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“I’ve asked for help,” he begins.
“From who?” I ask, not knowing the answer. I know his father is in Nashville, but from what I remember, he didn’t ever ask him for help. I assume he has other family there as well, but he hasn’t ever mentioned them to me.
“My grandfather. He’s going to help, but it comes with a price. He wants us at his house by lunch tomorrow.”
“So out of the frying pan and into the boiling water?” I ask sharply.
He simply stares at me.
“What does he want, your grandfather? And I don’t think I’m following how he can help.”
He closes his eyes and launches into telling me about his family. “My last name is an ordinary one. But my mother is a Rossi.”
I shrug my shoulders, unsure of the significance. “So what? Your mother is Italian. What’s the big deal?”
“The Rossis, they sometimes walk on the wrong side of the law,” he says cautiously.
“Are they mafia or mob or something?” I ask, because now I’m genuinely curious about the man I love and his background. His family aside from his sweet mother and, at times hot-tempered, sister is a mystery.
“No. They aren’t technically affiliated with anything like that, but they have connections, and they aren’t the kind of people you want to cross,” he says.
I lean further back into the couch as I let that sink in. “So, what do they do exactly?”
“They manage lots of things from business to entertainment. They own G.M. Victory Records,” he admits, and I almost swallow my tongue.
“Your family owns the largest record company on this side of the country?” I ask in disbelief.
“I’m afraid so. Most everything they do is legal. They only cross the line in situations where there’s no other option.”
“Wow. You haven’t ever talked about your family with me, so I had no clue. How did y’all end up here without them?” I can’t help but ask.
His eyes appear lifeless as he begins to explain how he, his sister, and his mom found refuge here in Greendale Valley.
“My mother’s family had forbidden her relationship with my father. But then she got pregnant with me when she was eighteen. They married, but her family didn’t accept their union. My father wasn’t always on the right side of the law. He fought in illegal underground fights, and he was the best. My mother’s youngest brother, Victor, got mixed up in some of the fighting and they became friends.” He swallows thickly and then continues.
“My mother was trying to figure out what her brother was up to without getting him into trouble, so she followed him. Needless to say, it’s how my parents met. For several months, they kept their relationship a secret, even from Victor. He was getting deeper into the fighting world and started spinning out of control. By that time, everyone knew about my parents’ relationship, and she was pregnant, so my parents eloped. After I was born, things remained tense as my parents tried to keep how bad things were with Victor quiet from the rest of the family. The whole family soon realized the magnitude of how deep Victor had gotten and they blamed my father for his downward spiral into illegal fighting and drugs. Eventually, Victor got mixed up with another family who is worse than the Leones. The De Lucas.”
“There’s someone worse?” I asked.
He nods and continues. “As powerful as my family is, this one is as cruel as they are powerful and anyone in Nashville knows it. Apparently, Victor swept one of the De Lucas off her feet and then wanted nothing to do with her. So, a price went up on his head. By this time, my sister was about four years old. My father was friends with Matteo’s father, Aldo, and asked for his help getting Victor out of trouble, because despite the rest of my mother’s family not liking my dad, he was friends with Victor first. But my father would never ask my mother’s family for help, or admit he knew how bad things were with Victor, so he asked who he thought was his friend for help, thinking he could save Victor on his own. He originally started fighting with Aldo’s influence.
“It turns out, Aldo only wanted more power, and he knew he was in a win-win position. He told my father he would have to officially work for him in whatever way he needed if he helped. My father agreed, thinking he could live a double life and earn his own status by working with another powerful family. He could prove the Rossis wrong. Aldo set up a fight…a dirty one. It was meant to be a fight to the death, something my dad didn’t realize, he thought he’d beat Victor into submission and ruin his reputation by winning. My father was one of the best, but Victor had earned a name for himself and was too amped up on drugs to fight fair anymore. Victor moved in for the kill, but my father took it instead once he realized what was happening.” Hawk’s expression is grim.
“The Rossis were out for blood. The De Lucas had proof they may have been the ones to get Victor hooked on drugs and kept him in the illegal fights, but they had nothing to do with his death. The De Lucas vowed to my grandfather Victor’s debt wouldn’t fall on any other Rossi. But my other uncle, Vincent, found out the deal my father made with Aldo and swore to kill him with his bare hands, the same way my father had done to Victor. My grandfather turned his back to it. He was going to let his eldest son handle the punishment, but my mother begged for her husband’s life.” My eyes water as I realize the pain she must’ve felt.
“My grandfather told Vincent to stand down in exchange for my father to be exiled from the Rossis forever. He said if he ever came near my mother again, he’d kill him himself. My mother couldn’t bear to stay in Nashville and not be with my father, so she begged to be released from the family and start over somewhere else. He granted her request, but she wasn’t allowed to return to Nashville. I’m old enough I remember bits and pieces. But I didn’t learn it all until I went for myself,” he says.
“Is your dad a good guy or bad, then?” I ask, unsure. It sounds like he may have had good intentions that turned into something bad.
“I think without my mother, he’s mostly bad now. He’s firmly tied in with the Leones as Aldo’s right-hand man. But at his core, I think he started out a troubled kid with a good heart who got dealt some crappy circumstances. And instead of fighting for his family, he took the coward’s way out and simply rolled over.” Hawk glances at his hands before finding my eyes again.
“So, you’re bargaining with your grandfather to get me untwisted from this web of lies, then?” I ask sharply.
“It’s not so much bargaining as it is accepting who I was meant to be,” he says.
“I call bullshit,” I tell him as I get up and walk to my fridge for a bottle of water.
He’s behind me when I turn around. “What does that mean?”
