Callie
“Mama, is that you?” I said, pressing my hand against the walls. Had I heard her correctly? Had she said she was Phillipa Rowney? The lady on the other side of the wall was quiet, and I wondered if I was being tricked. I wondered if this was some cruel, sick joke. “Mom, is that you? It’s me. It’s Callie. Callie Rowney, your daughter.”
“Callie.”
I could hear my voice reflected back at me, but it was older, sweeter. It sounded just like my mom. It sounded like she was crying.
“Oh, Callie, is that really you?”
“It’s me, Mom.”
“I don’t understand. What’s going on? How are you alive? I thought you died of cancer. That’s what Dad told me. Did Dad put you in here? What’s going on? Oh, Callie. I don’t even know where to start. I don’t even know if this is a bad dream or a good dream or a nightmare. I just don’t—”
And then I heard screaming. There was a loud banging on the other side of the room.
“Please, no!” the female voice was saying. I could hear what sounded like gunshots, and I fell to the ground. I had no idea what was happening, and then I heard my door banging open. I jumped up quickly and ran toward the main room. Two men were standing there in masks. “Don’t hurt me! Don’t hurt my mom.” I started hitting one of them in the chest.
“Let her go.”
I saw Antonio rushing into the room. He had a gun in both hands. Alessandro followed right behind him, and so did Jimmy.
“Duck!” Antonio shouted at me, and I kicked the guy holding me in the shins and ducked down. Antonio shot him in the arm, and all I could hear was cursing. I ran over to the bed and just sat there wondering where I should go, what I should do. But before I could even blink, Alessandro and Antonio had both masked men down on the ground. Antonio was kneeling on one, and Alessandro was leaning on the other. I watched as Jimmy handed Antonio some rope, and he wrapped it around the men and held them together. I bit down on my lower lip. It all seemed so familiar, and yet none of it made sense. Jimmy walked over to me and pulled me into his arms.
“We have to go. It’s not safe here.”
“I don’t understand what’s going on. How are you back? We were worried about you. Antonio, what’s going on?” I looked over at him. Tears were streaming down my face. “What are you doing? What sort of sick fucking game are you playing with me? I thought I heard my mom’s voice. I thought…”
“What are you talking about?” he said, shaking his head.
“How did you know I was here? How…”
“My father,” he said, “and Luisa. They told us to come back to this cabin. It’s on our property.”
“What property?”
“The mansion where we first met. You know the woods?”
“The woods where you and Alessandro were talking that first night?” He nodded.
“There’s a cabin hidden all the way in the back. I guess my dad knew that.” He paused.
“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” Don Roberto’s voice sounded strange as he walked into the room. Luisa came following behind him. She didn’t look shocked or nervous or apprehensive. In fact, she looked relieved. I didn’t understand what was going on. And then I came to Tommasso holding a woman to him. I wondered if that was Serena. I wondered… And then my jaw dropped because I recognized the woman he was holding. It hadn’t been a lie. That was my mother.
“I upheld all of the Marchesi secrets,” Tommasso said, slamming the door behind him and looking at everyone. “And you still disrespect me and my family?” Tommasso stared at Antonio and then at Don Roberto. “You do not know what you’ve done.”
“What is going on?” Antonio’s voice paled, and he looked shocked. His gun was pointed directly at Tommasso.
“Mom?” I said, blinking rapidly as I stared at her. Were my eyes deceiving me? I felt elation and shock and pain. “Mom!”
“Callie,” she said, turning to look at me. “Oh my God. I never thought I’d see you again,” she said softly. “You recognize me?” I tried to run toward her, but Jimmy held me in his arms.
“No,” he muttered. “It’s not safe.”
“What do you mean? That’s my mama. I…”
“It’s not safe,” he said again. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but I’m not letting you go. Antonio would kill me.”
“I don’t give a fuck what Antonio thinks.”
“I told you he liked you,” he said, smiling wryly.
“What?” I had no idea what he was saying.
“He came to rescue you,” he said softly. “This whole thing is for you. The Marchesi famiglia is done as we know it because of you.”
“No,” I said. “It’s because of him. He’s the one that set this up. He’s the one that pretended to kidnap me in the first place.”
Jimmy’s eyes widened. “You knew?”
“Of course I knew. I figured it out. This whole thing has been a set up from the start. This whole thing.”
Antonio looked at me, his eyes bleak. “Not everything, Callie, but we’ll talk later.” He looked back at his father, Tommasso, and then at my mother. “Is that Phillipa Rowney?” he asked. “Is that really Callie’s mother?” His father nodded, and Tommasso looked around the room.
“You think you know everything, Antonio Marchesi? You think you are the boss. You think you run the world. The wolf of the Marchesi famiglia. The biggest Mafia family in New York City. Well, I’m here to tell you that you don’t know shit. When you disrespected me and my family, you sealed your own fate. It’s over for you. When the Di Lorenzos take over, I’ll be the first one laughing at your graves.”
“I don’t think so,” Antonio said. “I don’t think that’s what’s going to happen at all.”