Ruthless Mafia 15

Icaro was listening to a report from some of his men at the front of the church while Father Ippocrate Giannone glared at
him repeatedly. He deliberately was screwing with the man, asking about whether a job was done to completion in front
of him. If this man with the flowing white robes swirling around him like a small girl twirling in her first party dress was
supposed to be the definition of goodness, Icaro would rather be the devil himself. Ippocrate Giannone was a buffoon
and so full of his own ego he couldn’t see the ground from where his head was so high in his holy clouds. He would love
the opportunity to make the man face plant in humility.
“Who the fuck is that?” Vodingo whispered in his ear.
“Who?”
“The little blonde.”
His best friend’s fingers clutching into his shoulder told Icaro the man was having a very real reaction to a woman, and
he chuckled and looked in her direction. “Ah, Sidonia. She is Zorah’s best friend. There has been much weeping between
the two of them over the last few days. She is not wanting her to go. I believe they have almost a symbiotic relationship.
They barely function without one another.”
“Really?” Vodingo’s mouth was in a flat line as he stared. “She will accompany us from here on out then.”
He slowly turned to look at his friend and cousin more closely, “cousin, what are you saying?”
“She is the one.”
“She is your,” he drawled out the word, “one?”
“Yes.”
The men in his family had long histories of love at first sight. All of them locking eyes with a woman across a room and marrying them and never stepping out on any of them once the vows were exchanged. With one exception, an uncle
whose chosen bride was already married, not once did they fail and even his uncle in the end got the girl though she wasn’t happy he killed her husband. Icaro was fortunate he’d known from the minute he held an infant in his arms she
was his and his alone. Vodingo believed he might never meet his and now there she was. He was sure it was divine
intervention at play, something he believed in far more than the crap Giannone was spouting.
He turned to the priest, “the woman at the back. Sidonia Gaines. Who are her parents?”
“She has no affiliation with –”
“I didn’t ask for your input, Father. Who are her parents? My cousin will be marrying her, today. When my ceremony is
done, he and I will switch places as will Zorah and Sidonia and you will repeat the ceremony for her. My cousin would like
the opportunity to speak with her parents before this happens. Now, where can he find them?”
It was clear the priest didn’t like being told what to do. In this house, the house of the God, the man liked to behave as if
the congregation was beneath him, and he was their savior leading them on the path of righteousness. The sermons the
man liked to spout were all fire and brimstone and a constant beratement of the current state of the world and the loose
morals of the younger patrons of his church. He liked to pontificate and puff up his chest and nobody dared defy him. Now, in the man’s opinion, the devil himself was ordering him around in his own house and it was humiliating.
Icaro smiled wickedly, “is there a problem Father Giannone or do I need to send my men to your rectory to pull your files
on the addresses of your congregation. I’d hate for them to make a mess in your office or worse, find things you wouldn’t want them to.”
“There is nothing untoward for you to find in my offices, Mr. Lucchesi, however, the couple seated in the second row are
Sidonia’s parents. They have been part of Zorah’s life since she was four years old. They asked to be here, and I approved
for Sidonia’s sake because she is going to be distraught when her best friend leaves.”
“Do they know the circumstances of the arrangement?”
“No. They know only she was arranged to be married by my father before his death and we are honoring our obligation.”
“Good. I don’t have to kill you then,” he watched as the man blanched. He turned back to Vodingo, “I’m sure you caught
all of that. There is your target. Make them an offer they can’t refuse.” He looked at the priest, “get my bride in here. I
have better places to be than here listening to you huff and puff like a winded baboon.”
He watched with interest as Vodingo beelined for the couple and motioned for them to step out of the pew and follow
him to the side of the church. He fought his smirk as the mother grasped her husband’s arm, her legs weakening but he wasn’t in the least surprised at the wide-eyed greedy expression on the man’s face. A Lucchesi bride’s family was always
given a large sum of money, and it would be far more zeroes than those two would ever see.
It didn’t take long for Vodingo to come back, and he leaned into Icaro’s ear, “I offered five hundred thousand and
expected him to barter and he simply accepted so long as his daughter agreed. The mother is crying saying her only
daughter would never agree. I will ask her. I hope you do not mind the quick delay following your ceremony.”
“Not at all.” He smirked at his friend. He noted the angry mother-of-the-bride storming down the aisle. “I wonder what
her problem is?”
“I heard Hypocrite Ippocrate tell her she was not allowed to give her away and walk down the aisle with her daughter. It
likely was the only chance she’d get to walk down one.” Vodingo mocked. “How a scowling faced woman like her birthed
such a beauty as your bride is beyond me. She’s quite hideous when she’s not smiling, is she not? I hope your children
do not look like their grandmother.”
“Zorah looks like her father. Very much so.”
“You would know. You looked right in his eyes when you pulled the trigger.” Vodingo chuckled and slapped his shoulder.
“This is turning out to be a great day! I thought for sure I was going to spend it being sick at looking at your happy face
and now I’m stealing your wedding day.”
Icaro laughed, “when we are back in Italy, I will give Zorah the wedding of her dreams. Do what you want today but, on
the day, I truly marry her in the church on the family property, she will not share her day with anyone else.”
Icaro’s next thought however was how much he enjoyed the sound of Father Ippocrate Giannone gasping audibly as
Icaro caught sight of his bride at the door and felt his heart stop.
“Well fuck me.”