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‘Your favourite grandson. I don’t understand.’ I lifted my head to face him once again.
‘My successor will be Salvatore, not Gianni. My son is not the man for the job. Salvatore will need you by his side. This news will not be accepted by some, and he will need your calming influence…’ He stopped talking momentarily and then laughed softly, obviously at my earlier outburst. ‘So, do Inowhave your promise to stand by the man who will sit behind this desk after me?’
‘I will stand by Salvatore’s side,’ I agreed, nodding at him as his declaration penetrated. ‘Always.’
‘Good. This is good. Now there is another thing I need you to do.’
I was aware that my eyes had opened wide in question.
‘There’s an ongoing situation that also needs to be dealt with. It’s something that could harm Salvatore… and ultimately make his position as the next boss unstable.’
* * *
‘I think our villa is the perfect place to hold Mia’s welcome home party, Mum.’ I twisted my finger into the strand of hair by my ear as I concentrated on hearing her. The phonelines had never been the clearest to the U.K., but this was even worse than normal.
Then glanced over at Nonno, and his expectant gaze.
‘I want it to be a celebration, Serafina,’ she added with reservation in her tone.
‘It will be a celebration, I promise you.’ I lifted my eyes and watched as Salvatore’s grandfather nodded just the once at me. ‘And our Don would also like it to go towards healing the rift between our families.’
Suddenly the line fell silent, even from the interference we’d been experiencing.
‘And Salvatore is on board with this?’ she questioned disbelievingly.
Deliberately, I plastered a smile to my face before answering, hoping the expression on my face would help to cover the lie. ‘He is.’ As the words left me, I coaxed my mouth into an even wider smile.
‘I will discuss this with your papa and your brothers.’
‘Mum.’
‘Yes?’
‘You need to make them understand that this is a direct request.’
‘I understand.’
‘Thank you.’ I let out a silent sigh, knowing the difficult conversation was about to end.
‘Speak soon?’ I questioned.
‘Yes.’
‘Bye, Mum.’
‘Bye.’
‘Well?’ Salvatore Snr questioned.
‘They’ll agree, I’m sure.’
‘Good… this rift needs to be healed. This family needs to show strength in numbers to those who would dare to make a stand against us.’ I knew instantly he was talking about the Lombardi and Ricoletti families, at least I hoped that was who he meant.
‘I just don’t know how I’m going to explain to Salvatore that my papa and brothers will be in his home, drinking his wine and eating his food in a few weekends’ time?’
‘You don’t need to tell him anything.’ I watched as his hand gripped tightly onto the arm of his chair in a bid to help him stand and instinctively took a step towards him to help. Instantly, he raised his hand to stop me.
‘Ricco,’ he shouted.
