The Mafia Nun and the Brutal Don

Lerato winced in pain and cried out as her father dragged her into their small living room.

“Father, you’re hurting me!”, she cried trying to wriggle out of his grip. But he held her arm with all his strength.

“Shut up, you ungrateful brat!” His last words were followed by a series of slaps across her face.

“Now Lerato, look around and tell me what you see,” he said, shutting the living room door behind him.

“Nothing, I see nothing, just our living room” she managed to respond, still holding her face in her palm writhing in pain.

“Liar! Lerato I see poverty, look at your brothers, look at where we live” he growled, she watched him use his hands to prove how little and shabby their house looked.

All her father had said was the truth, they lived in abject poverty and misery, and her twin brothers Matthew and Mark looked very malnourished. But she couldn't figure out the sudden outburst of her father.

“Now, you listen to me, you will marry Antonio Ricci, you don't need any preparations for that as everything has been sorted out, all you have to do is be a good wife and bear him children,” he said this time his tone was calmer and his eyes warm.

“I will do what? What do you mean sorted out?” She asked in disbelief as her eyes widened about to pop out of their sockets.

“You heard me, I can't send you to school for you to become a Nun, I sent you to school so you will bring me money, good money!” He reminded her.

“So you will marry me off to some drug baron?”

“Oh yes I’m going to marry you off to Antonio Ricci so I can pay off all the debts I had incurred over the years, and no more questions”.

She sank into the chair, she was shattered, her whole life plans were in ruins, her eyes lingered on her twin brothers and then on her mother, she sat there helplessly, she was vulnerable, she knew her father’s words to be final and he never made empty threats.

Her mother sat on the arm of the chair as she made to touch her shoulder to console her, but Lerato shoved her hands away and left for her room.

She restlessly paced up and down her tiny bedroom, she had to think of something fast, she had heard a lot about Antonio Ricci even though she had not met him before, he was into drugs, arms, and ammunition, and he had a bad record of being an ex-convict too.

He was certainly not someone she would ever want to live with if she had wanted to be a married woman. At a very tender age, she always envisioned herself in a Nun habit, living the rest of her peaceful life in the convent.

She was still in her thoughts when an idea flashed in her head, yes!!! There it was, all she needed to do. RUN!

The missionaries were talking about taking lost children found in their town back to orphanage homes that would help look after them.

Finally, she concluded she would run that night and follow the trucks to wherever they were taking the children. As long as she will be far from her father and far from Antonio Ricci.

She sprang into action, grabbing a small backpack she used when she was in college, and without looking she stuffed it with as many clothes that were able to fit into the backpack.

She was about to zip it close when her eyes caught a dark figure by the door. It was her mother who stood there looking at her with folded arms and unbothered.

“Mother you won't stop me, I don’t have the time to listen to you”, she said as she continued to struggle with the zip of the backpack.

“I'm not here to stop you Lerato, I'm here to give you some words of advice before you are married off to Antonio Ricci”, she said as she made her way into her room.

“You too mother? You will watch that bloody greedy man of a father marry me off to a man you would never wish for?”, tears rolled down from her eyes as she questioned her.

“You won't talk about your father in such a manner, Lerato!” Her mother warned sternly.

“Would you have preferred Don Lorenzo Romano?”

She looked at her mother in confusion and disgust, as the tears still found their way down her cheeks.

“Exactly!” she exclaimed after seeing her daughter’s expression.

“Who is he?, I've never heard about him before”, she curiously asked.

“The DEVIL himself”. Her mother disclosed, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Your father owes him a lot, it was his money your father used to send you to college and feed your brothers” she continued.

“I don't understand, he is indebted to Don Lorenzo Romano but wants me to marry Antonio Ricci?” She was really confused and couldn't solve the puzzle.

“Don Lorenzo Romano is a brutal Don, he might even kill you at any slightest mistake, your father does not want that, so my dear child, be grateful”, her mother explained, patted her on the shoulder, and made her way out of her bedroom.

Lerato shoved the backpack which rested bloated with clothes on her bed. 

So many thoughts ran through her mind, there certainly must be a connection between Don Lorenzo Romano and Antonio Ricci that her parents were hiding from her, if not what her mother just explained to her made no sense.

She turned and tumbled as her old bed creaked noisily, she was waiting till dusk to strike, delay they say is dangerous. 

This was her only opportunity to make a right turn in her life, thoughts about her twin brothers lingered but you could call her selfish, she vowed that she wouldn't displease herself to please anyone. Never!

It was getting dark and sleep was stealing her away, but she fought it back till she couldn't no more. Finally, gave in and she slept off.

She jerked up when her old alarm clock rang, she picked it up from the bed table and looked at the time it was 3:00 am.

“No, no, this can’t be” She shook her head as she glanced at the alarm clock.

Without wasting time she hurriedly made her way to the wooden windows of her bedroom but they were closed and couldn't open.

With tears already clouding her eyes, she ran to the door to easily but quietly open it and elope as she had planned but it was locked, not from the inside but from the outside.

Dammit! It was him, her father, he knew she had something up her sleeves, she took after his stubbornness, he had locked her inside her room with no means of escape.

She sat helplessly on the cold bare floor, with her head buried on her knees as she cried her eyes out, she just knew that even prayer wouldn't help her out of this misery.

Slowly, sunlight seeped into the room through the cracks in the ceiling of her bedroom, she could hear whispers coming from the living room, she could recognize her father’s voice, he was having a conversation with two other men. 

She strained her ear to listen but barely heard them. She looked through the cracks on the wooden door which stood before her but she saw nothing.

Soon, she heard footsteps approaching her bedroom, she scurried away in fear of being seen, and in seconds the door creaked open and her father came in and dragged her by the same arm as he did the previous day, she protested but it was in vain.

She stood reluctantly in the living room as her eyes wandered around to nothing in particular, she

gasped when she saw her backpack on the chair beside her father. He certainly had sneaked into her room, taken the backpack, and locked her in to wallow in her misery.

Two men dressed in black suits with well-knotted ties and black polished shoes at about the same height and age gap, stood by the door smiling weirdly at her, one of the men held a briefcase, and the other a big brown envelope.

She had seen men like these before at their house but not as well dressed as these men. 

“Is it complete?” She heard her father ask them.

“Yes sir, it is, you can count them”, the man with the briefcase responded.

“I trust Antonio not to cheat me”, her father smiled mischievously.

She was observant enough to see her father use his eyes to gesture to the man with the brown envelope to hand it over to her.

“Father, what is going on here?” She asked, looking at her father suspiciously but her question was ignored.

The man walked towards her and handed her the brown envelope, her eyes wandered suspiciously to her father and then to the men. She was trying to sniff out their motives before she opened the envelope.

“Miss, go ahead”, she heard the man who handed her the envelope said.

The envelope was sealed, but she managed to open it, she pulled out the white paper which it concealed. 

Everywhere was still and quiet as you could even hear a pin drop, she could see the eagerness on their faces, and her father was impatient as he tapped his right foot to no rhythm, she enjoyed the attention she got but she was also curious to unfold the white paper and read it's contents.

Her hands trembled as she held the white paper, beads of perspiration flooded her face, she felt dizzy, and her heart sank immediately after she read the heading of the paper she held in her hands as it read MARRIAGE CONTRACT!!!

After reading the heading of the piece of paper she held in her hands, her heart started racing fast as it burned so badly, she opened her mouth and closed it several times but the words couldn't just come out freely, she was tired of crying but that was the only thing she could do voluntarily at that moment.

Scampering to where her father sat clutching the briefcase to his chest, he looked at her without any atom of emotion.

“I'm your only daughter! Are you really going to marry me off to that man? Please, papa, I'm not asking for too much. I promise to go far away to some convent. I spoke to Sister Maria, they can take me in as a nun” she pleaded, holding onto his legs tightly.

“Lerato, my words are final and you know it, stop wasting your time and sign this contract, I have a business to attend to” This time he was furious and she knew she had no hope of making him change his mind.

The man who gave her the envelope took out a ba