balls to ward off the malocchio. He had so much heat coming for him, though, that even cupping his balls wouldn’t have saved him from the evil eye.
“Sit,” I said, after she had gone. “Let’s talk.”
He moved deeper into the room, a few guys following behind him. They took their seats, and so did my men. Vito, the guy Silvio had appointed his underboss, as if the position was his even after I’d been inaugurated, refused to move his eyes from my face. He was Junior’s godfather.
I took a drink and set it down. “Our meeting is tomorrow. You’re a day early.”
“This is a personal meeting,” he said. “We’ll deal with business tomorrow.”
“Let’s get down to it.”
“I owe you for finding Junior’s wife.”
“No payment needed. I found my wife. The only record of marriage you’ll find for Alcina Maria Parisi is to me. Their sham of a marriage was never legal, nor was it consummated. It was forced, which means it’s void in the eyes of the church—and me.”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “You have proof of this.”
Silvio thought he was slick. Part of the code was that we didn’t mess around with other member’s wives. We didn’t look at them the wrong way. We were never alone with them. We couldn’t even mess around playfully with wives, sisters, or claimed women unless we had honorable intentions.
Silvio thought he had me there, and even if he did—my grandfather would come back to haunt me for this—I would have broken the code for Alcina. The day I told her I would die for her in that pistachio grove, I meant it literally.
I grinned into my glass. “The proof was the loss of your son’s balls. He wanted her. She had a difference of opinion. When he forced the matter, after he beat her, she settled it. The only thing she did wrong was not going for his jugular instead of his balls.”
“No wonder the Scarpones wanted to rid the earth of the Palermos,” he said. “The only thing the Scarpones did wrong was not killing him before he had the chance to procreate. Luna was so in love with him. Stupidly so. I remember.” He touched his temple. “I didn’t know it was him at the time, but I know now. He left her for Maria, a girl from the old country.” He nodded toward the door. “A girl like that one.”
He grinned at me a second later. “Your grandfather didn’t want you looking for the Scarpones because he knew Vittorio Scarpone is still alive.”
Just because you were the smartest man in the room didn’t mean you had to flaunt it. Sometimes it was wise to pretend you were the dumbest. In this instance, it was wise to pretend I was the smartest.
I opened and closed my hands, as if to say, go on.
“You’re still looking for him. Looking to rid the world of all Scarpone blood. And if you’re looking for him, he’s waiting for you.” He shrugged. “He’ll take care of you and make things easier for me. You don’t stand a chance against a ghost.”
I matched his grin. “Bitterness doesn’t suit you, Silvio. What’s done is done. The family voted.”
“The family might have voted, but you’ll have to work to get me into a room with four walls and no way out.”
“I look forward to it,” I said.
He stood, and so did his men. I watched Vito carefully as they made their way toward the door. He walked behind Silvio, and as they reached the door, he did two things at once: he reached inside of his jacket, and he touched Silvio on the shoulder. Before Silvio could react and turn around, Vito put the gun he pulled from underneath his jacket to his best friend’s head and pulled the trigger. It had a silencer, but it couldn’t hide the bloodshed all over the wall and the floor.
Vito tucked the gun back inside of his jacket and turned to me. He took out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his face. Our eyes met and held.
He would pay for this. The commission had ruled that it would be done on our terms, not his. Instead of following orders, Vito was telling me that even if he had to do it, he was going to do his way. Except he did it in a public place, which meant that it could cause trouble for my men and myself. I was the boss of my family, and without