Eleni
I wander the halls, searching for Dante to ask if he’ll take me to the restaurant, and nearly run into another tall, suited man. I stumble back a step, and he catches me before I fall.
“Did I put on my invisible suit today?” he asks as he sets me back on my feet.
“What?” He’s handsome, in a square way, and he has piercing blue eyes. I know him from somewhere.
“Dante always says I make a bad first impression.” He shoves his hands in his pockets. “I’m Tony Bellini, caporegime around here.”
The pieces snap into place. He surrounded Frank in the auto shop. But if he's a caporegime, then finding him is almost as good as finding Dante.
“Can you take me into the city?” I ask. “I need to see the restaurant.”
“Why?”
I take a deep breath. “I have a decision to make.”
Tony shrugs and leads me down a
DanteA few days later, I stride through the quiet main floor of Piacere a few hours before opening with Tony at my side.“So, this is it, then,” he says. “You’ve finally lost it.”I chuckle. “I haven’t lost it. You’re just not seeing the whole picture.”“Oh, okay.” He holds his hands up sarcastically. “No, you’re right, please tell me what I’m not seeing in plain sight, Dante. Turn a Greek Schoolgirl into a Staten Island Saint? Is she ex-FBI, or a ninja, or?”I slug him in the arm. “You’re a douche. She’s something Luca Lombardi wants, something he doesn’t know we still have.”Talking about Eleni like this feels wrong, but Tony’s been on my ass since I told him in the car on the way back from the restaurant, and I’m tired of having this argument. At least, if he understands her as a chess piece, h
EleniMama leans away from the stove, where she’s somehow managed to gather the ingredients for what she’s calling “Italian Souvlaki” and meets my gaze.“We have to buy those tickets soon, zouzouni.”I look down at the cucumber I’m grating for tzatziki. Three days have passed since I made my decision, and I still haven’t told her. I don’t know how. I know Mama should go, but I’ve never been away from her. She still wakes up in the middle of the night, shaking and muttering Baba’s name. How can I look her in the eye and tell her that justice will only come to our family if she leaves alone? That I’ve let myself get roped into the same life that killed Baba?“I have to go to the bathroom,” I say.She nods. “Just leave the cucumber by the sink. I’ll squeeze it if you’re not back in time.”I scurry out of the room without mee
EleniMy mouth falls open. The boss of the Staten Island Saints is licking his lips and telling me he wants me.“I—yes,” I say. “Please.”He smiles wolfishly and dives in to kiss me again. Distantly, I’m glad the fireplace isn’t lit. Dante generates so much heat, ignites such a burn in me, that I think I’d disappear if the room were any warmer.Still, somehow, I’m surprised when he runs his hand up under my shirt. He was warm at the shooting range. Here, his touch is a flame against my skin. I arch up into him as he grazes my ribs and sets off another cascade of heat.“Responsive.” He smiles as he kisses along my chin, down the line of my neck. “I like that.”His praise makes my heart hammer. I want him to smile with his lips on mine. When he gestures me up and grabs the bottom of my shirt, I don’t hesitate. No one has ever seen me like this bef
Eleni“Baba, I have to leave for class in half an hour,” I say as I clear paper plates and cups off one of the high-top tables in the back of The Greek Corner. “I need to change.”My dad huffs a sigh and shoves up from his chair behind the counter. “Yes, chryso mou, I know. But your mama was supposed to be done taking inventory by now to handle customers. Can’t you wait a little?”I bite back a frown and nod. He’s been looking more and more tired since we lost Christos a couple years back. I love the night classes I’ve been taking at the community college a few blocks over, but I’m not going to force my baba to wait tables just so I’m not late. I dump the trash into the garbage can in the back. The bell over the door jingles, and I turn with my customer service smile already plastered on, then freeze.Frank Lombardi, the broad, sneering mobster who’s held my family under his thumb since they came to America, saunters in with a few of his guys. My skin goes cold.“Georgie!” Frank smac
EleniI scoot out of the way of Mr. and Mrs. Behrakis as they leave after their usual Wednesday lunch. Both members of the elderly couple smile at me, and I head for their table to pick up their usual generous tip. I haven’t told Mama or Baba about the virginity auction. I know they’d stop me, but I want to contribute to this family too.The bell over the door tinkles, and I turn. My breath catches. The man stepping inside looks like something out of a movie. His warm, tanned skin stretches taut over sharp cheekbones and a square jaw. His black suit is crisp and perfectly tailored over an equally black shirt and tie. The only element of him that doesn’t seem like it was mathematically designed for perfection is his curly hair, which tumbles just a little bit into his night-dark eyes. He looks around as if trying to find something, and his gaze lands on me. His smile is soft and a little cocky, exposing perfect white teeth. Without a word, he sits at the counter attached to the front w
EleniI scuttle down the sidewalk after class on Friday night. Professor Whitmore was in rare form, actually seeming to be interested in what people had to say when they raised their hands, but I spent most of the class thinking about my plans for the night. I have to sneak out. I’ve never snuck out before, but I’ve seen movies. My bedroom window lets out onto the fire escape, and I’m certain I can get down from there. I shove my hands in my pockets. The closer I get to the auction, the more ridiculous it seems. Am I really going to sneak out to Staten Island to sell my virginity? Am I really willing to give that to someone who’s willing to buy it?The skin on the back of my neck prickles, and I whip around. A couple makes out on a stoop nearby. An older man with a bottle clasped in a brown paper bag shoos away pigeons collecting in front of him. A few homeless people sleep on benches and blankets. No one seems to be looking at me. I rub my neck under my loose ponytail of brown curl
EleniI push the hangers holding my every-day clothes to the side and stare at the few special-occasion dresses I’ve accumulated over the years. I can’t wear my prom dress. The long, glittering baby-pink dress with the lacy sleeves seemed perfect when I picked it out, but I’d stick out like a sore thumb on the ferry. I don’t really want to wear my birthday dress. It stops at my knees, so I might be able to hide it under a long coat, but I picked out the yellow polka-dotted dress because it looked so cheerful, and I don’t want to think of this virginity auction every time we go out to dinner for Mama’s, Baba’s, or my birthday. That leaves me with my funeral dress. I pull the black sheath from the closet and hold it up to my body. It is sleeveless, with just wide straps holding it up, and the skirt doesn’t flare nearly as much as my birthday dress. Every time I wear it to a funeral, I get a little nervous that people might think it’s too sexy because of the fitted top.Perfect.I slide
EleniI whirl. There, on an even softer looking leather couch, wearing another pitch-black suit, sits Dante. He smiles slightly as he swirls a glass of some dark liquor and looks me up and down.“Um,” I say.He stands and prowls closer. My heart hammers against my ribcage. “You shouldn’t be here,” he murmurs.“What?” I blink. “I have the same right to be here that all those other girls do.”Dante chuckles, low and teasing. I gulp.“You actually don’t.” He circles around behind me. “Piacere is my club, and everyone knows the Calimeris family—including their charming daughter El—belongs to the Lombardis.”The rage that ignited in me when I saw Baba in the kitchen flames back to life. “My family doesn’t belong to anyone. And I didn’t know this was your club. I don’t know anything about you.”He circles back around so I can see him again and opens his arms wide. “I’m an open book. Ask me anything.”I mean to ask him why I’m back here, what he wants from me. But I’ve never been good at co