I entered into the living room without asking, more beer bottles, more body odor, more baritone laughter. Their sound would fade away when I entered the room. Then those smiles. Sickingly sweet. Disgustingly smug.
"What are you doing walking into a den of the deplorable hmmm?" A goon asked as he approached me.
His breath reeked of a distillery and ego.
"Is Ganya here?" I asked
The room erupted in laughter. I fought to not roll my eyes.
"He's busy." Another called from across the room "But we can keep you busy."
A few whistled. Placing a hand on my hip I gave him a once over.
"You can keep me busy?" I asked suggestively
"Oh yes."
"How? Fedor Maximovich the only way you ever kept me busy was soiling yourself in my store as you did when you were three or perhaps you can keep me busy by crying about burning your tongue with hot tea in my kitchen as you did when you were eight!"
The boys howled in laughter as Fedor's pale cheeks turned crimson.
"It seems the little bird has bested you!" The first man howled.
"Little bird?" A voice asked as a new body entered from the back.
Silence fell as Ganya addressed the faces in the room with a stoney glare. I held my breath as his gaze fell on mine. His expression unreadable.
"She wished to speak to you." The man who had coined my little nickname informed.
"Alone." I added.
Ganya paused for a moment. Mulling over my request.
"We're out of food." He said quietly. Not breaking his gaze.
At first I thought he was demanding I cooked or insulting my presence in the sea of men. Until suddenly, without another word, the gentlemen gathered themselves quickly. They exited the home, leaving us standing alone in an empty living room.
"I should say I'm surprised but this seems something fiery Galya would do."
I didn't reply. His demeanor softened slightly.
"This morning…"
"I don't care." I interrupted "I'm not here for that."
His lip quirked, the only indication of his surprise.
"How long have you been investigated?" I asked dropping my purse on the ground and taking a seat on the couch.
"Years." He replied taking a seat on the coffee table in front of me and crossing his arms. He made sure to appear big and I wanted to laugh.
"That's how long you've known or how long they've investigated you?"
"Why?"
"You are powerful. You are feared. Good. But you are cocky."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. Thankfully, that might be your save because the police are cocky too. They are cocky enough that you still have a chance but they are holding back enough that they have something on you."
Galya smirked, amused but surprisingly engaged.
"What do you suggest?"
"You poison the lamb before the feast."
He nodded thoughtfully. It's clear that was what the deal would be.
"Who do you suggest?"
"Me."
Finally, his shock was evident. He moved to sit beside me.
"Not yet of course. We will need a couple hot button names to drag this out a couple more years, drain their money, their resources. Flub a couple robberies. Shoot your target off just a hair. As you exhausted them, running your circles, build off of what you have. You're no longer a refugee. Stop thinking like one. Stop shaking up transported peasants, we have nothing left to give you…."
He opened his mouth to speak but I placed my finger tips against his lips to silence him. A fire flickered in his eyes. I leaned in.
"….your reserves are dry but your fear isn't. The neighborhood is set. Your name is known. Now you need more. Don't you want more?"
His breath hitched. I could feel it against my finger tips. In a moments notice he pulled me onto his lap. I rolled my hips.
"So much more…" he groaned
We had ached for one another for years. We had a darkness brewing just beneath the surface. He was never a good man but I was never a perfect woman.
"I'm sick of feeling helpless, Galya. You're sick of wanting."
He growled. His hands roamed across the expanse of my skin.
"I don't want a title. No one needs to know my name. You could use someone like that."
He was wavering. He was unsure but I had him where I wanted him. I ground myself against him as I did once with a pseudo rebel in a sea of denim. He was peeling away my clothing. I allowed the heat to build.
"You know you want this" I groaned "You know you need more."
Even now I blush at that gaudy display of desperation but it worked like a charm. Soon I was slammed back onto the couch with Galya having his way. We answered to our hunger and not a single word had to be spoken. The plan was rough but the deal was made. No I would not I have the life I had dreamed of but that dream died that day. A new plan. A new hope and a new resilience was born.
"All rise!"
We stood in unison. The shackles at my ankles pinched as my lawyer hauled me up as graciously as a nervous twenty three year old could. To be fair, he really was trying his best with the case of a mafia accomplice with a mother's face thrown in his lap by the state. Of course, if I wasn't taking the fall for Ganya the goons would have hooked me up with a top sleazy lawyer in their rolodex. Sadly, that wasn't an option for me.
"Remember" he whispered "You're a mother. You're a victim of systematic oppression from your home country and the mafia. The judge knows that."
The judge shuffled in. He looked like a discount President Nixon with his graying wisps of hair, bright red nose and prominent jowls. His rob billowed about his large frame as he stepped up to his thrown.
"You may be seated."
"Maybe if we tell him you're pregnant last minute…." he muttered to himself
"I have felt a little queasy in the mornings." I replied
"Really?"
"No."
The judge cleared his throat after slurping from his styrofoam coffee cup. He flipped through his paper work as the courtroom settled into place. Finally, he peered over the reading spectacles placed low on his stubby nose.
"This is the sentencing hearing for the case of…The People vs Galina Reznikov. Mrs Reznikov, how do you plead?"
Once more I was yanked up onto my feet. I could feel the eyes of my husband and couple of Ganya's goons boring holes into the back of my head. It was a moment I had been preparing for but it didn't make it any easier. I took in a deep breath and quietly said goodbye to the world as I knew it.
"Guilty." I stated, sadly, my voice shook.
The judge simply nodded.
"I hear by sentence you to fifteen years in the Litchfield Minimum State Security Female State Penitentiary. You must serve eighty percent of your sentence to be eligible for parol. Do you understand Mrs Reznikov?"
"Yes, Your Honor."
"You seem like a lovely woman Mrs Reznikov and observing the behavior of your children a damn good mother. I'm sorry that the choices that had been made by you and for you had brought you here."
"….Th….thank you, Your Honor." I replied.
He had been a brick wall throughout my sentencing process, no emotion. It was then, a moments breath from being carted away forever, did I see a softness to the man. He pitied me. I wonder if I resemble a daughter or a sister in his life. I hope for a moment, I reminded him that the criminals he made decisions for every day were still indeed humans. We used the immigrant mother angle heavily and the fact I had nice white suburban mom features helped as well. Anyone else would have been carted to Max. We did our best. The judge assumed I was a helpless soul making poor decisions. He thought he had taught me justice and kindness in one fell swoop. How little did he know that he was simply a piece of a plan crafted nearly a decade prior.
"You have to give them a name. A good one." I said before taking a long sip of water
"They already had Ivan and Pavel." Ganya replied as he played with a stand of my hair
His bedroom was surprisingly bleak for the King of Criminals. His sheets were delightful, a high thread count and still warm from a session of vigorous love making. I was parched from a good workout and he was smug from a good lay.
"Those idiots?" I snorted "They are sweet but not exactly high on the food chain. You have to make them think they are in the inner circle. That they are on your tail."
Ganya rubbed his face and grunted.
"So we need someone who thinks they are my trusted one." He replied "Someone long term. The new ones get too chatty too fast."
I hummed in agreement.
"I know a guy who's been around for a few good years. Not very bright but useful."
"Who?"
He looked up at me with devilish grin and a boyish twinkle in his eye. I swatted his chest.
"Stop suggesting Dimitri. You promised."
"I know. I know." He chuckled "But then I could have his wife all to myself."
"She's already in your bed! Isn't that all you men want?"
"Mostly."
"Mostly?"
"We like control."
"I am not the one to be controlled."
"Oh I know. That's what makes you the best challenge."
We smiled at one another.
"A name" I demanded, not wanting to fall back into temptation when I still had to scurry home to my boys.
"…..Dima."
"The postman's wife? Why her?"
"She's talks loud but knows little. We give her big secrets she doesn't understand but it will lead to her husband."
"You will lose a good ally. Are you ready?"
"In a few weeks time."
"You'll have to give her a few easy morsels as well. Easier to swallow the harsher news."
"Like what?"
"Someone lost all their money or someone is having an affair. Easy words."
"Your me a name."
I pondered for a moment. It was a name I've had in my pocket from the moment I entered the lions den but it didn't make it easier. I thumbed the brim of the cup as his knuckles grazed across the curvature of my breast.
"Caputo." I said softly "Eddie Caputo."