Chapter 2 - THE BROTHER WHO VANISHED
Dante cleared the restaurant in eleven minutes.
Not with shouting.
Not with threats.
He simply instructed his staff to escort the guests out, settle every bill, and provide complimentary transportation.
No one argued.
Nora remained beside table four, feeling increasingly foolish.
Salvatore sat with both hands wrapped around his cane.
Dante stood near the window, speaking quietly into his phone.
Finally, Nora said, “I need to get back to work.”
Both men looked at her.
She hated that.
“I have tables to clean.”
Dante approached.
“You won't lose your wages.”
“That isn't what I said.”
His expression shifted.
“What did you say?”
“I said I have work.”
Salvatore made a sound that might have been a laugh.
“Just like Pietro.”
Nora looked at him.
“My grandfather was nothing like you.”
The old man lowered his eyes.
“You're right.”
That surprised her.
Dante pulled out a chair.
“Please sit.”
Nora remained standing.
“First, tell me why your father thinks he's related to me.”
Dante looked toward Salvatore.
The older man took a long breath.
“Pietro Rossi was born Pietro Gallo.”
Nora shook her head.
“No.”
“He was my younger brother.”
“My grandfather was from Prizzi. He came to America when he was twenty-three.”
“Yes.”
“He worked as a mechanic.”
“Yes.”
“He raised my mother.”
Salvatore nodded.
“And he changed his name because of me.”
Nora felt a chill.
“Why?”
Salvatore stared at the tablecloth.
“Because I betrayed him.”
Thirty-two years earlier, Salvatore and Pietro had worked together in Sicily.
Their father operated a transportation company that secretly moved contraband through the island's ports.
Salvatore embraced the business.
Pietro wanted nothing to do with it.
The brothers fought constantly.
Then a shipment disappeared.
Several powerful men were killed.
And Pietro was accused of stealing money from the organization.
Salvatore knew his brother was innocent.
But admitting the truth would have exposed a deal Salvatore had made with a rival family.
So he stayed silent.
Pietro was beaten.
Threatened.
Forced to flee Sicily.
He escaped to America under his mother's maiden name.
Rossi.
Salvatore never contacted him.
Not because he couldn't.
Because he was ashamed.
Nora listened without moving.
“My grandfather worked double shifts at a repair shop for twenty years.”
Salvatore nodded.
“He should have inherited half our father's business.”
“He didn't want your business.”
The old man flinched.
Nora continued.
“He wanted a quiet life.”
“I know.”
“No. You don't.”
Her voice trembled.
“He used to wake up screaming.”
Dante looked toward her.
Nora swallowed.
“He never told me why.”
Salvatore covered his face.
Dante pulled out a chair.
This time Nora sat.
Not because he told her to.
Because her legs were shaking.
“Why now?” she asked.
Salvatore looked up.
“What?”
“Why are you telling me now?”
The old man stared at her.
“Because your grandfather is gone.”
Nora's eyes filled.
“And because I was too much of a coward to tell him while he was alive.”
Dante watched his father.
He had never seen Salvatore admit weakness.
Not once.
Nora stood.
“I need to go.”
Dante moved toward her.
“Let me arrange a car.”
“No.”
“It's raining.”
“I have an umbrella.”
He stopped.
She looked at Salvatore.
“If you're really my grandfather's brother, you should know something.”
The old man lifted his head.
“He was a good man.”
Salvatore nodded.
“I know.”
“He deserved better.”
The old man's eyes filled.
“Yes.”
Nora walked toward the kitchen.
But before she reached the doors, Dante called her name.
“Nora.”
She turned.
“Someone sent a message about you tonight.”
Her stomach tightened.
“What?”
Dante held up his phone.
“We intercepted it from one of the staff.”
Nora stared.
“Who?”
Dante's expression hardened.
“Your manager.”
May you like
Paul.
And the message had gone to a number associated with a man who had tried to kill Salvatore Gallo seventeen years earlier.
