One Life: Episode 7 IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT (last page)
babyblue1387:
Ugh, sorry it's been a while since I've updated. Things have been getting really hectic with the holidays and whatnot. But, here we are!
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"So, Mr. Irving, I want to start by saying I'm very sorry about the way things have been handled. Maggie told me that you knew what she did for a living."
"Maggie?"
"Magdelena. Your wife."
"The two of you were...closer then?"
"You could say. She was the best man in my wedding. Really a phenomenal, strong, beautiful woman. You're a lucky man."
John swallowed hard. He felt like the temperature had gone up in the near-empty restaurant. Yet, how was he supposed to tell a mob boss to lay off his dead wife? Sal gave him a stern stare before clearing his throat.
"Is there something you want to say, Mr. Irving?"
"No. No, there's nothing to say, Mr. Monella. She was a wonderful woman."
Mr. Monella nodded. He turned to his accountant, Jeoffry Lannister, who pulled out the Irving account. The folder thudded on the table. The man to Mr. Monella's right pulled out a laptop. Sal cleared his throat.
"Well, I think we'll get down to business. You remember Mr. Lannister? He's in charge of your account. This is my secretary, Mr. Ruben Black. He'll be keeping written record of this meeting. This is a tape recorder. It will be keeping a vocal record of this meeting.
"Now, we've had some interesting developments in this case. Maggie told me you knew what she did, and that you'd agreed to keep your mouth shut. This isn't true. My wife told me you didn't respond to any of the signals we normally use. I'd like to apologize on her behalf for the threats. She gets a little emotional in her pregnancy. You are entitled to $450,000 because your wife was killed on the job. This can, and will, be deducted from the total debt you owe. Unfortunately, it was found that Maggie stopped honoring her contract. We had no way of monitoring her because she was on independent assignment."
"We've determined that your wife stiffed us out of $30,000. That has already been added to your overall debt," Mr. Lannister chimed in.
"$30,000! No. No, that can't be right!"
Sal Monella laughed. "Well, I'm paying Mr. Lannister a lot of money to keep track of these accounts. I should hope that he's keeping them in good order."
"All my wife did was work for a charity. How did she get involved with the mob? None of this really makes sense."
"Mr. Irving, please stop kidding yourself. Your wife, our Magdelena was a mob QUEEN. Here. All of my employees have a lockbox. Whatever they keep there is their business."
Sal slid a key and a slip of paper across the table toward John.
"Mr. Irving, I never dishonored your wife. She loved you with all of her heart, and I understand why she did everything she did. Still, I can't forgive her for turning her back on me like that. I wish I could, but I can't I'll give you a little more time to decide things before we go into detail about payment plans. Your debt still stands, and I expect ever dime to be paid back."
Somewhat shakily, John took the key and paper. He stood up to leave, but paused for a moment. He felt like he had to suspend belief in order to understand everything that was going on. Sal nodded at him, and John took that as his cue to leave.
As he walked to his car, John made up his mind to go visit that lockbox immediately. He hoped that could clear up this whole mess. When he got to the bank where the lockboxes were, John had the impression that all eyes were on him. Mostly everyone was well-dressed. Diamonds and gold and silver flashed off the lights in the ceiling. Few of the patrons turned to look, but the guards posted around the bank turned to him. A man in an expensive suit sauntered up to him.
"Can I help you, sir?"
"Um...yeah. I'm looking for this lockbox."
John handed the man the paper Sal had given him. The man's eyes grew wide.
"Oh my, my my. I am so sorry for your loss. Mrs. Magdelena was a wonderful woman. Here, Mr. Irving, all of Mr. Monella's employees are kept downstairs."
Downstairs turned out to be fifty feet underground in a titanium vault guarded by four armed guards. John was nervous. He didn't want to know what was in most of those lockboxes, and he wasn't so sure he wanted to know what was in his wife's. It was too late to turn back, though.
"Well, here we are, Mr. Irving. Do you have your key? Just insert it here, and I'll leave these two gentlemen to guard you."
John put the key in the box. The two guards had their backs to him as he opened the box. Inside, there were stacks and stacks of money. His jaw dropped. There two pieces of paper. John picked them up and read the note.
John melted to the floor, his head spinning. He didn't want to think of his wife this way. He didn't want to believe that she had lied to him about something so important. There was a number at the bottom of the paper. He contemplated calling the number right away. When he pulled out his cell phone, John found that he had no desire to talk to anyone. He closed and locked the box.
"Are you finished, Mr. Irving?"
John nodded. The two armed guards led John back to the first floor. The man in the expensive suit waved at him as he left the bank. In his car, John angrily beat on the steering wheel. He rolled down the widows and let the cool spring air hit his hot sckin.
It didn't cool the anger and disappointment in his heart. John looked at the note again, and wished the words would change. He wished and hoped that it wouldn't be his wife's neat handwriting. Anything to mean it wasn't true. The paper remained the same. The address and phone number at the bottom remained a glaring reminder that his wife had lied to him for their entire relationship. Everything that he'd founded his love on was a lie. John pulled out of the lot and headed home.
At home, John tried to sleep, but the note always weighed heavily on his mind. He was thankful that the kids were in school. The silence allowed him to think things through, but his mind would entertain no other thoughts. It was clear to him what he must do. He didn't wasn't to think about the lies his wife had told, but the curiosity was there. John grabbed his keys and headed out.
The neighborhood was very upscale; it was typical suburbia. Every lawn was neatly manicured, every driveway had a nice car, every house was freshly painted. Birds chirped, and the sun shone brightly. John rolled his eyes. He pulled up in front of a neat, light blue house. Cautiously, he got out of the car and rang the doorbell. There was a little noise before the door opened. John couldn't have had a bigger shock.
"Hello?"
John tried to talk. He tried to close his mouth, but his body wouldn't respond to his commands. The lady at the door smiled at him.
"John Irving. So nice to finally meet you."
The tears started welling up in John's eyes. The lady pulled him into a hug, but that was the last thing he wanted.
"We all loved Maggie. There's so much you need to know. I'm so sorry you had to loose her this way. None of us wanted this to happen."
The woman who looked just like his wife pulled him into the house. She sat him down on the couch before going into the kitchen.
"You like green tea with honey, right? It was Maggie's favorite."
John couldn't bring himself to say anything. It didn't matter because a minute late, a microwave beeped and the woman re-entered the room carrying two cups. She sat one down in front of John who took a sip.
"There's no need to beat around the bush. I'm Maggie's sister. Her twin, Sofia."
Sofia paused allowing John to digest the new information.
"So her family's not dead?"
"No. It's...Maggie loved you so much. he didn't want you to get involved in this side of her life. The only way to do it was to keep you in the dark. You see, you could say mob services is like our family business. The Monella family has been doing business with our family for a long time. Sal grew up with us. He is a business man, though, and we didn't expect him to cut Maggie much slack. He could have done something, though. Dad's pretty sure Sal had her taken out."
"Taken out?! He told me he didn't know she'd stiffed him. He told me that he just found out, and tacked more money onto my debt!"
Sofia nodded. "I'm almost sure that Sal knew she'd bailed on him. Sal's not careless. He knows where and what his employees are doing. He was probably pissed that Maggie wanted out."
John felt like a pawn. He'd probably played right into Sal's plan. He didn't have the money to pay the man back. He didn't want to pay the man who'd had his wife killed.
"Tell you what, John. I'll send you to see Dad. He'll help you out with your 'Sal problem.'"
"What if I go to the police?"
"And the police would do what?" Sofia exploded. "Your wife worked for the mob! Is this how you want your children to remember her?As the police will paint her to be? A beast?"
John felt pain and hopelessness. He couldn't go to the police. He didn't want to pay.
"John, I don't think you really understand what's going on here. Maggie and I are mob princesses. You call the police, I go down, my family goes down, you go down."
"I go down?"
"You'd be considered an accomplice. But here's what you can do. GO visit my father. He'll be expecting you. call him Father. He likes that."
Sofia handed John a slip of paper. Another phone number, another address. Sofia nodded at John. The two stood up, and Sofia pulled him into a hug.
"Be careful John, It's a dangerous game you're going to play. Just follow Father's advice."
Inside the supposed safety of his car, John wondered if he really should get involved. Going to see Father could be the death of him. Still, he knew Father was expecting him, and he didn't want to blow Father off. Sofia nodded at John from the window. He started his car and drove off.
After driving across town, John arrived at the address written down on the paper. There were people outside waiting for him. A man in a dark suit came up to his car.
"Good after noon, Mr. Irving. Father is waiting for you."
Slightly shaking, John followed the man inside the big house. The inside was splendidly decorated. John took a couple deep breaths as he followed the man in the dark suit down a hall filled with pictures and expensive vases and flowers of many sorts. There was a door at the end of the hall. The man opened the door and ushered John in.
The wood panelled room was warm and inviting. An older man worked at a desk as a fire crackled in the stone fireplace, despite the nice weather they were having. The man didn't acknowledge John's presence, even after the man in the navy suit closed the door after leaving. There was a heavy sigh, and the old man sealed an envelope.
"John, please make yourself comfortable."
John shuddered. It felt weird having everyone know who you were.
"John. The light of my daughter's life. How are the kids getting along? Are you alright?"
"We're...we're managing. I suppose we're doing ok. Lauren and John are doing better than I thought they would. They're in a lot of activities, now."
Father nodded. "Have you met with Sal yet?"
"Yes."
"And?"
"He told me how much money I owe him. I can't believe Maggie would ever take out that much money."
"Here's the thing, John. Sal Monella is jealous of you. He always was jealous of you. Magdelena would never borrow such massive sums of money from anyone. What this is, is blackmail. Sal was pissed when she married you. He'd spent no less that $2 million trying to woo her. Now he's making you pay for his foolishness."
"But he's married."
"He and Seraphim haven't been married too long. Most of that $2 million came from his youth, anyway."
John felt anger and hatred building inside of him. He'd been cheated. His wife had been payed. Sal had taken them both for fool.s Father looked at John and smiled grimly.
"I could offer you a chance for revenge."
"Revenge? Against a mob boss? No, no no. I--I've got my children to think about. I can't do anything so reckless."
"There's a fire in you boy. You'd just let it die?"
"What can I do?"
"What Sal has done, killing my daughter, cannot be forgiven. I'm not got to let that slide. Help me bring Sal Monella down."
John took a deep breath. He could join one mob, or another. He was angry. He hated this man, not only for killing his wife, but for trying to make him pay as well. Still, he had his children to think of, and couldn't just do whatever his impulses told him to do. There were others to think about. Father sighed.
"You will find that Sal can be a kind man. He will be your best friend so long as you keep the money flowing. The moment you are late, though, I can promise you that he will become a different person."
"My children--"
"They are all I have left of my dear Magdelena. You can be sure that I will take good care of them."
The two men looked intently at each other. Father could see the pain and turmoil in John's eyes. John was the first to break the state.
"I can't do it."
"You and your children will be safer with me than without."
"I can't take that risk."
And yet you would risk Sa'ls wrath? That's just too bad. He knows you're here. I can guarantee that."
John turned away from Father.
"I just can't bring myself to do that."
"You know, just by coming here you've signed a contract."
"What? How? That doesn't make any sense."
"And you're telling me this whole situation make sense to you? Somehow, I think not. IF you weren't curious, you wouldn't have shown up here. If you weren't willing to do something against Sal Monella, you wouldn't have stayed this long. If you had intended to just dish out all that money..."
John had no answer. He didn't like being read like a book. He didn't want to pay Sal Monella all that money. Finding out this was blackmail had only made him agrier.
"You are reluctant, and I understand that. Here's my business card. Go home and think about this situation. You'll do what's right for your family. You'll be back."
John took the card. There was one name and one phone number. Anatoli. John recognized it to be his wife's maiden name. The two men shook hands, and John was escorted out of the house. There was much to think about. John knew there was a lot to what Father had said. Anger ebbed and flowed inside him. There were choices he had to make. Decisions abounded, and all he felt was confusion. Do the right thing or...
But there was no "right thing," was there?
Sam the T-man:
Wow, sneaky bastard. This is shaping up really well :)
Lola136:
YAY great update :D i wonder what he will do???
babyblue1387:
I'm glad you guys are enjoying it. It took way longer than I expected them to. Whoo!
Bloody_Tears:
wow by the way. this is super impressive. waiting anxiously for an update.
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