“It’s done,” I tell him.
It went fabulously well. Better than I could ever have dreamed. And this morning was definitely better than a dream. Tonight will be too.
“And it won’t come back to us in any way?” he asks.
I shake my head. “The townspeople took care of the priest in the end. And he is taken care of.”
“Good,” he says and walks over to the espresso machine I finally convinced him he needs a few weeks ago. “Because we have another problem.”
I beat him to the espresso machine, because he still doesn’t know how to use it to brew the perfect cup, but something in his voice made me stop dead. Whatever it was makes it feel like the dream is ending.
“What?”
“Your father got in touch,” he says. “He and your brothers want to come back. They want to come here to LA.”
Dreams are definitely ending fast now.
“And what did you tell him?”
It’s just like my father to go behind my back with something like this. He has never, and will never take me seriously.
“I said I’d discuss it with you,” Matteo says. “And Ferro.”
That’s the boss of all bosses in New York now and it was him my father and brothers refused to join. I bet he doesn’t want them coming back, might even kill them on sight if they try.
“And what did Ferro say?” I turn away from him and start making the coffee. Not because I want it. What I want is a whiskey and maybe a couple of lines. Just thinking about my family makes me want to get high, like always.
“I wanted to talk to you first.”
I turn to him, and that must be some very pure gratitude on my face, because he clears his throat and looks away. Great, now my cousin is gonna start seeing me as the worthless pussy my father already knows I am.
I go back to making the coffee that I don’t want.
“I wouldn’t have all this back if you it weren’t for you,” he says, making a gesture with his hands that encompasses the whole house and vast garden outside. “Of course I will wait for your say so on this matter.”
I feel abutcoming, though what he said unlocks yet another level of gratitude inside me.
He’s the boss. His word goes. So the mere fact that he would defer to me on this is a big deal. All I can do is nod, can’t actually speak yet.
He walks over and stands beside me. “I know your family disowned you, and I understand that you don’t want anything to do with them anymore. But they took in my sister when we needed them most. And I feel like I owe a debt for that.”
“Bullshit,” I say and offer him the espresso I made. He doesn’t take it, just stares at me like he thinks I lost my mind.
“What my father did was kick her out when she needed us the most,” I say. “It’s why she ended up going to jail.”
“She was difficult…”
“She was trying very hard and she didn’t deserve that kind of treatment,” I say and punch the button to make another espresso much harder than I need too. “I actually begged my father to help her out, and you know how much I hate asking him for anything. But he ended up just kicking me out too.”
The look in Matteo’s eyes is very dark. “Why didn’t I know about this?”
I shrug and pick up my cup. The coffee smells delicious, kind of reminds me of the dream this conversation erased.
“You had a lot to worry about at the time,” I say. “And you couldn’t do anything to help her. I did what I could for her. I’m just glad it all worked out in the end. So I say, just let them rot in whatever hole they crawled into to hide.”
Matteo nods, that dark look still in his eyes.
“Except my mom,” I add. “She can come if she wants to. But she won’t. Because of all that loyalty and duty to her husband and family crap she’s always going on about.”
