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I ended the call and put the phone on the coffee table in the living room in hopes he’d call soon. Short of going door to door and asking if anyone had seen Garon, I didn’t know what else to do. He could be anywhere in Palermo, so a blind search wouldn’t help much, but the wait was excruciating. Even Panini was anxious, marching around the front door and looking at it with his big eyes, waiting for Garon to walk through it. The door eventually opened, but the one walking through it was Arno.
“Hey, Pina.” He said, looking at me with either pity or compassion, I couldn’t tell. “How are you?”
“Not great. Did you hear from him?”
“Not yet. He’ll show up eventually, don’t worry. I need to tell you something else.”
“Something bad?” I had enough on my plate
“I’m not sure. Umm, some of our boys saw your parents today.”
“Oh.” That was unexpected, but I wasn’t sure why Arno was telling me that. My parents made it very clear they didn’t want anything to do with me anymore. “They’re probably still trying to find Ariana. Where were they? France?” Dad had a hunch my sister might have went into hiding with one of her friends in Paris.
“Palermo.”
“What?”
“They’re at your house. Some of our guys were on route to make a drop and they saw movement at the Bernoulli villa. They thought it was weird and kept an eye on it. Your father is definitely there.”
“Here? He’s here? He’s back?” It sounded absurd.
“Yes. Look, Don Giovani made it clear they’re not welcome in our circles anymore, but that was all. No one ran them out of town, they chose to leave.”
“To find their daughter, I know.”
“Now, things are different.” Arno looked serious. “Garon gave all his men the green light to put Martino Bernoulli in a hospital bed.”
“Why?”
Arno raised his eyebrow. “Because he borrowed hundreds of thousands in your name and sold you to a loan shark. Look, if you want to give your parents a fair warning, you should do it now. The moment this gets out, someone will jump at the opportunity to teach Martino a lesson.”
“You really think it will happen? It’s been a while since we came back from Rome. Maybe everyone forgot.” I said, hopeful.
“Pina, none of Garon’s men will let what Martino did to you pass. Maybe that crazy motherfucker never mixed with thefamiglia, but he built his own network of people and friends and they are loyal. Now they’re loyal to you too.”
I swallowed hard and shook my head. “I don’t understand. Why? I don’t even know most of those people.”
“Because you’re his girl and the mother of his child. On top of that, no one likes a father who mistreats his children. What he did to you was shitty. Whatever comes his way, he deserves it.”
“You’re telling me all this to have a chance to warn them?”
“I got to know you. You’re good person, Pina. Even after everything they did to you, you don’t want to have your parents on your conscience, so if you want to talk to your Dad, tell him to get the hell out before someone breaks his knee caps, I get it.”
Time didn’t do much to soften the betrayal after I was left behind by my own parents. I didn’t hold the abandonment against them, I always knew I wasn’t their favorite person, but the humiliation they put me through was unforgivable. Only sheer stubbornness, luck, and Leonardo’s affection got me out of being forced into prostitution, but I still had to undress in front of everybody, let them gawk at my skin just so I could pay a debt that wasn’t mine. I wasn’t ready to forgive or forget, but Arno was right. I was sick of the violence and fights. If I could stop it, I had to.
“I’ll go see my father, tell him to leave town.”
Arno checked his watch. “Santo isn’t here and I have a meeting to go to, but I’ll arrange a car for you.”
“I don’t need a babysitter. My parents aren’t dangerous, they’re just heartless.”
“One armed man, but I can ask him to stay in the car, only come if you need him to.”
“Fine.” I rolled my eyes. There was no getting out of it, especially when Arno was leading the negotiation. “I’ll go get dressed.”
I moved as fast as I could, ditching the house robe for a pair of jogging pants and one of Garon’s t-shirts because it was large enough to hide my figure. I didn’t intend to keep my baby a secret, but I didn’t want to walk in with my bump on display either.
Arno asked Paolo, a young kid, to drive me. I’d only met him a couple of times, but Santo took him under his wing a while ago and was training him to be a soldier in thefamiglia. I liked Paolo because he was always smiling and looking to crack jokes. He made the dreadful drive to my parents’ house bearable.
