Chapter 2

GABRIEL

The next morning bright and early, Sal was at my door. I'd been up for some time after hearing someone who I suspect was Ricci outside my door. I'd locked it the night before to avoid a solo meeting with him. I hadn't missed the fact that he kept staring at me the night before or that the only reason he'd kept away was because of the uproar my presence had started in the room of people at the party.

I'm sure he has questions, and now he knows that I know how I came to be; I wonder if he's going to try the same spiel he'd given his father on me. Plus, me meeting this guy alone is not good for anyone or anything at this point. My fight or flight has been on high alert ever since we drove through the gates, and I've never been one to fly.

I'd gone to bed and slept peacefully after making sure the stuff I'd hidden in my luggage hadn't been disturbed. I wouldn't put it past Fabrizio or one of the others to have gone through my stuff. It's their job to look after the old man after all, and a new face, no matter how much like his it is, is still not to be trusted unless they're idiots.

After the disturbance at the door, I'd laid there wide awake, going over my next move and hoping I could get through it all without going off track. Once my mind was under control, I left the bed for the shower in the en suite bathroom and got ready for the day. As I dunked my head under the water, I realized that I was now at the very apex of my scheme.

This is what I'd worked towards for most of my life. Once I walk out those doors into their life, there was no turning back. Sal had already done the groundwork, inviting me in without question, which had been my aim when I accidentally ran into him at that café months earlier.

All the phone calls and little conversations in between had been me ingratiating myself into his life because I knew the kind of man he was. I knew that there was no way he could let his blood disappear from his life once again after finding me. Like the proverb of the lost sheep, he'd do anything, even neglect those he loves, to hold onto the one he'd lost.

The fact that another man had raised me, that I call another family mine, sticks under his old Sicilian craw, something else I'd banked on as well. I know all the buttons to push to get Sal exactly where I wanted him to be, and after last night I'm sure there's no way Ricci could get rid of me.

I need to be this close to carry out most of what I have planned; otherwise, I wouldn't even have bothered. But there's only so much I can do from behind my computer screen without having eyes in the place. Sal's promised tour will give me an idea of the layout of the place, which would be better than the online map I'd spent more than enough time perusing.

Now he stood in the doorway beaming at me as if my being here had given him new life. I'd done my bit in the last year to dig that wedge between him and his son even deeper, wider. Because I couldn't show my hand so soon, I'd used underhanded means and tactics to expose some of Ricci's lesser offenses from behind the scenes. Ricci, I'm sure, is still trying to figure out who has been pulling the strings that have caused him so much trouble lately.

I won't give him any reason to suspect me; why would he? Even my sudden appearance in the midst of his upheaval should be seen as just one more thing that went wrong among all the rest. So, I have to continue with the affable act, especially in front of Sal, who was still, in no uncertain terms, the head of the family.

"Come, it's time for breakfast; you'll meet your brother and sister; they've come back home." I can't wait. I expect the son to be pretty much like his father in temperament and could already write this part of the script; as for the daughter, I'm not sure. She's sort of like the twins at the same age but not quite as mature. So far, all I know about her is the modeling thing and the fact that she's dying to get a nose job.

I let Sal drag me off to yet another side of the palazzo, talking my ear off about all the things he had planned for us to do together. He tried in vain to get me to extend my stay beyond the few days I'd told him I would be here, but I politely refused with the excuse that my family would miss me too much, and of course, there was school. My constant reminders of my family back in the States were nothing more than to eat away at his ingrained Sicilian sense of family and that possessiveness that none of his can escape.

We entered a beautiful room that led out onto an open courtyard where the whole family seemed to have gathered. It looks like mommy and daddy had filled their kids in because they both turned to glare as soon as I walked in with their grandfather.

Jr. kept a scowl on his face, but Natalia gave me a look that made me wonder if anyone had bothered to mention to her that I was her brother by blood. I ignored both and watched as Sal pulled a boss move as he took his seat. "Felice!" He waved her off to another seat, which was one down from his left side at the head of the table.

Martin smirked into his coffee from his place next to his brother, and Felice looked like she wanted to argue but thought better of it when Sal gave her a look that spoke volumes. She grudgingly gave up her seat, which Sal then offered to me, placing me directly across from Ricci, who sat on his right.

Junior piped up, and I'm guessing no one bothered to tell him I spoke the language because he lit into Sal for displacing his mother for the filthy American interloper. Not his exact words, but you get the gist. Sal didn't even answer him, but as if rehearsed, he and Martin began discussing my academic achievements because now, apparently, I was the only one in the family like him, something else my great-grandfather, for whom Sal has great respect, would've been proud of.

I drank my coffee and ignored the girl who was trying to look around her mother at me and her brother, who was pouting like an infant. I'm sure he was uncomfortable, that like his father, he was wondering what my purpose was here and what I planned to take. All of it!

"Niputi, you're not eating, do you not like?"

Treccine, millefoglie, ciambelle and brioche, croissants and cheese danish along with other assorted pastries were on offer, a bit too rich for my blood this early in the day. "This is good!" I saluted him with my cup, but he called the same butler from last night over to the table and ordered him to bring me some fruit.

The tension in the room was palpable as Sal continued fawning over me, and it wasn't just the kids who were staring daggers at me. Felice was so stiff she was in danger of snapping her fork in two, even when Junior sneered about my breakfast choice of fruit which I accepted once it arrived. It looks like his vocabulary is very limited since he kept repeating his infantile insult of calling me a stupid American.

"That's no way to speak of your older brother piccolo fratello." I smiled at him and he …. well, I guess he doesn't like being called little brother, and neither did his mother. Sal patted my hand and smiled at me with pride. I'd accepted my place in the family.

"Later, when we're done here, I take you outside. I have a gift."

"A gift? For me? You didn't need to do that; I'm fine just having met you."

"No-no, this you will like. Do you know cars? You know cars, yes, this, it belonged to my father, he loved his cars, but this one was his favorite; no one else has ever driven it since he left us." Well, that started off a firestorm, even Martin looked a bit taken aback by this largess, and Junior and Ricci were damn near epileptic.

"What kind is it?"

"The Bugatti Type forty-nine, it's a beauty. I keep it well maintained." Well, damn, Pop would be all over that in a heartbeat.

"What year?"

"Nineteen-thirty-three, ah see, I knew you would know. When we're done, you'll go see."

"Let's go now, nannu; I love old cars; they are one of my passions."

I totally ignored all the hubbub, and so did he as we stood to leave the table. This was going even better than I expected this early in the game. My plan to sow discord hadn't needed me to set it off at all; just my presence seems to have been enough to get things rolling.

I know that Sal was doing this in part to get under Ricci's skin and maybe a little bit under Jr.'s, who he's been a bit disappointed in here lately since the younger man has been acting out more and more and becoming more like his wasted space of a father. "It was nice to meet you," I said to Jr. but ignored the girl. If I even thought of getting close to her, the twins would skin her and disown me. I have no intentions of getting close to any of them beyond what I need to bring them down.

I'll be sure to exacerbate the expected rivalry between Jr. and myself each time Sal has a front-row seat to make it easier for him to come to the conclusion that after him, I was the only one suitable to take his place. I don't expect it to be an easy decision, but I'm set to do everything in my power to make it happen.

It's early in the game yet, but if things continue this way, there is no doubt that they will go as I want in due time. It didn't take much thinking to realize that someone like Ricci and his son would feel threatened by me being here. If they weren't such screw-ups, they wouldn't be sweating my presence, and before I leave here, I will make sure to make them even more uncomfortable by my very existence.

Sal walked me out to the multi-car garage with pride, and I had to admire his collection, which was nowhere near Pop's, but it was decent enough. I whistled low and long when I saw the gold and black Bugatti that had been shined to within an inch of its life. It was a beauty, and I exclaimed as such.

"Get in, get in."

"No-no, that's not right; you should give this to one of your sons or your grandson," I said this, of course, because I heard and saw the others coming. But Sal, who was like a kid in a candy store, didn't seem to notice.

"No, you are my first grandson; you've lost so much already, I will make it up. I will make sure you get what is rightfully yours."

"Papa, what're you saying?" Ricci and his wife and kids joined us, all of them looking fit to be tied except the girl who was creeping me the fuck out by now. I have nothing against Ricci's kids per se, beyond the fact that I plan to destroy their lives as they know it, but somebody should've explained to this kid that looking at the man you'd just learned is her brother like that is not the way to go.

I didn't have much time to give to her, though, because of the heated debate that erupted between Sal, Ricci, and Jr. If they were this upset about a car, I can't imagine the hell they're going to give him when they find out what he plans to do with his will. Sal totally ignored Jr., probably because of his latest stunt of skipping school, but he was back to calling Alonzo a disappointment.

That one decided to turn his ire against me like a fire-breathing dragon. "Nannu, I've caused you trouble; I should leave."

"No, niputi, come back here." I kept walking back to the house as he lit into them. He caught up to me in my room where I was packing.

"Gabe, you mustn't do this, don't worry about this; it's family, it is expected. Come with me; I will show you as I promised."

"Are you sure? I don't mean to cause you trouble; it's good enough for me that I met you that I came here to the place my people came from." That last part was the soft touch I used to pierce his heart. He came over and took my hands in his.

"You've done nothing; you're a good boy. Your father, he has guilt; this is why. But you mustn't suffer for this. Ah, I'll show you the Antonelli cottage. Would you like that?"

"Sure!"

"I'm sorry that I haven't been able to find him as yet, but my people are searching everywhere." They'll have to find him in Draco Russo's kitchen, and I don't think anyone wants that.

"I know that you are trying; I appreciate it. It would mean so much to my mother. I just want to give her this, to make up for…."

"To make up for what? What is this you owe?"

"For being born."

That one cut him deep; I saw, and coming on the heels of what just happened out there, I knew what he felt. I played on his sympathies for the rest of the day as he showed me around the palazzo before taking me down the way to show me the little cottage where my mother had grown up.

Emotions overtook me when I saw the place, as I tried to imagine my sophisticated mother living in such a humble abode. I could almost see her here, a young, carefree girl like the twins, like Gia. The tears Sal saw when he turned and looked at me were real.