I hang up, handing the phone to the man behind the counter, sitting on a stool, his feet dangling in awkward silence.
"So when are you going to karaoke again?" - I look away from the door.
“One of these days,” Tip responds, understanding the explicit curiosity in his gaze.
The man with a military cut finally sits next to the blonde, I hear a sound from the stairs looking up I see a beautiful woman with a sculptural body totally different from mine, full of volumes, a pure Italian. She looks like a model and glares at me, wearing leather pants and a tiny top, her eyes light blue. Coming towards me at the bottom of the steps I notice Tip's movement tense up, which only piques my curiosity, as soon as the woman stops almost entering my personal space I hear the first honk and I quickly climb down from the bench.
- Bye guys. - I talk fast, almost running out.
Outside, I see the silver Volvo parked in front of the building, I let out a few curses when I feel the hot pavement, I look behind the car, making sure it's not with a soldier opening the door all at once.
Through the dark window I see Tip's eyes watching the car, I breathe a sigh of relief remembering the cold plate.
The car starts to move and I finally look at my brother with a frown.
“What the fuck did you do? - White fingers gripping the steering wheel.
— Relax, just what is necessary - The car gives a jolt - At least it drives as if nothing happened, let's take a walk around the city we need to talk.
“Kind of hard to ignore,” he replies.
We stand in silence across the boundaries of Fort George, across the Upper East Level, the scenery in the window changing with the huge concrete jungle buildings.
Lots of people on the streets, the sky unexpectedly clear, the streets start to get jammed.
- Right. – I turn watching Giácomo with his hands on the steering wheel, analyzing me with the red light. — What does necessary mean?
“Blood Angel's is supplying weapons to another family in NY. – I answer, turning to look at people through the window.
— Cazzo - The car moves slowly through traffic again — Sorella, per Dio we can organize something to find out, you don't have to risk it like that.
“I've got it. - I sigh, adjusting myself in the passenger seat feeling an uncomfortable twinge, I end up smiling. “At least I had fun, fratello. Besides, it was just one night. - I say still not looking at him.
— Hmmffff… doesn't look like it — I hear her sigh — Katarina told me what happened at the bar.
“Business is business, fratello.
— You're not a business, don't do to him what Stefano did to his soft heart. - I feel the weight of your words making a tangle inside my head.
All night with the man and not a moment I stopped to remember the problems out of that bed, in the consequences of moving some parts using him.
Bahhhhhh he even said he wanted a night to kill at will, we had one night solved the problem.
— Container 105, I think it should be in port by now, let's try to move some favors to find out who it belongs to. I believe it belongs to the De Angelis considering that they will be moving the other cargo in a container. – Change the subject.
He grips the steering wheel and I understand the concern, being engaged to Giullia and at the same time knowing that the 'future brothers-in-law' are trafficking girls without the slightest respect for mafia laws.
— Taking advantage of the change of subject, I spoke with Sartori about the marriage. – Sighs- In fifteen days.
Cazzo, I lift my legs, placing my feet on the panel.
— Bernardi was going to give his daughter a trip as a birthday present, I convinced him to have a party on Sunday. - I see the victorious smile.
— Great, we'll only need a few hours — I run my hands through my hair — And Giullia?
“We have lunch today, but I'll arrange for it to be in the office so I'm free from her brothers' soldiers.
I wave back to the car window, on a corner a mother in a red dress tries to comfort the bambino who dropped the donut on the floor. The boy in a pink-cheeked baby outfit fills my chest with pain.
— What the fuck Beatrice – I jump on the bench with the scream turning to Giacomo — Cazzo what the hell was in your head to go out with that biker without shoes?!
The shock of the exasperated reaction makes me look back down at my bare feet, I remember the man so gross wiping them with a soft towel filling my legs with kisses and bites.
The surprise at seeing him at the door of the apartment wearing a tight shirt highlighting all his muscles, the cute way he carried me up the stairs of the club without caring about anyone's gaze.
I shift restlessly feeling a heat and am amazed at my brother's laughter when he stops at another light. Unable to contain myself, I start laughing with him until my stomach hurts.
- You turned red, Sorella - He accuses smiling still. "Did he treat you well?"
— Yes, Giacomo — Sigh — Jack coming? - I change the subject again.
“Jack is giving me a headache.
- As?
— Sartori asked if he would be the next to marry — He stops making a turn entering university ave — Now the Don's wife every time she sees me keeps talking about the possibilities and Sartori says his attitudes don't seem like a man who wants marry.
I roll my eyes at the couple's hypocritical conservatism, though we don't need Don watching either of them. I already knew my brother's reaction to the wedding, it's a shame he has such a meticulous sister.
“And Hunter is weird. - She continues.
- What?! - I'm exasperated with the ability of the three of them to give work at the same time, at least I know that Giacomo will spend a busy time with the bride.
— He took three days to come back from the apartment when you left, disappears and appears out of nowhere.
I watch the trucks on the busy highway trying to align the thought makes no sense, Hunter is the most taciturn and he really loves to keep his tastes hidden what doesn't fit is he leaves Giacomo alone without giving any news.
"Fine, try to control Jack until your wedding while I'll deal with Hunter." – We agreed, returning to a silence.
I always had this facility in having a comfortable and understanding silence with Giacomo, inside the house my fratello was always my safe haven even more than my own twin. Papa said that we were halves of the same coin and that Katarina and Hunter were the other side of the coin without leaving Jackson out, he was responsible for protecting the coin, his problem is choosing the worst moments to drop the coin on the table and walk out.
— You know, bambina, more than revenge I would like to see you happy. - He breaks the silence as soon as we return to a busy street.
- Fratello, my late husband made a point of killing any feeling close to this - I sigh, lowering my legs and sitting sideways on the bench. “I'll only have anything like happiness when I'm with my bambinos.
Giacomo stops the car in the middle of the avenue doing and several horns sounded behind the car I look through the windshield and smile at the red light. I take his hand, squeezing it and bringing it to my face like we always did when we told each other a secret.
“Stefano used me as a fratello whore. - The light turns and my brother pulls his hand at once accelerating the car.
I wait for him to assuage his rage by driving furiously through the busy streets, his white fingers pressed hard against the steering wheel. I watch the residential landscape change to buildings again recognizing the building he bought when he decided to move out of the mansion. The tire makes a screeching sound with the movement of the curve entering the basement of the building, he stops the car in a farther space, snorting like a bull, his hands shaking.
I reach out, pulling his right hand away again, meeting his gaze of pain drowned in guilt.
- You had no way of knowing Gia - I called him by the nickname I gave him in childhood.
— I should have known, Cazzo — He yells, hitting the steering wheel. - Don't ever say it's not my fault because if there's anyone to blame, it's me for putting you in that hell.
I sigh knowing I'm not going to win the argument.
- You have nephews - I say with a smile, lifting my head leaning on the steering wheel to the side, tormented eyes searching for any sign of lying like Papa taught. “A boy and a girl, fratello twins.
I feel a tightness in my chest remembering how far I am from them.
“Tell me the whole story, Sorella. – I grimace at the request, he takes my left hand and places it over his beard – Or a part of it.
Caressing my older brother's face, the man who insisted on holding my hand and teaching me to walk, could have lost my mother at birth and not even have many memories of my father. But Giacomo, my Gia, made a point of teaching everything Mom taught us about keeping the family together, how our father managed to sustain lies, and how our mother was the only one to find out.