Love and War 2 (10 page)

Paolo watched Caprice and Nico laugh and drink with their cousins while his blood boiled.

“P, you listenin’?” his old friend, Sal, said to him.

“Yeah, I hear ya.”

“What are we gonna do about Charlie Boy? He don’t get that haulin’ contract with the city, then he’s outta business,” Sal said. “The man has a family.”

“I’ll make a call,” Paolo answered but his attention was still focused on Caprice. “If all else fails, Rocco will take care of it.”

Finally, Caprice acknowledged Paolo’s presence. She stopped smiling and waved her hand at him, motioning for him to come over. The heavy gold and diamond ring on her middle finger flashed underneath the restaurant lights. Quickly, Paolo eyes darted to Nico’s right hand. He was wearing the same ring. A pain so sharp shot through Paolo’s chest, he thought the Bonatelli kids had finally done it and gave him a heart attack.

He knew those rings. The Bonatelli family signet ring was only worn by made men. Sal, Chubbs, Paolo, Silvio, and only five other wise guys were blessed with a solid gold ring with a B etched into the precious metal.

Up until that moment, only two men had diamonds in their rings; Fausto and Domani. Paolo knew that locked in a safety deposit box in Rome was another diamond ring. Now that ring was resting on Nico’s hand. Either Caprice had made a replica or…

Fausto had opened the books one more time and accepted his great-granddaughter into the family. He was the only one who could have blessed her with that ring.

Caprice Bonatelli had to be wearing the ring right off Fausto’s finger.

She had to be stopped.

The hit could not come from him. Paolo was sure of it. However, there was a group of men who still followed the Omerta; a group of men that would never allow a woman to infiltrate their ranks. A group of men who acknowledged and respected Paolo Mancusi as the Boss.

It was time to call on the five families.

Caprice and Nico walked through Athens International airport smiling so hard that anyone watching would have suspected nothing more than a young couple visiting Greece for the first time or newlyweds on their honeymoon.

Both ideas gave Caprice the creeps, but she knew better than to not play her role. She was just surprised that their fake passports hadn’t gotten them arrested at JFK, let alone allowed them to enter the country. But if Domani could get into Greece, so could his kids.

Using his alias and a credit card, Nico got a rental car while Caprice waited with their luggage. When he’d driven the rental about twenty miles outside of the airport, Caprice pulled the dark blonde wig she was wearing off her head and tossed in the backseat. She reached into her Dior bag and pulled out a brush.

“Next time we have to be incognito, can we go for another look? I’m not trying to look like your trophy wife.”

Nico burst out laughing. “You picked that wig! We told you to just cut and dye your hair.”

“I like my hair the way it is, thank you very much. How far is Dad’s place?”

“About an hour.

“I hope he has a good chef. I’m starving.”

“You’ve been talking about food for two days! You’re not going to get a chance to eat half of the shit you keep talking about. We’re not on vacation.”

“The hell!” Caprice replied with a roll of her neck. “If you think for one second that I’m not going to take advantage of being in Greece for a few days, you are sadly mistaken.”

“We’ll see,” Nico muttered.

“You’ll see me stuffing my face with real fuckin’ falafel and mousakka,” Caprice laughed. “Just watch.”

Caprice ignored Nico’s attitude. The call from Domani two weeks ago had them both on edge, but that didn’t mean they had to stop having fun.

No one was expecting Domani’s request. Despite the new CIA phones, Domani insisted that he needed to speak to his children in person. He gave no explanation as to why he needed to see them; just instructions to see Gina and that’s what they did.

Out of her safe came their airline tickets and fake IDs. Now, a year and a half after he left, Nico and Caprice were just an hour away from their father. Both of them were a little nervous. There was so much that Domani had missed.

The Capri was half way finished and money from investors was pouring in just as fast as Caprice was putting it back into the casino. The original investors Domani had assembled were still around, but their money was chump change compared to the investors Caprice had lined up. She hired the best PR firms on both coasts and top real estate agents to lease out the new spaces she’d added to the original design.

In fact, she’d made so many changes, Domani barely recognized his casino when he saw the new design. Caprice hoped that wasn’t the reason for the secret meeting. It wasn’t like they could change it back now.

An hour after they landed, Nico pulled into a winding driveway on a hill. At the top of the drive sat a silver Aston Martin. Nico whistled.

“I wonder if that’s Dad’s car.”

Caprice wasn’t listening. The last thing she cared about was a car; not when there was a sprawling Grecian mansion in front of her. She’d never seen anything like it in all of her life. The house actually sat on a hill overlooking the sea!

“I thought he was supposed to be keeping a low profile,” she said absently.

“So did I.”

A man wearing a modern butler’s uniform walked over to the car rolling a luggage car beside him. Caprice couldn’t believe her eyes. Whoever her dad was shacking up with was a gazillionaire!

Domani stood in double doors of the mansion and watched his children walk towards him. He had been on pins and needles waiting for them. He wondered how much they’d changed since he last saw them.

There was certainly something different about Nico. He could see it in his walk. Domani turned up the corners of his mouth in a proud and knowing grin. He knew the look. Nico had come into his own. He no longer took orders…he gave them.

And Caprice…

My God
, was Domani’s first thought when his statuesque daughter walked towards him with the biggest smile on her face that he’d ever seen.

I should have married that girl off before I left.

Caprice’s thick black hair hung in deep waves down her back. In her expensive shoes, she was just as tall as her brother. She was wearing tight jeans and walked like a sexpot. Domani remembered telling Nico to keep a close eye on his sister. He definitely had his hands full with that order.

Domani hugged both of his children before ushering them into the library. They had a lot to discuss and not much time to do so.

The library was huge with dark cherry floor to ceiling bookcases and windows. Leather bound editions of every classic book that Caprice had ever heard of lined the shelves. Hanging on the wall was Botticelli’s famous painting, “The Birth of Aphrodite.” The room smelled of old money.

“Dad,” Caprice said with her voice full of shocked awe. “Whose house is this?”

“An old friend. Have a seat. I’ll get someone to bring us some refreshments.”

“Your friend must be a gazillionaire,” Caprice said. She was too awestruck by the estate to think straight.

“Close. Olympia’s family is in the oil business.”

“We should get into the oil business,” Caprice murmured.

“From what I hear,” Domani said, “we’ve got our hands in enough businesses.”

Nico looked at his sister, waiting for her to respond. She was too busy gazing around the room.

“Eighteen months is a long time, Pops,” Nico replied. “Especially with this machine running the show. She’s doing a million different things. She’s even got us backing a film studio.”

“So I’ve heard.”

“Hey,” Caprice protested. “Do you know how much money is in film? Film studios in Georgia are getting major tax breaks. This is the best time to invest. I’m talking legal cash, gentlemen.”

“It will never be completely legal with you greasing the pockets of government officials,” Nico pointed out.

Caprice frowned. “I do what I have to do in order to get the job done. What’s a few thousand to bypass the red tape? Wait a minute! Is that why we’re here? I didn’t bribe the governor of Georgia. Those were legitimate campaign contributions.”

“You don’t live in Georgia,” Nico said.

“But I know people who do. We’ve been through this before.”

Hearing his kids argue, Domani knew that one thing had definitely not changed. But they didn’t have time for that.

“Cut it out,” he said. “I don’t care about that. I’ve been making campaign contributions to politicians since forever. She’s not doing anything that hasn’t been done before. We have a different kind of problem. There’s trouble brewin’. Nasty business. We gotta fix it.”

Nico leaned forward and ran his fingers through his dark hair. One look at his father and he knew what was going on. Trouble big enough for the Bonatelli kids to leave New York and urgently fly to Greece under false identities only meant one thing…

“There’s a contract out on both of you,” Domani said. He was surprisingly calm. “They’re bringin’ in hitters from Italy.”

“Fuck.” Nico’s voice was just as calm and even as his father’s.

But Caprice was neither calm nor cool. Her voice hit an entirely different octave when she screeched, “What the hell do you mean there’s a contract out on us? How do you know this and I don’t?”

“Because I’m the Boss,” Domani replied. “I’ll always know everything important before you do.”

“Who put the hit out?” Nico asked before Domani and Caprice could start arguing. If someone wanted them dead, they didn’t have time to waste on Caprice and her father’s petty arguments.

“We don’t know,” Domani admitted.

Caprice sucked her teeth. “I bet I do. Paolo had a heart attack when he saw our rings. He’s been too cooperative since he got out of the hospital.”

Nico didn’t believe her. Paolo was upset that Caprice had been made, but he wouldn’t put out a hit on her because of that.

“Paolo doesn’t have the money or the clout to order a hit like that,” Domani stated. He looked pointedly at his daughter. “You and I will discuss the situation with Paolo after we take care of this. I can’t believe you fucked that up so bad.”

“Whatever,” Caprice mumbled. She was just upset that Paolo’s heart attack hadn’t killed him.

“Pops, you’re saying this goes higher than Paolo?”

When Domani nodded, Nico glared at his little sister. “Who the fuck did you piss off now?”

“Don’t put this on me, Nico!” Caprice yelled. “It’s been months since I’ve had any run-ins with any mob guys.”

Domani interrupted their fight. “Two weeks ago there was a meeting,” he said. “All the Dons; Luca Lucchetti, Anthony Capella, Michael Abriggio, and Salvatore Zamboni. No one was there to speak for us and that has never happened before. We don’t know who paid for the hit, but they definitely voted on it.”

Nico and Domani might as well have been talking in code. Caprice had no idea what they were talking about. But she recognized the names Domani had said. Lucchetti, Capella, Abriggio, and Zamboni; four of the five New York crime families.

Caprice looked at her father with confusion. “You told me that if there was ever a problem that affected the five families, everyone was called together. The rules state that if any one has a problem with the other, we get a chance to work it out.”

Domani’s eyes lingered on the rings his children were wearing. He knew that they wouldn’t have traveled with them on their fingers. They must have slipped them back on after they landed. Even though he was extremely proud of the two of them wearing such a prestigious piece of Bonatelli family history, he knew that there were some who just saw the rings as jewelry. In the eyes of the “Four Horsemen” as they were called now that he was gone, the rings meant nothing.

“They don’t believe that the Bonatelli family has a Boss,” he informed his kids. “They can cast a vote to take us down any time they want. And apparently, somebody is itching to make a move.”

Nico immediately thought of his wife and her restaurant. He had to move her immediately to a safe place. They had two safe houses; one in Oregon which she would hate and one in Denver. Nico didn’t care which one she chose, but she had to get the hell out of New York.

“Okay,” Nico said, taking charge of the situation. “We gotta find out who’s funding this. Professional hitters from Italy are expensive. We’ll get the twins to start asking around.”

“And by asking around, you mean what?” Caprice interrupted.

“I mean, you don’t worry about it,” Nico replied. “Pops, you gotta go way underground. If they’re gunnin’ for us, any Bonatelli will do. We gotta get Papa extra security at the prison. I’ll get Manny on that.”

“As for you,” Nico looked at his sister. “We gotta get you and Maria the hell off the east coast.”

“The safe house in Oregon,” Domani suggested. “That’s the best place for them to be.”

“Fuck that!” Caprice yelled. “I’ve been to Oregon before. There’s nothing but big fuckin’ trees there. Not gonna happen. Maria can go, but I’m not.”