“The Mafia,” I replied without hesitation. If she was married to Luca Condello and spoke so openly about his murders, she was not only aware of the profession he practiced, but also knew, to some extent, what my situation was. Although, I was almost certain she had no clue about Camillo’s plan to kill me.
“Sì. But it’s not just any mafia. It’s the ‘Ndrangheta.” She didn’t say it with fear or contempt, she said it with a kind of pride. “So you understand… In Sicily, you have the Cosa Nostra. They’re kind of… the politicians of this world, or diplomats. They’re very old and follow tradition to the letter. Their power lies in their connections, in their influence over governments. In Naples, you have the Camorra, which operates more like gangs. They’re a sort of violent thugs who use more drugs than they sell. In Apulia, there’s the Sacra Corona Unita, and of all the organizations in this world, they have no honor whatsoever. So much so that they thrive on human trafficking and prostitution. But the ‘Ndrangheta is different from all of them. Unlike other organizations like the Cosa Nostra, there isn’tthe‘Ndrangheta, but rather the ‘ndrine. Each ‘ndrina is a famiglia. Each famiglia is a company, an independent business that doesn’t depend on any other. The ‘Ndrangheta are the entrepreneurs of this world. They are the businesses, the money. The strategists.” I listened closely to every word, trying to commit that information to memory. “The Vicari are one of the oldest and most powerful ‘ndrine. They were the ones who developed Castello dell’Fiero and everything you see here. Even this humble establishmentwas financed by their famiglia. That’s why I ask you… Do you really know what you’ve gotten yourself into, ragazza?”
I shrugged. “I don’t think that matters much in my situation.”
Donatella took a deep breath. “You’re the Vicari’s new housekeeper. Believe me, it matters. Don Camillo brought you into this life and into his home after everything that happened to his famiglia. He must have a strong reason.”
Yes. Kill me.
“Maybe,” I murmured. “But… Wait. What you told me… Does that mean everyone in Castello dell’Fiero is—?”
“’Ndranghetisti?” She chuckled, the word pronounced with that rolled accent. “Of course, ragazza. Everyone in Castello dell’Fiero was either born into this life or drawn into it, like you and me.”
My blood ran cold and my heart began to race. That meant I hadn’t simply ended up in a region controlled by a mafia. I wasinsidethat very mafia. In a kind of hornet’s nest that didn’t tolerate intruders.
“But that, Daisy, doesn’t mean we’re all involved in the… less legal aspects,capisci?” Donatella added with a pitying expression, surely noticing my fear. “We’re all part of the Vicari’s società, but most of us have never known anything beyond rumors and have never seen anything more than an occasional gun on someone’s hip. They keep the illicit side of the business away from here, as it should be. What happens here is the legal side, and that’s what most people work in. There’s a kind ofbond of loyalty, of work, between the people of this land and the Vicari, but that’s something you’ll come to understand in time.”
“A relationship like Luca’s and Camillo’s father’s?”
Donatella smiled warmly, resting an elbow on the table and propping her chin in her hand. “Luca and Gaetano were different. They were brothers who didn’t share the same blood,” she whispered. “The two loved each other very much, and when the news that Gaetano Vicari died in the United States reached us, I saw part of my husband leave with him. It was as if they’d cut off one of his arms or legs. They met as babies. Their earliest memories were formed together…”
Luca returned to the table at that moment, the smell of tobacco wafting from him, and Donatella winked in my direction. I realized she didn’t want to discuss the matter in front of her husband, and I understood her, with a pang of pity, but also of guilt.
I remembered what Olivia told me about an accident involving a family of Italian mobsters, and I realized how almost irrelevant it was to me. Hearing the news that a group of criminals had died didn’t weigh on the heart, it didn’t elicit pity from others. There was respect for the lives lost, but at the same time, my moral compass stripped them of their value.
Now, I saw how poorly that compass worked. For me, the story of the accident was no longer about a family of mobsters. It was about Camillo, who lost a father and a mother, who lost practically his entire family, but also about Luca Condello, who lost a brother.
“Signorina Parker, shall we go? I want to show you the rest of Castello dell’Fiero, and it’s already getting terribly hot.”
I jumped out of my chair immediately. “Sure, sure!”
Donatella also stood up and walked toward me. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Daisy. Please, come by another day. I’d like to introduce you to my daughter Francesca, you must be the same age. She just turned twenty-two. Who knows, maybe you’ll get along!”
I felt myself blushing all the way to my ears. Camillo had also assumed I was in my early twenties, and I wasn’t sure if I was just well-preserved or simply underdeveloped. “I… I’ll be turning thirty next month, Donatella. But I’d be delighted to meet your daughter!”
Luca laughed, and the Italian woman’s wide-eyed gaze darted between me and her husband in disbelief. “Well, I’ll— I’ll be waiting!” she finally said, bidding me farewell with two kisses.
We left the shop, and Luca showed me what remained of the village. From the ancient grocery stores to the little school and the small medical clinic. Unfortunately, in none of those places did I receive a welcome like Donatella’s. Quite the opposite. And it wasn’t even because most of the residents didn’t speak English.
The people of Castello dell’Fiero looked at me like I was an annoying, poorly dressed tourist. They kept their distance, turned their backs on me, and Luca even had to argue with an old man who spat at my feet while we were visiting the square. But after talking with Donatella, I actually understood why.Those people were part of Camillo’s mafia, directly or indirectly, and as such, that made me an intruder and, certainly, a threat to their existence.
After visiting a tiny library and having the librarian, a middle-aged woman, kick us out, I happily returned to the car. Castello dell’Fiero was a beautiful place, brimming with history and bucolic charm, but the hostility of its inhabitants was too much for me. If I would return to the village, it would only be to say hello to Donatella, nothing more.
I was too old to try to please anyone. Especially a bunch of mobsters.
To my delight, the guided tour didn’t end in the village. Luca drove the car away from the houses and showed me a bit of the hills surrounding Castello dell’Fiero. I saw herds of goats and sheep much larger than those that occasionally passed by the Vicari villa, and hillsides with winding paths stretching as far as the eye could see, which sparked a small glimmer of hope in me.
At one point, I explained to Luca that, in the United States, I used to run on the treadmill at the town’s gym and asked him if I could go run in the hills there. Despite some apprehension, he agreed, on the sole condition that I stay as close as possible to the villa and wait for Camillo’s permission.
When the guided tour ended and we returned home, he parked the car at the entrance, and I realized there was still no sign of my soon-to-be murderer’s vehicle.
I frowned.
“Where in heavens is your boss?” I asked, placing my hands on my hips. From what I’d gathered in those few days, Camillo had the habit of disappearing, but this was the first time since I arrived that he spent the night away.
Luca walked around the car and approached, drying his bald head with a handkerchief. “He should be back in a few hours, Signorina. There are few nights he usually takes off to… Well, uh, to relax a bit.”
My eyes widened and my face turned very slowly toward Luca, who was now redder than a ripe tomato and feigning a coughing fit. “Relax how?” I demanded, with a sudden pang of something I didn’t even understand myself.
