Chapter 40 Misunderstanding
"Livaccari? Aren't they related to the Romanos?" Antonio asks.
"The Livaccari? What do they have to do with Giovanni?" my father asks.
Livaccari is one of the clans under the Romanos reign in the southern territory. They're a small group, around 100 members, but their cruelty is comparable to that of their boss, the Romanos themselves. They've been hunted down by the carabinieri for years, but they always got away thanks to the help from the Romanos. What makes me curious is how Giovanni got in contact with the Livaccari and the Romanos? What did he do to have any connection with the cruellest and most violent mafia in Italy? There's only one thing I can think of right now: Giovanni is involved in the Romanos' money laundering scheme. Alvaro probably uses Giovanni's company to launder his money, and in return, Giovanni gets protection from him.
"I've been doing some digging, and it turns out they've been working together for about a year and a half now," Fabio says.
"We're still not sure what their arrangements are, but the Livaccari has been doing some of his dirty job. The killings and things along those lines," Mariano says.
So I'm not hallucinating when I think their killing method is similar. It's because Giovanni has been working with one of the Romanos clans all this time, and possibly the Romanos as well. How could my father miss such an important detail? I guess his age is catching up with him. Other than that, the deaths of my brothers and mother are probably starting to cloud his judgment as well. He used to plan everything thoroughly before deciding on anything, but lately, it seems like he's been recklessly agreeing to things. One of the proofs is agreeing to partner up with Giovanni before doing a detailed background check on him and his family.
"Fuck. Did I fall into their trap?" my father asks.
"Why didn't you tell me about the partnership? This could've been prevented. I thought we never kept secrets from each other," Fabio says.
"How about you? Don't you have something to say to me as well?" my father says.
Please, father, don't say what I'm thinking right now. Don't mention the name and ruin our plan. If he does it now, our chance to get the secret out of Fabio and his family will perish. If he says anything that might jeopardise our plan, then me, going to the Ricci's house to reveal their secret next week would be in vain. They probably won't let me go near their house anyway, so we'll be absolutely fucked.
"What do you mean?" Fabio asks.
"Something that starts with an N? Does the letter ring a bell?" my father says.
Oh no. Why is he doing this right now? I mean, yes, we need to improvise, but not like this. He's being too straightforward now and literally ruining our plan. Fuck. I need to stop him, or else they'll fight each other right here, right now. And with Giovanni around, we shouldn't bring too much attention to ourselves, or he'll be suspicious of us.
Fabio leans into the table. His eyes widen at the mention of the Nouri. He glances at the back of the room, probably making sure Giovanni isn't paying attention to the argument commencing at our table.
"You mean the Algerians?" Fabio asks in a lower voice tone. "Are you serious? Did you think I've been working with Alvaro all this time? After all these years? We're partners for over ten years, for god's sake. You can't solve your own problem, but you're too proud to ask for any help, so I'm trying to help you. I'm doing it for us."
"Well, pardon me for not trusting you. You've been hiding things from me and acting like everything is fine," my father says.
"And you don't? Do you think I don't know about your plan?" Fabio asks.
"What plan?" my father asks.
Shit. We're so fucking fucked. Does Fabio know that my father and I have been onto him? That we've been spying on him and his family? This is bad. What should we do now?
"Your plan to fight them on your own! Are you insane? He could end you in seconds! Why don't you want me to help you? You should already know by now that I'll help you and your family no matter what," Fabio says.
My eyes skim through the enormous room, and as I expected, pairs of eyes are already fixated on us. In silence, they watch the heated conversation between my father and Fabio. If this keeps going on, everyone in this room will know our secrets by the time they finish arguing. I should stop them before it's too late.
"Father, Mr Ricci, let's not do this right now," I say.
"Yes. Please stop," Antonio says.
Fabio and my father still glare at each other. Their hands are balled into fists, and their jaws clench as they hold in their anger. At this point, I can only hope they still have a bit of control over their emotions to stop themselves from revealing who we truly are in the sea of ordinary people. Other than that, there could be the Romanos' spies around. If they know about our plan, things might go south faster than we expected.
"We'll discuss this later. I have a plan for Gio tonight. Come with us if you want," Fabio says.
"Fine. I'll go with you," my father says.
"Alright," Fabio says.
Silence sweeps through the table, and awkwardness clouds the table. I glance at Valeria, and she only shoots me an awkward smile and shrugs at me. I return the gesture and look at Antonio. With his gaze on mine, Antonio grabs my hand and holds it, giving it a reassuring squeeze. I do the same and then stare at my unfinished meal, poking at the food left on the plate with a fork.
So, it's just a misunderstanding between my father and Fabio all this time. Does this also mean Antonio genuinely likes me? Oh no. This is way more complicated than I thought. How could I break things off with him? I hate to break his heart, but I know that we can't be together anyway. I like Dante more than him. Besides, I won't stay here for the rest of my life. I want to leave. If I marry Antonio, my chance of leaving this life will disappear, and I'll be stuck here forever.
God, please help me. What should I do now?
The rest of the dinner goes awkwardly. Despite our efforts to break the tension between our fathers, I can still feel anger radiating from them. Despite their attempt to seem fine and neutral, the fury in their eyes is proof that their rage towards each other hasn't been resolved. Everyone except our father tries their best to ignore them, but still, the way our fathers stare at each other makes things uncomfortable.
I glance at Dante, and I catch him staring at me once again. He raises his eyebrows, and I only give him a sad smile and a little shrug. Dante's facial expression turns a little sombre as he realises the predicament I'm in. Tired of being in this situation for too long, I think of making an excuse and going home early. I want to rest and rethink everything tomorrow. Now that Fabio has confessed his true intention, I need to think of a new plan to escape the inevitable marriage between Antonio and me.
Before I can say anything, my vision suddenly goes dark.