Chapter 35: Negotiation
Tony put his hands inside his trouser pockets. His hands were shaking. They weren’t shaking when he confronted his "father" but when Henry told him that Marcella knows everything, he couldn’t shake off this dreaded feeling.
He was told that she was in the garden. When he saw her lying under the maple tree, he couldn’t help but smile. She loved that place. There were a lot of times he had hidden and watched her sitting under the tree. Most times she would be with the don and he had to be extra careful but at times she’d be alone.
She’d be watching the sky and he’d be watching her without caring for the passage of time.
She noticed him and stood up. Her eyes... she had never looked at him like the way she was looking at him. Ever. She looked distant.
That damned Randy!!! Why must he ruin my peace?
Knots formed in his stomach. Randy was not the one at fault here. He was.
He wanted to give her a heads-up in the morning about who the Romanos are. But when he saw her feeling stressed, he didn’t have the heart. He knew she would feel betrayed. He was ashamed to tell her that "that" woman was his mother. How could he tell her that the woman who makes her cry every single time was his mother?
He didn’t have the heart and he took the coward’s way to stay silent. He regretted everything now. He should have found time to tell her the truth.
He tried to smile to see her reaction, but he couldn’t even smile properly. He was not someone who smiles at everyone. He had the opinion that only nincompoops smile a lot. Smiling makes others believe that they are weak and easy to manipulate.
But when it comes to her his entire personality changes. Smiling at her was always easy for him. Because her face would light up seeing him. Seeing her bright smile, he wouldn’t be able to control himself.
He smiles from his heart each time he sees her. Even the little movement of her lips and the flutter of her eyelashes would bring him so much joy he couldn’t help but smile like an imbecile.
He’s like the moon that reflects the sun. Without her light, he couldn’t reflect the light. He turned into a black hole, a lifeless blob; he turned empty.