In the previous chapters
Squalo is fulfilling his mission in NYC, and it seems that Lambo, who's been assisting him this whole time, has got some intersting things to say about Xanxus...
Where should I start… I guess it should be with the first time I saw Xanxus. I think back then I was just a child of 7 while Xanxus was already in his teenage years – maybe 15 or 16. Surely 16. It was at my old man's funeral. An attack of apoplexy. No one saw it coming. He was, what, in his mid-thirties? It had been a shock for the whole family.
Anyway it was my old man's funerals… No, it was the wake. I remember now. I'm sorry, it's been quite a long time and I may get one or two things wrong, but the main things should be all there.
The whole family was crammed in our little flat, in our old building in the middle of Albergheria. I can remember I didn't feel as much sadness as I felt suffocated by all the adults in their black clothes with the old ladies crying, the dozens of candles all lit up at once surrounding my father's body, and all these faces I've never seen and couldn't bother to remember at that time.
There were only two people I could clearly notice amongst the waves of grieving heads. One of them was Timoteo. Uncle Timoteo. I'm not sure we actually had any real blood ties – well, you know Italian families all have some sort of blood ties, one way or another – but I only knew my old man used to work under him and that they were close enough to come to each other's house without having to announce themselves beforehand.
And the other one was Xanxus.
Yes. Xanxus… Timoteo's son… At least, that was what I was told back then, but eventually, as I was eavesdropping a bunch of the old ladies not far from us, I learned that Xanxus was actually the adopted son. Many rumors were going around about him – as many as there were old and nosy women in the apartment. Some were saying Xanxus was the son of a man that got involved badly in one of Timoteo's "business" (back then I wasn't sure what that meant) and that Timoteo took him in out of pity; or that he was the son of a distant relative of his, a ruined gambler who had his brains blown out to settle a debt. Another one would say that he was the bastard son of some crazy junkie who just pushed her offspring in Timoteo's arms, taking advantage of his kindness. Some other ones claimed that Xanxus indeed was Timoteo's love child with some woman who had passed away when she gave birth to her son. No one knew the truth but everyone had at least one hypothesis on Xanxus' origins to tell the rest of their friends, and they somehow all sounded probable, seeing the apparent kindheartedness of the old man.
On the other hand, Timoteo would always introduce Xanxus as his son, and it was later known that he made him his sole heir, since the old man had no other child. And in spite of Timoteo's infamous generosity, no one would actually dare ask him anything about Xanxus.
Both of them walked to me that night. Timoteo hugged me and told me as he heavily rested his hands on my shoulders, "Listen boy. You're the man of the family now. Your aunts love you more than you will know, and if anything happens, you can come to me, at any time. But you're the only man of your family. Make your father proud of you." I'll never forget these words. At that moment, I suddenly felt the urge to cry, even if barely one minute earlier I couldn't even grasp the idea that I had now lost both my father and my mother (That's right, I forgot to tell you, she died two or three years before my dad. A car accident).
And before I started crying, Xanxus grunted and told me to shut my motherfucking mouth or he'd give me good reason to fucking cry. 'Fottuto minchione', he added.
Needless to say I calmed down and since then actively avoided the guy for the next following years.
…
After that, the second time I truly got to see and talk with Xanxus again was about eight years later, when I was in high school – and more than clearly failing it, too.
It was a Sunday, and zia Giulia was yelling at me to get me out of bed and go to church with her. But that's a whole different story and I'll spare you the details.
Anyway, we arrived late, as always, and had to sit at the back of the church with the other latecomers. And, well, like every time I have to listen one or two church songs, I started dozing on the bench. And just like every time aunt Giulia caught me taking a nosedive, she slapped me on the back of the head, hard enough to wake me up and to make sure I wouldn't reoffend the Lord again.
That one time, however, I had been truly grateful for that slap because, when I rose up, the seat that had been previously left unoccupied at my right was now taken by the most charming dark haired young girl I've seen in my short life.
Now, she certainly wasn't the most gorgeous girl in the world, but in our little neighborhood and in my 15 year old teenage years, she sure was. She had long and dark hair that framed a pale, round and youthful face that was adorned with two joyful dark eyes and well defined cherry pink lips that was betraying a strong willed character – the archetype of the Italian beauty. She wasn't very tall, but that truly wasn't what the eyes would notice firstly about the young girl as, to begin with, they would pause for ten seconds or so on her more than generous bosom.
Dominica – that was her name – Dominica was 18, or maybe 20 year old and was the daughter of a rich Palermo businessman, owner of a food factory in Catania, and who had her study in boarding school in the South of France for almost all of her life. She had just finished her year of post-graduate study and had come back to Sicily for a few months break before starting her medical school. She was the pride and joy of her family.
And that wonder of beauty and achievement was sitting right next to me, in a beautiful, virginal white dress. Church things suddenly didn't look that boring anymore to me. And just like this, I faithfully followed my aunt every Sunday for the mass. We would sit more or less at the same places and I would wait for Dominica. Every Sunday.
Every Sunday I saw her arriving with her parents, then sit not too far from them, with her girl friends, a group of dark haired beauties just like her.
I would peek at them from time to time, I'd listen to whatever they were gossiping about, but I think the first time I ever got to talk to her was one month later, when her mother (her dad has left town for some business in the country) left her in the middle of the homily. "It's almost 40 degrees here, I need a breath of fresh air", she said, and left her daughter, frantically waving her fan as she walked past the banks.
It didn't even take 10 seconds for her girl to turn to me (it was my lucky day: I was seated right next to her), she turned to me and whispered, with a flickering cheerfulness in her eyes: "She wouldn't be dying from the heat if she lost a few pounds."
It wasn't a particularly funny joke but she burst laughing after telling it, and I automatically followed her.
After that, it didn't take a long time for us to become quite good friends. At first, we only would talk at church or would go outside, taking advantage of the roasting heat inside. Then we eventually started spending time outside in town, when her parents weren't watching. We'd go watch the latest movies, we'd go get a gelato at Gelateria dei Gracchi. At times I would even drive us to the beach, sometimes with a bunch of her friends, sometimes only both of us. You see, very cute, very innocent things.
Just try and imagine what that meant for me, a poor boy from the humblest part of Palermo: hanging out with the most beautiful girls in town, being seen with them at the Teatro Massimo, having a glass of wine at fancy places like the Palazzo Branciforte… I mean, even if I had to live from an aunt's house to another, I never had been in need, and Timoteo Vongola, true to his word, had always been there for me. But well, those were still beautiful times to be a fifteen year old. Dominica was a lovely girl, always laughing, a little pushy and spoiled, but mostly a lovely girl, even though at some point I wasn't even sure anymore if I was tagging along because I really liked her or if I only liked tagging along with her.
That is, until that one day at church, she came (even later than usual) all giggly, more beautiful than ever, and just told me, "Lambo! You won't believe it! I got a boyfriend!"
Now that was a shocker. I had no idea she was seeing anyone else apart from her friends and me, and deep inside I felt sort of betrayed for her keeping things from me. Till we left the church, she wouldn't stop telling me how great her new man was, and how I'd totally love him. She was literally pulling me by the arm to the exit, and when we got outside, she pointed at a red car. It was about twenty or thirty meters away from us, so it was easy for me to recognize the model: it was the Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Lusso! The legendary Berlinetta Lusso! Just because of that damn car, I was ready to forgive Dominica and give up on her and everything else if I could just lay my hand on the bolide. I mean, that was a 2 million dollars car, and I was just a Sicilian hayseed. How could I ever dream I'd ever get the chance to see that beauty in my whole life?
Dominica then waved at someone in the crowd. At first, it was hard to spot anyone in the swirls of faithful Christians that were storming out of the church, loud and hungry and even louder because of how hungry they were. But one man was standing out amongst them. A tall, tanned man in a dark suit, quietly smoking a cigarette by the Berlinetta, unbothered by all the commotion around him.
I almost froze on the spot and gagged in horror. Even if I hadn't seen him for years, I knew when I saw his dark, red eyes that that man was Xanxus Vongola.,
That Xanxus. Out of all the bastards and good for nothing men she could find, she had to choose him. The feeling of betrayal was slowly turning into fear, and I felt my legs giving up under me as we were getting closer to the older man. What was I supposed to do anyway? To any other guy she would have brought, I could just have laughed at them and call her an idiot for dating him… but how was I supposed to say that to Xanxus Vongola? Mind you, of course, by then I was aware of what kind of man he was and what kind of "job" his family was doing.
He didn't move an inch when Dominica literally ran to him, and made a barely discernible movement of his hand when his girlfriend tried to take it in hers. The girl understood, however she didn't lose an ounce of her delight as she leaned on his car and introduced me. I told her I knew him. In my most respectful tone. Which wasn't a lie: everyone in town knew about Xanxus Vongola, one had to live under a rock for their entire life (or, in Dominica's case, in a boarding school) if they've never heard of Xanxus Vongola. Yet it's true that at that time, the Vongola family wasn't as powerful as how it used to be back in Timoteo's younger days, but that was because the boss was getting old and with more and more small fries sprouting all over Sicily, coming to Palermo to make it big – or at least, bigger than in their country towns – and it lately had become quite difficult for the old, most long-lasting families to fight them back. And to make things worse, for few years now the ninth boss of the Vongola's health had been decreasing drastically. By that time, he had almost completely retired from his usual 'activities' and had let his capos handle business in the family's two casinos and three hotels. In short, the family, even if it was certainly the strongest power in the island, was struggling.
Now, how did that impact Xanxus? My rough guess was that he didn't give much thought about the business. Everyone could see him come and go, he wouldn't talk much to his employees, wouldn't even ask if any money was coming in. He would only sit at his favorite table in the casino, or sometimes in his office, he'd then drink himself to a stupor in the bad days, or called for some gentler company on the good days. Though no one could tell exactly if it was a good day or a bad day. People obeyed him without ever raising their voice.
No, wait. One day, a man did raise his voice at Xanxus. It happened at one of his hotel's bars. Apparently, the latter snatched his woman from him when he was in the lavatory. But before he could draw his gun out, Xanxus smashed his face to the ground and began kicking it beyond recognition. The man couldn't even fight back since he had lost consciousness before his head even got kicked. The hotel's employees had to hold Xanxus back from killing him, and when he finally calmed down, he just shut himself in his office, as always. No one ever dared going against Xanxus after that. Not the people who were working for him, not the rest of the town. No one.
Thus my respectful tone.
Now a word about Xanxus and Dominica's fantastic as well as sudden love story:
The day before that day, Dominica was sitting on the sidewalk in front of her parent's house in the Centro Storico, in the middle of afternoon, waiting for a friend of hers to pick her up (it wasn't me, I was busy at home that day) when that beautiful red car passed by her and stopped at the red light. The young girl didn't waste her time and, even though at first she just shyly stared at the handsome man, who was Xanxus, behind the wheel, she couldn't take her eyes off of him. Xanxus didn't even notice her that time. I say that time because a little later the same day, the car and its driver passed by her house again, in the opposite direction. And that second time Dominica found the courage to call the driver out. Now if you still remember how I described Dominica, you'd know that girl, if not the most beautiful girl on earth, still had a striking appearance that was granted mostly by her young, fresh face, and the bounteous amount of plump flesh of her chest. No man would possibly walk past her and not notice her.
Xanxus did. He stopped the car and let Dominica idly chat about some things and others (I obviously wasn't there, but I would have paid a million to see Xanxus' way of flirting. I guess he's just the type of guy who can easily woo anyone without even trying). She somehow convinced him to pick her up later that night and take her out, and they apparently came back only earlier that morning, hence her lateness at church.
She was in love with him, she told me. I didn't contradict her, because just like everyone else I had no idea what the hell was exactly happening with these two. Things between us actually didn't change that much after that. We'd see each other with or without her friends, more often the latter than the first one, as she steadily started to cut ties with her friends. At some point I became the only one she was even talking to, apart from her family. I was fine with that; it still made me feel a little bit special; as if that would have got me anywhere, though, because I knew – and the whole town knew – she was spending her nights at Xanxus' place.
But I knew things truly had gone off the rail when, out of the blue, she announced that she had left her old man's house. Dominica confessed to me that things had started to heat pretty bad at home after she started dating Xanxus (If one can call booty calls dating). Dominica… God bless her heart, but Dominica was a spoiled brat. Her father had indulged every single one of her whims, he would have gone from here to the moon and back for her. She had him wrapped around her little finger, and that's still an understatement. So things must have been gone really ugly with him if she was forced to leave her house.
However, it wasn't as if she could always stay at her sort of boyfriend's place either. Although it never got to bother her. The day after she left the family home, she was already moving in a beach house 2mn walk away from the sea, at Mondello. Xanxus paid for the house. He paid for a white 4C Spider to go with it. Dominica was exhilarated. But she still couldn't drive so she more or less hired me to be her honorary chauffeur, errand boy, whatever so I could be useful to her.
That was, I suppose, a turning point in my life. Now I'm not saying that things went downhill for me from that time... I wasn't a big fan of Xanxus, but I wouldn't say I truly recent him for everything that had happened to me from then. Man, did so many things happen after that… It made a mess out of everything I believed, everything that was dear to me. And yet, if I were asked to go back in time and choose again, maybe I would have taken the same exact path.
But let's go back to where I left, right? When Dominica took me in. Of course, not literally. I was only a kid but even a kid would have understood that living with Xanxus' appointed girlfriend wasn't the smartest thing to do. Under no circumstances. Some guys had already had their fingernails taken off one by one for less, and for less serious matters.
So I would only come at the Mondello house by 11am, when I was sure Dominica was out of bed, do her errands if she wanted something for her breakfast, drive her around if she wanted to go out – and in general, that was always the case. Xanxus on the other hand…. Well, first of all, Xanxus wasn't seen very often at Dominica's place. He'd usually come late at night, if he would at all, and leave before I arrived, which means before Dominica woke up. As a result, neither the girl nor I did see him that much. At first, Dominica put up with it. In exchange, she could have anything she liked from all the boutiques in town, she could travel wherever she wanted, and everyone would basically tend to her every need.
To make it short, she just graduated from daddy's spoiled little girl to the woman of the most dangerous mafioso in town.
Well, in the end it turned out that that didn't bring her any luck… but I'm anticipating.
I was saying in the first days, weeks she had spent living in her house on the beach, Dominica had been living her best life. Particularly the first three days. These two horny cats did nothing but locking themselves in their room and hitting it for three days straight. Despite the fact I was hanging in the house most of the day, I don't even remember seeing Xanxus' face – nor did I want to see it – for those whole three days. But I knew he was there. The whole neighborhood knew he was there. Even people he was working with outside of the town knew he was there, and they would also come from time to time and check on their boss's well-being. That was the main downside of the whole situation: those people were scary. Really scary. As scary as a bunch of hitmen straight from that Pulp Fiction movie, but worse because they were actually real.
The good side of their sweaty debauchery was this: for three days I could admire closely the most beautiful, marvelous, boner-inducing car I've ever seen in my life.
Xanxus's Berlinetta Lusso was parked right in front of the house, and since the house was almost unlivable when the Vongola henchmen had decided to take up residence in there, I could spend hours outside, staring at the car and picturing myself driving it in a car race, à la 24 Hours of Le Mans. Now I think about that, it truly sounds dumb. But, yes, I used to be a very dumb kid.
Anyway… On the third day, it was pretty late when a group of those men finally left the house. Maybe 11pm or 12am. I had just come back from buying a pack of cigarettes from the convenience store when I saw them coming from the opposite side of the street. I didn't want them to see me so I hid in a small alley, about 20 meters from the house. As they walked past me, I could hear their talking about the most random things, but mostly about their boss's love life.
"Gastone," one of them said "You know me as a cynical man, but I know just looking at him, that little pixie has melted the boss's cold, lonely heart. You don't say. You may not believe me, but there is something going on here."
Gastone laughed as he replied, "Swell. Hope it works out."
"How is a guy like that still single anyway? I mean, the money, the power…. You'd think one or two would have tried to snatch that man by now."
"Well, well, Claudio. He's always been a bit of a butterfly, you know. Fluttering through life, hard to pin down. And being a fall-down drunk is kind of a speed bump for some of the ladies."
They both laughed. The Claudio guy resumed, "Okay, but for real, how long do you think this one will last?"
"Maaan, I can't tell. I mean, he bought him the house and everything. All he need now is to get a bun in the fireplace and he's good to go."
At that moment, they stopped near me, under a streetlamp.
"And with the big Boss as he is now, with the sickness and all, it wouldn't hurt the business to have some posterity, you know?"
"Now you're talking about it, aye, that's true. And the doctors were positive about it, they said-"
"Shhh! You dumb fuck, you want someone to hear us?"
"Yeah, yeah, sorry, sorry. Can't trust walls in this country."
"Nope, you can't. Let's get back to the headquarters now. That Leviathan is a pain in the ass when he gets going."
They both stopped smiling.
"Aah, man. I can see the shitstorm coming from here."
They disappeared in the night.
…
Well, I think you got the idea; I was Dominica's errand boy, her pet, the little distraction she had while she was waiting for the love of her life to come back home, if he ever came back, which was pretty rare. I said, during the first weeks things were still pretty fun. She had somehow reconciled with her father so money wasn't a huge issue. She would spend her days burning her heritance in fashion boutiques. Every day was a waltz of designer clothes. Palermo had turned into a catwalk for the rich heiress; there she'd flaunt the latest creation by Gucci, Prada and Loro Piana. There had been a gigantic schism between the first image I had of Dominica – the pretty yet quite modest-looking girl I've met in the church – and that embodiment of multiple brands' runway models I was seeing marching in lavish 700$ Louboutin sandals. She was simply dazzling.
But soon, even that wasn't enough to amuse Dominica anymore. We saw Xanxus maybe twice or thrice a month at Dominica's beach house; from time to time she'd send me to his office to test the water – that is, to ask, discreetly, his employee if he was seeing other women at work or outside; and even there nobody knew exactly what the Boss was doing. At some point, I turned into a regular at the Vongola's casino. People there would call me by my name, they'd ask me about the Missus, I'd tell them "The same as usual." The security guards and I would have a few laugh together, and the barman would always pour me a drink, "on the house".
I would lie if I said that situation didn't suit me.
It's true that world used to scare me shitless, but once you get to see how it looks behind the doors, it starts to look like the coolest theme park in the entire world. I liked to dress like the casino's customers, in expensive suits Dominica had bought me by the dozen. Sometimes, when I caught my reflection in a glass, I would rearrange my hair or fix my tie. I liked the delicate perfume lingering behind the female customers, I enjoyed the noises of the machines, the sudden clapping at tables.
Of course, sometimes, beatings would happen. Violence wasn't avoidable in that business. More than once had I witnessed a man get his face reduced to a pulp, his fingers run over by a car, his ass run after by dogs, just because he wouldn't pay his debts.
"He shouldn't have played if he couldn't afford to lose." I would just ponder as I walked away.
I mean, what do you think we're doing out here in the middle of a mafia owned place? It's all this money. This is the end result of all the bright lights and the comped trips, of all the champagne and free hotel suites, and all the broads and all the booze. It's all been arranged just for us to get your money. That's the truth about Xanxus' casinos.
I loved being Dominica's informal assistant and her sort of connection to that world. And I loved being part of that world. Even if I wasn't the one counting the money and bringing the suitcases to the capos, I still felt I was actually belonged to that world.
Things went just a little bit out of scale when I got invited at the Boss's Saturday poker.
It wasn't as pompous as it sounded. Basically, anyone could attend the game, as long as they were whether working for Xanxus or one of his acquaintances. And as long as you were invited by one of the current players. You'd believe the bets at the Boss' table would skyrocket with every round, but no one actually bet money. It was just one very friendly, good-natured game (it was even held on a Saturday morning, right after the casino's Friday evening peak and just before the beginning of weekends' tourists rush).
I got invited by a guy, a very nice fella I met at the baccarat table. In barely two hours he lost more than fifteen grand but he still looked pretty optimistic about the outcome of that day. Until he lost twenty thousands more at blackjack. Then he looked at me with a strange smile, "I'm done here, I guess." He told me. "I think I can't come to Xanxus' game anymore." What game, I asked. "Poker… but I can't… Look, I'll give you my seat, okay? It's fine, just tell them Aldina sends you."
I would have refused, but somehow the other players got wind of the change. So few hours later I was sitting at the Boss' table, on the casino's rooftop. All around the table were sitting five other people. I recognized three of them as being Xanxus' closest capos, Lussuria, Mammon and Leviathan. Later on, I learnt that, maybe because of their quality as capos, those three would always come at every game, their seats not being givable like in Aldina's case. The two other players, I didn't bother to remember. Anyway they would always change every week.
Then there was, of course, the Boss's seat, which was, at the moment I came, still empty. I discovered afterward that, unlike most of things related to Xanxus, that poker game was one of the few things to which he was in some way actually faithful to. So Xanxus arrived late. Very late. You know, the kind of lateness as in, there wasn't even a fixed hour for the game, but you still manage to arrive 2-3 hours after everyone.
However, he arrived late but perfectly dressed up as if he had just left some fancy gathering – an expensive Fioravanti dark suit whose jacket had long been negligently tossed on the tanned man's shoulders, Magnanni boots, an a pair of Moscot sunglasses to hide his easily guessable blood-shoot eyes.
In fact, Xanxus arrived late and with an awful hangover, which made it almost impossible to communicate with him like a normal human being. He came, slouched on his chair, ordered a Bloody Mary, grunted as he brushed his hair backward, made a gesture with his hand to tell the Dealer to give his cards, grunted when he saw them and gulped his drink down. He didn't say anything about my being there. I couldn't tell if he even noticed me.
So that's what I would do every Saturday morning. I could have invited someone else to replace me, but honestly, what for? In spite of Xanxus being there, drinking, silent, and barely moving at all, the games were pretty fun. The place was warm and sunny, a gentle wind would always blow on top of our heads, bringing a nice smell of summer, and the bar was very well stocked. I liked these mornings. So I stayed.
Meanwhile, Dominica's mood was worsening every passing day.
Now, whenever she'd meet with Xanxus, whether at home or at work, they'd start to fight, for the smallest things. Or more exactly, Dominica would ask him something, he'd stay silent, then she'd start yelling at him, sometimes she would even throw one thing or two at him or one of his underlings, and leave, infuriated and miserable.
I clearly remember that one time, we were playing in the pool, Dominica was floating on an air mattress and I was swimming next to her, and Xanxus was sleeping on a sunbed under a parasol not far from us. It was one of the rare moments when he could be found home, and even if he would basically spend his time sleeping or eating, this still made Dominica exult.
This didn't last, though, since half an hour into our play a man in a black suit came to Xanxus, whispered something in his ear, and soon Xanxus was dressed to leave again. This made Dominica mad. She screamed after him. She was following him around in the house, cursing at him and throwing anything she could find on the ground.
The funny thing is, since everyone was pretty sure no one had never, in living memory, seen Xanxus in a steady relationship before, it was quite funny to see the guy put up with the whims of a spoiled girl straight out of a boarding school. Maybe that was karma. Maybe Xanxus was just growing up.
Oh boy, were we wrong.
"I'll ask you why?" Levi demanded one day when we were waiting for Xanxus before our Saturday poker. There were only the three capos and I that morning sitting around the table. "He is already 24. I think that's old enough to know what's good for him. The woman's old man is one of the richest men in town, and maybe in the country. Just try and imagine how powerful our family would become if we officially allied with them. This time we'd definitely crush the Puddus, the Marinos and the Russos!"
"Yup, that's not wrong." Lussuria giggled.
"And that would shut the mouth of these bastards." Levi resumed. "How dare they even doubt of Xanxus' legitimacy as the Boss' heir! That's outrageous!"
"Yes, yes, outrageous."
"I know what these fucking vultures want. We all know what they want. After all, right now, who's at the head of the Vongola family? Is it that old cousin of Timoteo, that Greco who can't even make his own men show him respect? Or these old geezers, some distant uncles who live in the middle of nowhere? No. Timoteo only recognized Xanxus, and that's all that needs to be said."
Mammon shrugged as she counted her chips. "Huh. I'm not saying the future Boss is a kid. I just say the timing is too perfect."
"Yes, yes, way too perfect." Lussuria beamed. "Levi you idiot, why can't you just admit anyone, even Xanxus, can have a sweet side to them? Aw, isn't that just too cute? A big tsundere."
"What?" I laughed, intrigued.
"Yes, he is." Lussuria nodded vigorously. "His father falls sick, and the docs' prognostics are rather bad. And right after Xanxus literally gets engaged. Naaah, you can say whatever you want, but I want to believe that boy is doing that for his dad. To make him happy before the old man passes away, you know."
"I'm not saying it's impossible." Levi coughed then added in a whisper, "I'm happy he's doing that for the Boss. But we're still talking about Xanxus. I'm sure, no matter what kind of relationship he's trying to have with that rich contadino's daughter, that he'll know how to separate personal feelings from business. See, we know as a matter of fact the boss's son isn't precisely a family guy type of man, alright? I don't really see him crying at the bed of his sick father, is what I mean. Even now, you don't often see him going to the hospital where Boss Timoteo has been hospitalized for almost three months now. I have never seen him, and I'm always sticking by his side. No, no… the Boss's son is doing what the Boss's son is supposed to do in this sort of situation: business, and nothing else. See. Just last week, we've settle that 'debt' with the Lastra family, about that land in Agrigento. Or that matter at the docks, with the de Costa family. And just yesterday we made sure that the Morettis didn't forget their place anymore when they were talking to the Vongolas. No one before Xanxus, not even Timoteo himself, could have done what that man has achieved the two months he's taken the threads of the family."
"Uhm. Even if you're the one saying it, that's certainly right." Mammon stated.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"No, wait." I interrupted them. "So you're telling me Xanxus may actually make it to the town hall? That sounds crazy."
"Depends." The three capos said in one voice.
"Depends? On what?"
"Well, first, on Timoteo's sickness."
Mammon started piling up her chips in front of her. "Umu. Based on what Lussuria said, if knowing that his son's got someone to take care of him when he's gone can make the old Boss's sickness feel a little bit more supportable, then I really see Xanxus taking the charade till the end. That is, of course, if Lussuria's right."
"That's understandable."
"On the other end," Levi added, "If marrying the daughter is the only way to make the father's bucks move from his hands to Xanxus', he's good to make the leap."
"Yeah, I can see that. But you're not telling me there really is no way for Xanxus to get the money without having to marry her?"
They all stared at me with a strange smile, as if I had just crossed the last boundaries I simply should not have crossed, reminding me of my own place and that there were things I shouldn't ask Mafiosi. The atmosphere was tense for few seconds but everything came back to normal when Xanxus finally arrived, late as usual, but this time still drunk from the partying of the previous night, and with his clothes, which usually perfectly ironed as if they came right from the boutique's mannequin, now wrinkled and smelling of dust.
"Did anything happen, Boss?" Levi finally asked, only to be replied with a silent disdain and a faint waving of his future boss' hand dismissing any further questions about his state. Embarrassed, the capo changed the subject. "Ahem…. By the way, Luca isn't coming anymore? What a sore loser!"
"That's because you're a poor winner, Levi. You didn't have to go and harass the poor guy till he left. That's why no one likes you and no one wants to be friends with you."
"I-… That's….!"
"Umu. I agree with Luss."
"Ah! Ah! Ah!"
That day, too, the party merrily ended. However, something quite unusual happened at the end. It seemed like Xanxus' usual chauffeur had just disappeared (did that have anything to do with Xanxus' disheveled appearance?), and now the young Vongola was too drunk to drive himself home, wherever that home was (since he'd scarcely spend the night twice at the same place).
Lussuria suggested I just drive him at Dominica's beach house.
To tell the truth, I wasn't looking forward to the perspective of spending if only for few minutes in a car, alone with Xanxus. Fortunately, after we left the casino, the man was so drunk he literally collapsed on the rear seat of his limousine and didn't wake up till we almost reached home.
Almost reached home. Because he in fact rose from his slumber right before we reached the house – and, to tell the truth, unless it was the fear that man inspired me that was making me feel that way, I was damn sure Xanxus wasn't even sleeping all the way home. It was when I stopped at the corner between Via Calipso and Via Crice that I heard a low but noticeable grunt behind me.
"Son of a …" Xanxus said in a groan as he sat up.
"You're awake, Xanxus?" I asked. "Today I'm driving you home. Is it fine if I drop you at Dominica's house?"
Xanxus didn't reply. He looked at his left and at his right, as if he wasn't sure where exactly he was, then leaned on the back of the seat. He was asleep again. Or so I thought, till I heard him talk once more.
"What?" I asked, yet again, as politely as possible (God, was I scared of that man back then… well I think I still am to this day, though).
Xanxus still replied nothing. He waved his hand in a rather casual way, and I resumed what I had been doing.
Now I remember I found his way of behaving pretty cool at that time. Not the drunkard behavior, of course, but the general air around him, the way he was royally slouched at the back of the car with his sunglasses on and his overpriced outfit. For the fifteen year old me, that was certainly the peak of how a Mafia boss should look. And even more now that I had learnt how far he could go for his family and his father, in spite of how he looked. So, yes, I was kind of mesmerized by the man.
We arrived at Dominica's place. She looked even more anxious and on the edge than usual.
She was pacing back and forth in the house and cast a glare at both Xanxus and I when we came in.
"Oh my God! Where have you been? " She stormed at Xanxus. "I tried to call you the whole day, but of course you never pick up! And… what has happened to your suit? Oh Lord, don't tell me you got into a fight? Oh, no, don't say anything, okay? I don't even want to hear you. Mother of God! Don't come closer, you reek of alcohol. The hospital called; we have to go there right now! They say it's serious this time! Xanxus, did you hear what I said? I said your father is in a critical state. We need to go. Now!"
My heart leapt in my mouth. Now I finally saw Dominica was already dressed up, ready to leave, and she surely had been waiting at least for me to drive her there. Xanxus, who, during the harangue, had gone to seat in an armchair in the living room, poured himself a glass of whisky and hadn't moved an inch since. He said nothing. His facial expressions didn't even change.
"So what? He finally said as he was digging his dark red eyes on Dominica's skin like two heated knives. "What exactly do you want me to do? Go there? Just because the old man is dying? Ha!"
Blood left the young girl's face. Her mouth was gaping, I could tell more from fear than from indignation, till she finally turned tail and yelled: "Do what you want! Lambo, the car!" before slamming the door behind her.
I was asked in such a friendly way I couldn't refuse. I drove Dominica to the hospital where some members of the family and even people from allied families were already waiting. News sure were spreading fast in our town. Their eyes slightly widened when they saw Dominica without Xanxus bursting at the hospital's entrance, however they didn't say anything. A man in a black suit (I recognized Gastone) swiftly walked to Dominica, while viciously pulling a doctor in a white lab coat with him. "She is an immediate family member", Gastone said, "now you take her to where the Boss… I mean, to where our uncle is."
Gastone let go of the poor man and, without a single word, the latter gestured Dominica to follow her.
Timoteo was still in the operating room so Dominica – who had already started crying even if I don't think I had ever seen her and Timoteo in the same room before – Dominica and I were told to wait in the hallway. The doctor was explaining Timoteo had been following a treatment for heart failure for almost half a year now, without any sign of improvement. Two months ago, he had a stroke, one that was more serious than the previous ones. It had forced him to stay at the hospital and now, another one again… while a heart surgery was technically always possible to save his life, it wasn't very recommendable in view of the patient's advanced age.
"I don't think it's even humane to make a man his age and in his body condition, with all the traumas the tissues had already received, go through all that procedure." The doctor concluded. "The success rates are very low in those conditions, and even if he does survive, the life expectancy wouldn't exceed two months… four at best. Four months spent in a bed hospital."
"But the surgery isn't impossible then!" Domincia exclaimed. "I'll ask my father, he'll have uncle sent to the best hospitals. I'm sure they can and will do it-"
"Madam." The doctor interjected. "This man is almost 70. His life is hanging on by a thread. Literally. You saw all the tubes shoved in his body one minute ago. I'm not even sure we can keep him alive till tomorrow, and you're suggesting we should move him to another hospital? In that state?"
Dominica was petrified. "I think I can't… I can't take that decision for him… his son should be the one… but Xanxus is… Xanxus is still…"
The doctor sighed and nodded, as if he wanted to say that he understood. "We're trying to stabilize his condition for now. But make sure his son has taken a decision by the time he arrives here."
So we waited, me sitting on a bench and Dominica on the opposite one. She was being unusually quiet. She would look at the door of the operating room with her eyes full of fear, then at the other side of the hallway which was communicating with the rest of the hospital, starting every time she would hear footsteps coming near.
But it was never Xanxus.
We stayed like this for about one more hour, till another doctor told us they finally were sending Timoteo to the recovery room. We then were told to stay in the waiting room. As soon as we got there, though, we were assaulted with the entire Vongola family who had been waiting for us to arrive since no one would tell them clearly what exactly was happening. Dominica was replying to every questions the best she could. On the other hand I couldn't stay in that flood of people. It felt suffocating, abnormally warm, almost enough to make me sick. So I went to sit further away, where the other intrigued people (the civilians) in the hospital wouldn't be able to guess I was part of that noisy and scary flock.
Everything had happened so fast, I didn't see time fly. That was the second time in my life I was confronted to the death of someone close to me – well, Timoteo wasn't dead yet, but it is what was making it even scarier: doubt, the fact that a human being was between life and death, and that I, Lambo Bovino, had no power to change anything. You know, with time, you get to learn things, you understand how the world and people work, you think you can live with some feelings and discard others. But at the end of the day, you still feel powerless. In my life, only that feeling has remained invariable. That… I've always felt being swayed and swung and bent by things that I couldn't change…
Sorry, that was too personal.
So… yes. Everyone remained at the hospital till late in the evening. I couldn't clearly hear what they were saying between them, I just saw a nurse walking threateningly to them, making big movements with her arms and pointing at the exit. At first, I was afraid these people would make a scene, fortunately they left the hospital quietly, one after the other.
Dominica was still there, together with the three capos who had arrived a little while after us. I think they were having a discussion but as soon as the waiting room was cleared enough and the three of them finally saw me sitting by the water dispenser, they went to me.
I told them exactly the same things I heard from the doctor and Dominica. The three capos quickly exchanged looks.
"So you're saying Xanxus didn't follow you here?" Lussuria asked with a voice a tad quavering.
"He didn't say when he was coming?" Levi interrupted.
I shook my head and shrugged. "No… Didn't Dominica tell you already?"
Mammon cleared her throat. "Umu. At the moment, first I wouldn't believe anything coming from her. And second, even if she did tell us the truth, with her status now there wouldn't be much to learn from her."
"Status? What's that?"
She didn't answer. Both Levi and her turned tail and were about to head to the exit when I got up and yelled, "Wait, you guys aren't staying?"
"What for?" Levi huffed. "The tables have turned. There's no point in staying here when the situation doesn't permit it. You know, little boy, we're busy people, and we can't afford to waste our time when there are urgent affairs that need to be settled out there, so-"
Thump!
That was Luss who'd just hit the tall man behind the head. He then patted my shoulder in a motherly way and shook his head with a wide grin on his face before following the two capos out.
In the end I was the only one left at the hospital. It was appalling, even for an insignificant henchman like me, that Timoteo, that noble and all-time revered Boss Timoteo who had been good and merciful for men who weren't even worth the dirt stuck on the sole of his shoes, was left alone at such a terrible time. I was furious; I was scared; I felt useless in front of the dreadful truth that had been looming upon us all for all that time, now hitting hard on the face like a winter blizzard: Timoteo was dying, and there was nothing I or anyone else could do to stop that.
When night finally fell, I told Dominica to go home.
"But what if he wakes up and Xanxus hasn't arrived yet?" She asked fearfully.
I shrugged, slightly surprised that was what she was afraid of. "It'll be fine, I'll wait for him. If the Boss wakes up I'll tell him you've been here the whole day. Don't worry, I'll call if anything happens. Don't worry, just go home and get some rest, you're going to need that tomorrow."
"Okay…" Dominica agreed and, casting one last glance behind my back, where the door to Timoteo's room was, she left.
Now I was really alone, alone with my thoughts and all the fantastic conjectures a kid like me could come up with. I sat down. I started daydreaming about what was lying in the future for me, for Dominica, for Xanxus and the family after Timoteo would be gone. Xanxus was certainly going to marry Dominica? She sure was expecting that, as surely as God has created little green apples. But what was she so scared of then, so suddenly? She was scared of Xanxus? As bad as that man was, I however had never seen him mistreating women. What did the capos mean by her "status" then? I had no idea.
And what did that Levi mean by "urgent affairs"? What could be more important than their current boss dying on a hospital bed?... Wait, the current boss? That's right, who was leading the family now? Xanxus? Maybe that was the reason why he couldn't be there at the moment? But that's still improbable. Timoteo was dying, not dead, and there were literally no family business I was aware of that needed to be taken care of that urgently.
"Not in the casino," I whispered as I slouched in my chair, arms folded, "not at the hotels either…" No, those weren't the only businesses the Vongolas had been dipping their toes in lately, were they? "Yes… that big mouthed Levi had said something about docks, lands…"
I swiftly rose from my seat, as if I was just got stung by a bee, and searched around frantically, until I found a pen and a piece of paper hidden under the piles of magazines on the waiting room's coffee table. I quickly improvised the drawing of the island.
The docks! The Costa family's docks business. Whoever control the docks literally have control on the economy of the island. And here Xanxus's team just tried to pass it off as a small trifle between drunk subordinates, but the Costas admitted their fault and handed over half of the Messina docks to the Vongolas.
I circled the North-East part of the drawing.
Now the Lastra family... that land in Agrigento. What even is there to do there apart from going to the church or the museum anyway? No... the land in question is 40 acres located next to the beach. In an area full of expansion.
Then again, I drew a circle around the West part.
And the lattest bouts, with men in Trapani, in Marsala... though I wasn't truly sure what they were exactly about.
This time a circle around the North-East side of the island.
And finally in Catania... where the catanese man had that factory that made him a millionaire in barely few years...
Another circle around the East region.
Now, counting Palermo – the north side, then – where the Vongolas were a pretty well established name, then I saw it. My scribbling that was suddenly showing Xanxus's work over these past months.
I couldn't suppress a prideful grin when I realized that the man I was working for (more or less) was about to become the most powerful man in Sicily. Of course, compared to what Xanxus has become today, Sicily is approximately nothing, a grain of sand in the desert; but for the kid I was back then that was everything a man could wish for. At least where I came from, it was.
And this had been done so quickly and in utter silence, even I found it weird no one raised their voice against Xanxus' takeover of the island. But, as I would learn later, at that time, none of the present famiglias had the guts to stop him. They were no longer the scary mafia you see in movies. An octopus without a head. Xanxus saw that and unlike his father who deliberately chose to live peacefully with the other groups, he made his move.
Of course the capos knew everything. All these days I was assuming Xanxus was sleeping it off in his office, those were the schemes he had in mind. That had been his plan from the beginning. I, like most of these people who didn't recognize him as a worthy successor for Timoteo, had dangerously underestimated him. But I, unlike them, had no business in Sicily. They had, and they lost it because of that. What was to fear about Xanxus anyway? Yes, he was violent, bordering psychopath, but that was mainly what he was for them: a rebellious teen that has turned into a soon-to-be jailbird, spending all his father's hard earned money on expensive alcohol, cars and keeping women. They probably believed he'd ruin the Vongola business by the time we'd have Timoteo buried.
Suddenly, I was starving. Before I knew, hours had passed and it was almost 1a.m when I felt like grabbing a coffee at the vending machine, that's where I saw the same doctor as previously. He told me Timoteo's condition was stable for now and that I too should go get some sleep, but I said I was so nervous I just couldn't.
We parted and I went back to my seat in the waiting room, when the sight of a dark and quite imposing shadow sprawled where I was about to sit startled me.
It was Xanxus.
"Good evening…" Were all the words my mouth could utter.
Xanxus didn't even flinch. It seemed like he didn't hear me at first, until I got closer to see if he was actually awake or sleeping. He was awake. He looked tired – probably the most tired I had ever seen him; his clothes were the same ones he was wearing the day before. The tanned man's ruby eyes rose to glare at me.
"What's that?"
"That?" I looked at the coffee cup. "Dark coffee."
"Fucking give it." And he unceremoniously yanked my coffee out of my hand. He took a sip and grimaced. "The fuck is that?"
"Coffee, Xanxus. That's coffee."
The older man tossed the cup back. "Fuck this shit. Bring me some whisky."
"Where? Xanxus, where am I supposed to find whisky in a hospital at 1a.m?"
"You useless piece of shit." He grunted angrily. "How's the old man doing?"
"He's good now. Well, better than earlier." I took the seat Dominica had left in the afternoon and eyed curiously at Xanxus. "You did anything fun today?"
He glared at me with a mix of disgust and derision. "Huh? You fucking brat are seriously asking me? Since when did I have to report anything to a motherfucking dirty ass kid like you? Cazzo. You want to fucking die."
We both remained silent for some time. Because silence was always better than the waves of curses that were flowing from that man's mouth. Now Xanxus really looked like he was dozing on his seat. However, in his apparent slumber, his finger was still tapping on his forearm. He wasn't sleeping.
I finally broke the silence. "You know, Xanxus, I think it's nice you came here today. I think uncle would be happy to see you. Maybe you should ask to see him? If it's you, I'm sure the nurses will let you…"
My voice got stuck in my throat. Right before me, Xanxus wasn't even glaring at me anymore: his eyes were burning with Hell's fire, and if it were physically possible for a stare to kill a man, I surely would have been dead ten times that night. Seeing I would definitely stay silent that time, Xanxus went back to his state of half-sleep, half-meditation.
'It's not like he can murder me in a public place like this, can't he?' I was pondering.
It didn't take me ten minutes to fall asleep.
…
And now I'm fast-forwarding to five days later, few kilometers from there, in a flight on our way back from Roma.
As everyone suspected, the Boss' life didn't last long after the previous episode at the hospital. The docs figured one, two months. It turned out Timoteo peacefully died in his sleep barely two days later. It had been a very peaceful, decent death that did justice to Timoteo's calm and lighthearted nature.
The Vongola's ninth Boss was dead after a reign of almost thirty years. Rumours and whispers in the corridors were going round about his successor, Xanxus Vongola. Nothing new for Sicily, however these were all brand new information for Roma. Now, every family has always had its own autonomy and independence regarding to the other groups in the country. Nonetheless, when it comes down to business, and it always comes down to business, talks and compromises are always to be expected between famiglias, whether from the south-west, the south-east, the east or the capital.
And even before properly succeeding to the ninth Boss, Xanxus had already proved that he couldn't be trusted on that very point. After all, he had no difficulties kneeling literally every Sicilian family in months, who knew what the man was capable of now that he was ruling over all these territories.
That's why there had to be debates and pour parlays in Roma. All the biggest families in the country were invited. Even if they weren't, some instinctive terror was urging them to attend the parlays.
Xanxus, of course, came as well, followed by the future Mrs. Vongola (because in the middle of all this mess, they somehow managed to formalize these months of debauchery by putting a platinum ring with its halo of brilliant pink and white bead-set diamonds on Dominica's finger) and, obviously, yours truly, Lambo Bovino.
I didn't know why I had to be there. I didn't know why Dominica had to be there. Heck, I didn't even know why Xanxus had to be there, as all of the talking and negotiations with the rival families had been carried out by a Vongola member I've never met before, a Japanese man. It was only on our way back home that I was told he used to be the former Boss's right hand man, thus Xanxus' new consigliere, Sawada Iemitsu.
So, in the end, that trip only turned into a four-day holiday in Roma for the three of us, with sightseeing, shopping, booze, partying, booze and – oh surprise – more booze included.
No need to say Dominica was on cloud nine. Her biggest fear – to be kicked out as soon as the previous Boss had passed away – was gone and buried six feet underground together with Timoteo. She was engaged to the most powerful man of Sicily, and certainly of Italy. She was about to inherit her father's fortune after the wedding. Everything was going her way.
That was, however, until we arrived home.
God only knows why, Dominica decided to go see her father right after the plane landed. She had so many things to tell him (she hadn't told her old man she was engaged yet), so many secrets she had to share with him, so many advices she had to seek from him, she just couldn't stay home and asked to be driven at her father's place at once. When I asked him if he was coming too, Xanxus told me to fuck off. I credited that usual foul mouth of his to the one hour long trip from the capital and his hangover from the past four days of drinking.
Xanxus took another car and headed to the beach house, leaving us at the airport. Dominica could care less. She was going to her father's place in any case.
It must have been a whisper from Heaven itself, Lussuria told me later. I would disagree and say it was rather a whisper from the Devil himself.
The chauffeur – that is, me – was kind of reluctant since they too had their own luggage to take care of. But how do you say no to the future Mrs. Xanxus Vongola? I drove her. We arrived at the Catanese man's townhouse by noon. Dominica literally rushed inside and I quickly lost sight of her behind the gate.
It didn't even last ten seconds.
I heard an awful scream coming from the house. It was Dominica's.
I dashed out of the car and came in the house, not even sure where I was going, just following the dreadful cries. I just kept on running and running until I finally reached a room that looked like an office. Though all the furniture had been thrown on the ground. Books, papers, glasses, all thrown on the floor in a chaotic mess. Dominica had only stepped one foot in the room and was screaming, down on her knees, her beautiful face drenched in tears, her crazy eyes gawking at something that was lying there, motionless, in a pool of blood, on top of an oak desk.
Ignoring (or maybe at that point I couldn't hear them anymore) Dominica's cries, I stepped forward until I could finally recognize the corpse.
"Father! Father! Father! Father!" Dominica screamed frantically before I could touch the body.
What was the meaning of all this? I couldn't think about anything. And I felt like the yelling, the blood, everything was driving me crazy. I felt nauseous. I felt like my chest was going to explode. The old man's body, which was lying on his stomach, had seemingly been shot in the belly, and that was where all the blood was coming from. His face, however, was turned on the side, and I saw with horror that expression of surprise mixed with fear on his features, with his mouth still gaping like a dead fish's, blood trickling from his lips, his eyes wide open. His bloodied hand was still holding a pen, and beneath I could see a bunch of paper, all stained in blood now.
Before I could even say a single word, Dominica was already on her feet and running out of the house. What could I do but follow her outside.
"Get in the car!" She yelled so viciously even I got scared. "To Xanxus! Take me to Xanxus!"
And there we were back at Xanxus' house on the beach again.
Dominica stormed in like a hurricane. She had the word murder written on her forehead. She was looking for Xanxus like a wounded beast was looking for the hunter who has wounded her.
She found him in the living room, seating, half asleep in his usual armchair. Hadn't I stopped her at that moment, she would have jumped on him, right on the spot. I had her locked in my arms, and no matter how strong I was, I felt like if I let my guard down even for a second she would have easily overpowered me.
"Xanxus!" Dominica was thrashing around like a madman, pointing the older man with a finger. "Tu sei un assassino ! Tu sei un assassino ! Avete ucciso mio padre! Lo hai ucciso tu!" (You're a murderer! You're a murderer! You killed my father! You killed him!)
I wasn't even sure why I was stopping her. Did Xanxus murder her father? Of course, not him, but did he have that old man killed? I knew the man and I knew he was capable of that… But why? I couldn't think. Everything was so damn loud around me, and all I could do was hold Dominica and stare questioningly at Xanxus. I was too scared to know the truth.
This lasted few minutes, maybe only few seconds, I couldn't tell, Dominica's struggling to break free from me and burning to strangle Xanxus, and the latter now eyeing mockingly at her.
In a sudden flash of reason, I spoke, "Stop, Dominica, Xanxus couldn't have done that! I mean… why would he do that… to your father…"
She wouldn't listen. "Shut up! It was him! I know it was him! No one else would have done that to my father expect from him! You murderer! You monster! Xanxus, be a fucking man and admit your crime! You bastard! You son of no one!"
At last Xanxus got up. He swiftly walked to us and stood right before his fiancée, their faces so close their foreheads were bumping. It was wrath against wrath. Hatred against hatred. I didn't even notice I was shaking like crazy. I didn't feel my forehead soaked with sweat. Nor did I feel the inside of my mouth going dry and bitter.
"So what if I did it, you worthless wench?"
"You murderer! I'll kill you!"
"Ah! And how? A fucking brat like you who hadn't even lift a pen in her whole life? There's no more papa money to save your ass here, bitch. Don't be letting your mouth write checks your guts can't cash."
Dominica's cries now sounded broken, as if she was about to break in tears. "I'll kill you, Xanxus! I'll kill you! I swear on my life, I swear on my name, I'll kill you! I'll-"
I heard a gunshot.
I didn't see Xanxus pull his gun. I also didn't see him aim at Dominica's chest. They were so close, and I was standing behind her, and she was struggling, I just didn't… But I felt something warm, her warm blood dripping on my legs, on my feet.
Dominica wasn't struggling anymore. Her lifeless body dropped on the floor like a porcelain doll, her position somehow reminding me of her father's I had seen less than an hour earlier.
That's right... That day she was wearing a white dress too.
…
"What in the world did I do to deserve that?!" Levi shouted as he drove his spade in the muddy ground.
"I should be the one asking that." I mumbled as a reply.
Levi and I, I and Levi, us (God I wish I'll never have to say that ever again), were digging a hole, human size, under some old and forgotten aqueduct built in a desert area near Maratea. It was low tide, obviously, otherwise we wouldn't have even reached the bottom of that river. Two feet away from us was lying Xanxus's ex-fiancée, Dominica, wrapped in a dark oilcloth like a giant sausage.
"Oh, you're a lucky one, you lucky bastard! You could have followed your little sweetheart here ("She's not my sweetheart") but the Boss has been very merciful with you, considering how you botched your job."
"I didn't botch anything. How was I supposed to know I shouldn't have let her go to her father's place after you guys were done there… no… in fact, I didn't even know what was going on there, so you can't blame me."
"Huuuh? You're still talking back, you useless piece of scum?"
"I'm not…"
I kept silent and resumed my digging.
Getting rid of a corpse isn't that difficult, where I lived. There were tons of places which were hardly accessible like that one, where no human soul would ever wander, let alone corrupted policemen highly paid exactly not to go there. Got a lot of holes in that desert, and a lot of problems are buried in those holes. So for that part, we were safe there.
As to how to legally and financially make people disappear, the tenth Boss of the Vongola had already everything prepared way in advance. Maybe the moment he set his eyes on Dominica's father.
Xanxus might have been the most feared and respected man in Sicily nevertheless that means nothing when you don't have the grand to back your status up. Financially speaking, even if the family business was thriving, they weren't standing that far above the other families of the island. That was fine with Timoteo, but that wasn't enough for Xanxus.
So wasn't it a sign from the Lord or from the Devil when Dominica came into his life with her beauty, her naivety and her father's millions? Xanxus wasn't a religious man, but that one time he wanted to believe there was a God that was actually working for him up there.
Wooing the heart of a naïve girl wasn't that big of a deal. And just that would have already been enough to reach her father. But that's when the incident with Xanxus' own father happened. Did it make his own heart yield, or was he just too busy taking care of his "succession" to make a move on Dominica's millions? Who knows.
Anyway here they were, three months later, with Xanxus waiting for his enthronization after his father's passing.
Who, in their right mind, would seriously let a bastard with his origins unknown boss around some of the most ancient and influential famiglias of Italy? Yes, brute force could make them surrender, but as Iemitsu advised, that would have been a waste of men and time. Xanxus had always had his Joker card right under him – otherwise, why would he want to tag along with that narcissistic, empty brained brat all the time he was in Rome? They only need to see him with her for few days, assuring that the bastard didn't use backhanded tricks to take over them.
Dominica only needed to act as normal – spoiled, obnoxious and happy – all the time they were there, and it was all that mattered. She was the financial guarantee that anything Iemitsu would have proposed to Roma, they would have got it, that the Vongolas had the cash to back up any negotiation between them. After all, it was all a matter of talks and compromises. This is all that was needed to have peace, as an open war between families would have been bad for business.
That was, as a matter of fact, how things went in Rome. Xanxus had other plans for Sicily.
As you can surely recall, Xanxus left his capos on the island: they were the one assigned to the assassination of Dominica's father. But not before making him sign the documents that would transfer the totality of his shares in his factories to Xanxus, as the sole proprietor of VR Co, and this for the modest sum of 800 euros. That was flabbergasting. Who would have sold a business worth millions for barely a thousand dollars?
That was, in my opinion, the trickiest part, because if the government really wanted to stick their nose in that affair, even Xanxus wouldn't have been able to stop them.
But Xanxus was, against all odds, a very lucky man indeed: that year, we had the Sicily's president charged with four years in prison for leaking confidential information about a trial of mafiosi moles in the Antimafia unit. Politicians had better things to do than looking at the murder of some enriched fishman.
At any rate, everyone even remotely involved in the affair, the catanese man, Dominica herself, their accountants and lawyers, everyone had met with the same fate. Documents were destroyed. Officials and medias were bribed. The family did put a hundred million in that island. So as far as the world was concerned, Xanxus was a young and legitimate entrepreneur who miraculously went from a penniless orphan to the owner of some of the biggest companies in Italy.
Now most of the above mentioned people had a rather discreet 'settlement'. Only Dominica's father had that very loud and extremely visible end. That grotesque staging, the gore, the messed office. That was a clear message sent to anyone who would, at that point, still get wise and run their mouth against the Vongolas.
Yes… that old man had lost. He shouldn't have played right from the start if he couldn't afford to lose. As for Dominica… there just are things you shouldn't be talking about in the family. She's become one of them.
Timoteo's era of peace and conciliations was over. It was the beginning of Xanxus' hegemony, and we all know how everything ended up for him.
At last, Xanxus was safe. The family was safe. As for me, I was graciously offered a shovel, four square meters of oilcloth and a ticket to New York City. A one-way one.
TBC