How Lilies turn Black - Chapter 4

“You, you… have you gone mad? What do you think you’re doing?!”

Her coworkers, sensing the commotion, rushed over. After a quick exchange of glances, one of them calmed Betty down, while the other took Lilia outside.

“Haha… Lilia, are you okay? Betty was a bit harsh, wasn’t she?”

Lilia didn’t answer, knowing what would follow, even if it was for her own good.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure she didn’t mean any harm, she’s just sensitive today. Lilia, you have to understand.”

Yeah, that one. I shouldn’t have been surprised.

People are always dying for Betty Bailey.

Well, it’s not that I don’t get it, because if she’s bossing them around, there’s no way a performance team of just three people are going to work.

“Still, I’ll say it right away. I’m feeling particularly sensitive today… I remember when she used to grind me to a pulp.”

Lilia paused and searched her memory.

‘If he’s freaking out, it must have happened a few weeks ago.’

I desperately looked for a new job, but I left less than two months after it happened.

The event that caused the uproar… was the one that proved Lilia to be more than a maid.

Betty forgot about the performance and never showed up. When I called her, she didn’t answer, and when I went to her apartment, she wasn’t there.

‘I found out later that she’d been out drinking the night before and passed out in a bar.’ 

In any case, we couldn’t cancel the show. The contract was with one of the best places in Demercy, the famous Poplar restaurant. If we did not perform, word would spread throughout the Demercy establishment.

“What can we do? We can’t even get a singer right away.”

“What about just us?”

“No, we can’t. It’s part of the contract, and we can’t be without a singer.”

That’s when Lilia cautiously stepped forward.

“Do you think I could do it?”

“You? You’re going to sing?”

She wasn’t sure she could be as good as Betty. Even in a small performance team, she was good enough to get offers from several places.

“Sure, I’m not as good as Betty, but… I’m sure I can do it. If you don’t mind, you could at least listen.”

“Mmm…”

They had Lilia do a short song, and as soon as it was over, they didn’t hesitate to put her on stage.

Lilia’s eyes suddenly filled with wistfulness as she reflected on the past.

‘Looking back… if I had to pick one moment in my 35 years of life that was exhilarating, it would be that one moment.’

But little did I know that it would be the beginning of my trials.

If Betty hadn’t made me hate the whole idea of performing in public with a vengeance, I don’t know how many years I would have spent as an amateur singer like her.

“Hey, come on in and help me change!”

Betty’s irritated voice came from the waiting room, impatiently looking for Lilia again.

Lilia wiped the tears from her eyes and smiled bitterly.

As she turned to head back to the room, the man grabbed her and begged her one last time.

“Don’t be too hard on her. Betty’s got a childish side, and she needs you to take care of her.”

He smiled at Lilia, a crooked smile that looked like a request. Regrettably, she didn’t feel like returning it, or even answering.

She brushed past him without a word and went into the dressing room in the corner of the waiting room.

Betty was waiting for Lilia, staring at her red-painted nails. She held up the dress with a haughty glare.

“What are you doing? Get me dressed.”

Of course not. I’m going to have to make her do all the dirty jobs I could think of to loosen her gut.

‘I’m nine years older than her… so technically, she’s younger than me, and I’m being mistreated.’ 

The situation was so ludicrous that she wasn’t even angry. Lilia didn’t know what to do, so she picked up the dress.

Of course, even if she complied, Betty wasn’t the kind of person who kept her mouth shut. The whole time she was getting dressed, her nagging and quizzical remarks poured in.

“Why did you buy something so hard to put on and take off? It looks pretty, but it’s always uncomfortable.”

“…”

“You don’t know because you never wear these things.”

Lilia avoided friction by not talking back at all, which apparently didn’t sit well with the great Betty Bailey.

“Hey, why do you keep ignoring me after what you said earlier? Don’t you even understand what people say?”

At this point, I wasn’t even sure if keeping my mouth shut was the best option.

‘This is why I left the theater industry and never looked back.’

A sudden rush of impatience washed over me, and I couldn’t hold back the words in my throat.

“Betty, why don’t you treat me like a person, so I’ll treat you like one?”

“What?”

“Liliana, not ‘hey‘. That’s my name, in case you’ve forgotten with all the yelling.”

“I don’t even know your name—”

Betty rolled her eyes and turned away, but Lilia grabbed her shoulder.

“Stand up straight, will you, because I need to zip up the zipper.”

Once the words were out, there was no stopping her.

“And be polite when you ask for a favor. Say, thank you when someone does you a favor. It’s polite, and I don’t think you’re young enough for me to teach you all this stuff…”

Zip!

The zipper went up, and the dress was finished. But Betty didn’t look back, only her shoulders shook slightly.

“…”

The trembling intensified, and Betty finally turned to face Lilia, her face flushed.

“Are you… are you crazy?”

“I’m not crazy, Betty. I’m sane.”

I’d been forced to play along until I found another job… but now I didn’t have to.

‘I wasn’t sure when to tell you this, but… It’s a good thing.’

Lilia said, turning to face Betty.

“Just so you know, I’m quitting today.”

I made the decision when I left the apartment to leave for work. I have more important things to do than this crap.

✨

The next day was November 5th.

Lilia stood in the center of her small room and scratched the tip of her chin.

She stared at the shopping bags she’d thrown on the floor last night without organizing them. Betty’s dresses were still inside.

‘What am I going to do with this?’

Lilia had brought all of Betty’s outfits back home from the hotel the day before. Betty had made her buy them at her own expense, so it was only fair that she should keep them.

She hadn’t brought them because she wanted to wear them, they were meant to be disgusting, a sign to say screw her.

But it might be useful in some unexpected ways.

‘I was thinking of going to Benedetti’s place… Perhaps I can wear it then.’

Lilia knew the modest clothes hanging in her closet would be inappropriate for the occasion, so these colorful dresses that reflected Betty’s taste would be perfect.

She rummaged through them and thought about her plan.

The night before, she had been thinking. How could she take on the might of the Mafia as a young woman with nothing to her name?

‘If I were Liliana Moretti in 1961, it would have been impossible…’

But if I was the Liliana Moretti of 1970, it might be possible. More than anything else, I had a weapon to threaten them with.

A weapon that would reveal so much about the Benedetti family, so much about the next nine years that even they themselves would not know.

‘What if I hid that weapon and helped the Benedetti family in any way I could? There’s no better way to get closer.’ 

Although she could already imagine it wouldn’t be easy. Lilia had no history with them, and the mafia itself doesn’t allow women in its ranks.

But just because it was difficult didn’t mean she couldn’t try.

‘If I do it right, I might be able to lurk in the shadows and sneak into a position of influence.’

Besides, she was born in Pavona. The very island where the Mafia was founded.

Being from Pavona had never made much of a difference in her life, but it was certainly a good thing, at least as far as the Mafia was concerned.

‘I’ve got quite a few weapons, you could say I’m lucky.’ 

If all goes according to plan, she should be able to use her well-established position to take on the Corella family. With the right excuse for business expansion, it’s not impossible.

The epic downfall of the Benedetti family was next.

‘This won’t take long.’ 

It’s about four years from now that Wayne joins Benedetti’s side as an undercover agent.

By then, the goal was to move aggressively and finish the job, which would eliminate any reason for Wayne to work undercover.

‘Wayne, just wait three years.’

That’s when we’d meet again.

As people who are completely free from the dark shadows of the Mafia, as ordinary people with nothing threatening their lives.

And so starts the unfinished story of their past lives, rewriting it from the beginning.

‘It’s okay if you don’t remember me.’ 

Because the two of them would meet again and love each other just the same.

Lilia could still picture Wayne’s eyes looking at her. Even if he hadn’t uttered the word, his eyes were filled with love.

‘I believe you, Wayne.’

It was the source of her courage and strength to enter the great fight ahead. So there was nothing for Lilia to fear.