CHAPTER NINE


    Mimi


    I knew the next day was going to be shit from the minute I opened my eyes in the morning.


    I just knew.


    So when I got a missed call from the realtor and a voice message asking me to call back, I knew it was going to be bad news.


    It totally was.


    Apparently the owners of the building I wanted to lease for the restaurant have decided they no longer wanted to lease it. They want to sell the entireplex. It’s down to a family emergency that’s required this drastic shift of arrangements.


    That would be all good and well to have the entireplex and call it my own. Except I don’t have the three million they’re asking for.


    Jesus Christ.


    My skin must have set aze the minute I heard it. I’d gone from thinking I had the money to make this dream of minee true to this morning when it just blew up in my face.


    Three million…


    Three fucking million…


    As if I had that kind of money, or like I could magically find it from somewhere.


    I spent the day looking for alternative buildings. The whole damn day searching one end of Illinois to the other mainly focusing on Chicago because that was where I had my heart set. I found nothing that resonated with me the way the first ce did.


    I didn’t sleep and when morning came I decided that maybe the way wasn’t to find an alternative.


    Maybe I had to find a way to still get what I wanted.


    The only person that came to my mind who could possibly, potentially have that kind of money to help me by way of investment was my father. He was always helping our rtives set up businesses in Italy. Always. So maybe he would do this for me.


    He would have the money, and no he wouldn’t just cough up that kind of cash to hand over to me but if he looked at it as an investment I figured it would be more enticing.


    That was what I told myself as I walked into Cipriani Consultancy a few hourster.


    Dad had built this ce from scratch.


    It was one of the first businesses to work with the Giordanos. He worked with their family way back to Italy and for over forty years.


    He handles the new contracts they receive and with their permission he was also able to take on business with some of the other crime families who are part of the alliance.


    Dad is the middle man and this business that now takes up a whole building is how he met my mother. It’s a funny story that saw him doing everything he could to get her attention. Mom was at the height of her path to bing awyer. Then things changed when she met him.


    She used to tell me how she fell hard for him, and all these amazing stories about him. Of how adventurous he was and full of life he used to be.


    But… I don’t know him to be anything like that.


    Dad has always been firm with me. Spoiled me rotten, spoiled me worse after Mom died, but he was never there. That exined why I spent so much time with the Giordano boys. And probably why I’m not the princess he expected me to be.


    The only time in recent memory that I recall him giving me some kind of parental attention was when he found out I was working at The Dark Odyssey. That came after he wanted to send me away to school in Europe.


    He saw that as his way of helping me get back on track to cooking and the culinary arts.


    I wasn’t ready to go then and definitely not ready to be so far away from everyone. I can’t stand my rtives in Italy and they don’t like me that much because they ss me as a half-blood because of Mom. So I knew it would have been a disaster waiting to happen.


    I calmed him down by telling him I was the manager of the club and that I’d be doing some courses, which I did actually do. I made him believe that I was just going to be doing the administration work for the boys and nothing more. Basically just paperwork.


    Although he epted that as an answer he’s still not happy about it and probably right too, since the bulk of my work is actually making sure the club is stocked with enough condoms and lube.


    Jesus, I know I’ll most likely go straight to hell for lying the way I do. The thing is though, he knows the restaurant has always been in the cards for me.


    He’ll know what it means for me to be taking this leap now. That’s what I’m hoping for anyway. Basically that he’ll have somepassion and help me.


    I go straight to his office and knock on his door that’s already ajar. He’s expecting me and told me to get here for eleven sharp because he has a meeting he can’t bete for. I have ten minutes with him.


    “Come in, ” he calls out and I push the door open and go inside.


    He’s writing something so there’s a dy of about five seconds before he acknowledges me.


    When he does it’s the usual part stern face and part father who should be happy to see his daughter he hasn’t seen sincest month. Something elsees into his eyes though that I can’t quite put my finger on. It’s a light of wonder which I pray means he’s in a good mood.


    “Morning Dad,” I say sweetly and silently rejoice when he gets up and makes his way around the desk to give me a hug. That does suggest he’s in a decent mood.


    “Mimi, you look… so much like your mother.” He smiles with a sadness lurking in his eyes.Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    “Thank you.” I always take that as apliment because my mother was incredibly beautiful. So of course it’s apliment to hear I look like her.


    “And, you’re dressed for business.” He observes and gives me a curious stare.


    I didn’t tell him why I wanted to see him when we messaged earlier, only that I had something important I wanted to discuss.


    “It’s kind of a business meeting, I am stilling on Sunday though. So this isn’t to rece that.” We have dinner together once a month. When I first left home it was every week. This however is what it came to and it wasn’t me who phased out the weekly meetings. It was him.


    Him being busy, but like most mafia guys I know that could mean anything from business to pleasure.


    I’ve seen his women and the fact that his pockets run deep means he won’tck for one at his side. There’s always an easy pool of them that frequent the circles we travel in.


    “That’s good to hear. Haven’t seen you in a month. So, hit me with it. What’s so important to drag you down here?” He motions to the chair before him and I sit and straighten up to prep to tell him.


    “My restaurant,” I say. “My restaurant, Dad. I want to do it. I am doing it.”


    He smiles and his bright blue eyes twinkle. “That’s wonderful sweetie.”


    “Thank you. I have my business n ready and I reckon I could be ready to go in less than two months but ns kind of fell off course for the location.” Here… this is the part that I need to sell him.


    “What happened?”


    “The owner decided to sell the ce instead of leasing it and it’s substantially more than I anticipated. Dad, the location is beautiful. It’s right near the subway and the mall and right there in the city center where the footfall is the heaviest. I was considering buying but I don’t really have the funds. I had all the money for the lease and everything I needed to set up, this change has knocked me for six.”


    He looks me over and I can tell he’s starting to see the purpose for my visit and where I’m going with my conversation.


    “How much is it Mimi?” He gives me a narrow look.


    I take a deep breath. “Dad… it’s three million.”


    He presses his lips together and then bites the inside. “Three million? And you have how much?”


    My lips part. “I have a hundred grand. I actually have that in my savings ount. In my current ount there’s close to twenty. I wondered if you’d consider investing. Investing… in me.” I sound desperate. I sound like I’m begging. I know I am, I just figured if I say it like that maybe he would consider it.


    He runs a hand over his salt and pepper beard and sighs. “Mimi… that’s a lot of money. That’s a lot to part with, and risky.” He stares straight into me and I look back with hope. I wish he could see how badly I want this. I wish he could see how much I want to do something with my life. The look on his face though tells me he’s not going to help.


    “Mimi, you have no concept of what it takes to run a business and the fact that you’re here asking me for three million dors is so bizarre.” He sighs.


    “Dad how is it bizarre? You gave cousin Lucas five million to set his business up in Catania, why not me?” Lucas isn’t the only rtive he’s helped like that. Sure if I’d never known him to part with suchrge sums of money, I would never ask. Since I do I would never think of it as bizarre.


    “Mimi, Lucas has two very sessful hotels and is setting up another. You can’tpare the two. For my five million, I got back ten. This is different. This would be me buying you this ce and I wouldn’t expect to get the money back because you’re my daughter.”


    “So, that’s all the more reason to help me. I’m your daughter and you know how I’ve wanted this forever.” I continue on in hope.


    “Have you Mimi?” He gives me a pointed stare.


    I can’t believe the question, but then… it hits me and I see what he means. He’s asking me that because not only have I had a long break but I turned down the offer to study in Europe with the finest chefs to work in a sex club.


    That’s the reason for the question.


    My breath hitches but I push past it. “Dad I just needed to sort myself out and now that I have I can see clearly what I want to do. I want the restaurant.”


    “Sweetheart, I can’t…. I’m sorry I can’t part with that much money with something that just might not work out.”


    “Why wouldn’t it work out?” I’m so stupid. Why did I ask that question? I can see the answer all over his face. I can see it in his eyes. It’s been implied in what he’s been saying.


    “Because it’s me,” I fill in and stand up at the same time. “You think it won’t work out because it’s me. You don’t think I’m serious.”


    “Mimi, please don’t be upset.”


    “How can you expect me not to be upset? I noticed how you aren’t saying that I’m wrong. You don’t think the restaurant will work because you don’t think I can do it.”


    “Sweetheart, I think it’s good that you saved up and you have your ns. I suggest you try to find something in your means and take it from there. As for me my answer is no.” He sounds like he’s talking to one of his clients.


    I try hard not to feel the cold sting of failure seeping into me. I’m trying hard to keep it at bay. It stilles though but I don’t act like a brat and storm out. With dignity I nod and I even offer up a smile.


    “Thanks for your time,” I tell him and he sighs.


    He looks like he’s about to say more to me but I don’t wait to hear it. I don’t want to hear any more reasons why he doesn’t think the dream I’ve had for so long won’t work out because it’s me. So, I walk out feeling a hundred times worse than I did earlier.


    He doesn’t think I can do it. Hearing that part is worse than not having the money.