He freely answers my questions when I ask him just how realistic The Godfather I, II, and III are compared to his real life.
He says some things are spot on and some have artistic license, but two things are always most important. Respect and family, and he’s shown me tremendous amounts of both.
He’s even kept a close eye on my dad and sister back home. I hate to say it, but it was kind of funny when he pulled up a security camera one of his guys installed and I was able to zoom in and see my dad sleeping in the living room with the ballgame on TV and one of his hands down his pants…not in a gross way, it’s just a habit of his when he falls asleep on the couch.
My sister’s been away at summer camp this whole time, and of course Stefano’s been keeping a close eye on her too…or at least one of his guys is.
Part of me thinks he’s paranoid, and a bigger part loves the fact that he’s so protective over not only me, but my entire family.
I know this is just an arrangement, but I can’t help but think about how both of our families might come together, officially, sometime soon.
He is my dad’s friend, and my little sister’s godfather, just like in the movie.
It’s just so strange that I came to live with my dad to get to know him better, to go to college, and now here I am in Italy getting to know his best friend and totally forgetting about the classroom kind of education and only thinking about the real life kind he’s giving me…in and out of the bedroom.
“Prosciutto?” he asks, setting a plate down next to me on the bed and grabbing a slice while he stares at my naked body. I’m doing the same thing, and I can’t help but tease him. “I was thinking about some…salami.”
“Oh yeah?” He stops chewing and winks.
“Yeah, maybe a piece.”
“Why a piece when you can have the whole thing?”
“Even better.”
He grabs a piece of prosciutto, throws it against my breast and it sticks. I laugh, going to peel it off, but he’s on top of me so fast I don’t even know how a guy that big got to be that nimble. “I’ll remove it,” he says, mouthing it and then pulling it away with his teeth.
He holds it up like a cat holds up its catch as he brings his mouth to mine and I take the other end.
We both nibble our way toward the middle, ending in a kiss.
Could life get any better?
CHAPTER 25
Stefano
I’m running out of time…not only to make Sloane realize that this is real and that she’s mine forever, but to find out who killed my parents.
This trip to Italy has been on the calendar for weeks, and I couldn’t change it. I had to bring Sloane but I didn’t want to involve her in any of this. It’s just that this was one of the few times, ever, that all the major Sicilian families would be together and I have to be on high alert tonight, reading people and trying to get clues.
There’s no way that chopper crashed on its on. Someone was behind it and I’m going to find out who…and make them pay.
Pay, not just because of what they did, even though that’s my greatest motivation. But also to pay because now it’s time for me to start my own family, with the woman who’s mine, and I don’t want anyone coming after her or us ever again. I’m going to put my foot down now and end all of this, letting everyone know who’s on top.
My family…and that starts with the woman who will give me my first child, my last, and each and every one in between.
A quote has been running through my mind for the last week. It’s Machiavelli, “The unarmed rich man is the prize of the poor soldier.”
My parents were certainly rich, and unarmed that day. Who was the damn soldier? It must have been someone low on the totem pole, trying to make a name for himself.
“Quiet, please. Quiet,” Giorgio says as he bangs his glass with his spoon. I watch in awe as he takes little Lorenzo’s hand and walks over to my sister before getting down on one knee to propose to her.
What the…?
After all this time now he decides it’s time to claim her? And not only that he’s making a big spectacle out of it in front of the other families. I know why though. He wants to show the two families coming together, or at least that’s how he perceives it. I’ll never see it that way. A real man commits to his woman first, not after she’s had his child.
Giorgio has no balls as far as I’m concerned and I’ve always had a feeling he was involved in this somehow. His actions tonight, making a scene like this when my family is supposedly ‘weak’ and is concentrating more on our U.S. interests than those at home, only reinforces the intent of his actions…or so he thinks.
We’ll never be weak, and once Sloane has our first, second, third, fourth, and fifth children, we’ll be on our way. And five is just the start. I want at least double-digit kids with her. Ten minimum. Hell, I want everything with her, and I’m going to give her everything too…the world on a silver platter.
After the scene dies down Giorgio comes over to me expecting me to congratulate him and welcome him to the family. My sister’s staring at me too, expecting the same but neither of them is going to get it.
“Giorgio, you don’t know my friend Luca, do you?”
“No, I don’t believe we’ve met,” he says, looking away and then down.
“Giorgio, Luca. Luca, Giorgio,” I say and they shake hands a bit uncomfortably.
“Pleasure,” Luca says.
Giorgio turns to me quickly. “So, we’re brothers-in-law now. How ‘bout that?” he says in his best American accent.
“How ‘bout that,” I say, but I’m not referring to his words, but what my eyes just saw.
Luca is a contract killer, a hitman for hire, and no one would know that except the people he’s worked for. The fact that he’s here tonight tells me that he has a target. Someone’s not going to make it out of this party alive. Either that or he’s watching someone for a hit soon.
It’s rare to see Luca, and he’s only called in by the top brass. One because he’s too damn expensive, and two because he’s so good in tight quarters and at events just like this. He can do the job, and more importantly for himself, get out, before being detected. He’s kind of off limits anyway. If someone went after him surely one of the top families would go after his suspected assailant, or killer if they were somehow able to knock him off. It wouldn’t be reasonable to think you could take down the top hitman in the game without serious repercussions.
Regardless, it doesn't matter. Luca’s the best and he’s sent in to take out the best too.
The only question is…who is it?
There’s one thing about Luca that sets him apart. He’s gay and effeminate, and it allows him to seamlessly slide in and out of about any situation because of it. He pretends to be a hairdresser in Milan, but really all that allows him is access to the world’s top models, who often hang out and around the world’s most powerful men. He can gather information about sexual preferences and certain fetishes men have based on the stories from these girls. And of course if one of these top-level guys is secretly, or outwardly, gay…he can make his move. It’s even easier if the guy is in the closet as it allows a private meet-up and then the guy’s never seen or heard from again. Genius.
I’ve got Sloane right on my hip, knowing there are sharks in the water tonight and I’m not turning my back on her for one second.
“Let’s get some air, beautiful,” I say and we leave Giorgio, my sister, and Luca to themselves.
As I walk away I look at the reflection in the big mirror at the event hall where tonight’s festivities are being hosted.
I see the expressions between Luca and Giorgio turn more serious and they talk as if this isn’t the first time they’ve met.
As we step outside, I can’t help but admire my woman. The way the moon reflects off that canary yellow Ferrari Testarossa dress of hers is striking…and it matches her hair color. So young. So innocent. So mine.
“Everything okay? You see
m a bit preoccupied.”
“Just add that to the ever expanding list of things about you.”
“What things?” she says, coming up on her tiptoes with her lips puckered as I lean in and give her a kiss.
“You know me. You can read me. You know me like no other.”
“It’s easy.”
“How? People say I’m impossible to read.”
“Because I know you. And I care…a lot.”
“And I care about you, and that’s why I’m preoccupied.”
“I don’t get it.”
“You will…in time.” I pause. “Excuse me.”
I step to the side and send a text message back to Rocco asking him to see if he can pull the credit card purchases of both Giorgio and Luca the days leading up to my parent’s death.
I return to my woman, chatting for a bit, and feel my phone vibrate in my suit jacket pocket.
It’s a PDF document of their transactions. I split the screen view on my phone and scan both documents simultaneously.
Jackpot!
Charges at the same gas station, not far from the spot of their death just hours before. I knew those bastards were lying about never having met.
I grab Sloane, staring into her eyes.
“Baby, some things are about to go down tonight that I never wanted to expose you to…never wanted you to see, but I don’t have any of my men here to back me up and help out, so I need you close to me.”
“Always. Just tell me how I can help.”
My woman.
Just a few weeks ago she was an eighteen-year-old kid, or at least that’s what most would have thought. Now? She’s my ride or die woman who’s ready to go not only to battle with me, but willing to do whatever it takes to win. For us. For the family we will have.
I grab her face and kiss her possessively before taking her hand.
“Let’s get a double shot of espresso from the bar. It’s going to be a long night, and we’re going to be up late.”
CHAPTER 26
Sloane
Two hours later and the party is still in full swing. Stefano appears relaxed, but I know he’s on edge. He hasn’t told me what’s going on, but I also know I shouldn’t ask. When I need to know he’ll tell me. Until then I just need to be by his side, be his, and make sure everyone knows that…if they don’t already, which I’m sure they do.
Stefano hasn’t been shy with his displays of public affection, claiming me early and often. I love that he’s showing the world who I belong to and vice versa.
Watching other big strong men, powerful men, give Stefano a wide berth makes me feel powerful by association. It’s a crazy rush, and one I don’t want to let go to my head. I’m a humble person, but I’m not going to lie…knowing that people are scared of Stefano means they’ll never try and harm me…I think. I hope.
The party eventually moves into a small auditorium and a man comes out accompanied by a woman. She’s guiding him like he has trouble seeing.
“Do you know who that is?” Stefano whispers into my ear.
“No,” I shake my head.
“Andrea Bocelli. Celine Dion once said that ‘if god would have a singing voice, he must sound a lot like Andrea Bocelli.’”
“Whoa.”
“Just wait until you hear this.”
“You ever seen this guy live?” someone says.
“Luca got me tickets once,” Giorgio says loudly about five feet from us. I feel Stefano’s hand squeeze mine tighter at those words and wonder why. Giorgio’s a bit drunk at this point and seems to be bragging, or at least letting his mouth run, but why not? He did just get engaged hours before. I’m happy for him…and can’t help but wonder if Stefano will be the next in the family to claim his other half.
Mr. Bocelli begins a song that Stefano says is titled “Con te partirò”, and it’s absolutely amazing. Goosebumps cover my arms as his voice rises and when his female companion joins in for some reason I just want to cry. This Italian music is more powerful than anything I’ve ever heard. I may never listen to Katy Perry again.
I look up at Stefano who is staring someone down, but who?
Someone moves through the crowd to the side of us, exiting the auditorium. “Go time,” he says and he leads me from the room.
I hear the heavy footsteps of a man down the hall in front of us, but I can’t make out who he is, even when he turns to duck into the men’s room.
“Put your back to the door and if anyone tries to come in just tell them your baby had an accident and you’ll be right out. Then make the sound of a baby screaming its head off. Understand?”
“Yes,” I say, not about to ask any questions or question my man. I’m both terrified and excited at the same time. I have no idea what’s about to happen, but I know something very, very serious is about to happen and I want to be there to have Stefano’s back.
We enter the men’s room and I hear the sound of someone screwing something onto something else coming from one of the stalls. It’s the sound of metal threads on metal. Is it...a silencer for a weapon?
Stefano nods at the door and moves toward that stall, kicking it open violently and a gunshot sounds and then a pistol slides across the bathroom floor.
My shoulders rise and my entire body goes on alert. Suddenly I feel the pressure of the door on my back.
“My baby pooped himself. Just give me a second.”
“Is everything all right in there?” a man yells through the door. “Yeah, I just tipped over his stroller. Sorry, I’ll be right out.”
Stefano has kicked the door off its hinges and he reaches around it and pulls a man out by his lapels.
Luca.
“Tell me the fucking truth. It was you and Giorgio, wasn’t it?”
“Fuck you!” he says, and spits in Stefano’s face.
I want to run over there and hit him myself for what he just did to Stefano, but I have my own job to do.
“I need to come in,” the man says behind me.
“Shut the fuck up and wait your turn!” I yell, not sure where that violence inside me came from. I guess it’s like what Stefano said one night a few days ago as we laid in bed. We all have violence inside of us…it’s a part of human nature. It’s just how we choose to repress it or express it, that differentiates us.
Well, I guess hanging around Stefano all this time has changed me because I sure expressed it right there.
“Giorgio’s family wanted to kill my parents so they could come after me, and then take over the online gambling I had which they could add to that filthy drug business they’re in, that my family refused to touch. That’s it, isn’t it?”
“Go fuck yourself,” Luca says.
“And then Giorgio hired you tonight to take me out, knowing I’d be upset that he proposed to my sister.”
“You don’t know shit,” he says.
And immediately Stefano’s had enough, putting his hands around Luca’s neck and squeezing.
“Admit it you son of a bitch,” he says.
Luca’s face turns beet red and then his legs start to kick.
I have to turn my head when the heels of his shoes make a staccato sound off the bathroom floor, until finally he goes silent.
“Let me in!” the man yells behind me and begins pushing on the door.
Stefano drops Luca’s lifeless body, grabbing something from his pocket, and then grabs the gun sticking it in his pants.
Quickly he moves toward me and puts his back into the door and the pushing stops, or he just blocks it all.
“Go in the far stall and wait,” he says. “This won’t take long.”
I do as I’m told and suddenly I hear the door spring open.
“It’s occupied,” Stefano growls and no response comes.
I hear footsteps again, but as I look under the stall I can clearly see they’re Stefano’s shoes.
He lifts Luca’s body and then places him in the stall next to me, locks the door, and stands on the toilet before climbing out
and over the top. Thank god we’re in a nice establishment with good construction and thick doors that support his big frame. Then again, how strong must Stefano’s legs be to have kicked in that door?
Dad's Italian Mafia Friend (A Man Who Knows What He Wants Book 109) Page 9
