Stolen Secrets

by Cayce Poponea

  “Keep it iced, and call me if you have any vision changes.” Ari nodded her head, reapplying the ice pack to her cheek. I couldn’t be here and not touch her anymore. I needed to find Anthony, yet, I wanted to wrap her in my arms and take all the pain away.

  “Hai visto che ha fatto questo?” My mother approached me. (Did you see who did this?)

  “Sí.” I never removed my eyes from Ari while I answered. (Yes.)

  “Uccidi quel bastardo.” (Kill the bastard.)

  “Quando meno se lo aspetta.” (When he least suspects it.) “Meet me at the warehouse,” I spoke into her receiver when she returned to her call, which I suspected was my father.

  Touching my cheek, she nodded her head. My mother knew what I was about to do, and I knew it wouldn’t be good enough in her eyes. This was the angriest I had ever seen her, which fueled my anger all the more. With one last look at Ari I made my way out of the store and to my car.

  My father pulled up at the same time I did, his phone to his ear, no doubt still listening to my mother. When we entered the warehouse, Demetri was behind his computer typing away on the keyboard, his eyebrows furrowed and his expression pained. The three punks from the surveillance tapes were tied to chairs in the corner. Blood was caked on their faces, two of them with their heads hung, the life mostly gone from their bodies. The third’s eyes grew large and the sound of water hitting the floor echoed while a darkening stain grew on his jeans.

  Marco was in the other corner cleaning his gun, his actions deliberate and calculated. He was a quiet one, yet, a coldblooded killer. His father had handed him over to my uncle after his mother died. He’d been three at the time. Uncle Carmine raised him and taught him what he knew. Marco was skilled with a gun, like it were an extension of his body.

  “Tell me what we have?” My father’s voice echoed off the brick walls, his call with my mom over. His anger matched mine, almost to a boiling point. The screens on the wall came to life with pictures of what looked like Anthony speaking with Alex Gallo. Anthony knew we were watching Alex, and had positioned himself where it was hard to make out his face.

  “Boss, after you sent me the tapes from Dorfman’s I pulled up the security from the other stores in the neighborhood.”

  We watched while different angles of the street filled the screens. I saw when I arrived to pick up Gabby and Ari, dropped them back off, and then my car appearing again much later, when I returned to watch her.

  “I nearly stopped it here when I noticed your car, but I got a phone call before I could stop the tape. Good thing I didn’t,” Demetri commented as a black SUV pulled into the spot I had just vacated. He pressed the tiny remote in his hand and another screen came to life. This time it was focused on the rear of the vehicle. “I ran the license plate. The SUV is registered to one Giani Salluzzo.”

  The only Giani Salluzzo I knew was dead and buried. Anthony still had flowers taken over to her grave every week—daisies. Said they were his wife’s favorite. Nini, as he always referred to her, was the one girl he ever claimed to love. He mentioned her when he had too much to drink, elaborating on how much he still cared about and missed her. He kept no pictures or even his wedding band. I never asked, because frankly, I didn’t give a fuck.

  “These three here confirmed it was Anthony on the video. They were all too eager to talk once Marco began asking questions. They say Anthony has been talking to Alex for a while now, although they had no clue as to his plans. They only knew they were to cause trouble at places he told them to. He told them they were working for the Santos.”

  We looked over at the three again.

  “The girl?” I questioned.

  Demetri’s eyes were filled with frustration and determination. “She’s a shady cunt. Always seems to know where the camera is pointing and avoids having her face on display. None of the hookers we have on the payroll know her.”

  I looked closely at the grainy photo, which consumed the monitor. Her hair was like a curtain concealing her face and her sunglasses were too big to see anything. This bitch had to have a name; she would fuck up, and we would find her.

  “Marco, ask them who this bitch is.” My voice was tight, I wanted answers and I wanted them right now.

  “Second question I asked, Boss. Punks said Anthony called her ‘Babe’ and she called him ‘Tony’. Anthony never allowed them to talk to her, and she was always on her phone, never speaking with them.”

  As I was about to turn away, I noticed my father standing in front of one of the monitors, his feet apart and one of his hands under his chin. His eyes were taking in the scene from the security camera of the store. I joined him, standing beside him as Anthony slammed Dorfman’s face into the counter. Dad’s eyelids narrowed as his eyes flicked back and forth. “Wait, rewind the tape.”

  I turned my attention back to the security feed. “There, stop. Demetri, can you zoom in here?” Dad’s finger pointed to the screen. “Here.” He tapped the screen several times. I hadn’t noticed it the first time I watched; too absorbed in the bitch beating Anthony had delivered to Ari’s face. A collective, “Motherfucker” could be heard around the room as everyone now noticed what I had missed the first time.

  “Son?” my father called for me. “This is your call, she’s your desiderio.”

  Ari was much more than the girl I desired. Just like my father before me, I had fallen in love with a girl who didn’t reciprocate my feelings. I wanted to change that; I would change it, starting now. I turned and faced the men in the room, the inner circle and the men we trusted beyond anything.

  “We tell no one we know what happened.” I looked at each man as I spoke the words, so they knew how serious I was. “We make them think Ari kept it quiet and didn’t report it. We make them believe we are unaware of what they’ve been doing.” I knew my father was watching me, evaluating my every word and move. He had given me all of the tools I needed to lead this Family. Now, I just needed the motivation to take the bull by the horns. Anthony had given me all the motivation and focus I needed.

  “Antonio, call a meeting with Alex. Make him think you’ve changed your mind on making me head of the Family.”

  A sly grin slowly formed on his face, proof he was pleased with my decisions.

  “Make sure everyone, including Anthony, attends.” The more I spoke, the more the plan became firm in my mind. I would handle Anthony and send a clear message to Alex. I was taking the lead in this Family and showing both my father, and Alex, I was ready to take the role. I would also send a clear message to Ari: she could count on me to take care of her and keep her safe. I would make my mother proud of the boy she’d helped to raise into a man.

  “What do you want us to do with these guys?” Marco questioned, still cleaning his gun.

  “We have no use for them, and they spoke far too much to be trusted. Silence them for good.”

  I called my mom and assured her everything would be taken care of. She let me know Ari had been sent upstairs to rest. I couldn’t help driving over and sneaking in the back door, just to see for myself that my Ari was safe.

  When I crawled into my bed later that night, I replayed the tape over and over in my head. The girl was too familiar; something about her screamed ‘I know her from somewhere’. A hard realization hit me. I should never have allowed so many women into my bed. A regret I must live with, because now, the one time I needed to remember a girl, I couldn’t. It would never happen again. The next girl to warm these sheets would be Ari, and I intended to keep it that way until my last breath.

  I found myself sitting across from my father while he placed a call to Alex Gallo. With the call on speaker, I had to bite my tongue while Dad spun his expert web of lies. He told Alex about my lack of devotion to the Family, and how it had spearheaded his decision to discuss a possible combining of resources.

  “Alex, I’m tired of Dominick and his defiance. I’ve given him plenty of opportunities to take the reins and he just doesn’t get it.”

  “Ah
, my old friend, this new generation, they know nothing of our sacrifices. All they know is Facebook and Twitter.” Rolling his eyes, Dad motioned with his closed fist as if he were jacking off.

  “If I had acted like my son is now, my father would have stripped me naked and beat me until I bled to death. The more I think about it, the more I agree with you. Combining our resources would benefit us both.”

  “You know…” He eased back in his chair, left heel planted on the edge of his desk, right crossing at the ankle. “We could make this meeting extra special. I’ve been tossing around the idea of promoting one of my men. Anthony Salluzzo has been taking care of some bullshit for me, watching my assets.”

  Uncle Carmine called me one afternoon and asked me to have coffee with him. I agreed, but only if we could meet at the Greek deli on Ari’s block. He assured me I was doing the right thing, and of his confidence that I would not only keep our Family strong, but would win the heart of the girl who had just walked into the shop across the street.

  “I know calling Stephen was hard for you.” Stephen was a cousin of sorts. Uncle Carmine had fallen hard for a girl right before he’d met my aunt. She was a waitress in a diner located in the neighborhood. It was a quick fling, and he soon found out she was married to a guy who was in the military. She broke it off with Carmine when her husband came back home. Several years later, Carmine had this kid knocking on his door and claiming to be his son. The fling had resulted in a child, a grown man now, who wanted to know where he came from. Stephen’s mother, Emma, had passed away, leaving behind a letter detailing the events surrounding his birth.

  Carmine hadn’t believed it at first, even though Stephen was a younger version of him, but after a blood test proved his paternity, Carmine took him in. Stephen wanted nothing to do with the Family; he preferred to be like the father who’d raised him, so he joined the military. After a few years in the desert he came back and asked Carmine for some help. Carmine took care of him, giving him the name of a hit man we knew.

  Stephen talked with the guy and then started a business of his own. I contacted him to have him watch Ari. Carmine found him lurking on one of the rooftops across the street one evening. It appeared Uncle Carmine had taken a shining to my Ari and had been watching the store, too. He called me when he found Stephen, and I confirmed I had hired him.

  “Nothing is hard when someone you love is involved.” My eyes never left the front of her store.

  She tested every level of patience I had, challenging what I believed I wanted in life outside of my family. What a kick in the balls it would be if I worked hard enough to win the heart of Ari, only to find out I had some child out there I knew nothing about. “Uncle Carm, I’m curious, how did Aunt Corina take the news of Stephen?”

  He glanced in my direction, silently laughing as he raised an eyebrow. “You’ve seen my house, right?” Uncle Carmine had built a massive eight-thousand square foot house in the Hamptons. Aunt Corina loved the slow pace of the resort community. He also had a small apartment near Central Park he used when they visited the City.

  “Yeah, it’s fucking huge.”

  He pointed his index finger at me, his golden wedding ring catching the light from the outside. “Exactly. She told me by the time she finished decorating the house, she would forgive me.” Chuckling, I thought to the last time I’d visited Aunt Corina in the Hamptons. She had just started a project in one of her guest bedrooms.

  Climbing up the back steps, I announced my presence before handing Stephen double his rate, to make certain nothing happened to Ari while we had our meeting. He thanked me and said my uncle had also given him money. My family’s actions were solidifying that I was doing the right thing today.

  “You know this entire situation reminds me of when Alex’s son turned up dead in his apartment.” Daunte Gallo had been Alex’s only son, and he’d had to bail the kid out of sticky situations many times. Like yours truly, he’d loved women. Unlike me, he’d also liked to cheat and steal from whomever, wherever he could.

  It had been one of the coldest months in New York history when it happened. The tenants of a downtown high-rise were complaining to their super about the heating unit not working. The super hired a heating repair company to come out. What they found was Daunte Gallo’s naked dead body, stuck inside one of the heating units. It seemed he pissed someone off, considering they tried to use the blades of the motor to tear him apart. Alex was quick to accuse me, hiring some top-notched DNA expert to investigate the crime scene. The DNA they were able to obtain was a slight variation of Daunte’s. With Alex having two children, his daughter was sampled as well, but cleared as not a match for the DNA. In the end, his death was ruled an accident. Why he was on the rooftop naked, in below zero temperatures remains a mystery to this day.

  Last time a meeting like this was called, I was seventeen and scared shitless of the men in the room. Years of watching, learning, and listening, made me into the man I am today. I remember thinking my father was the toughest man in the entire world while he stood addressing the room full of powerful men. Watching several heads nod in agreement with whatever he would say, and how they followed him based on his word was an experience.

  “As members of our respective Families, you all understand the importance of honoring the code,” my father began.

  A grown man now, I found myself still holding the same admiration for him. He could command a room like a general leading his troops. Keeping the level of fear in an even balance with their respect. “Just as pirates of long ago, we have rules, and when these rules are broken, it’s our responsibility as leaders to punish the offenders.”

  My father decided to add me to his ranks when I was nineteen. At the time I’d assumed I would automatically sit at his side, working as he did, but he’d had other plans. My first year was spent in the trenches collecting money, moving property, and handling people who got in our way. When he was satisfied with the dirt on my hands, he’d called me into this very warehouse. When I walked in, Uncle Carmine came up behind me and sucker punched me to the floor. Then, as I tried to get to my feet, I was shoved into a chair and my shirt ripped open. Not once did I flinch, cry out, or move a muscle as the heated metal burned my flesh. I did lock eyes with my father while a gamut of emotions swirled in his reflection. Every man who’d entered this Family as a Made Man had taken the same journey. The ring my father used had been forged in Sicily by a blacksmith. He’d made it to look like an ordinary gold ring, but the metal used could withstand high heat. Other Families, like the Gallo’s, often branded the back of a hand or the side of the neck. Our Family had the brand on the juncture of our neck, hidden by a shirt unless one had reason to prove who they were. The Santos’s had no reason to boast of who we were, though; our reputation was our calling card.

  Taking a glance over at Anthony, he looked like a faded tacky doll on the dash of an old car, bobbing his head in agreement. In a matter of minutes, that head will not be as agreeable, I thought.

  “Today, we find ourselves needing to uphold the oath we all swore to keep.”

  Alex wore a sinister yet amused look on his face. Oh, how that look would change when the truth of why we were really here came out.

  My father’d told me over and over that if I ever failed him, he would have to do something, which would kill him. I’d sworn to him, more than once, I would never betray him. To kill one’s own child would go against every instinct a man had, yet, as the Family leader, my father would have no choice.

  Though I’d once considered Anthony to be in my inner circle, he’d had yet to be branded as a Made Man. I knew him well enough to know his heart was racing with anticipation waiting for my father to take out the ring, hold it under a flame, and welcome him into the Family. The wooden box in which it had rested for nearly fifty years sat to my father’s right, on the table, the lid open with the ring in full view.

  Anthony’s heart was racing, the moisture on his upper lip giving him away. Ignoring the guaranteed pain to
come, I chose to concentrate on the power his marred skin would bring. He would feel the burn on his skin tonight, just not the way he envisioned.

  “Anthony,” my father called out, motioning for the traitor to stand.

  The son-of-a-bitch thought he was being placed in a higher position, and he was correct, to an extent.

  “You’ve shown your loyalty to this Family, performing tasks you may have felt beneath you, but you carried them out regardless.” My father played his part so well, even wrapping his arm around Anthony’s shoulders and giving him a tight hug.

  “It’s been my honor, sir.”

  My father turned toward Alex Gallo, whose eyes gleamed with delight. Dad had convinced Alex this was going his way, the anticipation in his face clear with the pride nearly bursting at the seams of his knock-off suit.

  Rising from my chair, I approached quietly to stand behind Anthony.

  “You’ve been busy my friend.” My words were clear, echoing off the brick walls surrounding us. Walls known for keeping the secrets we shared in this room. Some spoken about love and the women we gave it to, while other times the bloodshed which must happen in order for this Family to survive.

  With my eyes fixed on the back of Anthony’s head I motioned to Marco, who was standing against the far wall. A large white screen descended from the high ceiling covering the red brick in its path. My attention never left the man who had betrayed me. The room was quiet as an empty church; only the sounds of Demetri’s fingers tapping out commands on his keyboard could be heard. The lights dimmed and the white screen came to life.

  “Tell me this isn’t you talking with several of Alex’s men, paying them for services my father didn’t ask for.”

  Alex Gallo looked like he had consumed some bad shellfish at a discount buffet as he whispered into the ear of the guard behind him. The picture changed to another photo of Anthony and Alex talking and smoking weed while girls danced around them.