Chapter 18
“Danilo.” Not Dom or Domenico. Danilo. His true name, and the man said it with a familiarity that left Dom longing for more. He stared into the computer screen trying to place who the man was and how he knew who Dom really was. He didn’t have to think long.
“Sono io. Tuo fratello.”
It’s me. Your brother.
Dom hadn’t seen his brother in three years, his sisters and mother in five. The last time he had seen his little brother was when he had come to beg Dom to come home, but he hadn’t listened, and now he was in Canada. Missing everything about home.
He could hear their voices on the other side of the door through the camera’s microphone.
Luca was his brother’s name, but the man before him didn’t look like his little brother. His younger brother by ten years had aged. It had only been three years since they had last spoken, but his bright eyes were now dull, and his chin was covered in a beard. Mamma would have never let him grow a beard. He peered closer to the computer screen trying to see his face. In it, he could see the remnants of the small boy he had taught to fish and how to ride his bike. Luca and his two friends, clad in all black and still wearing shades, walked slowly to the door. Despite all the warning bells in his head, his hand loosened from the gun handle in his waist.
He could now hear the men’s voices on the other side of the wooden door. Anna stood frozen at the back door, hand on Gelato’s head for stability, and he realized he was willing to risk it all. If it was his brother, truly his brother, he would die by the bullet of that hand with a smile on his face.
Still, his hand trembled, hovering over the doorknob.
“Danilo, per favore.”
Please.
He gave in, turning the door and squinting past the sunlight to see his blood in the flesh. It was him.
Luca didn’t wait for words; as soon as there was enough space to push through the entrance, he threw his arms around his brother, pulling him close.
“I thought I would never see you again,” Dom said, shedding unchecked tears.
Luca smacked Dom’s back, nodding. “I promised Mamma I would find you, either your face or your remains.”
So they had thought he was dead, too.
He pulled back and smiled at the boy he could remember being born. Dom could remember every sibling’s birth, but his brother’s he remembered the most vividly. It had been the first time he had realized he would be responsible for someone other than himself. When his twin sisters were born three years later, it made Dom feel a sense of protectiveness he hadn’t known he could feel so strongly, but with his brother, it was the sense that he had to be great so he wouldn’t lead Luca astray.
“Please come in. Sit.”
Luca did, and seeing Anna standing there, he smiled at her as he sat on the couch. The two men with him chose to stand. “Mi bella! You are still here. I must thank you. Without you, none of this was possible.”
That was not the right thing to say. All her adrenaline released and anger set in.
She stomped over to him and poked him in the chest. Even sitting they were almost the same height. “How dare you? How dare you use me that way? You nearly ruined everything, and you had me scared out of my mind. We thought you were the mafia! Why did you have to message me?”
“Because you are my brother’s type,” he said matter-of-factly with a shrug.
His brother had not changed. He was a man who did what he liked, when he liked, and saw it as the only way. Stubbornness was a Costa trait, but the bravado and nonchalance was all Luca. Dom laughed, breaking the tension, and pulled Anna onto his lap.
“So while you are looking for my body, you are playing matchmaker? I thought we left such nonsense to Mamma.”
Luca smirked and shook his head no. “Mamma is nosy and refuses to see that a man will not settle down until he is ready. You have always been ready; you were just waiting for the right girl.”
Anna, still bristling, relaxed at hearing that. Dom liked the idea that she, too, believed she was the right one for him. If only he could tell her that himself.
“And the men?
By now they had removed their sunglasses, but stood without speaking at each entrance.
“Bodyguards.” Luca spoke as if everything could be said with a shrug. Nothing was a big deal.
“There are men looking for you. In case I ran into them while looking for you, I brought back up.”
It made sense. Italians were a vengeful lot. They could hold a grudge.
“Luca. Tell me. Where is Mamma? And Grazianna and Graziella? Please tell me they are alive.”
That was the important question. He needed to know that his family was alright… still intact, though it was no longer whole.
“They are alive and well. They are waiting for my word in the truck.”
Again, his delivery was unprecedented. Dom sat stunned before he clambered to his feet, forcing Anna to stand. “That truck. The one out there?”
Luca nodded. “Yes. I told them to wait just to be sure, but I was positive you were who I thought you were.”
Dom ran outside. The bodyguard at the front door stepped to the side just in time to let him through without a physical altercation, and both back doors opened to reveal three women.