“Yeah, we never had a funeral or anything like that, so Dad never believed it.” Antonio added. “Anyway, from what I’ve heard, she’s moved back here and reopened all his old businesses – the laundromat, the restaurant, even the small chain of convenience stores.”
“And she hasn’t contacted anyone in our family, not even your dad?”
“Not that I know of. All I know is that the old staff have handed in their notice and gone back to work.”
“Thatisweird,” Alyssia hummed her agreement, and Antonio frowned. “I mean, if shehascome back to New York, it makes sense for them to go back to work for her, but I’m surprised that they haven’t said anything to us. What does Dad make of it all?”
“He’s worried, obviously, especially because it’s been so long since they moved to Nebraska. Maria’s always been an issue for him, and having her back isn’t exactly going to help.”
“Has Tony come back with her?”
“No, he hasn’t,” Alyssia frowned, putting her cup in the sink. “I had Reynolds look into it, and that man Douglas who works for you, too. So far, they’ve found nothing out of the ordinary, just that the businesses are opening up again and Maria’s the one in charge.”
Antonio stared off into the distance, wondering what on earth his aunt was up to. He’d never had that much to do with her other than seeing her at various family get-togethers, but he remembered her having a lot of black hair, always wearing red lipstick, black turtleneck jumpers, and pearl necklaces - almost like Bellatrix Lestrange if she’d been born in sixties and didn’t have a wand, or an inclination to use curses on people, although some of the words Maria came out with could be interpreted as curses.
“I’ll see if Dad’s had anyone look into it, and do some digging of my own when I’m at work. That woman has always had a knack for being at the centre of any drama -” The coffee was lukewarm, and he wrinkled his nose at the taste. “- or even being the direct cause of it all.”
“Be careful, OK?” she cautioned him. “I don’t know why she’s back, and I don’t know what she wants, but it can’t be good. I mean, the last time we saw her was at your cousin Matteo’s wedding, and I don’t think I’ll ever forget howthatwent.”
Antonio groaned, unable to forget the scene his aunt had caused. She’d never been happy with Matteo marrying a “foreigner”, as she’d called Ndèye, even though she had been raised in Palermo. Her father was from Senegal, and her mother was from Italy, but that hadn’t been enough for Maria. She’d beenveryvocal about the fact that anyone marrying into her precious Blackwood family had to be full-blood Italian, not a “charcoal-skinned monkey” as she’d called it.
At Matteo’s wedding, she’d been horribly drunk and started making monkey noises whenever Ndèye tried to speak, joked that her family would eradicate her and her entire family if she ever set foot there again, and eventhreatened to contact members of the Ku Klux Klan if she didn’t ‘shut her monkey mouth’.
To her credit, Ndèye had somehow managed to keep her temper and grace, offered Maria food and drink, and acted as if she hadn’t heard a single insult from her mouth. Eventually, Damon had had to drag Maria out of the reception and put her in a car, which hadn’t gone over well. Shortly after that, Maria had moved to Nebraska, and they hadn’t heard from her or Tony again.
Noticing his grimace, Alyssia stroked his arm gently and offered him a reassuring smile. She knew Maria had been something of a thorn in the Blackwood family’s side for years, but she’d always tried to stay out of the nitty-gritty details for the sake of her own sanity.
“It will all be OK,” she murmured. “We’ve just got to get through this bit first.”
“I know.” Antonio sighed. “I just wish I knew how long the bit was.”
9
The office was quiet when Antonio walked in at 10 am, even though he was fairly sure he wasn’t the only person there. Shrugging, he got straight to work looking into his Aunt Maria’s latest activity. If she’d done anything out of the ordinary, he was fairly sure he’d be able to find it.
It wasn’t long before he found out that it was true – shewasback in town. He felt the blood drain from his face as he read that her takeover had been less than painless, and realised that the reason his uncle’s old staff hadn’t said anything was because they’d been forced to sign NDA’s, along with receiving a hefty fee to keep their mouths shut.
“She bought them all off.” he whispered, before sending the relevant information to Reynolds, Douglas and Alyssia. It would seem that his aunt had become even more unhinged, if that was at all possible, and he had to wonder if she’d slipped into some sort of paranoid state. No sane person would buy off an entire roster of staff, especially since the vast majority of them were former employees. An NDA should have sufficed, but who knew how the paranoid mind worked?
It wasn’t long before he received an email back from Reynolds, along with even more information about his aunt’s antics. The attached documents showed that Maria had taken over the entirety of her husband’s businesses, and seemingly had designs on expanding her business portfolio to include massage parlours. His brow wrinkled as he looked over her business plans, wondering what on earth she needed the massage parlours for. Their family had never gone into business with Thai people, who had cornered the market on massage parlours, so the idea that an Italian version would do well was almost incomprehensible.
His office phone started ringing with an unknown number, and he picked it up without thinking. The voice on the other end sounded familiar, but a lot raspier than he remembered. Surely it wasn’t Maria – she didn’t have his phone number. Or did she? He couldn’t remember.
“Is this Antonio Blackwood?” the voice said, sounding like its owner had been smoking forty cigarettes a day for the past year.
“It is.” he replied, searching for a pen and some paper. “How can I help you?”
“Oh good, I’ve got the right number! You wouldn’tbelievehow many Antonio Blackwood’s there are in the phone book!”
“I’m sorry? Who is this?”
“Oh, come on, Antonio, you can’t tell me you don’t remember your only aunt?”
Antonio’s heart dropped into his shoes as the voice finally clicked into place. His palms started sweating profusely, and it was all he could do not to slam the phone down and bar her number.
“-Zia Maria?” he tried his best not to sound too shocked, although he was sure she’d be able to tell in an instant. “I’m sorry, I didn’t recognise your voice. It’s been?”
“Many years, yes. I haven’t got time for sentimentality,nipote, so can we get to the point?”
