The elevator door opened at the exclusive hotel, and the bellhop, with a cart filled with the Gabrinis luggage, walked out.  He was followed by Tommy and Grace, and Sal and Gemma.  They were in a festive mood.  The Inquest had ruled they were not at fault for what happened at the hotel.  There was no doubt about their innocence at Neeco’s place.  They were going home.  They would soon see their children again.

But Tommy was the first to see him.  “Look, Sal,” he said.

Sal looked over by the hotel’s lobby as Neeco stood up and made his way toward them.

“He’s coming to see us off,” Grace said.  “That’s so sweet.”

“So what is your woman’s intuition telling you about Neeco?” Sal asked Gemma.

“It’s telling me that that’s a good man,” she responded.

“What about you, Grace?” Tommy asked.

“It’s telling me that I’d be honored for our children to get to know him.”

Sal beamed.  For some reason, a good report on Neeco made him feel as if it was a good report on him.

And Sal couldn’t help but smile when Neeco arrived at their side.  “Hey, Neek, what’s up?” he asked him.

“How are you, Sal?” Neeco asked.

“I’m great.  And you?”

“I’m happy,” said Neeco.  “I haven’t felt this good in forty years.”

“It’s a shame what they did to you,” Tommy said. 

“I know.  But right always wins in the end.  I knew the good Lord watched over me while I was locked up.  I knew, in time, I was going to be victorious.  And now I am.  They got theirs.”

“Damn right,” said Sal.

“I just wanted to see you guys off,” Neeco said.

“You’re still coming though, right?” Sal asked him.

“Oh, yes.  I wouldn’t miss it for the world!  And thanks for inviting Bruce too.  I kind of look out for him.  He doesn’t have any family but me.  He’s looking forward to living in America.”

“I wish you guys would come with us now,” Sal said.

“I’ve got to get my father’s affairs in order first,” Neeco said, “and close up my house.  And then I’ll be there.  That is, if you still want me.”

“You know we do,” said Gemma.  “We can’t wait for you to meet your grandson,” she added.

“Everybody’s looking forward to it, Neeco,” said Tommy.

But then everybody looked at Sal.

“It would be the honor of my life,” Sal said, “for you to come live with us in Vegas.”

“And Bruce?”

Sal smiled.  “And Bruce,” he said.

Everybody exhaled.  Neeco smiled from ear to ear.  “Thanks, Sal,” he said.

And after more small talk, and then the walk out of the hotel to the portico where the SUV was waiting to transport them to the airport, Neeco hugged everybody.  He thought it would be awkward when it came to Sal.  He could tell, in the short time that he knew Sal, that he was not a touchy-feely man.

But it wasn’t awkward at all.  Sal hugged him vigorously.  It was as if, in Neeco, Sal found what he’d been looking for all his life: a positive side of himself.  He gladly hugged Neeco.

“See you soon,” said Neeco, as they all piled into the SUV, said their goodbyes once again, as the driver slowly pulled away from under the portico.

Tommy looked at his Rolex.  His pilot was expecting them to have been at the airport a half hour ago.  But it was only then did Sal realize what he had seen.   “That guy,” Sal said.

“You mean the bellhop?” Gemma asked.  “He put all our luggage in the SUV.  Don’t worry.  I was looking the whole time.”

“He had on a Rolex.”

They all looked at Sal.  “What do you mean?”

“That bellhop had on a Rolex, Tommy.  And his was more expensive than yours!”

Tommy’s heart dropped.

“Stop the car!” Sal yelled, and the driver of the SUV slammed on brakes.

“Sal, what is it?” Gemma asked, but Sal jumped out of that SUV and took off running back toward the hotel’s portico.

Tommy jumped out, too, and took off after Sal.

“What happened?” Gemma asked.

But Grace didn’t know either.  She turned around and looked out of the back window, to see what she could see.

What Sal saw was the bellhop walking over to the Valet station, grabbing what appeared to be a gun from behind the podium, and began running toward Neeco.  Neeco was walking toward the parking lot, to his own car, and was completely oblivious to the danger.

Sal and Tommy were running across the full length of the hotel property, yelling at Neeco, but they were too far away.

By the time they ran closer, the bellhop lift his gun, to take aim at Neeco.

“God nooo!” Sal cried, and Tommy knew what Sal was about to do.  They were running toward the bellhop, not from his back or his front, but from his side.  Which meant, the only way Sal could save his father was to kill the bellhop, which would have been too risky because of all of the people in the area, or intercept that bullet.  And to Tommy’s horror, he knew the only way that was going to happen was if Sal intercepted that bullet with his own body!

But Tommy wasn’t going to allow it.  Those days of Sal as the sacrificial lamb were over.  And as soon as that bellhop pulled that trigger, Sal leaped in front of that speeding bullet.

Gemma, looking through the back window of the SUV, cried out and pounded on the window.  But Sal couldn’t hear her any more than Neeco could hear him.  There was no other way.  He had to intercept that bullet.

But just as he jumped in front of the bullet, to stop it from hitting his father, Tommy fired at the bellhop as he jumped in front of Sal, to stop that bullet from hitting his brother.  Somebody had to take the hit. To Grace’s horror, as she looked on from that SUV too, Tommy took the hit.  But not before hitting that bellhop.  He went down too.

The bullet tore through Tommy’s abdomen, causing him to drop to the ground, as Sal suddenly realized what had happened.  Even Neeco turned around, after hearing the gunfire, and was shocked by the scene, too.  The women jumped from the SUV and ran toward their men, but the truth was undeniable.

The bellhop was still alive and crying about how Neeco had killed his daughter at that schoolhouse.  How Neeco had ruined his life.

Sal was crying and grabbing Tommy, and holding his head in his arms.

Neeco was running toward the scene too, praying they all were okay.

And Grace’s heart had nearly stopped by the time she made it to her husband, and saw that he was not responsive.

She fell to her knees.

 

 

****

TWO MONTHS LATER

 

“That’s what I do,” Sal said.

“But you still haven’t told me what you do,” Neeco said.  “All I’m hearing is a bunch of mumbo jumbo.”

Everybody laughed.

“That’s my husband,” Gemma said.  “He thinks he’s pulling the wool over everybody’s eyes, when he’s not pulling it over anybody’s.  Not even yours, Neeco.”

“I’m not trying to pull any wool over anybody’s eyes,” Sal said.  “I’m just trying to tell the man that my occupation is complicated.”

Neeco and his friend Bruce had only just arrived in the States the day before, and they were in Tommy and Grace’s backward in Seattle enjoying a relaxing evening, before they traveled on to Vegas.  The children were asleep, and the grownups, Sal and Gemma, Tommy and Grace, and Neeco and his friend, were grilling and talking.

After what happened in that hotel parking lot, Sal had wanted Neeco to leave town with them.  But he had to get his affairs in order first.  So Sal had an army of men guard his father twenty-four seven, just in case another parent wanted revenge for a school shooting they didn’t realize Neeco never committed.  It worked.   Neeco didn’t like the intrusion, but he made it out of Rome alive.

Now he was in Seattle, after Sal and Gemma flew on their private plane to Rome to pick he and Bruce up, and he felt like a kid.

But Sal was still bullshitting him.  “Just say what it is you do,” Neeco said.  “Why can’t you just say it?”

“There’s nothing to say,” Sal replied.  “I help people, like I said.  I fix problems and situations.  Right Tommy?”

Tommy was just coming back onto the patio of his house, after going inside to take a leak, and he smiled.  “Keep me out of that fantasy world of yours,” he said.

Grace, Gemma, and Neeco laughed.  “What fantasy?” Sal asked.

“The fantasy of your profession,” Tommy said as he grabbed his pool rake and went over to the pool to fish out debris: mostly leaves.  “Keep me out of it,” he added.

Two months ago, Tommy had been shot in that parking lot.  He was on the mend almost immediately, and was back to his old self a month ago.  Now he was fully recovered.

“I don’t know what’s so hard for you people to understand,” Sal said.  “I help people, okay?  I move this around and that around and do what I have to do.  I fix things.  I make things right.”

“Where I come from,” said Neeco, “they call a guy like that a mobster.”

Tommy laughed.  Gemma and Grace did too.  Even Sal had to smile. “Let’s talk about something else!” he said.

“I appreciate what both of you did for me that day, in that parking lot,” Neeco said to Sal and Tommy.  “To have so many people hating you for something you didn’t do is a painful thing.  I’m happy to get out of there, to tell you the truth.”

“I’m glad you got out of there,” Sal said, “to tell you the truth.”

Neeco smiled.  “I hope to meet a wonderful woman someday, like Grace and Gemma, and get married, but I came very close to never seeing that day happen.”

“But it’ll happen,” Grace said.  “You just keep believing it.”

“I will.  And it’ll happen because of your husband, and because of Sal.  My son.”

Sal inwardly smiled when his father said it so proudly.  But a thought did cross his mind.  “Can I ask you something?” he asked Neeco.

“Sure,” said Neeco.

“How could you forgive that bastard?”

“I didn’t at first.  When I realized what he’d done, I couldn’t.  When I realized he chose Benny over me, it was so hard.  But I had to do it.  For my own sanity.  You can’t hate people without destroying yourself.  So I prayed about it, and forgave him.  I had to.”  Then Neeco exhaled.  “I didn’t realize he thought I was nothing,” he added.  “But that’s what he said, didn’t he?  That I was nothing.”

“What the fuck he knows about it?” Sal asked, rising to his feet.  “He was the zero.  You’re the real hero.”

Neeco smiled.

“But don’t you worry.  You either, Bruce.  I’m going to show that motherfucker.  I’m going to make all your dreams come true.”

Tommy, Grace, and Gemma smiled.  So did Neeco and Bruce.

But Neeco was shaking his head.  “You already have, Sal,” he said.  “I have a family now.  A son.  Even the DNA proved it!”  The took a DNA test.  “What more can I want?”

“Ah,” said Grace, as everybody smiled.

But Sal wanted more.  He wanted Tommy’s hide.  He looked at Neeco and Bruce and winked.  “Watch this,” he mouthed to them, as he tiptoed toward Tommy.  When he got behind him, Tommy turned just as Sal attempted to push him into the pool.  But Tommy was too fast for his younger brother.  He grabbed Sal as he fell into the pool, and took Sal with him.

“Nooo!” Sal yelled.

Tommy wore shorts, but Sal had on a suit.  Sal got the worse of his own trick.

“That’s what you get!” Gemma said, and they all laughed.

Tommy and Sal looked at each other, and they were wet as hell.  And they couldn’t help but laugh, too.