Chapter 3

For the longest time, Kara lay awake, not wanting to go through a series of dreams that would most likely render her vulnerable to the cool, suave attitude of Al Capone. She tossed and turned in her covers, reading the clock: three in the morning. She was never going to go to bed.

Then she realized that she'd agreed to being maid of honor for Mae, and she rolled her eyes. Kara had never even been to a wedding before and didn't like the sound of it. It seemed too... well, too tiring.

But even as she twisted to stare at the ceiling and count the bumps on it (thanks to her infinitely good eyesight) she couldn't go to bed without thinking about the trauma mister Capone had set for her tonight. Apparently his actions in the winery a month before had been a cover up, as were his actions in front of his fiancée. His real character seemed far too cocky, too independent, and undoubtedly, he had a short temper. She remembered that now.

It was clear, in her head: two years after dear Umberto Capone was born, Matthew, the youngest brother, was born and possibly one of the better Capones in that family, with a sweet attitude and a kind personality. He was interested in the crime world, but after Al and Frank had gotten into trouble numerous times he seemed to give up on it, deciding not to pay the price. Al and Matthew always seemed to dislike each other, and Al's short temper brought it up to him to threaten the youngest brother.

Grimacing, Kara shut her eyes and imagined herself in a white, fluffy, maid of honor dress. Urgh.

"So, who else is comin' to your wedding, Mae?" asked Samantha through a mouthful of apple tarts, and beautiful Mae numbered off countless amounts of Capones: "Mmm -- Raffaele, Frank, Albert -- you know, that Umberto one -- erm, Rose, too --"

"Any of your friends, then?" Kara inquired, flipping through a catalogue of wedding dresses.

"Oh, yes. Remember sweet Olivia? She's coming." Mae smiled appreciatively. She took a bottle of wine with her delicate hands and poured it smoothly into a wine glass. Kara winced.

Apparently Samantha was thinking on the same lines as her and she questioned rather harshly, "How do you deal with that stuff? It's disgusting, isn't it?"

Mae shook her head. "Love it. Really clears things up, y'know?"

"No, I don't know," Samantha said, wrinkling her nose. "They're thinkin' 'bout bannin' alcohol. So it's best not to get used to it."

"What a load of trash talk," said Mae.

"But you think so, don't you, Kara? Alcohol's gonna be banned soon, I bet."

Kara shrugged at Samantha, who huffed. Mae grinned and pulled out a magazine of bridesmaid's dresses, handing it to Kara. "Here, give me that, you and Sammy can look through this..."

As Mae ruffled through the catalog, Samantha passed a note to Kara, frowning.

This isn't normal! She never used to drink. What happened to her?

Just like school. Kara took the pen and scribbled back on the sheet:

I think it's her fiancé.

Samantha gasped loudly, and Mae's eyes shot up from a very pretty dress she was looking at. "Alright there?"

"Fine, everything's fine," Kara said quickly, glowering at Samantha, who's mouth was still alarmingly wide open.

Samantha shut her mouth and swallowed.

"Sorry," she mouthed when Mae went back to her magazine.

The front door clicked down in the foyer and Mae dropped her catalog. "Al! Sweetie!"

He tumbled into the kitchen clumsily, the crooked grin on his face, nodding to both Kara and Samantha, finally placing a long kiss on Mae's lips; Kara looked away pointedly.

"Ladies," said Al, once they came up for air, "I've got a surprise for you."

He ignored Kara's glare, instead smiling at Samantha charmingly. Mae took hold of his arm, as though he would slip out any moment, but grinned just as pleasantly.

But then he faltered and said, "No surprises, sorry. I just wanted to see how you'd react."

Samantha made a face. Mae laughed. "He does it all the time. But one time he actually did have a surprise -- he proposed, that's what!"

"How romantic!" Samantha gushed. Kara felt sick to her stomach. That was romantic?

There was a cry from upstairs and Al feigned a look of concern. Kara knew it was fake: she'd seen that face so many times before in her youth. It seemed, however, that Mae and Samantha believed him.

"Poor Sonny," he said loudly. "I'll go get him." And with that, he ran upstairs.

"Charming, isn't he," said Mae, gazing dazedly at where he disappeared.

There was a knock on the door at perhaps two in the afternoon, just as Kara had been getting to go home. When Mae answered it, there was a nice, boyish voice to accompany her. When Samantha glanced out the window to see who it was (as Mae had been blocking their view) she gasped again, and Kara pushed her over to see who she was so infatuated with.

There was Matthew, and it seemed his sweet attitude had done him good. He was tall, dark hair slightly messy, and he had wide, dark brown eyes filled with warmth. "Wanted to tell you," he was saying, and there wasn't a faintest trace of a Brooklyn-Italian accent in there, "that I can't go to the wedding. Mother sent me."

Mae looked utterly devastated. "But -- why not?"

"Business matters. Oh, no, not what my dear older brother is involved in," he added quickly, as though his brother was an illness he was desperate not to catch, "something more... well, resourceful, anyway." He took pride in it, though he was very young -- Kara guess maybe ten, or eleven, years old.

"I know him," said Kara. She was stunned by the proud tone in her voice that had somehow leaked in.

"He's adorable," Samantha cooed. There were thumps behind them and Al was there, coming down the stairs with Sonny in his arms. "Mae? Who's at the door -- ?"

"Your brother," called Mary. "Matthew -- wanna talk to him?"

Though Kara wasn't surprised by the look of utter disgust on Al's face, Samantha was. She elbowed Kara in the gut and Kara doubled over.

"No." His tone made it obvious he didn't have the heart to talk to his youngest brother. "I'm sure he's got other -- things -- to do."

Matthew peered at his older brother from behind Mae, and both pairs of dark brown eyes glared at each other. Finally Matthew stepped down from the front step in front of the door and he broke the eye contact.

Mae turned back to Matthew. Her face was hard set, as though Al had made her change her mind about Matthew's adorable presence. "I'm sorry you can't come," she said, not sounding sorry at all. If Matthew seemed to notice, he didn't show it. He nodded curtly and left. His long coat, so much like Al's, rode behind him, giving him an air of order.

The second the door shut Mae left for the bathroom. And as soon as she was in the bathroom, Samantha rounded on Al: "Why do you hate him so much?"

He set Sonny down on a side table.

"You jerk," said Kara, pushing him hard against the wall. Samantha's eyes widened and she sped away to the kitchen."Why can't you -- "

"You honestly remember," said Al, smirking. "You honestly remember him from -- what -- when he was, say, two?"

"He was so much kinder than you -- "

"He was a kid!"

"But he's not a thieving, son of an Italian bi -- "

"Oh shut up," hissed Al.

"Make me," she whispered furiously, grabbing her coat. He marched up to her, so close, and her heart thumped traitorously in her chest. "Make me -- be more like James, be more reasonable, a good boy -- "

"Vincenzo," he said, as though the name was a sickness, "is a traitor of my family name. As is Matthew. Now shut up."

What happened to his terrible grammar? What happened to his Brooklyn way of talking? "I said, make me," Kara repeated, her chin held up high. "Your brother is your brother, you were a role model to him -- "

"Shut," he whispered ferociously, "UP!"

"Make me!"

And his lips were on hers, hands molded in dark hair, butterflies in her stomach, unaware of the fact that there were two women in the kitchen, one of them who was getting married to the man she was lip locked with in less than a month, that there was a loud whimper from the foyer --

Pushing him away roughly, Kara saw her hand raise unconsciously, a resounding sound of a slap cracking through the air, and Al was holding his cheek, flushed with anger.

"The hell -- "

But Kara didn't hear the rest of it; she sped to the bathroom and slammed the door shut, her body pleading her to rid her mouth from the dirty feeling on her lips. Lunging for the toilet, the bile rising in her throat (apple tart wasn't such a good idea, after all), she threw up.

Finally, after having leaned over the toilet for what seemed like forever, she got up to wash her mouth. After she'd done so she stared at herself in the mirror. She was -- she had to admit -- fairly attractive: she had dark hair with natural copper highlights, with light chocolate brown eyes to match. Her face was pale, but not too much. But as she continued to stare at herself in the mirror she found herself as ordinary as anyone else.

She leaned back and opened the door. His voice echoed with Mae's and Samantha's.

Mae. Oh no, oh no. She had to get out of there.

There was a soft whimper from the side table in the foyer and she went to go look for the source of the noise: there was Sonny, his dark eyes wide and curious, and he cooed at the sight of her.

Her heart broke. She swallowed.

"Bye, sweetheart," she said quietly. "Don't let your pop do anything bad again."

She could've sworn she saw the boy nod.

Snatching her coat from the floor, which had somehow fallen out of her grasp before (Hmm, I wonder why -- ) she slipped it on and took one last, fleeting glance at the kitchen.

As she shut the door she saw a long coat disappear within the forest of trees near the house. Could it be -- ?

"Matthew?" she called out, but there was no answer.

Instead, she felt a sharp pain in the back of her head and blacked out.

So, I'm actually pretty glad I got to update this before the month ended.

I wasn't expecting it to take so long for me to finish the chapter but I've been away at camp and it was really busy. Also was busy watching HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE -- oh god, do I love that movie. And Snape. 3

Stupid thing, I'd put this chapter on the document manager and was busy adding something and then I realized I had to check it with the previous chapters so I open a new tab and accidentally click the 'easy' link to my profile to check up on my story when it takes my OTHER tab where I was fixing this chapter to my profile. I, being stupid the way I am, forgot to save it so I lost about 500 words of goodies so I lost it all D: I had to rewrite it from memory but it sounds terrible now. Oh well.

Review? Please? :D