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.