The bartender set a glass of cognac in front of me. I took a healthy swig and braced myself for it to come back up. Fortunately, it soothed my stomach instead and the warmth spread out through my muscles, acting as an anesthetic for my nerves.
“There. Do you feel better?” Uncle Al patted my hand. He must have seen me relax. I turned to look at him and saw the same green eyes as Dominic and Miranda, only lined with crow’s feet. His skin had an olive complexion, like Dominic’s.
“I do. Thank you.”
“You just sit here. That mess will be cleaned up in no time.” My hands started shaking again and I quickly took another sip. “I’m Dominic’s Uncle, Al Grabano.” He shook my trembling hand.
“I’m Natalie Ross.” It seemed to be an odd time for introductions. He was looking at my profile and I could feel him evaluating my behavior. Now that the initial shock had worn off and the booze had started to kick in I thought I was ready to process the situation, a little bit at a time. “What happened?” I asked, hesitantly.
“I think we better wait for Grant and Dominic to answer your questions.” We sat in silence. The smell of bleach wafted into the room and soon filled it up completely. Scrubbing sounds drifted down the hall and a door slammed a couple of times. The other men in the room carried on their conversations over drinks, oblivious to the activities around them. After the second glass of cognac my stomach burned a little and my eyelids grew heavy. I rested my head against my hand and dozed off.
Chapter 14
Men were arguing and I recognized the voices as I became more coherent. Grant and Dominic were shouting at each other.
“What the fuck were you thinking bringing her here tonight?”
“She needed to know.”
“No she didn’t and even if she did, for her to find out this way? Brilliant fucking plan!”
“Well it’s done. I don’t like keeping secrets from her. She deserves to know who I am.”
“What about my secret, Dom? There you go, always thinking about yourself.”
“Fuck you Grant. Would you have ever told her? ”
“I don’t know - probably not. What’s up with you anyway? Why Natalie? You’ll probably be bored with her in a month, like everyone else you’ve fucked around with.”
“She means a lot to me,” Dominic admitted.
“She’d better, because if you hurt her, I’ll kill you myself.”
“Now, now Grant, don’t go making threats against my nephew.”
Recognizing the gravelly voice of Marco, I tensed up. This statement silenced Grant and the charged atmosphere dissipated.
“I’ll deal with Dominic later, but right now we have a situation. Your sister, as pretty as she may be, has become a fucking liability.”
I fully woke then and opened my eyes. I was curled up on a leather couch and my head was on Dominic’s coat. At first I thought everything had been a bad dream until I smelled the bleach. It cut right through the leather and cologne of Dominic’s jacket. Feeling more alert, I sat up straight and looked around.
We weren’t alone. Uncle Al, Sam the doorman, Dominic’s father, Rico, and Miranda were all in the dimly lit room along with Uncle Marco, Grant and Dom. Some were standing, some were sitting, and all were observing me. When Grant noticed I was awake, he moved closer to Miranda. Dominic sat down next to me and his lap replaced the jacket. He gently stroked my hair.
“Natalie, we need to talk." It was Grant who broke the silence. Miranda touched his arm. He reached over and rested his hand on top of hers and stood up straighter. It was like they drew strength from each other’s presence. “What you saw tonight cannot leave this room.” He glanced over at Uncle Marco, who sat in silence across from the sofa Dominic and I were on. Marco gestured for Grant to continue. “Our lives depend upon it.” I was taken aback at this statement and at the serious expression on Grant’s face.
“Grant, did you kill those men?” He confirmed by nodding his head. I gasped and shrunk back against the sofa. Dominic put his arm around me. I shrugged it off and hissed at him. “You knew about this.”
I looked to Miranda for help. She had her arms crossed in front of her and was eyeing me warily. “What is this? Are you guys like the mafia or something?”
Marco shot a warning look at Grant. I gasped as realization sunk in. George “The Stump”, that guy that was on the news, the mob hit. “Oh my God, this isn’t the first time you’ve killed someone is it?”
Grant flinched slightly at my words before answering carefully, “No it isn’t.”
I stared at my brother as if seeing him for the first time. He had a hard time meeting my eyes. I didn’t know what to say and Grant didn’t seem to either. The room filled with an awkward silence.
Miranda left Grant’s side to sit next to me on the sofa. “Natalie, I know this all must be…overwhelming,” she looked at me, her eyes burning with intensity. “We need to know that we can trust you to keep quiet.”
I repeated Grant’s words in my head. Our lives depend on it. Dominic reached for one of my hands. They had balled up into fists on my lap and he was struggling to wrestle my fingers free. “Nat, please,” he begged. “I can’t lose you.”
“It would be a shame to lose Grant too. He’ll be hard to replace,” Marco threatened. I was running out of time. Of course I was going to keep my mouth shut. That was the smart thing to do when faced with an ultimatum like this. Keep quiet or die? Hmmm let me think… it was a no brainer, but what scared me was what I was agreeing to do. I knew three men were dead, murdered in cold blood by my own brother. I didn’t know the reasons why, I didn’t know if they were bad people who deserved it, but by agreeing to stay quiet their blood would forever be on my hands…and their death scenes would be forever engrained in my memory.
“You can trust me,” my voice quivered and I looked directly at Marco. “You have my word. I won’t turn against my brother, he’s family.” Dominic squeezed my hand. Miranda breathed a sigh of relief and got up to stand next to Grant.
“I told you it would work out,” she whispered in his ear.
Uncle Marco stood up, commanding the room’s attention. “I’m glad to hear that. Just remember if you tell anyone – anyone, both you and your brother are dead,” Uncle Marco warned, his black eyes void of all emotion.
“I understand.”
“Well, now that that’s all cleared up, welcome to the family, doll! You’re going to get to know all of us a lot better.” With a flip of an invisible switch Uncle Marco was jovial. He crossed over to me and yanked me up off the couch. He kissed each cheek before giving me a big hug that lifted me off of my feet. He set me down, grabbing a quick handful of ass and I had to steady myself. Dominic stood up and wrapped his arm around my waist.
“I’ll talk to you later about this,” Marco said to Dominic, then turned around and left the room with Uncle Al and Dom’s dad close behind.
“Nat I am so sorry,” Grant said. His shoulders were tense, like he was carrying the weight of the world.
“How long have you been killing people Grant? Is this a hobby of yours?”
“Not a hobby, a job.”
“Now that I’m involved, I want to know everything.” I looked around the room at Miranda, Grant and finally Dominic. “Everything.”
Dominic nodded, he understood. We had agreed to be honest with each other. I swore to protect his family in order to protect mine, he owed me the truth.
“Let’s go back to my place. We’ll eat some breakfast and talk,” Dominic offered. Grant and Miranda agreed. We stepped out of the room into a small hallway. To the right was a set of stairs that led down a flight. I realized that we had been in the same house the whole time. Just one floor above where the three men had been shot.
The sun had come up while we were cloistered inside and it felt like we were in slow motion as the rush hour traffic buzzed around the Mustang. A million questions raced through my mind. None of these were answered until we were inside Dominic’s condo. We gathere
d around the granite breakfast bar drinking coffee.
“Grant when did you get involved in this shit?”
He set his mug down and paused before answering. “Five years ago. You were a senior in high school.”
“How?”
“Remember that construction job I had over the summer? That was Grabano and Sons.”
“Oh…but that was construction. When did you start blowing people’s heads off?”
Grant inhaled deeply before beginning. “These guys showed up on a job site and Dom’s dad was pissed they were there. It was one of those brutal, muggy July days and tempers were pretty hot. Things started to escalate and one of these guys pulled a gun on Dom’s dad. I didn’t even hesitate and ran up behind the guy and tackled him. The gun skittered across the ground out of reach. Well then his buddy jumps on me and instinct took over. I threw him off, grabbed the gun and turned to see the guy charging at me. I shot him in the chest, point blank, and he crumpled to the ground at my feet.” Grant paused to see how I was handling the story.
Despite the fact that he was describing a murder, I was actually fascinated. My boring, serious, take-the-fun-out-of-everything big brother had a side to him I never knew existed. Grant continued, “Dom’s dad was impressed with how I handled myself. He also liked that I protected him. So, he introduced me to Uncle Marco. Turns out killing people doesn’t really bother me. Plus, the money is really good.”
“Whoa and I thought I was the one keeping secrets from Mom.”
Grant’s mouth twitched. “Yeah, if she only knew,” then he got serious again. “Mom can never know!”
“I know, I know. Geez, calm down.”
Miranda laughed at our exchange. “Grant, I think she gets it.” I regarded Miranda and her poise. She was so petite yet had such a big presence. I could tell she was used to being in charge.
“Where do you fit into all of this Miranda?” I asked, diverting attention away from Grant.
“Well, Marco is my father and he is considered the Boss of the Philly Mob.”
“You’re serious – the mob? For real, like the Godfather?”
“Yes. Dominic and I are part of the next generation. Dominic’s dad, my Uncle Rico, is the underboss. I’m the oldest and have been learning to run the legitimate businesses as is Dominic. Right now we’re focused on Crimson.” At least Dominic hadn’t been lying when he told me he was learning the family business. I just never would have guessed that the family business was the mob. “Apparently, because I’m a woman, I can’t be a ranking member, so Dominic’s next in line. But, we’ll see…if a woman can run for president, than I can run the mafia. “
“Yeah right, like Uncle Marco would let that happen!” Dominic chuckled. “I can hear him now ‘over my dead body…’.”
“That can be arranged,” Miranda said and nudged Grant with her elbow. They all burst out laughing and I stared at them horrified.
Dominic saw my expression and calmed down enough to explain themselves. “It’s mafia humor. Get it?”
“Ha, ha…hilarious,” I said and rubbed my temples, as if massaging the information overload. Dominic leaned over and kissed my forehead. “So why did you kill those guys tonight? What did they do wrong?” My morbid curiosity needed to know.
“A couple of reasons. They owed Marco money and they were telling secrets to the Nucci family,” Grant revealed.
“Who’s the Nucci family?”
“A rival family,” Miranda answered. “They want to control the Philly mob. Technically “The Commission”, which is made up of leaders from the Five Families in NYC, decides who runs the show here, but you have to prove that you’re capable. Our family has been doing a good job, and Uncle Marco has improved relations between the Philly mob and New York, but a rival family can take us out. It’s happened before.”
“It has?”
“About twenty years ago, there was a real war with people getting killed left and right. Scarfo was convicted when his own capo and soldiers ratted him out in a classic example of a total power struggle. The Philly Mob used to have a spot on The Commission, but it was revoked during this time and lasted for close to ten years.”
“The Feds really started cracking down and practically wiped out the mafia…or at least they have the media believing that,” Dominic chimed in. “After the last boss got sent to prison, the Grabano brothers stepped up and helped settle things down. It’s been somewhat peaceful since. We’ve repaired a lot of the damage with the New York families, but it hasn’t been easy.”
I sat in stunned silence processing the brief history. “What’s a capo?”
“A capo is ranked underneath the underboss, sometimes there are more than one.” Dominic laid out the hierarchy for me so I could understand. First there is the boss, who was Marco, and then the underboss, who was Dominic’s dad Rico, Uncle Al was a capo being that he was the youngest of the brothers and Dominic and Grant were considered soldiers.
“So you don’t have to be blood-related to be a soldier?”
“No. If you do good work and play by the rules, you can get promoted fairly quickly. Loyalty goes a long way. That’s how I got here,” Grant answered.
I shook my head, still in disbelief over all that had happened. There was a lot to absorb, but it explained a lot of things; the expensive cars, the beautiful homes and Dominic’s ability to have the ice skating rink opened up after hours for a date. Not to mention the endless stream of cash and the respect Dominic received when we were out. Not just respect, but fear. The same reaction Grant received, although I never really paid much attention until now.
“Do you guys like own the city or something?” I asked.
“Almost. We have a lot of pull and can get things done,” Dominic answered. I shuddered knowing I had just witnessed one of the ways they get things done.
“Where did you guys put those men that Grant…” I couldn’t bring myself to say killed.
“My dad had a crew come and get the bodies. They’re probably already buried underneath several tons of freshly poured concrete at a job site in Wayne.” I stared at Dominic speechless. There really wasn’t anything to say. Those men would probably be on the missing persons list for eternity. Only the Grabano family, Grant, and now me, knew what happened.
Grant and Miranda left after breakfast, but not after my brother made me swear up and down that I was going to be okay.
“Grant, what choice do I have but to be okay with this? I just need some time to process everything.”
“I’m sorry,” he said before he shut the door.
Dominic came up to stand behind me and he rested his head on top of mine. “It really isn’t so bad, Nat. You’ll get used to it. And there are definite advantages.”
“Why didn’t you tell me – I mean this is really who you are?”
“I wanted to tell you right after we spent our first night together, but Grant begged me not to. It’s been killing me, not being able to say anything. Having you there to see it firsthand seemed the best way to tell you. That way you would believe me.”
Remembering the vacant stares of the dead made me shudder again. Dominic leaned in, brushing my hair to the side and kissing my neck.
“Maybe it wasn’t the best way for you to find out, but I’m glad you know,” he said softly in my ear.
“Have you killed people too?”
“Yeah. It goes with the territory.”
I turned around to face him. “How many have you killed?”
“I don’t know, five or six,” he said with a shrug.
“Five or six! How can you be so nonchalant about that?”
“It’s easier not to think about it, I guess.”
“Do you know many people Grant has killed?”
“Dunno…a lot more than me though.”
I couldn’t look him in the eyes and focused on the floor. “I’d like to go home now.”
“What? Why? Don’t you want to talk some more?”
“No. I need to be alone. Please
take me home.”
Dominic backed off and called downstairs to have his car brought around. My head ached with exhaustion and I half dozed on the drive home. Dominic pulled up in front of the building and I leaned over to peck his cheek.
“Hey,” he held my hand, preventing me from getting out of the car. Dramatically different from when Marco did it. “Are we alright?”
I really hadn’t considered how our relationship played out in the scheme of things. How many more secrets did he have? “I just need some time. Give me a few days…I’ll call you.”
Before releasing my hand, he stared at me for a few seconds, as if searching my face for an answer I didn’t know yet. “Okay, but don’t take too long. And remember, don’t tell anyone – not even Chelsea.”
I nodded and got out of the car.
Thank God Chelsea was already at school and the apartment was empty. I really should have been at class too, but knew that was an impossible feat. Instead I took full advantage of having some alone time by immediately falling asleep.
A huge, hulking shadow of a man ran after me with a gun trained on my back. No matter how fast I tried to sprint, my legs moved in slow motion, like I was running through knee deep mud. A loud bang erupted from behind. I screamed and fell forward.
“Nat, Nat wake up!” Chelsea was shaking me and I woke up, still screaming. “Jesus, you scared the shit out of me!”
“I’m sorry,” I murmured, my heart was pounding and my mouth was dry. “I was having a bad dream.”
“I noticed. What was it about?”
“I was being chased. What time is it?” I asked, changing the subject.
“It’s sometime after four. You missed classes again today.”
“I know, but school just wasn’t happening.”
“This isn’t like you Nat. Sleeping all day and missing classes. Do you have to spend every night with Dominic?
“I don’t spend every night…last night was different. What business is it of yours anyway?” I rolled over so my back was to Chelsea. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
The Beautiful People (The New Mafia Trilogy) Page 10
