Page 42 of Tito
“But we know who would, don’t we?” Romeo asked him.
“Who?” Tommaso asked.
“My father, Stephano,” Romeo replied.
“Stephano Descalia?” Tommaso asked as his eyes widened.
Bianca had again lost all color from her face as she kept shaking her head and repeating, “No, no, no.”
Romeo nodded. “Maria is my aunt, so I gather you know my father, right?”
“W-we knew him a-at...one time,” Tommaso nervously stammered. “Julie talked about you, but she only told us your name…Romeo.”
I stared at them.
They had seemed so happy and comfortable after we hashed out the facts about our parentage but at the mention of Stephano, their whole demeanor had changed. They looked utterly frightened now.
“What’s wrong?” I asked them. “Why do you look so scared?”
Neither of them said a word.
Tommaso leaned forward and the screen went black.
Looking as confused as I felt, Julianna tapped her keyboard, then she stared at the screen. “It says they left the meeting.”
“Why did they look so afraid?” I asked.
Romeo shrugged. “My father is known as the Dark Moon. I never knew why. But then there are people who know and fear him as a mobster?”
“They weren’t scared when we talked about Maria,” Julianna reasoned. “She is his sister, so why would they look so surprised about Stephano?”
We all shook our heads.
“I got a bad feeling about this,” I said.
“Me too.” Julianna nodded.
Chapter Thirteen:Mrs. Bruno
Tito
Murdered. My father had been murdered. I didn’t know what to feel. What to think. Was it because Rocky and I were just teens when it happened? Then again, a death is a death. Murder though? Yes, if we knew this when he died, my brother and I would have found a way to get to Italy and find the truth. It had been too long now though. I wondered if maybe Uncle Stephano already knew who had done it and had taken care of it.
There would only be one way to find out. Ask him.
“Tito?” Valencia asked as she took my hand in hers.
Looking up at her, I apologized, “I’m sorry. I was lost for a minute there.”
“Dang, Tito,” Romeo said. “Of course, you’re lost. Who the hell would have guessed this?”
“Rocky and I never did, that’s for sure.” I shrugged.
“Should we go and ask Stephano?” Valencia suggested.
“I’m not ready yet,” I told her. “I need to let this sink in before I take this to him.”
“I agree with that,” Julianna spoke up again. “A person has to be fully ready to ask that man questions. To have to do it even in a court of law would be frustrating. You can’t tell when he is telling you the truth really. He has this clever way of taking you for a ride so to speak. He’s quite gifted in that regard.”
