Trent
I did it. I made a decision. I picked my wife over Beth. It certainly wasn’t an easy choice. I do love Beth with every fiber of my being. But after the conversation with my dad, it became very clear. I made a promise to Parker to spend the rest of my life with her. And I love her, I do. I’m just not in love with her the way I am with Beth. Yet if my mom can forgive my dad for cheating, then I can work harder at my marriage.
I understand Parker’s reluctance. I mean, if I were her, I wouldn’t be in a hot hurry to get back together with a man who impregnated another woman. I wish that I could have spared her that pain. At least it’s all out in the open now. There’s nothing more to hide from. No more secrets or lies. It’s actually kind of liberating.
Now I just have to figure out how to break the news to Beth. I need to call her to see how she’s doing. It’s got to be hard knowing she just lost a baby. If Parker weren’t standing here, I might. It’s not something I want to do with her in the room.
The doorbell rings and Parker looks up from the flowsheet she’s created. She’s been studying it for hours. I’m hoping the answer we’re all looking for pops out of the page and slaps us in the face.
I get up to answer the door. Edward, Jonathon, and Porter greet me as they pass me on their way to the kitchen.
“You said on the phone Parker had an idea,” Porter mentions.
I nod. “We need to know everything we can about Albert Capellini. Who his friends and enemies are, if he has a family, anything that might seem small. We need to be able to give the dirt on him to his enemy. I think that’s our only realistic shot of getting out of this mess.”
“I know he has a wife and a couple of kids,” Edward says. “Both of them are boys. He apparently had an affair at one time, but I don’t know much about that. He also went to jail, though I don’t know for what. I don’t think that’s anything significant though. Every criminal has gone to jail at some point.”
“It depends on what he went to jail for,” I say, kind of excited. “Maybe he created enemies. There’s got to be something.”
“He has a tight knit group. There’s not a lot of people allowed in or out of it. I heard once that one of his men spilled some information so Albert killed him. No warning, no second chance, just killed a guy for saying the wrong thing.” Jonathon shakes his head.
“You two have tons of contacts. Why haven’t you tried to get more information on this guy before?” Porter asks.
“We have looked into him, but nothing came up. Either no one knows anything or he’s put the fear of God into everyone so no one speaks. I don’t know. Maybe we weren’t specific enough with our questions.”
“We should try to find this woman he had an affair with. He was intimate with her, maybe he shared something.” Just one of the many thoughts flying through my head at Mach speed.
“Nah, she’s dead. One of the men said Capellini offed her when he was done using her.”
“I still can’t believe you two got tied up with someone like this.”
“Yeah, please don’t rub it in,” Edward pleads. “I’m embarrassed by it myself. I swear I’ve been popping antacids like they’re candy because I’ve been so stressed out.”
Parker’s phone rings and she gets up from the table. “All right, we don’t have time to waste. You guys make your phone calls and find out what you can. I’ve got to take this call.”
Parker runs out of the room with all eyes on her. It’s very strange for her to take off, especially in the middle of such an important discussion. I try not to read into it, but I’m a little curious as to what is so pressing.
Edward and Jonathon each plug away at their phones, making the essential calls to find out more about this Capellini. They pace in circles talking to various contacts.
“Quite a scene isn’t it?” Porter leans back in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest.
I nod. “It’s like command central. Instead of these two fighting against each other, they’re now working together to take down the enemy. Something they should’ve been doing all along.”
“Yeah, I don’t get what was going on in their heads other than they panicked. They were each looking out for themselves and their families. If they would’ve teamed up long ago, we may not be in this mess right now.”
“I guess the upside is you found out who your biological father is.”
“I think it’s a little more complicated. Edward will always be a father to me. He raised me since I was born. This situation doesn’t change the feelings I have for him. I’m just looking at Jonathon differently. He says he’d like to have a relationship with me, but I think we’re going to have to take it slow. It’s a lot to process.”
“We all have a lot to work through.” I reflect back on my earlier conversation with Parker. One thing I know for sure, my life will never be the same again. That goes for everyone in our family. We’ve all hit a very rocky road, but with any luck, we’ll all make it out relatively unscathed.
My father gets off the phone first and has a deer in the headlights expression.
“What, Dad? What is it?”
“Apparently Capellini went to jail for ten years for blowing up a house with an entire family still inside. They all died. He got out early from an appeal. I’m not totally sure of the circumstances, but apparently somebody else claimed responsibility for it, so Capellini was set free. The thing is, when the other guy stood trial, there wasn’t enough evidence to convict him even though he confessed. It sounds like there’s a lot more going on here then what I’ve been told.”
Porter is the first to ask what I was already thinking. “Why did he target this family?”
“According to the official court documents, there wasn’t a motive. Word has it that the guy owed him a lot of money and wasn’t paying up. So he took matters into his own hands.”
The grim realization that this could happen to us looms like a heavy fog in the air. The longer it takes to put the pieces together, the more jeopardy we’re in. “I want to get Parker and the kids on a plane and get them out of here.”
My dad eyes me as though he’s trying to read my mind. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for them to be out of your sight. I think it would be better if we all stayed together.”
“Kind of like the family he murdered stayed together? I don’t think so. We can send a security team to protect them. It won’t be for long, only until we get this figured out.” I ball my hands into fists, very angry that this asshole can have such a huge impact on my family. We are supposed to be two of the most powerful families in the country. The problem is, we do everything legally. Or at least we used to. We are no match for the crime world.
“I’ve got something.” Edward hangs up his phone. “Capellini is wanted by the police for number of things. He’s suspected to be the head of a large theft ring in the New York City area. In addition, he’s suspected of running a brothel in Atlantic City, amongst other various things. If we can lead the cops to him, they’ll arrest him and put him in jail. Then he’s out of our hair.”
“Do you think it’s that easy? I mean, if he’s a big guy in the mob, he’s going to have other guys who will come after us. He wants the money. A billion dollars will set him for life. It also seems a little strange he’s only wanted for petty crime stuff.” Porter crosses his arms and stares at me.
“Al Capone was captured for tax evasion,” Edward says. “I think that’s how they get these high end criminals. Maybe if we can work with the authorities to capture Capellini, then they can take down the rest of his crew also.”
While I’m skeptical of the entire thing, at this point it seems like our best option. There sure as shit aren’t a lot of other things. I for one don’t want to die with the rest of the Matthews’ and Davis’ inside my own house.
“I think we should do it.”
Parker comes barging in. “Oh my gosh, you aren’t going to believe this! I’ve been talking to Dianne, telling her about everything that’s been happening and—”
I grimace. “Oh Parker, I wish you hadn’t.”
“No, wait! It’s a good thing. Dianne, tell them.” Parker puts Dianne on the speaker phone. “Okay, go ahead.”
“Parker was just telling me about this man who’s been blackmailing your family. When she said Capellini, it didn’t ring a bell with me at first. But then she said his first name was Albert. I started asking more questions and I know the guy. His name is actually Albert Christian Castellanos. He’s not some guy high up in the mafia. In fact, I don’t think he has any ties to them other than they probably want to kick his ass. Albert, or Al as I prefer to call him, is nothing but a petty criminal. I know this because we used to date. In fact, he’s Beth’s father.”
Holy shit! Is this for real? I glance at Parker, who’s beaming like a kid in a candy shop.
“I got pregnant shortly before Al went to jail. He never knew it and I broke it off with him as soon as he went away. I’ve never spoken to him since. However, he’s tried to contact me multiple times.”
“Capellini was married before he went to jail,” Jonathan says. “He’s still married from my understanding.”
“I can’t say it’s one of my prouder moments,” Dianne says. “I was his mistress for a few months. I was young and loved the bad boy type. Hanging out with Al was exciting. Looking back now, I realize how stupid it was. When I got pregnant I became very aware of how fast I needed to grow up and become more responsible.”
This seems too simple. Something isn’t right. “I’m having a hard time believing this is the same guy. The man who’s been blackmailing our fathers is a big mafia leader with a lot of connections. He’s been taking a percentage of their gambling proceeds and now wants a billion dollars.”
“Yeah well, if you knew him personally it would make sense. Al grew up in Atlantic City. That’s where he learned how to play poker. He became very good at it, and is well known in the professional poker circuit. You can look him up under Al Castellanos. One day he was accused of cheating and was no longer welcome at any of the big hotels. That’s when he started playing in the underground circuit. He hated it. All the fame and notoriety he once had was gone since he was gambling illegally. He still did pretty well for himself, but his goal was to be able to own his own casino one day and host his own poker tournaments there. That way he’d be allowed to play.
“He’s an excellent conman with an even better poker face. My guess is he took you two for couple of naïve players who were in over their heads and saw it as an opportunity to get the capital he needed to build a hotel in Vegas. You’ve walked straight into his web.”
Dianne sounds unusually cheery about the entire thing. Or maybe I’m simply pissed that we’ve been played. Either way, I’m annoyed as hell. “What about the family he blew up?”
“I don’t know a lot about that, but I don’t think he had anything to do with it. The Al I knew wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
“How about the brothel?”
“That’s his brother’s business. He’s had it forever. It wouldn’t surprise me if Al became a partner for some extra income.”
Dianne’s recounts jive with what we’ve learned about Capellini, or Castellanos. Whoever he is. Could it all be this simple? Could we just walk away from this entire thing?
“Dianne, would you be willing to help us negotiate with him to get out of this mess?”
Dianne remains quiet on the other end for so long I almost think she’s hung up. Finally she says, “I don’t know that I want to see him or be involved with anything that has to do with him. I need to think about Beth. Why don’t you just call the police?”
“Dianne, this is Jonathon Davis. There is every chance we’ll go to jail for having an illegal gambling circuit. It honestly started out as something with just the boys, but somehow Castellanos got involved and made it into something bigger, something we weren’t comfortable with. Our families are at stake here.”
Dianne sighs heavily into the phone. “As much as I don’t want to get involved, your son has done so much for my family. It’s the least I can do.”
I bury my head in my hands, grateful she doesn’t know I’m the one who impregnated her daughter. If she had, she might not be so willing to help. Thank goodness for small miracles. “Thank you so much, Dianne. I don’t know what we’d do without you.”
“I’m just leaving the hospital now. How about I stop by and we can discuss our options?”
“Sounds good. Thank you so much for doing this.” Parker’s voice is so high pitched she could be sucking on a helium balloon.
I want to be excited, but it’s hard to think this could all end this easily.
Parker disconnects from the call. “Can you believe this? We’re going to get our lives back!”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” I say. “We don’t know if everything she’s saying is true. How long has it been since she last talked to him? Perhaps there’s more to this guy than she’s aware of. People do change after all.” I’m still reeling over the fact that I’ve slept with the guy’s daughter. What if he finds out about that?
“Trent, try and stay positive. This is the best shot we have.” My father pats my shoulder. “We’ve got to come up with some plan to stop this. I’m willing to offer him a generous settlement to make him go away.”
“I’ve given that man two-hundred and fifty million to go away,” Edward counters. “I think he’s had enough of our money. Besides, if we offer to give him more, he’ll take more. I don’t want this loser to get another dime of my hard earned money.”
“I just want this over with, however we have to do it,” my dad states while looking directly at Edward.
“How novel of you. You haven’t given him a dime. You’ve run away with all your money while I’ve gone broke trying to fix the problem.”
There is something going on between the two of them. Part of me wants to find out what it is, the other wants to bury my head in the sand and focus on the task at hand. “Enough out of you two. Enough of the fighting,” I snap. “You two need to work together. Quit blaming each other. It won’t help anything.”
“Trent’s right. We need to stick together,” says Porter. “This will hopefully be over before we know it, and then you can decide whether to be best friends or enemies. I don’t care as long as you don’t get us involved in any more of your poor decisions.”
I go to the fridge and get beers for Porter and I. I don’t offer anything to Edward or Jonathan. They can stay sober for now. Porter and I have been through a lot recently and the tension in my shoulders is starting to take its toll. We clink the necks of the bottles together like we’ve done since college. It feels good to have some normalcy back between us.
We’ve got the beers almost completely polished off when the doorbell rings. We all jump up, excited and apprehensive for Dianne to walk through the door. This could be the end to all the trouble and pain we’ve been going through.
Within seconds, Parker and Dianne are in the kitchen. We all greet her while Parker gives introductions.
“Please have a seat,” I say without looking at her in the eyes. I’m a little ashamed to, knowing what I’ve done with her daughter.
Dianne eyes the map we’ve put together. I don’t say anything while she studies it. A smile breaks out on her face. “I recognize all of these names. They’ve been friends of Al’s for years. I hate to break it to you fellas, but you’re getting played by a bunch of minor criminals who are expecting to make a killing off you.”
“So how do we stop this?” I ask.
“I was actually thinking about that on the way over. I’m not sure how to contact him because it’s been so long. However, I think the best thing would be for me to talk to him and try and reason with him. I think I can be very persuasive where he’s concerned,” she says with a coy smile.
“I want to you go with you,” Edward demands.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. I think you might be too emotionally invested in this. How about Porter? I think he could be reasonable in all this and he represents both of your families.”
“That’s a good idea,” I agree. The last thing I want is to go anywhere alone with Beth’s mom. That would be like walking into the lion’s den.
“You should come too, Trent,” Dianne says. “We’ll set up a neutral meeting place. With any luck things will run smoothly and we can get you out of this mess in the next couple of days.”
Crap. I was happy with Porter going alone. I can’t very well back out, however, I’m still skeptical Dianne is going to be able to fix this so simply. “What are you going to say to make him change his mind?” I ask.
“Why don’t you let me worry about that? Now, what number have you been using to contact him?”
“We’ve been going through a guy named Raphael. He’s been the contact point.” Edward pulls a piece of paper out of his pocket. “This is the phone number.”
“Hmm. I’m not familiar with this one.” Dianne pulls her cellphone from her pocket and dials the number. We all wait with bated breath, eyes glued to her as though she’s our savior that is going to walk across water.
“Hi, is this Raphael? Good. I’d like you to put me touch with Al Castellanos…Well of course you do. We can call him Capellini if you prefer. Yes, this is Dianne Watson, and Ricky, don’t pretend you don’t know who I am. Yes, you can call me back at this number. Don’t keep me waiting.” Dianne hangs up the phone with a big grin. “He’s up to his same old tricks. Everyone has changed their name to sound more legit. It’s silly if you ask me.” Dianne slides her phone back into her pocket.
“What’s the plan?”
“He’s going to call me back in a few with contact information. No big deal. Anyway, I have to get back to the house and get some things for Beth. I’ll give you a call the moment I know anything.”
Dianne starts to walk out of the kitchen. I look around; all of us have our mouths open in disbelief that she’s so nonchalant about everything.
“It’s okay, boys. This will all work out.” Dianne and Parker leave the kitchen.
I’m left there wondering if this is some kind of joke. Are we being played? Can this woman help us or are we digging a deeper grave?