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Dante and Gaetano sat across from Baron Pisani’s desk. Dante took the lead this time, filling the Baron in about Don Matteo, Donna Angelina, prison, then Renzo “One-Eye” Gentili and his partner-in-crime Enrico “Scales” Tonelli. Baron Pisani nodded and listened, and Dante finished by telling him their plans.
“Baron Pisani, we want to go to Mussomeli, find Tonelli, and make him tell us who paid him to kidnap me. We believe it was my father.”
Gaetano added, “I’ll protect Dante as if he were my own. We’ll find Tonelli and Dante’s father, then bring both men to justice.”
Baron Pisani leaned back in his chair, his lips pursed. “I have grave concerns.”
Dante felt his heart beat harder. “Baron Pisani, I’m driven to do it. I have to find these men. They stole my life from me. One was myfather. I have to make them pay.”
Baron Pisani eyed him. “Dante, you’re talking about revenge. Gaetano is talking about justice. These are two different matters.”
“No, they’re not,” Dante shot back.
Gaetano looked over, frowning. “Yes, they are, Dante. I’m not going to Mussomeli to kill anyone. We’ll have them brought to justice.”
“How, Gaetano? Who will arrest them?” Dante felt the anger building inside him. “How will we prove it? Where are thecarabinieriout there? Why do you have any faith in them, after what happened here?”
“Those are excellent questions, and I’ll find answers for them. But I used to be a lawyer and I believe in the rule of law. I’ll figure it out.”
“You still believe inlaw? After what it did to you? After what it did to me?”
“Nevertheless,” Gaetano said, with characteristic calm, “I’m not going out there to murder anyone, nor will I help you do so.”
“Why decide this now?” Dante strengthened his resolve. “I’m going to Mussomeli and I’m going to find Tonelli and my father. Then we’ll discuss what to do with them. Agreed?”
Gaetano nodded gravely. “Agreed.”
Baron Pisani clucked, shaking his head. “Gentlemen, I approach this from a therapeutic perspective, and my sole concern is Dante and his psyche.” He turned to Dante. “I don’t think this quest, as it were, is beneficial for you right now. I think it would be best if you transfer to the new hospital, allow me to treat you with moral therapy, and help you regain your mental health.”
Dante felt stung. “But I’m not mad, you said so.”
“But you are vulnerable.”
“Ifeelup to it. I feel like I can’t wait.”
“You may not feel that way when you get there. What happens there can harm you further, and you’re already upset. Agitated, angry. I can see it. It endangers your mental state to go.”
Dante shook his head. “Baron Pisani, it endangers my mental state to stay. I can’t ignore it. I can’t wait another day.”
“What’s the difference, after all this time? I can get you more stable. Give me six months.”
Dante felt it like a stab to the heart. “My mother died six months ago. If I had known about her then, I would have gotten to see her again.”
Baron Pisani puckered his lower lip, his gaze softening.
“Baron Pisani, I can’t allow more time to slip away. I feel as if this is unfinished business, the unfinished business of my life. Once I find my father, I can confront him.” Dante glanced over at Gaetano. “I can askhim why he did what he did. I can tell him how much he hurt me. I can get answers I don’t have now.”
“But that confrontation may cause more trauma.”
“I don’t know what that word means, and I don’t care. I don’t want to let him get away with it—”
“Dante, give me three months, and I can help you heal—”
“I can’t healunlessI know who I am. I can’t healuntilI know who my father is. I don’t even bear his name. It’s my right to know who he is, and knowing him is also knowing me. You said I should make my own choices, and I am.”
Baron Pisani’s bushy eyebrows sloped unhappily down.
“You can’t keep me here, can you?”
