All I Believe (Firsts and Forever, #10)(63)

“I’ll try. In the meantime though, you need to get yourself somewhere safe. I’m so sorry Nicky. I really didn’t mean to bring all of this shit into your life.”

“I can’t just run. My family’s here. I live with my eighty-year-old grandmother. What if Andreo comes to the house?”

“I don’t think he’d harm your grandmother.”

I said, “It’s the other way around. If the son of Sal Natori showed up on Nana’s doorstep, she might blow his brains out.”

“I’m his son too, remember?” he said quietly.

“Yeah, but you’re not a threat. He is, and if Nana sees that, she’ll do whatever it takes to keep her family safe. My grandmother always liked you, she wouldn’t want to hurt you.”

“Only because she didn’t know who I was, any more than you did.”

“Call your brother, Luca. Try to reason with him,” I said. “Then call me back and let me know what’s happening, okay?”

“I will. I’m sorry about all of this, Nico.”

“I know, but it’s not your fault that your brother’s a loose cannon.”

I was pacing around the campus when he called back a few minutes later. “I couldn’t reach my brother. I left a message for him, and then I talked to a friend of the family named Theo,” he said. “Apparently Andreo’s already on a direct flight to San Francisco. He’s going to get there before me and he’s bringing some muscle, a couple thugs the family employs to do their dirty work. That’s a bad sign. My brother’s flight is landing about half an hour before mine does. I’m guessing he’s going to come directly to my gate to intercept me, since he never lets an opportunity to yell at me pass him by. But he might send the men he’s traveling with straight to your house.”


I swore under my breath before asking, “How the hell am I supposed to deal with that?”

“Don’t deal with it, run. Get out of the city and take your grandmother with you until I can talk to Andreo and try to calm him down.”

“What about the rest of my family? Is your brother likely to stir up this feud, or is he just going to focus on me?”

Luca said, “I really don’t know. Unlike me, he was raised by Sal Natori and taught that violence solves problems. I’ve heard stories of things he’s done, I don’t know how much is fact or fiction, but some of it would make your flesh crawl. If he rolls into town looking for trouble, it’s likely there will be bloodshed.”

“I have to warn my family he’s coming,” I said.

Luca was quiet for a moment before saying, “Yeah, okay. I know you need to keep them safe. But please don’t let them hurt my brother, Nico. If they come out guns blazing, this is going to end badly.”

“They wouldn’t do that.”

“My flight’s boarding, I have to go. I’ll be landing at SFO in just under six hours. Again, I’m so f*cking sorry.”

“I know. Call me as soon as you land.”

“I will. Please take care of yourself, Nicky.”

“Count on it.”

I slung my backpack over my shoulder and headed toward the street so I could hail a cab, the afternoon’s classes completely forgotten. As I strode across campus, I tried to decide who in my family to reach out to. The official head of the clan for the last couple years had been my cousin Jerry, but for some reason, I’d never really felt I could trust him.

For years before that, the family had been run by my cousin Dante. I had a lot of respect for him. I’d practically grown up with him and his three brothers after my parents got divorced.

But there was a problem with going to him. He’d been obsessed with hunting down Sal Natori, ever since his parents and sister were murdered when Dante was seven. He’d been the one to track Natori down in Rome, and the one to end his life two years ago. While all of our family bore the scars of what Sal Natori had done to us, Dante’s scars ran the deepest, no doubt about it.

Even so, I realized he was the one I had to go to. There was no better choice. I trusted Dante to do the right thing.



*****



I took a cab to the Marina district. My cousin and his husband owned a restaurant which was closed this time of day, so I let myself in the service entrance at the back of the building. I found Dante and his husband Charlie seated around a table near the brick pizza oven. They were going over that night’s menu with Trevor, a chef’s apprentice who also happened to be married to Dante’s brother Vincent. They all greeted me warmly, and Charlie called, “Hey, Nico. How’s it going?”

“It’s been better,” I said as I came up to them and put my backpack on the dark wood tabletop. “I need to talk to you, Dante. You guys should hear this, too,” I told Charlie and Trevor.

“Have a seat and tell me what’s wrong,” Dante said, his expression instantly all business.

I perched on the edge of the fourth chair at the round table and said, “There’s trouble headed this way. Sal Natori’s son, a man named Andreo, is on a flight to San Francisco as we speak. He’s coming for me, and I’m worried Nana or someone else might get caught in the crossfire. Maybe literally. He’ll be landing at SFO in about five hours.”

Dante pushed his chair back and stood up abruptly, his dark eyes blazing. “I’ve heard stories about Andreo Natori, none of them good. Shit, I thought this f*cking feud died with Sal Natori. What the hell stirred them up again?”