All I Believe (Firsts and Forever, #10)(27)
We shook hands and he said in slightly stilted English, “It is a pleasure to meet you. Where in the U.S. do you live?”
“California.”
His dark eyes lit up at that. “I’ve always wanted to go to California to live with the movie stars and get into show business. It is my dream. That’s why I studied English.”
“You speak the language very well,” I told him.
“Thank you. Your Italian is excellent too, for an American.”
“I grew up speaking it right along with English. My family might have left Viladembursa, but they certainly didn’t forget the old ways.”
I’d been referring to the language, but suddenly Allessandro’s eyes went wide and he exclaimed, “Hang on! The Dombrusos?” He turned to Matteo and asked, “How did I never know you were connected to them?”
“Because it’s not something I talk about.”
“But your cousin is in the mafia?”
That made several people glance in our direction, and Matteo said quickly, “No, of course not. Nico’s not involved in organized crime. Some of our family is…or was, I’m not sure which. But my cousin’s not a part of that.”
“Right,” I said. “I go to law school. None of that has anything to do with me.”
Allessandro grinned. “Your family’s in the mafia and you’re studying to be a lawyer. Is that so you can defend them if the feds round them up?”
“I doubt anyone’s getting arrested any time soon. As far as I know, my family’s business dealings are legitimate now,” I said.
“Are they?” Matteo asked. “I heard your cousin Jerry began running things once Dante retired. He always struck me as a thug, not a businessman.”
“I guess he’s both. In addition to handling the family’s business interests, he makes sure we continue to present a strong, unified face to the world. The Dombrusos made a lot of enemies over the years. There are still some families who’d love to lash out at us if they saw the opportunity,” I told him.
“This is fascinating,” Allessandro said. “I’d love to interview you and get your perspective on the modern mafia. Normally, poking around and asking these questions in Sicily could get you in trouble, even to this day, so you might be my one chance to do that safely.”
“I wouldn’t be able to tell you anything,” I said. “I’ve never been involved with the family business. Besides, I’m trying not to attract attention while I’m here, so interviews are a bad idea. Like I said, there are still people who hold a grudge against my family.”
“The Dombrusos had one major rival if I remember correctly, the Natori family,” Allessandro said. “I grew up in Syracuse, but even there we heard stories about the great, bloody feud between the families.”
I nodded. “That’s true, but the Natoris moved out of Viladembursa years ago, just like the Dombrusos did, so there’s no longer that constant rivalry.”
“But you do still have family here,” Allessandro said, gesturing at Matteo.
“By marriage. My grandmother married into the Dombruso family, and some of her relatives still live locally. Matteo’s grandmother and mine are sisters, but he and his side of the family have nothing to do with the Dombrusos.”
Allesandro thought about it for a moment, then said, “What if I interview you anonymously and don’t air it until after you leave town?”
I shook my head. “The past is best left buried.”
“But it’s not buried,” he insisted. “The Dombrusos are still alive and well in the states. The Natoris are out there somewhere, too. In fact, I remember hearing just a couple years ago that Sal Natori, the leader of that family, got taken out in a bloody shootout in Rome. It was hushed up, I assume a lot of officials got paid off so only the sketchiest details made it into the paper. But the story still filtered down here, since he had ties to Viladembursa. Everyone said a member of the Dombruso family killed him in an act of revenge. Do you know anything about that?”
I did, actually. Everyone in my family knew my cousin Dante had tracked down Sal Natori and settled the score with the man who’d gunned down his parents and baby sister in their home. But I kept my voice and my expression neutral as I said, “They’re just rumors.”
Matteo chimed in, “Let it go, Allesso. You’re not going to get a juicy story out of my cousin. Even if you did, that wouldn’t make them take you seriously at the station. Just accept it.” To me he said, “My friend always gets the, what do you call them? Fluff pieces? We just did a story on a bake sale at one of the churches.”
“They’re human interest stories,” his friend said, looking a little annoyed. “I can’t help it if the producer has it out for me.”
Matteo told me, “He gets the stories about cats stuck in trees because everyone knows he’s not serious about his job and wants to run off to Hollywood. The station’s not willing to invest much in him.” Then he pointed and said, “Dio mio, is that your grandmother?”
I looked in the direction he was pointing, even though in my experience, it was always my grandmother. Nana was up on the stage where they did a weekly drag show, along with Jessie and four go-go boys dressed only in skimpy, colorful briefs and sneakers. Apparently she was trying to teach them to twerk, because she considered herself an expert after learning how to do it on a cruise. The fact that they already knew how didn’t deter her in the slightest. She came up behind a short guy in orange briefs, grabbed him by the hips and started gyrating against him while the other dancers cheered and laughed. I too murmured, “Dio mio.” The guy seemed to be getting a kick out of it, but I started to make my way toward the stage just in case he needed rescuing at some point. Matteo and Allessandro followed with delighted expressions.