacked their wedding.

“Angelo, you better come over here and give us some straight answers.” Moira demanded.