Part 3

The next day was much less eventful for Francesca. It was me that was the brunt of a salon work-over, coming out with long nails, a new look and earrings. I must say that when I looked at myself in the mirror I thought I made a good looking girl. My height, or lack of it, was certainly a factor in my favour.

We spent hours at dress shops, underwear shops and shoe shops and we both had bags of goodies that the patient Ludo put in the boot of the BMW as we came out of each shop. Back at the house we cleared the clothes from the wardrobe and drawers that were definitely not my style as well as all of her shoes. Everything was put in the shopping bags and I was shown where a store room was and we put them there. After clipping the labels and putting my things away I could tell that Francesca intended to keep me around for a while.

She told me that she did not need for me to put on the maid outfit unless there was a social event and that I should wear my new clothes as a usual thing. She showed me her diary and we noted the times that I would need to be official and I wrote all of these down in the diary that we had bought for me. I then told her about the railway locker in Naples and the fact that the contents would identify the four of us, especially me. We decided that, one day this week, we would take her car and go to collect it so that the contents could be destroyed. We picked one of the days that we knew that her father would be out with Ludo and Mario.

Tuesday and Wednesday was spent with me looking after Francesca and her teaching me some finer points of womanhood. On Wednesday evening I had a crash course in one particular aspect when, after dinner, Mario invited me to take a walk in the garden with him. As we strolled, he linked his arm in mine and we spoke quietly about the attempt on Sunday. When we got to a remote spot he turned to me and held my head while he kissed me. I almost panicked and he said “I just had to do that, Adeline, I don’t know why I did that as I am not normally interested in girls but I seem to be attracted to you.” I told him that it was all right as I did not have much of an experience with boys but I could tell that he was basically a gentle soul, even if he killed for a living. At that he smiled and moved to kiss me again so I lifted my arms so I could hold his head while he put his arms around my body and gave me the most toe-curling kiss. If I had been a girl I would have dropped to the floor and pulled my panties down for him.

As it was I could feel his manhood against my stomach so, as he pulled back, I put my hand down there and gave it a stroke, saying “I will not give myself until I marry but perhaps I can take care of this now.” He moved us to a garden bench and I sat down while he stood in front of me. I pulled down his zip and pulled out his, now rampant, dick. I kissed it and started licking it while he put his hands on my shoulders. I worked on it as well as I remembered girls working on mine and he gave a shudder as he came in my mouth.

I swallowed it all and felt quite proud at my obvious skills that I had just demonstrated. I pulled a tissue out of my bag and wiped him clean and then helped him put it away. After he had zipped he sat beside me and put his arm around my shoulder. We sat like that for a while and then he said “You were really the fourth guy on Saturday night, weren’t you?” I had to admit I was and waited to die. He didn’t move and then said “I’m glad you really are a guy, my friends would have made me a laughing stock if I had fallen for a girl. Now you can tell me how you got to this point and we can plan, together, how we keep the family safe.”

I told him about the set-up and how Francesca had saved my life. I told him that one of the guys he shot on Sunday may have been the one who gave us the final details in Rome. When I told him that Francesca thought it was her own brother who was organising it he nodded and said “Yes, Luigi has made friends with some very bad people who make him think he is a star. If he took over the family he would be dead in days and the whole business would go into wholesale drug pushing and human trafficking. It would be a terrible thing. The problem is that the Don cannot see it. Luigi is the son and that’s all there is.” I said that I thought that Luigi would not make another move until Francesca had been taken care of and that we had planned to go to Naples to pick up the envelopes so he told me that he would take us there tomorrow, while Ludo and a few more guards looked after the house.

Back in Francescas’ bedroom I told her that Mario now knew everything and was good with it and that he shared her worry about Luigi. She was relieved that there was another friend in the house as it would be now easier to keep it from her father. The next day Mario took us to the station where I retrieved the envelopes. The only thing I took out of mine was my money and my old rosary. We took all of the money out of the others. Mario said he would destroy the rest of the contents and we made a detour to a blacksmiths shop where he was known, throwing everything into the hot coals and watching while they burned.

Of course, I was now unable to leave the country and Mario put his arm around my shoulder and told me he would organise new papers for the ‘pretty country girl’. He took us both to lunch before we returned to the house and the two of them discussed Luigi and his bad habits while I listened. I could not understand why the Don was so forgiving and, when I made that comment, was told that it was the way the ‘families’ had always operated and change would be very slow coming.

Friday evening there was a gathering of the Dons’ business friends and I was dressed in my maid uniform. Francesca had made me up to look very pretty and I had to endure a few pinches on my bum from these macho men. It was hard enough balancing a drinks tray without that sort of action, but I did manage to get through the night.

Saturday Francesca had to visit some people in Potenza in regard to her charitable works. We went in the 7 Series with Ludo at the wheel. On the way back I was sitting in the front with him when we heard the sound of a police siren behind us. He said “Stupid rookies, no-one pulls over the Dons’ cars.” He slowed down and the police car stopped a little way behind. I looked through the back window as three officers got out, one walking towards our car. I opened the glove box and pulled out the 9 millimetre that was there, quickly jacking a round and flicking off the safety. Ludo said “What are you doing, girl?” as he powered his window down to talk to the policeman who had just reached us. He turned to talk and the policeman brought a silenced gun from behind his back and shot him in the eye. It must have been a small calibre as it did not exit his head and he slumped in his seat.

I lifted the pistol and shot the policeman in the throat and nearly took his head off. I quickly clambered onto Ludos’ lap and put the car into gear, burning rubber as we left the scene. I barely heard the chatter of a machine gun and the thumping of bullets on the back of our car as I hung on to the wheel for dear life. I used all of my skills as we blasted down the road towards Eboli. It was hard enough steering but very hard reaching the pedals while sitting on Ludos’ knees. On a twisty bit of road alongside a mountain I saw a flash in the sunlight and realised that we did stand a chance.

It was a side road to a mountain hut and the flash I saw was off the mirror that was mounted so that you could see what was coming. Luckily we were out of sight of pursuit for the few seconds it took me to hit the brakes and turn left into the track. Because of the rock outcrop we were now out of sight and I watched the mirror to see when the police car would arrive. I put the limo in reverse and raised the revs with my foot on the brake and, just as the pursuit arrived at the junction, we shot backwards, hitting the other car in the drivers’ door with a crunch. The impact sent it flying off the road and down an embankment into some trees, where it exploded with a whooshing sound. I grabbed drive again and drove us to the house as fast as I was able with the boot flapping open.

When we arrived I tooted the horn so that the guard on the gate could open it for us and saw his mouth drop open as I drove through. He must have called on his two-way because men were pouring out of the house as I pulled up. I just sat there with my head against the steering wheel. I heard the Don shouting as he pulled the back door open and pulling Francesca out to hold her close. Mario opened the drivers’ door and gently prised my hands off the steering wheel and lifted me off Ludos’ body to hold me to him saying “It’s all right, little one, you are safe now.”

When I was able to stand we looked at the back of the limo to see the collision damage as well as all of the places where we had been hit by machine gun fire. The Don was almost beside himself with rage as Francesca related our experience as far as she could tell from her cocoon in the back. We all cried as the body of Ludo was taken out of the car and laid on the ground. After Francesca had taken me upstairs to change out of my dress with blood stains from Ludo as well as more where I sat in the piss he had done as he died, we gathered in the main drawing room and the Don asked me to relate exactly what I saw and did. He had the gun I had fired and had made it safe. I had just dropped it in the footwell as I clambered over the centre console.

As I told the way it happened he got very serious and then said that there was obviously a vendetta against the family but that he had no idea who was behind it. He left to call up his business partners to see if they had any idea. Mario looked at me and said “You have done it again, little Adeline. You have saved both you and Francesca from death as I am sure it was an assassination attempt. If the shooter had used a bigger gun it may well have passed through Ludos’ head and hit you as well. I am sure that they intended to shoot you both in the eye and then organise a ‘little accident’ to the limo, perhaps having it burn.” I hate to say it but I rushed to him and he held me while I cried my eyes out.

Marianne G 2020