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Muse hugged both Salva and I before inviting us inside, and we walked into the house together. When Gino went to press the button for the elevator, I stopped him.
“Why don’t we let the girls go upstairs, man, and go talk into your office. There’s some business I need to get over with you and the others. Is Vincenzo here too?”
He looked at Muse and she gave him the green light.
“Sure, go ahead, but don’t get all drunk and forget to come out of the cave. The food will be delivered in an hour and your mother is coming too, Gino.”
“I’m well aware because she called me four times this morning.” He gave me a dirty look. “Apparently she didn’t want to bother you two, but had no problem bothering us.”
Simona Nucci – an authentic force of nature. She was also the mother everyone wished to have, but too few got.
“Ok, you two,” Muse said, dismissing us with a flick of her wrist, “go ahead and I’ll send the rest of the boys down.”
We carried ourselves into his office and before the other guys showed, Gino walked me through some info he got from an informant – apparently the feds were after an old job from last year, a goods exchange that was done off the books. None of us were very concerned, because we’d double-checked the facts to make sure there were no leads to follow – not back to us anyways – but he really wanted me to look into some ways to sue the Bureau for harassment after they put a tail on Muse.
Those motherfuckers were starting to play dangerously close to the line. It wasn’t the first time they'd put a family member under investigation for no reason. You would think that after so many years of investigation, they would have learned that the Nucci family doesn’t hate anything more than scum messing with their families. I made a mental note to talk to Salva as soon as possible, tell her a few things. I needed to make sure she knew what to say and most importantly – what to not say – around people outside the family. I was never the target of major investigations, just a known associate, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
“Yeah, man, I’m on it.” I assured him. “I’ll take care of it first thing next week, after I take Salva to her doctor’s appointment.”
“Doctor’s appointment?”
“Yeah.”
The door opened and Hugo, Vincenzo, Ignazio, Vito, and two of Gino’s younger cousins, Frank Jr. and Marco Nucci, walked in. What I wanted to talk to my men about didn’t exactly concern Frank and Marco, but Gino and Cenzo had started grooming them a few months back, making them run small jobs, so they were around a lot lately.
Vincenzo and Ignazio made a big deal about Salvatrice and I quite enjoyed hearing how fucking beautiful and perfect she was. I waited for this moment when I’d bring her into my family for eight years. Maybe there were a few remarks about her ass and how damn smokin’ her body was, but everything was coming from a respectful place.
“So” Cenzo declared as he slapped his palms together, “are we drinking or what? Why did you want us to come down here?”
“Because, fellas, I might need your help soon.” I dreaded speaking about this today, but I had no time to waste. Salva was fine, relatively, she looked normal, but I couldn’t ignore how sometimes she had to stop whatever was doing and press on her chest, or how she choked in her sleep. “Salvatrice is sick. She is really, really sick.”
Everyone choked on their tongues, except Hugo for whom this wasn’t news.
Gino cleared his throat and put a hand on my shoulder.
“What do you mean, brother?”
“I don’t have all the details, but it’s a problem with her lungs that threatens her life. Her health is degrading rapidly, and she needs a transplant. The only problem is that because of some specific protein in her body, her chances of finding a good match are very slim.”
“What can we do?” Gino asked without hesitation, and Vincenzo continued.
“I have some contacts that can get you any doctor in this damn world. It will be fine. We’ll figure it out. Lola’s mom is a nurse; we can call her into town if you want to have someone close to your house.”
All I could think at that moment was how passionately Salva hated these people for so many years. She saw only evilness and pain, but look at them now. My people. My tribe. The famiglia.
“I’ve already arranged for her to see a very good specialist this Monday and on the phone, Dr. Sullivan told me that he’ll work on a plan to do as much damage control as possible to stretch her time, but sooner or later, that transplant will be needed and that’s when I will need you. She might get some lungs by chance, but if not, I have to find her a pair. I don’t care who I have to bribe to put her on top of the list or hook her up with an international transplant. At the end of the day, I don’t care if I have to strangle someone with my bare hands.” It sounded like a joke, or hyperbole, but it wasn’t. They knew exactly what I was saying. If a good match didn’t show up for Salva through the medical system, I had to take matters into my own hands and make it show up.
Everyone nodded and Ignazio broke the silence.
“Roman, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there, vabene? I…I have anything you need.”
“Meaning?” I asked.
“After Enzo…after he was taken from us,” He had to stop and take a deep breath. Enzo – Muse’s little brother, had been shot back in ’96 by his own damn father. It was hard for everyone; it destroyed Muse, but Ignazio? He’d never quite recovered because while we lost a friend, he’d lost the love of his life. “Anyways, I did a lot of volunteer work, mostly in hospitals down in Queens. I made a few donations and I made a lot of friends. What I’m saying is if we get there and you need a medical team to work off the books, I got you.”
Damn, this was a big thing to offer, but this is what we did for each other. I’d take a bullet for any one of them. I’d also put a bullet in anyone’s skull for any one of them and they would do the same.
