Chapter 7

It had been a hectic few weeks. The diner remodel was well under way, and Carol was out of the Hospital. I had placed several spells on her to correct the stresses that Ricci had caused, and generally strengthen her health. The doctors were amazed at her quick recovery.

What was especially surprising, was the visit that Ricci's father paid Carol (I had nothing to do with it, honest!)!

I happened to be at the diner when the old man showed up. Carol had asked me to come into town, to help her with some ideas she had for the new and improved diner. As we sat in a booth discussing things, she looked up and went absolutely white! I thought that she was having a stroke or some such thing. Then she suddenly reached over and grabbed my arm in a vise grip.

She said, "Please! Don't leave me here with that man!"

I turned and looked toward the front door, and saw a huge man! The senior Ricci was a dark skinned man, with a full head of wavy white hair. However, he had to have weighed at least four hundred pounds. In spite of his great weight, the man was handsome. He also exuded great power!

"Who is he?" I asked.

"He is that pig's father, and he's the head of the Carmenucci crime family."

I did a quick scan, and was very surprised by what I saw.

"Just hear him out, Carol. I don't think he means you any harm."

She shifted her gaze to me with shock, but then she nodded.

The big man came to our table and asked very politely, "May I have a word with you, Mrs. Roy?"

"Hello, Mr. Ricci. Yes, you may, but only if my friend stays here with me."

Ricci looked at me and I could feel him evaluating me, I didn't need my powers for that, this was a very astute and powerful man.

After a few moments, he nodded. I turned and called to one of my workmen.

"Tony! Would you please bring a chair and a coffee for Mr. Ricci?"

"Right away, Mr. Mohr," he called back cheerfully.

Tony was one of the most up-beat people that I had ever had the pleasure to meet. I then stood, introduced myself, and offered my hand. After a slight hesitation, Ricci shook my hand, then sat in the chair that Tony had brought.

"Would you like sugar or cream Mr. Ricci?" Tony asked in a very respectful manner.

He obviously knew the man, or at the very least, knew of him.

"No ... No, black is fine," said Ricci.

Tony was back in a flash with a steaming mug of Carol's fine coffee. Once he had gone back to work, we all took a sip of our chosen beverage. Then Mr. Ricci looked at Carol, and of all things, seemed chagrinned.

He said, "I know that I don't have the right, but may I call you by your first name, Mrs. Roy?"

Carol just nodded. She was too afraid to speak.

"Thank you. You are most kind, especially under the circumstances."

The big man sighed. As he did so, he seemed to age and shrink right before our eyes. He looked down into his coffee for a minute or two and then looked up at Carol. The sadness in the man's eyes was terrible!

During his grieving, the senior Ricci had gone to his son's home. He had found several diaries. Those diaries were the repositories of the younger Ricci's obsession with Carol. The old man, being from the old country, still had a great respect for 'family'. The fact that his son had destroyed Carol's family, by killing an innocent in an effort to force Carol to be with him; was, to the old man, beyond the pale.

"I ... I didn't know! Family, to me..."

Mr. Ricci had to stop, as though unable to put words together in a coherent manner. He took a deep breath and started again.

"One week ago I went to Joey's house, to clean the place out. You know, to pack his things away and so on, now that he is dead. I found his diaries. They go all the way back to middle school. It took days for me to read them all, but read them I did.

"I'm truly sorry, Carol! I didn't know that he was that sick! His mother and I divorced when he was a baby. I didn't see much of him, 'cause I had no visitation rights. I don't know what twisted him up so much ... but I swear to you, on the Madonna, that if I had known what he was doing to your family...

"I would have put a stop to it, Carol! I'm from the old country! 'Family' means everything to me! I know that you know who and what I am, but I have never hurt family ... not even of my enemies."

He took another deep breath and looked off into the distant past.

"My marriage to Maria was an arranged marriage. Her father owed my father a debt of honor, so we were married. Maria's family was and is, very wealthy, and of a noble line. She hated every minute of our marriage. She said she felt as if she had been traded like a breed-cow. Once my father was dead, she filed for divorce, and took our youngest son with her.

"I'm telling you all of this as background, because I read in one of the diaries that Joey offered you money. You told him, in no uncertain terms, that you wouldn't ever touch his tainted money. My ex-wife died four years ago and left Joey her entire estate, it was worth two million dollars.

"The stupid boy ran through most of it by the time that he was killed. However, there is still seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars left, give or take. It is all clean money. It's from Maria's family, in Italy. They were all bankers and real estate brokers, and such. They are all real bona fide business people, and all are of royal blood. Carol that money is as clean as it can be.

"Here is what I propose. I would like to put that money into three trust funds for your girls to go to college, or whatever. You don't ever have to touch it. I know that it in no way replaces what you have lost, or the misery that Joey has caused, but it will give your babies a leg up at the beginning of their lives. What do you say? Will you let an old man pay a penance for the sins of his son?"

Carol sat in open-mouthed wonder at the words of this Mob leader ... for a full minute.

Then she shifted her gaze to me and asked, "What do you think?"

"Personally, I think it is a way of getting some good out of this whole mess. Like Mr. Ricci says, it is clean money."

Carol looked down at her coffee for a long time, then she looked up at the Don and said, "I have tried to teach my girls to be fair. Can I be otherwise? All of this wrongdoing is at your son's feet, not yours. You, yourself, are clean in this matter, Mr. Ricci. I can see no reason to refuse your kind offer."

The old man quickly grabbed Carol's hand and brought it to his lips.

He kissed her knuckles and then said, "You are a kind woman. You have no idea what you are doing for this old man. Thank you. I will make the arrangements. The papers will be brought to you as soon as they are ready."

He rose and walked out the door.

"I keep wondering when the other shoe is going to drop," said Carol with some fear in her voice.

"Carol, I really think that you have 'turned the corner' on your problems. The girls now have money for school, and the new renovations should bring in more people and bigger profits. Those increased profits will help you to buy your way back into the Co-op. Where is the down side?"

As we talked Adin struggled into the diner loaded with packages and bags. She set her bundles down in the first booth and came back to us and sat down beside me.

"Did you find everything?" I asked.

"Yes but I hope you won't be mad at me. I found the sweetest little party dresses and simply couldn't pass them by."

"Why would that make me angry?"

She looked down and said, "Because I didn't follow your instructions to the letter."

Carol looked shocked at what Adin said then got a dark look in her eyes as she stared daggers at me. I ignored her for the moment, and spoke to Adin as I took her chin in my hand.

"Adin, you're my wife! I am thrilled that you took the initiative to buy those things."

I kissed her gently and then added, "You had better explain things to Carol, before she stabs me with something."

Adin looked up sharply and said threateningly, "You will not hurt my Master!"

Carol was totally shocked and taken aback by the vehemence of Adin's statement. Then she got confused.

"Master? But this is the United States we don't have slaves!"

"Adin! Stop this, now! What have we discussed about these things? You're my WIFE not my slave. Now explain things to Carol, right now."

"Yes, Kade," answered Adin but she never took her eyes from Carol.

Carol saw the threat, and shrank back in her seat in fear. Though she had been a boss for years, all of the troubles and the psychiatric treatments had changed her, leaning her towards submissive behavior. Perhaps 'submissive' is too strong a term... 'timid' might be better. Nonetheless, Carol shrank back from my wife.

"Adin!"

"Yes, Kade," answered Adin as she broke her stare at Carol and looked at me. She then continued, "Sometime ago I was kidnapped by sex-slavers. I can't tell you how long they had me, because they kept me drugged a lot of the time.

"Anyway, a serial killer escaped from jail. He killed my Master, along with the other slaves. Because he thought I was cute, he let me live. He forced me to go with him and he became Master number two. That insane monster abused me terribly. As we traveled up the coast he would car-jack one car after another killing the drivers as he went.

"Then one morning he saw a beautiful motor home and decided that he wanted it. That motor home belonged to Kade. Long story short: Kade beat the shit out of the guy, and rescued me.

"I don't know why, but this wonderful man asked me to marry him, and I did. But in my heart he is and always will be my Master, and I will defend him to the death. The thing is, that Kade doesn't want a slave, he wants a wife. So we have a little trouble, now and again, with my slave-like behavior ... like today."

As the story progressed Carol's eyes got bigger and bigger, with disbelief.

I re-entered the conversation at this point and said, "Look, Carol, I'm counting on you to keep all that you've heard here under your hat. We don't want the police, or the other slavers to come after us. OK?"

"That story is true, then?"

"Every word."

"Do you make it a practice of riding to the rescue of all of the troubled women that you meet?"