Sophia a serial by Cynthia Piramalli

Most people assume that the greatest of gangsters are male, particularly within organized crime. But in this story, a family business becomes a magnet for the lead patriarch's daughter, leading to a tale that gives new meaning to the phrase, "equal opportunity."

The Family - Palmero Tremarchi, a heavy set man in his late forties, sat behind a modest desk in his office above the butchery. The smell of dead meat and dry ice rarely permeated the sizable room, thanks to the extra insulation he had put in. Not that he hated the smell, but to have to put up with it all day would get a bit much. 

not a butcher - Palmero’s laughter stopped as soon as Sophia raised an eyebrow. Surely she didn’t mean what he thought she did. How could she know? He had kept it hidden from his kids since they were born.

The Tremarchi family - The Tremarchi family sat around the dinner table together for the first time in a long while. With Sophia home from university for good at last, her mother Catherine finally felt whole again. It was stupid, she knew, but she couldn’t help feeling alive again after three years.

here’s the deal - Sophia sat in the same chair that she had yesterday, but this time it felt different. Everything smelt and seemed different somehow. And yet it seemed right, too. She smiled at herself with satisfaction and looked around the office as she waited for her father.

I’m Palmero’s daughter - Sophia sat with her new ‘boss,’ Benny, at an outside table at a café not too far away from her father’s butcher shop. He drank a short black, while she sipped on a Coke—the first sign of the river between their mentalities. Benny sat with his shoulders hunched and his eyes flitting about, as if he were expecting a punch to come from somewhere at any moment.

Day Twenty Seven - Sophia didn’t feel like she was in the Mafia. She didn’t feel like she was doing anything at all. Day after day since she had joined her father’s organization, she had sat behind a desk pretending to be an analyst’s assistant in a trade office she didn’t want to be in. 

the meeting point - Sophia couldn’t put into words how relieved she was to be out of that pretend secretary job on a daily basis. Now she worked out of her father’s office over the butcher store like everyone else in the organization. Now and then she checked in at her ‘cover job’, but most days she was with the rest of the guys.

Who the hell are you? - Sophia did as she was told. It was hard not to with a gun at her head. She sat up straight, looked right ahead and stayed dead quiet, which was better than being just plain dead. Though she felt she was going to be that way in a minute, no matter what she did.

Drop your gun - The stranger in her car froze when he realized that Sophia had him, her gun pointed up against his head in almost the exact position as he had done to her not a few minutes ago.

Benny’s right hand - They all knew her now. Killing Paolo Salvatore, albeit by accident, had put her in the ‘known and dangerous’ list among the other Families as well as her own. Her whole destiny within her father’s organization had changed in that one split second.

And then there was Jonathon - I knew you’d be moving out when you got back from uni and got yourself settled with a job, but I’m just not prepared for it.

Twelve hours later - There was nothing in the world greater than this. When Jonathon’s hands were on her, there was nothing else. She felt so free, especially now that they could be alone in her new place. They could just be together for as long as they liked until life intervened.

Can I ask who the father is? - 'You’re absolutely sure?' Benny asked quietly.' 'Yes.' Sophia replied, keeping her eyes in her coffee rather than looking at his face.

And so the decision was made - And so the decision was made. One that Benny did not agree with, and one that she had made in the worst state of her life. But it was all she could do for the moment. As a good Catholic girl, she couldn’t have an abortion. She couldn’t have a baby out of wedlock either, but what do you do when you have no choice?

She’s gonna be okay - Palmero Tremarchi ran through the lobby of the hospital. He had been here plenty of times for ‘work reasons’, but this was much different.

He was a cop - Palmero fumed silently in a chair in the corner of the hospital room. This was all too much for him to take in one day, and the vein in his neck throbbed faster as his blood pressure increased.

Twenty percent - Little Jonny sat in the middle of the living room at the Palmero family home, clumsily picking up and throwing his cushioned blocks. He was growing up fast; in a couple more months he would start chattering small words, standing and walking.

Family Problems - It wasn’t very often that everyone from the Family was in Palmero’s office all at once. Even the lower soldiers were here, and that wasn’t a good sign. There was trouble, and when there was trouble in a business like this, it didn’t mean layoffs or pay cuts. It meant your life. Everyone in the room was nervous to some degree

The vacuum of silence - Palmero Tremarchi sat behind his desk in his office above the butcher shop. He was alone and needed it to be that way for the moment. People had come and gone all day; all saying the same, all feeling the same. 

It was dark - Little Jonny sat in the middle of the living room at the Palmero family home, picking up and throwing his cushioned blocks a little more confidently than before. He was growing up fast, and in as little as a couple more weeks he could start chattering small words, standing and walking.