“How did you figure all of this out? When did you get here?”
“I had a talk with your grandmother, and there’s something else that happened lately, but we’ll get to that in a minute. As to how I got here, once I realized you were planning to come here no matter what, I took a guess that you would use your grandfather’s plane, so I hitched a ride in the cockpit. I’m never gonna leave you alone, son, not ever. You won’t ever have to walk through the fire without me there by your side.”
“Where have you been this whole time?”
“Following you. I have eyes on the palazzo as it looks like that’s where you’d be staying. I followed you to the asylum where Ricci’s wife is being held, and that’s how I gathered that you’re planning to take them out one by one and not in a hail of bullets like I’d feared.”
"I’ll stay here, out of your way while you do what you have to but know that I’m here. Here, take this.”
“What is it?” He reached for the thick manilla envelope.
“It’s the in Salvatore Ricci needs and can’t get.”
“Nana gave it to you.”
“Yes, as leverage. She loves you very much. Once I convinced her that you were planning to harm yourself, she spilled everything. I’m still not sure why you went to your grandmother with this, but you have your reasons. By the way, your Uncle Guy’s people will be on you, and so is Tommy and the crew.”
“You brought the Ninja turtles?”
“Yeah, they’re in a room down the hall.” I looked around the room we were in. “Tell me, son, couldn’t you get a better place? This place is a dump.”
“It’s five hundred Euro a night Pop.”
“Still!” I held off on telling him about Mancini. When I’d landed and let him know that we were here, he’d accepted defeat graciously with high praise for my boy. A man who only just learned about my son had more respect for his intelligence than I’ve ever shown.
I guess I’ve always been too close to the situation but listening to Mancini talk about my kid’s abilities was an eye-opener. I knew the boy was book smart, that he has a mind like no other, but hearing about how that mind works had brought me to a whole other level of understanding.
“So, what do you have planned next?” He didn’t answer for the longest while, but then he did, and I sat there riveted by his every word. “Geez, Gabe, how does your mind work? And where do you get this stuff that you’re using?” He just gave a humph with a slight smirk but did not give an answer, and I did not push. I say it again, the world at large is lucky that I’m taking the family legit. The kid is a born…. something or the other.
LYON
When did I become my parents’ guardian? As we pulled up to the palatial home in Virginia, for lack of a better word, I hopped out of the rental before anyone else could. I wanted to stand in front of my parents, to protect them just in case. But I needn’t have worried. We’d made the decision not to call ahead. I wanted to see their first reaction, not give them time to rehearse, and also, in the off chance that Gia was hiding out here, she wouldn’t have time to run.
Some butler type opened the door, and I tried to imagine the pothead living like this. Ma, I could see and Daniel when I was much younger, but the Daniel today is a hippie-wannabe pothead who wouldn’t fit in. “Jasper, you’re still here with the family?”
“Master Daniel, is that you? And Miss. Elena.” Fuck my life.
The cousin must’ve heard the commotion or more like she’s nosy just like Elena and every doorbell is a dog whistle to come running, and she appeared in the doorway looking and smelling like a million bucks. She took one look at Ma, and I swear about fifty years disappeared from the two women.
They yelled out to one another then mowed down anyone that was in their way to get to each other. They hopped up and down with their arms around each other, crying and wailing for all they were worth. The pothead had a shit-eating grin on his face, sap that he is, and I wasn’t feeling so bad now that things had turned out this way. I’m not gonna have to manure this beautiful place or bring it down brick by brick like I thought I might have to.
For fuck sake! We’ve been here for hours with this shit. First, the two people who helped procreate me had disappeared, and in their place were these two highbrow what the fucks who were sipping tea and eating dainty little cakes that looked like art or some crap. My eyes started to twitch when they started talking about the Frenchman who’d set the family on the course to nobility.