Chapter 40: Mafia Kings: Massimo: Chapter 40

By the time I brought the wood inside, twilight was turning into complete darkness. The combination of the sun setting and the thick forest all around us made everything much darker, much earlier.

I arranged some logs in the fireplace atop the kindling and some scrap paper I’d found in the kitchen. Then I used the lighter I’d brought from my cabin. Within seconds, tiny flames began licking at the bigger pieces of wood. Within minutes, we had a crackling fire and a new source of light.

“What do you want for dinner?” I asked Lucia.

She looked through our collection and handed over a can of soup.

“Okay, hold on,” I said as I walked over to the kitchen.

“What are you doing?”

“Looking for something to heat the soup up.”

“I thought the power was off.”

“We have a new source of power,” I said as I pointed at the fire.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“It’s not a problem.”

I found a cast iron skillet in the kitchen. Using a pile of rocks from outside to prop it up over the flames, I heated up the soup. Then I grabbed the skillet handle with a towel and poured the contents into a bowl.

“Mmm… not gonna lie, it tastes a lot better hot,” she said as she ate. Then she frowned as I opened a can of green beans and speared some with a fork. “Aren’t you going to warm yours up?”

“No, I’m good.”

“But – ”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

After I went through a few more cans of food, I put three more logs on the fire. Then I searched the kitchen and found a bottle of brandy. Not great stuff, but not awful, either. I would’ve preferred scotch or wine, but at least it was something.

“You want some?” I asked.

“Sure, why not.”

I poured us each a small glass and carried them over to the fire. I gave one to Lucia, then stretched out on the floor in front of the fire.

“Bleh,” Lucia said as she took a sip.

“You can always pour it out.”

“No, it’s fine,” she said, and guarded her glass like it was a gold coin I wanted to steal.

As I soaked up the heat and relaxed, I finally said something that had been bothering me for hours.

“I’m sorry I got you into this mess.”

Lucia looked over at me in surprise but didn’t say anything.

“You were right,” I continued. “If I hadn’t shown up in Venice yesterday, there’s a good chance none of this would have happened. I don’t know how my cousin knew I was coming to Venice, but the fact that those mercenaries attacked when I was with your grandmother indicates they were targeting me as much as they were targeting her. And when that didn’t work, they went after you to get to her. So… I’m sorry I got you involved in this.”

She didn’t say anything for a long moment.

I thought she might be building up a laundry list of complaints –

But instead, she surprised me.

“Do you think you guys have a mole in your organization?”

In all the confusion of the last 24 hours, I’d forgotten Niccolo had mentioned that very possibility.

“I don’t know,” I confessed. “My brother’s looking into it… but there could be a bug, too.”

“Wouldn’t they need a mole to place a listening device?

“Not necessarily. My uncle was my family’s consigliere until my father’s death last year. He could have planted listening devices around the house before he left.” My voice grew dark as I realized the implications of what I was saying. “Especially if he was planning all this shit from the very beginning.”

“Why’d your uncle leave?”

I gave a bitter laugh. “To start a new organization… with our blessing. We split up the family empire and gave him half. We didn’t realize he’d try to slit our throats to get our share.”

“Was your uncle always a dick?”

“No. My cousin was – he was a mean-spirited, spoiled little brat. None of us liked him… but we all loved our uncle.”

“What about your aunt?”

“She died when I was a child. I barely remember her.”

“Was your uncle your father’s brother, or – ”

“Yeah.”

“So it makes sense he became your father’s consigliere,” she said.

“I guess.” I smiled darkly. “My father should’ve looked a little bit further in his job search, seeing as Fausto killed him.”

That shocked her.

“What?!”

“It was actually an old female servant who poisoned my father. When we found out the truth a few months ago, she told us it was to get revenge on my father for killing her husband and son – so we always just assumed she was acting on her own. But now it’s looking more and more like my uncle has been pulling all the puppet strings on everything that happened to us this last year.”

“Jesus… is your mother okay?”

“She died when I was 17. Breast cancer. She was sick for a long time, and…”

I trailed off as I stared into the fire.

“I’m sorry,” Lucia said quietly.

“Thank you,” I murmured, then pushed away my sad memories. “Your grandmother raised you, right?”

Out of the corner of my eyes, I noticed that Lucia tensed a little.

“Yes.”

“When did your parents die?”

She waited a second before she replied. “When I was young.”

“How did they die?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

Her tone was cold and distant – very unlike her normal way of speaking.

I was used to sarcasm or her telling me to go fuck myself. I’d never heard her react like this.

I knew I was treading someplace I ought not to go… so I didn’t press any further.

“Okay,” I said simply.

We just sat by the fire in silence, sipping our brandy, until the flames died out.