My siblings had to know that my father was aware that I was alive. Regardless of the strained relationship I had with any of them, I believed in my heart that they’d know I wasn’t acting purely of my own accord. Romeo especially should be able to put the pieces together, even if I did shoot him, I made sure to do it in a non-fatal place. He and Marcello would know that Angelo didn’t raise shitty shots. If I wanted to kill him, I’d have killed him. I was confident it was a big enough clue to help point him in the right direction.
Unfortunately, that confidence was misplaced.
Over the course of the next week, I worked on making the appropriate arrangements for Philippa and I to leave for Japan. The rules overseas were significantly different, and it took quite a hefty sum to circumvent anything that would have us waiting months to move, and even at that, any good places to live were going to take a few weeks to get set up. I was certain that the issue we’d run into was that things would hit the fan in Chicago before we were ready to leave for Japan. I’d even secured hotel rooms in Japan just in case we had to stay somewhere temporarily, but the call for a place came first.
“It’s ready?” I asked the real estate agent, a man from the United Kingdom who spoke English. “Already?”
“Yes sir. This is the typical waiting period. Three weeks is rarely considered a short waiting time. More often than not, people struggle to get on their feet just waiting for a place to open up.”
“Okay. We’re not ready to come just yet. Is it possible to pay the first month’s rent now to secure it?”
“Typically rent is paid in periods of six or more months at a time. I can make this request of the landlord, but unlike in America, landlords aren’t as pressed for tenants. This is a much more populated place than the United States. He could opt to rent to someone else who is already present.”
“Then what? The waiting period would start over while you looked for something else?” I asked.
“Yes sir.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. It wasn’t like money was much of a struggle for me, but the seedy underground of Chicago was the only life Philippa and I had ever known. The money I had held over in savings was all we’d have to live off of until we found jobs and integrated ourselves into society and I didn’t want to spend a bunch of it running and hiding until a place was ready.
Not only that, but I was hoping to leave America at least knowing that a plan for my father’s head was being generated. Knowing who my father was, once Philippa and I were gone, he’d mount a worldwide search for us and wouldn’t stop until we were both in body bags. I didn’t want us to live with that fear. I wanted us to be able to start a new life knowing everything was going to be okay.
“Uh, okay. How long would we have to get there? I can pay as much rent upfront as is required.”
“I’ll speak with the landlord, but you should plan to be here within the first month in order to not lose the place. Any longer than that and I’m sure he’ll opt to rent to someone else,” the agent responded.
A month. That should be more than enough time, right? “Okay. Please let me know if something changes.”
“I will, sir,” he replied. “Goodbye.”
“Bye.”
I set the phone down only briefly and then immediately picked it back up again. Philippa and I had gotten into texting in the past few weeks—a digital version of the letters we used to write to one another—and I drafted one to her asking her to call me once she had a safe second to do so. Whether she was really safe or just impatient, I wasn’t sure, but not long after I hit send, the phone rang.
“Hello?” I asked.
“Hi,” she replied and it instantly brought a smile to my face. I missed her so much. Whatever was going on with my siblings, I needed it to move a bit faster. “How are you?”
“I’m okay. I got word that our place is ready in Japan,” I said.
A quiet gasp slipped out of Philippa. “So… we can go?”
“We can,” I responded, “although, I’d feel better if I knew what was going on with my siblings and my father. Have you heard anything else?” There was silence from Philippa then and it made me nervous. I waited a few minutes, knowing her tendency to go quiet when she was trying to find words, but she also did it when there was something she didn’t want to tell me. “Philippa?”
“Gianni,” she said softly. “They aren’t going to do it. Your siblings. They aren’t going to stand up to your father.”
“What?” I said.
“If possible, they seemmoreafraid. Your brothers seemmoreobedient. I heard a couple of them talking, that they think you shot Romeo in a non-fatal place on purpose, but your father has convinced them that you did it so Romeo would suffer.”
My whole body was covered with chills. “How… how can they keep believing everything he says?”
“It’s easier for you because you aren’t here. Don’t you remember what it was like to have your father looming over you every second? He’s a persuasive, imposing force.”
“I don’t know what to do. If them seeing me alive and in the flesh wasn’t enough to let them know that my father was up to no good, what would do it?” I slammed my fist down on the table. Even though Philippa and I had been nothing but solid, he still managed to convince her that the situation was something other than what it was. The truth was that my father was the most manipulative man on the face of the planet. He could turn anything into a narrative that benefited him. How could I not have known that going in? “Fuck.”
“There is one possibility. Giorgio.”
I furrowed my brow. “Giorgio Bonifacio?”
