Page 2 of Forbidden Property
“Your ideasnevermake us any money and mine will,” I say to Gino, desperately trying not to show my twin brother how easy it is for him to make me seethe. “Will you shut the fuck up and get on board?”
I pause and just stare at him. Gino can’t afford to turn down money right now. Buffalo is much more expensive than our spotof heaven in Italy. Not just that, but he spends a lot of money on our family and women. He’s going to be one of those foolish old mobsters robbed of everything in his last years for being too damn generous.
“Fine,” Gino says reluctantly. “We sell the pregnant chick to some asshole from Pittsburgh and hope Luigi doesn’t taxidermy our ballsacks.”
“See what I mean? Pessimist. It’s not going to end badly at all.”
“Are you sure?” Gino asks me.
I’m never sure about my foolish plans but… I nod confidently. Fortune favors the bold, doesn’t it? My phone buzzes as we leave the restaurant. It’s a message from my sister Nicki – the worst part of my move back to Buffalo.
I worry that soon, my father will make her my complete responsibility. She’s staying at my lake house for the time being until the end of the summer. I don’t know what’s going to happen after that since I fully intend on returning to the home thatIbought, regardless of my father’s beliefs that the women in our family should be freeloaders.
Nicki: Can Geralynn stay over tonight?
She can’t have guests at the lake house without my permission. Asking aboutthis onein particular makes my skin crawl. They’ve been best friends for years, but I’ve always been bothered by Geralynn’s…everything.Whenever I’ve been in the same room with her, especially lately, the physical discomfort becomes almost too much to bear.
I don’t know what Nicki sees in her. Maybe by the fall, Geralynn will have trotted off to law school or Canada or somewhere hundreds of miles away from Buffalo to cure Nicki of this poorly thought out friendship. They truly have nothingin common. But if I sweat the small stuff with Nicki, she’ll only become a bigger pain in my ass later.
I give up easily on keeping the two friends apart tonight. Bigger fish to fry.
Me: Sure. Don’t leave a mess.
Truthfully, it rubs me the wrong way how much time my sister spends with Geralynn. She’s always around. Always lurking. Always provoking that deep, uncomfortable feeling inside me that Imustignore. At least tonight my problems will be far greater than my younger sister and her best friend.
Chapter One
Renzo
Last Spring
6 Months Before Nicki Moves In
Uncle Pino: Meeting 1745. Job offer. Down payment $4,500 with monthly stipend.
Iarrive at Uncle Pino’s office downtown fifteen minutes early, leaving my brother Gino to get up to whatever the fuck he does during the day. Nothing, I’m guessing.
Ever since we got back to Buffalo, the desire to cut him up and throw him into Old Harbor grows exponentially. I thought owning a home and running a business together would change our constant need to compete with each other, but I’m just dragging Gino around forcing him to give a fuck.
If this meeting with Uncle Pino goes well, maybe I can inspire him to help me out and get on his feet.
Uncle Pino messagedmeand not my twin brother, which brings me a sense of pride. I learned our family traditions in Italy and why they’re so important to maintain as America transforms around us into a vicious hellhole. Throughouthistory, Italians have avoided brutal fascism and endless efforts by other peoples to beat us into physical or cultural submission.
Yet, we endure. The Taviani bloodline traces all the way back to the Roman Empire. Our blood is both ancient and strong. Our blood should be kept pure. My brother might have manipulated my father’s desire for a grandchild into submission over his deviation from our family values, but I notice thedegradationhe allows into his life by having a child who doesn’t share our heritage entirely.
Will the twins learn about Italian heritage from their brown-skinned mother? Unlikely.
For a meeting with Uncle Pino, I refuse to look sloppy. Gino and I differ in how meticulously we look after our appearances. We always wanted to find ways to differentiate ourselves from each other once we realized we shared a face and unless we both stop working out, we share every part of our physique too.
My body double dresses almost exclusively in extra-large black hoodies and sweatpants with black sneakers, occasionally black sneakers with red stripes.
To meet Uncle Pino, I wear a black tailored suit like the ones Luigi wears. I’m not as tall as my older brother, but at six-foot-three, my twin brother and I command a presence – especially when we enter a room together.
My younger sister Nicoletta works as Uncle Pino’s secretary at the downtown office for a summer internship. Dad refused to have her working for anyone outside of the family and ever since she turned twenty-one, she claims to need more spending money to go out with her friends.
“Meeting with Pino at 5:45 p.m.?” Nicoletta asks without looking up.
“Hi, sis.”
