Page 78 of Forbidden Pregnancy
Ian surely heard rumors about his uncle’s role in the mob and the type of work that happens under the cover of darkness. But I’m not likely to take someone untested out on a serious job.It’s not just about the financial potential. You have to really trust somebody for them to join you on a job like that.
Dad is already halfway through a bottle of wine when I seat myself at his table. Ian pours my glass all the way to the top as I sit down and I start drinking immediately before dad can even start talking.
“I heard you had a productive meeting with your Uncle Pino half a year ago.”
“He hired me for a private job.”
“Pissed off Luigi really bad,” dad says, taking another sip of wine and staring at me to gauge my reactions.
Why should I let my brother’s moods bother me? I understand his “circumstances” with Delphine were forced upon him, but Michaelchoseto lay with Myra and get her pregnant. His father made himself quite clear about where he stood in the long run.
“It all worked out in the end, no?”
“Sure it did,” dad says. “Sure. But the entire situation got me thinking about you and your brother.”
“I think we’re both adjusting to life on this side of the Atlantic.”
“Clearly,” dad says.
He’s done with his wine. Ian hasn’t returned to take the order, leaving me vulnerable to my father’s next attack. I’m careful not to look too suspiciously concerned, but I have noticed that my twin brother Gino didn’t receive an invitation to dinner.
My father and I remain in a silent stand-off with each other for almost a minute before he breaks the silence first.
“I don’t like Pino using my sons for his personal matters. If you need money, you should come to me, not your uncle.”
“It’s not that Ineedit, dad. I want it. It costs money, especially now that I’m dating.”
“Who are you dating?” Dad responds with unfair skepticism.
“A few girls. Nobody special.”
“If you had somebody special, you wouldn’t have time on your hands to piss off Michael Corsini. I understand your loyalty, Renzo but when I’m gone and Pino’s gone, you boys will only have each other and your memories of way back when.”
“I don’t have any responsibility towards Mikey.”
He’s not the boss or the underboss and if he ever sits at my brother Luigi’s right hand, I’ll consider it a personal failure on my part. Just because he’s older than I am doesn’t make him more deserving of a position which would be better off held within my family.
“You don’t,” my father replies calmly. “That’s correct. But when I’m not here to protect you or guide you, all he’ll have is this memory of how you hurt the woman he loved. You don’t touch another man’s woman.”
I’m not stupid enough to bring up Mikey’s transgressions here. My father knows and doesn’t care. It’s my behavior he has a problem with. Ian chooses this moment to take our orders. Dad orders the chef’s special – a lemon-roasted salmon dish with risotto – for both of us. Ian leaves, and dad watches me to observe how I’m absorbing his message.
“I’ll keep out of Mikey’s way. I’ll even do him a favor if that helps.”
“Very good,” Dad says. “But it’s not enough. You’re expressing a need for more responsibility.”
Is that really what he thinks, or is this a mental game on my father’s part. My biggest responsibility right now is making this man happy.
“Anything you need,” I answer him, finishing off the bottle of wine and silently praying to myself that my father orders another one. This is definitely a set up and I worry that this might be worse than I thought considering the price point of this restaurant.
“I need you to take custody of your sister.”
“Angela?”
I thought Angela ran away with that dancer named Devin. She incinerated her value with that divorce.
“My precious Nicoletta.”
My body stiffens nervously. Nicoletta? My father must be joking. I don’t get along with Nicoletta. We’ve never gotten along. She’s closer to Gino than she is to me. It’s always been this way. Nicoletta is the furthest thing from “precious”, despite my father’s fondness for her. She’s a demon disguised as a 110lb Italian woman.
