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“Cappelli family.” Valentina corrected him.
“Yeah. Cappelli, that’s it. They pretty much owned Sicily from about 1940 to the early 70’s. Papadinio came under fire when he turned rat and offered up information to Interpol and the FBI about the Cappelli Crime Syndicate. This was about 1965 in the J. Edgar Hoover days when there was a big push against syndicated crime. Anyway, Papadinio bargained to trade vital information about the mob in exchange for permission for his family to enter the U.S. so that his infant daughter could be treated at Johns Hopkins for a congenital heart problem. The kid got the surgery, but it turned out that it was a bullshit deal because the information that Papadinio delivered didn’t amount to jack. When he refused to give them anything else, the law hit back hard. He was extradited back to Italy to face charges, and spent about thirty years serving hard time for ordering the kidnapping and death of two rival mobsters. While Papadinio was incarcerated, he became kind of a folk hero to the locals. He arranged to have a shit load of money donated to build a pediatric cardiac center in southern Italy. He gave double that amount to the Arch Diocese in Rome, which is how his wife managed to get a papal annulment. Guess he must have had acome to Jesusmoment while he was in the slammer, because when he got out he joined the church. Now he does all kinds of charitable work. Builds schools, orphanages, from what I hear he even spent some time in a leper colony in Romania.
“How the hell do you know all that?” Jules arched an eyebrow.
Diego shrugged. “I like reading about that kinda shit.”
“Always knew you were more than a pretty face, brother.” Reno clapped him hard on the back.
“So, Father Michael used to be a badass. What does that have to do with anything?” Hal asked Valentina
“The little girl who needed the surgery? She was his daughter, Helena, my mother’s cousin. Father Michael is my grandfather’s brother, my great uncle. And for the record, he’s still a badass.” Valentina smiled at them. “If you need to get any communication to my father, Father Mike is your guy.”
It had been a very long few hours. After Valentina explained the situation to Father Michael to the best of her ability, she handed the phone over to Prosper and trusted he could take it from there. Hal showed her to a semi- clean room in the club bunkhouse and left her there with a promise to be back soon.
The bedroom and attached bathroom were both roomy and surprisingly clean— all things considered. Much cleaner than thethird door optionshe had been given earlier, which set the bar pretty low on the cleanliness scale. Valentina looked in the dull mirror and gave herself an atta-girl because she had held it together in a way that made her proud of herself. But when she looked closer, it was evident that the events of the last twenty-four hours had taken their toll.
She barely had had the time to process one pivotal life event when she was rushed head long into another. Valentina felt like she was the star in a badly written B movie where the producers are forced to fit in everything—the sex, the violence, and the drama—in one long shot because that’s all the budget allows for.
The sun was higher in the sky now, and by all indications it was going to be another scorcher of a day. Valentina felt disgustingly hot, itchy and sweaty. Even though she longed to be clean, the free-standing shower in the bathroom was a non-option— now was definitely not the time to tackle the Big S. She rifled through the bathroom closet and found some cheap liquid soap, a scratchy washcloth, and a thin towel. Valentina had just decided to make the best of it when the sound of a quiet knock was followed by a slow turn of the knob and the creaking sound of a door being opened carefully.
“Honey, it’s Pinky,” Prosper’s wife called out. “I’ve brought some things for you. Is it alright if I come in?”
Awkward.
Except for a brief nod at the wedding, the last time the women had seen each other was when Valentina had caught Pinky and the other Saints women chin-wagging about her in the kitchen at the Abruzzi mansion. Even though Valentina knew that they had no malicious intent, it was still incredibly uncomfortable to find oneself being the object of gossip.
But thankfully, if Pinky remembered the awkward moment, she gave no indication of it.
“Honey, I’ve got no ass to speak of and I’ve never seen the other side of a B cup,” Pinky dived right in. “So when Prosper told me that he needed me to get some clothes together for you, I blessed that man for thinking that anything I owned would come close to fitting that gorgeous shape of yours. I’m afraid you’re going to have to go without panties, but I was able to round up some yoga pants that are sure to fit you and a couple of tanks with those shelf bras built in. I threw in a sweatshirt, ‘cause you never know. There’s also a pair of size eight sneakers in there, I hope they’ll do.” Pinky seemed to say everything in one long, lyrical breath. She handed Valentina an overstuffed backpack full of everything Valentina would need to make her feel like the living again—toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, a tin of French milled soap, travel sizes of shampoo and conditioner, and a large can of extra-hold hair spray. Three vials of prescription drugs and a quart-sized freezer bag filled with chocolate chip cookies finished off the cache.
“Am I going somewhere?” Valentina asked in confusion.
Pinky gave her a look filled with empathy. “Things tend to move at a fast pace around here when something like this happens. Your Uncle Sal is on his way here to take you to the plane and then…”
“Plane?” Valentina interrupted her because Pinky was right, things were moving fast —way too fast. “I don’t know if I can…I don’t do well in closed spaces.”
“Don’t worry honey, we were able to reach your father through the priest. After an extensive conversation between the two of them, Prosper and Gianni were able to call in some markers, and by pooling their resources together, they were able to come up with a private plane. Plenty of space for you to move around in, and if worse comes to worse, you’ll have these.” Pinky reached in the backpack and displayed the vials one at a time “This is for anxiety, this is for air sickness, and this one you want to be careful of, it’s heavy duty and meant to totally knock you out for a few hours. It works fast so if you think you are going to need it, I’d take two just before the flight, and the next thing you know you’ll be waking up on the ground! So, no worries, doll, like I said, you won’t be alone, your Uncle Sal is on his way here now. He’ll drive you to the hangar, and he’ll get you settled at our safe house. We have a few homes just for this purpose. I’m not sure where they are taking you, but that’s a good thing. The less people who know, the safer you will be.”
Dumbfounded, Valentina could do no more than stare.
“I know it’s a lot to take in,” Pinky’s voice was sympathetic, “But the most important thing is to keep you safe, and for that we have to move quickly.” She rummaged through the backpack until she found a pair of grey yoga pants, a black tank, and a pair of blue sneakers. “Now take these and get dressed.”
For the second time in a few hours, Valentina found herself putting on someone else’s clothing. She tried not to think too far ahead as she washed up quickly. The pants were made from a comfortable spandex blend that stretched over her curves easily, and although Valentina was spilling out of the tank top, it covered her enough so that she didn’t feel too self-conscious. The sneakers had a foam- like inner sole that made her feet sigh when she slipped into them.
When Valentina opened the bathroom door she found Pinky gone and Hal waiting for her. He pulled her into his arms and gave her a long, hard kiss.
“You did great, babe. I’m real fucking proud of you. The next part is gonna be a piece of cake, yeah?” He held her hard against him and talked into her hair.
Valentina responded by pressing her face against his chest and protesting, “This is not gonna be a piece of cake, Hal. I’m scared.”
Hal lifted her chin and looked into her eyes. “I know, baby. But I can’t do what I have to do, if you don’t do what I need you to do. And what I need you to do, Tia, is to get on that plane.”
A powerful surge of fear ran through Valentina as she thought about the violence of the last few hours. She was suddenly much more afraid for him than she was for herself. “And what is that you have to do?”
“To keep you safe?” Hal answered Valentina in a low rasp filled with determination. “I’ll do whatever it takes.” Then his tone softened to a gentle plea. “But you have to help me, honey. Can you do that? Be brave just a little longer so I can flush these fuckers out with a clear head?”
Valentina straightened her spine and told him, “I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe too, and if it means getting on that plane so you can ‘flush those fuckers out with a clear head’ then I guess I’m getting on that plane.”
