FIRST IMPRESSION

Adela

SERIOUSLY, DID THAT silly guy do that? I mean walking into the dining room and acting like he didn’t see me. I huff. Not like I’m complaining, but I can actually do without his attention. So, I don’t care. I get done with my breakfast, thank Morris and go to my room.

I have the whole of today to stew in my anger. Why these Mendoza men think they can just drag me out of my life, into a black hole and act like this is okay is beyond me. I stay in my room for the whole of the day, with nothing to do, because what will I do?

I mean the room is amazing. A queen sized four poster bed, a vast closet and bathroom – that has a shower stall and bathtub – that almost spans the entire width of my room back home. A knock on my new bedroom door startles me back to consciousness. I recognize the man that emerged from behind the door to be one of the soldiers Stephano raided my home with last night.

“Mr. Mendoza wants you in his study, now”, he says like a programmed robot. I roll my eyes at his bossiness.

Asshole thinks I’m one of those random whores them Mafia bastards fuck for a living.

“You can leave now, I got your message”, he widens his stance and clears his throat.

“He said to come with you”, he replies. I roll my eyes again. Okay, so I’ve probably gotten so used to this thing, I’m praying to God my eyes don’t fall off one of these days.

I sluggishly stand from the bed and ever so reluctantly, follow the asshole to Mr. Mendoza’s office. The moment he delivers me like a lost but found puppy to Mr. Mendoza, he leaves. Just nods at Mr. Mendoza and leaves. Strange! But the study is one of a kind, well-polished mahogany table, vintage lamps. Cool.

“Adela, how nice to be able to talk to you personally”, Mr. Mendoza’s voice brings my perusal of his study to a halt. He sits behind the mahogany table, across from me. “Have a seat”, he gestures to the seat in front of him. I take deep breaths and lower myself into it. He clears his throat and leans closer to his desk.

“I’ve been thinking of better ways to break this news to you, just so I don’t send your little brain into shock”,

“Just say it already”, he shrugs

“In a matter of days, if it all goes well and it will, you’ll be staying here, let’s say long term. And with Stephano of course. Good or very good?”, I blanch, like literally blanch. It’s like a bucket of ice has been dumped over my head.

And the way he’s so relaxed saying I’m going to be staying here long term. And what does he mean by ‘with Stephano’?

“Not good. I can’t live with your son and what do you mean by with Stephano?”,

“It means you two are getting married. And why can’t you live with him?”, I huff, crossing my arms under my breast.

“He’s an asshole, one. Two, he’s an asshole. The list goes on. Jesus, he’s a fucking murderer”, he just looks at me with a bored expression as I rant on and on.

“We’re all murderers in this world we reside in. And you should have thought about that, before stepping into a fight that wasn’t yours”,

“You were going to kill my father…” I hissed at him “…That doesn’t mean I have to marry him. If he gets irritated enough, he could kill me”, Mr. Mendoza waves me off.

“Simple. Don’t get him irritated”, he rises from his chair and moves over to stand behind me.

“Moving on, in this world is ours, we’re sworn to secrecy. You wouldn’t want to be in daddy’s situation, sì?”, I would have hissed at him, had I not been aware how dangerous he is. How dare he gloat over what he’s doing to my father?

“Who would? And what did my father do to you?”,

“We’ll talk about that some other time. Right now, there are things you’re going to need to know”, he raised an eyebrow as if to say ‘do I continue?’. My neck starts to hurt from the unnatural angle I inclined it to look Mr. Mendoza in the eye. So, I just sit straight and face forward.

“Just get it over with”,

“Stephano doesn’t like people talking back at him. So, if you want to keep that sweet tongue of yours, you’ll have to work on that. You do that a lot. Secondly, you’re going to have to be very careful. One mistake could make Stephano kill you. Literal kill”,

“Noted. I’m really sorry to interrupt, but what are you a whole lot nicer than your son? I mean he’s a literal terrorist”, he chuckles.

“Don’t get it twisted, little one. I could be worse if I wanted to”, he comes around so I can see him from my new position.

“Back to our discussion, you’re going to have to…”, The study door bursts open, pausing his sentence mid-way.

“You’re needed, like right now”, Stephano says, casting me a hard look. His father nods in my direction.

“We’ll continue this discussion later”, he sits the room, leaving just I and Stephano.

“I’m a terrorist, right?”, He asks, taking slow strides towards me. Oh shit, he did not hear that. I slowly rise from the chair and turn to face him.

“I… I…really didn’t mean it the uh..the way it sounded”, and damn right, I’m fucking stuttering. I really need that leash. I’m now sounding like a two year old caught stealing candies.

“Is that so?”, He raps his knuckles against his father’s table. Faster than I can think, his hand whips out and grabs my jaw.

“Now, listen to me and listen carefully, cause I’m not going to repeat myself. You’re going to be careful, extremely careful of your choice of words. I hate people disrespecting me. The next time, your dead meat. Understood?”,

I nod my head, too scared to speak lest I say the wrong thing and get into real trouble. Stephano lets out a groan of frustration.

“Answer me when I’m talking to you cagna. I said understood?”,

“Yes”, I force myself to say.

“Better”, he nods and stalks out of the room, slamming the door hard after him. I exhale a breath I wasn’t even aware I was holding.

I scoff and slump back into the seat, stamping my feet against the floor. The nerve of the asshole. I touch my jaw, the spot still tingles from his touch. I’m very positive by morning, a bruise would be forming on the spot. I need to get that tongue leash, because I swear one day Stephano is going to cut out my tongue.

Asshole is probably all bitter about the whole marriage thing.