My father had retaliated, but something didn’t sit right with me. In fact, the whole thing stank. They’d blamed a smaller family from Philadelphia, one that was supposed to have been loyal to us. Somehow, evidence had turned up incriminating them. But it didn’t make sense, not then, not now. My father had been crazed, though. He’d loved Sergio, and he’d simply reacted, killed off the boss’s sons. Effectively ending the family.

I was supposed to have been with Sergio at the meeting he was coming home from, but I’d been sick. In a way, it felt like I’d cheated death, but then, if I had been there, maybe Sergio wouldn’t have died. Maybe things would have gone differently.

I never said much when I came to the cemetery and never stayed long. Just showed up. Wanted them to know I hadn’t forgotten them. I got back in the car and headed toward Natalie’s house. Natalie was Sergio’s wife. Apart from her friendship with me, she’d cut off ties with the family after his and my mother’s deaths. She hated my father and brother. She hated the life. But she had loved my brother, knowing the cost of that love.

My father hadn’t really allowed her to walk away, though. Not with her bringing his first grandchild into the world. Jacob Sergio Benedetti was born six months after Sergio’s murder. Natalie had purposely not given him an Italian first name, which had pissed off my father. Jacob was one and a half years old now. I knew she worried about what demands my father would put on her as Jacob grew older, but she kept those mostly to herself. My father supported them financially. As much as I knew Natalie hated it, she needed the money. And as long as she took it, Franco gave her the space she wanted. I guess he figured he owned her anyway.

I dialed Natalie’s number on my cell phone. She answered after the fourth ring.

“Hello?”

“Natalie, it’s me, Salvatore.”

“Hey, Salvatore. How are you?”

“Okay.” Not really. “How are you doing?”

“I’m fine. Just playing with Jacob.”

“Can I drop by?”

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah,” I said quickly, then added, “you know.” Natalie was the one person who knew me for who I really was. I trusted Marco, my bodyguard, but he didn’t know this side of me. I didn’t trust anyone enough to share this vulnerability. Too many people ready and waiting for weakness.

“Come on over.”

“Thanks. See you in twenty minutes.”