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“Party starts in two hours,” he said, taking a seat on the sofa across the room. He stretched his legs out in front of him and ran his arm along the back of the burgundy velvet.
“I’ll be ready.” I took a sip from the glass he handed me and let the smooth burn slide down my throat. It felt good. I never drank on a contract and I had been looking forward to this for days.
“Yeah.” He took another swallow from his glass.
“What?” I snapped.
His head flew up. “I need to talk to you about something.”
He wasn’t one to prevaricate. Something wasn’t right.
“Then don’t tell me you need to talk to me, just say it.”
He took a deep breath. He was nervous. What the hell was this about?
“I’ve already talked to Lilly. And she agreed.”
What the fuck? I wanted to slam my hand on the desk to speed him up. I hated beating around the bush, but I had my suspicions about what he needed to tell me. I’ve seen the signs but denied what they could mean. I was gone often enough that I saw the changes every time I came home. I never said anything. Told myself it was my imagination. If anything was going to mess with my psyche and send me into denial, Gabriel’s words would do it. I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him.
“It’s time, Dante. I know you know. It’s getting worse and if we’re going to get her the right help, we need to start now. I don’t think we should put it off any longer and Lilly agrees.
“She’s forgetting things, more and more often. And not just little things like where she left her glasses or Uncle Gino’s phone number.”
I tapped my finger on the desk as I waited. I was going to make him say it because I couldn’t.
“We haven’t told her yet.” Gabriel took a quick swallow of his Scotch as if he needed the fortification to tell me what I already knew. He was right. I knew everything he said was the truth.
He fixed me with the same determined gaze he used on his new flunkies.
“We have an appointment with a specialist set up for next week. If you’re okay with that,” he added hastily at the end.
I sat forward and fixed my stare on him, brows raised. “Why wouldn’t I be okay with it? If it’s that bad, Gabriel, then she needs to see someone. Someone who can help her. Of course, I’m fucking okay with it.”
He raised his hands. “Easy. I thought you would be, but we didn’t want to make the appointment unless it was what you wanted, too. I may be the head of the business, Dante, but you’re the oldest son.” He waved his glass at me. “You’re the head of this family, and no one has fucking forgotten that. Least of all me.”
I knew that was how he felt. Both he and Lilly treated me with that respect, but it felt good to hear him say it out loud.
“Have you vetted someone? A good doctor. Someone we can trust? I don’t have to tell you how careful you need to be.”
By the time I finished my questions, Gabriel was nodding. “Thoroughly. We have someone from within.”
“Qualified?”
It was a slippery slope. Ma was showing signs of dementia, or early-onset Alzheimer’s, or some shit none of us wanted to face. We needed someone we could trust to evaluate and treat her. Dad had kept his business life separate from his marriage. She may never mention anything, but I’m sure Mom knew or heavily suspected things that no one from the outside could be aware of and still live.
She didn’t know anything about me. I went to great lengths to make sure of that. Other people were at risk. Ma would never say anything willingly, would never deliberately rat on my brother, but the wrong information, in the wrong hands, would get the wrong people involved in our lives. Gabriel’s especially. I know he’s smart enough to not do business at home, but it’s always possible that even just mentioning a name, a face from the past, a conversation she was never supposed to hear... anything could become a problem. And she may not have control over what she inadvertently reveals. She’d be safe. Nothing would ever happen to her, not while there was breath in my body, but we couldn’t go around leaving a trail of dead doctors all over Connecticut either.
I hadn’t seen my mother since I’d come home, partly because I was afraid she’d look at me with that blank expression in her eyes before she realized who I was. It only happened to me once, the last time I went out of town. I’d been in Russia for three months and stopped by her room as soon as I got home. She recovered after a few seconds, but if there’s anything that can turn a man’s blood cold, it’s not being recognized by his own mother.
“Dante?” Gabriel’s voice pulled me from my thoughts. “The doctor,” he stressed. “She’s a cousin of a friend. She’s got some connections. Ma... she’ll be in good hands,” he promised softly.
Fucking Gabriel. Always taking care of us. I may be the head of the family, but that’s why Gabriel ruled the business. He was a leader. Intuitive. He could read men, read people. He could readmeand as much as that pissed me off, I was glad of it because it meant I didn’t have to speak. Other than my family, mybloodfamily, I didn’t have connections to anyone. I hated people in general. I spent so much time around the dregs of humanity that it was hard for me to look for the good in anyone. I didn’t give a shit enough about other people to try to read them or find out what motivated them. I. Didn’t. Care. Period.
My eyes fixed on the Madonna that sat on the corner of my desk. “Do it.” I distanced myself from the words as I said them because I still couldn’t face the possibilities.
Gabriel didn’t speak again, just nodded his head and stood up. Before he reached the door, I stopped him.
“When?”
He paused with his hand on the doorknob, but he didn’t open the door. “Wednesday. Ten-thirty.”
I nodded and he turned to leave. He paused again, his back still to me. “Dante. You going to be around for a while?”
He couldn’t see my answering nod, but the silence gave him my answer because... he knew me.
