La Famiglia Page 59

  Yeremian looked to Giovanni. “This one says he has a deal with you? True?”

  “No.” Giovanni replied.

  The man holding Giuliani tossed him to the floor. He got up to his knees and made the sign of the cross before Yeremian gave his man a nod. A bullet to the back of Giuliani’s head dropped him cold. “He had no further useful information. In fact he played you and Mottola at both ends.”

  It appeared to Giovanni he had misjudged many men and things in the past months.

  “Like I said, we sent Mottola a gift this morning. He knows his family lives depend on his response.” Yeremian said. “Of course we will honor your wishes and release the women without harm. But we haven’t heard anything as of yet. I think he wants to call your bluff.”

  “He doesn’t.” Giovanni replied. Giovanni turned and looked around at the shit stain of a place. He saw a chair and Nico brought it over. He sat. “Then we wait,” he said. “And enjoy the show.”

  Yeremian laughed and gave his men the signal to continue with the torture.

  * B *

  Marietta glanced over to Catalina. They both exchanged a look but neither of them spoke. Gemma ate as if she hadn’t in days. When Gemma noticed the silence she looked up from her plate slowly chewing. “I’ve been… unable to have a good meal the past week.”

  “Why?” Marietta asked.

  Gemma looked to Catalina and then back to Marietta. For some reason she held off from explaining. Instinctually Marietta felt Gemma wasn’t to be trusted. And that instinctual feeling grew stronger. “Catalina can be trusted. What is going on, Gemma?”

  “I came to Sicilia to find you,” Gemma said.

  “I know that,” Marietta replied.

  “I came to find you because someone forced me to, Marietta. She… she threatened you. I had no choice,” Gemma said. “Maybe we should wait for your sister to return to allow me to explain.”

  “I’d like to hear it now. Was it all a lie?” Marietta asked. “The stories you shared when I was a kid. About how you briefly knew my mother. Was it a lie?”

  Gemma sat back. For a moment Marietta feared she wouldn’t answer. She glanced up to her and nodded slowly. “It was all a lie. Every thing I’ve ever told you including the fact that your father wants to kill you, has been a lie.”

  Stunned Marietta withdrew. The door opened, she glanced over to see Mira step through with Zia following. The sun had fallen. The beach villa’s lamps became the sole source of luminance when the door closed. Marietta struggled to contain her hurt and rage. Lorenzo said she reacted too many times instead of thinking a situation through. She’d just learned that Gemma was a liar and the betrayal cut deep.

  “Hi. Thank you for coming and meeting with us,” Mira said.

  “To be honest your call may have saved my life. It wasn’t safe for me in Carini.” Gemma admitted.

  Mira walked over and occupied the chair across from Gemma. “Can I ask why?”

  “I would like to speak to you and Marietta alone,” Gemma said.

  “That’s not going to happen. We’re a family. The four of us,” Mira glanced back to Zia and Catalina then returned her gaze to Gemma. “You speak to all of us.”

  Marietta pushed back from the table and stood. She paced. “How can you sit here, and play at being so innocent, when you have lied to me all my life!” she said.

  Gemma shook her head sadly. “There’s a lot you don’t know, Marietta. I want to fix it. That’s the only reason why I came.” She looked up and met Marietta’s heated glare with an apologetic one. “I’ve wanted to fix so many mistakes I’ve made since your mother died. But I couldn’t. One lie turned into many. I’m sorry”

  “Can someone clue me in please? What lie is she telling?” Mira asked.

  “Oh pick one!” Marietta threw her hands up. “We can start with our father not putting a contract on our lives. Or the fact that she knew our mother when she was alive but for years pretended otherwise. And she’s known all these years how she died. Haven’t you!”

  Gemma’s gaze bounced between them both. “I have been trying to protect you. Let me explain.”

  “Explain!” Marietta shouted at her.

  “Marietta, calm down,” Mira said. “Sit, please. Let’s hear her out.”

  Marietta breathed through her nose. Her chest felt heavy and her eyes teared. Despite her desire to throw the chair she pulled it away from the table and sat down.

  “I met your mother at a club owned by Manny Cigars. She first came in because of her boyfriend. A young man named James. When Manny saw her he gave her a job. Singing for an underage poor girl like Lisa in a club like Manny’s was a big deal. She jumped at the chance. James knew it was a mistake. One look at Manny when he watched her sing and you could tell his real reason for offering her the job.”

  “And she couldn’t see this?” Mira asked.

  “No. For a long time Lisa couldn’t see the evil in people. She didn’t learn those lessons until years later.” Gemma sighed. “Manny was older, meaner, and used to having whomever he wanted,” Gemma said. “He set her boyfriend up. I remember what she told me the day they came for her. The night Manny took her.”

  “What happened the night he took her?” Marietta asked.

  Mira shook her head as if to say no. Her sister stepped forward. She slammed her hands on the table. “If we’re going to hear the truth then we have to hear the entire truth.”

  Gemma glanced to Zia and Catalina. Mira wasn’t sure why their presence made her uncomfortable but it was evident she struggled with the story she had to tell partly because they were part of her audience. “Before James went to prison Manny made a move on Lisa. She literally had to fight him off her and escape the club. James was furious. He came back and told Manny he’d kill him if he tried it again. At first we all thought Manny would cut his throat or have one of his men do it. Instead he promoted him. Which for that time, that place, with those men it was unheard of. James never knew what hit him. Manny set the trap and he and Lisa walked right into it.”

  “She told you this?” Mira asked.

  “I saw it firsthand. We were friends at this point. Lisa didn’t have many. She was scared by the gifts Manny sent her but James told her it was the way of the Sicilians. That Manny was sincere. He was. Sincerely obsessed with your mother.” Gemma’s gaze lowered to her hands. She shared the rest of her tale that way. “Manny had a job for James. According to Lisa, James was really excited about it. The payout would be enough for them to leave Philadelphia for good.”

  “It was a setup,” Marietta said.

  Gemma nodded her head yes slowly. “Lisa waited all night for him to come home. He never did. In the morning there was a knock to the door and it was Manny’s men. They told her she had to come with them. She feared James was hurt or in trouble so she went. They brought her to Manny. He told her James had killed a man, a white businessman that owned a rival club. Several men died in a fire and it was all pinned on James. It was a lie. He never had a chance to prove his innocence. Lisa begged Manny to help him. He told her the price.” Gemma looked up. “She paid the price.”

  “I don’t want to hear anymore.” Mira said feeling sick.

  “I do!” Marietta said, shaking with rage. “He raped her! The dirty bastard!”

  Gemma nodded yes. “I found her afterwards in the bathroom throwing up. Never seen a kid so hurt and confused. She never saw James again. She knew the moment she agreed to be Manny’s it was all a lie. That’s how your mother became part of our world.”

  “What world was that?” Mira frowned.

  “Whores!” Zia snapped. Her voice cracked like a whip. “I know who you are.” She leveled a finger at her. “You’re part of la Abandonato.”

  “Who?” Marietta asked. “What?”

  Zia explained. “Abandonato is derived from the word forsaken. In the Campania there were many of these women, whores that provided services under the protection and for the profit of the Camorra. All of it was legal up
until around…”

  “1958,” Gemma said sadly. “Sfruttamento della prostituzione was established to outlaw pimping. Targeted more toward the mob bosses who were exploiting us. It was the Battaglias in the Camorra and the Mancinis in the Mafia who jointly ran the business out of the Campania. I was one of those girls who got passed between.”

  Zia nodded. “When it was illegal for the brothels the Camorra and Mafia expanded their business beyond Italia and Sicilia.”

  “To America.” Gemma cut in. “It was a miserable life here. Not much better in the States. I lived in America for many years illegally.”

  “Don’t trust this woman, Mira. She wasn’t your mother’s friend. She was a whore to your father. Weren’t you?” Zia asked.

  Gemma’s gaze lifted. Marietta drew back in surprise. “Wait? Are you saying you were involved with this Manny Cigars too?”

  “No,” Gemma denied it. “I was just a girl who he exploited like your mother. I was his victim.”

  “She’s a liar! A whore! The kind our husbands keep on the side!” Zia shouted. “Don’t trust her.”

  Mira grabbed Zia’s hand. She kissed it. “Please, let her finish, Zia. Then we will decide what is fact and what is fiction. Okay?”

  Gemma gave Zia a hateful look. But it passed over her face quickly. She looked back down to her hands. “After a few days Lisa was told that James was dead. Killed in jail. To this day I’m not sure if it was true. But Lisa believed it. Manny, who you know as Mancini, kept her with him always. Locked away at his apartment. We saw her only briefly, dressed beautifully, shyly regulated to a corner he’d post her in under guard of his men. She was so beautiful, so sad, so young. I was her once. I knew what she endured.”

  “So you two became friends?” Mira asked.

  “Yes.” Gemma smiled. “And unfortunately I was not a good friend to her. What I’m about to tell you is my greatest sin.” Gemma lifted her face and looked to Marietta with weepy eyes. “It’s why I tried to protect you, to save you from your father and the Battaglias by keeping your birth a secret. I did it because I owed it to your mother. I failed her twice in life. The first time was soon after we became friends. Mancini would often have to go on these long trips to Sicily to deal with his father. I was chosen to be her companion, more like her jailor. She was so miserable at first. She suffered such guilt over her lover James, and the life she lost with him. And she was so naïve. She started to blame herself. And then she… actually began to fall in love with the evil bastard.”

  “What did you do, Gemma?” Marietta demanded. “Stop stalling and tell us.”

  “I turned her on to opium, and then to heroin.”

  Before Mira could digest the news her sister flew across the table. Gemma was slammed back into the floor. Marietta was all fists. She beat on Gemma savagely. It took for Mira and Catalina to drag her off the poor woman.

  “Let me go! Let me go!” Marietta screamed. “I’ll kill her!”

  “Help me get her into the other room. Please!” Mira said, as she suffered a few smacks and blows to her sensitive stomach area. Winded she thought she’d lose the battle. But Catalina proved stronger than Mira imagined. She grabbed Marietta by the neck and dragged her with the tight hold beyond the door to the bedroom. Mira was quick to close it. When she turned around Catalina and Marietta were fighting.

  “Stop it! Stop it dammit!” Mira yelled.

  Catalina pinned Marietta to the floor. The women panted and snarled at each other. Both were so angry neither could verbalize anything beyond vicious curse words. Mira couldn’t believe the scene before her. She held her stomach. She suffered cramps and soreness to her midriff from the tussle and remained cautious not to get any closer. “Let her go, Catalina. It’s over.”

  Catalina did so and Marietta got to her feet.

  “You have to calm down,” she said to her sister.

  “Shut up!” Marietta leveled a finger at Mira. “Don’t you tell me what to do! You have no idea the betrayal of that evil bitch!”

  “Don’t I?” Mira asked. “Whether you thought she was your godmother or not she poisoned my mother too with those drugs. I’m just as pissed as you!” Mira shouted.

  “You don’t look it to me.” Marietta spat and turned away with her hands in her hair.

  “We brought her here for the truth and we haven’t heard it all.” Mira reasoned.

  “I’ve heard enough! If I go back out there I’ll kill the bitch!” Marietta said. Mira looked to Catalina who shrugged and paced herself trying to calm down. It was all falling apart. Mira had to question her own sanity. Why did she think that speaking with this woman would give her the freedom to deal with her husband? If anything she felt more hopeless.

  “Let me think,” Mira panted. She closed her eyes. She had no choice but to see this through. She opened her eyes and found both Marietta and Catalina staring at her. “Stay in here. I’ll talk to Gemma. Then we decide what to do. Agreed?”

  Marietta rolled her eyes and flopped down on the bed. Catalina nodded that she’d stay with Marietta. Mira wasn’t sure that was a good idea after witnessing the violence between them.

  “We’ll be fine,” Marietta mumbled as if she read Mira’s mind.

  Without further delay Mira left them both and closed the door behind her. Zia was applying ice wrapped in a cloth to Gemma’s face. They both looked up when she approached. “I didn’t bring you here for violence. I am sorry for what my sister did.”

  “And you? Do you want to strike me too?” Gemma asked.

  “Even if I did, and I don’t, it would solve nothing. What I want to know is the truth. All of it. You turned my mother on drugs. Not Manny Cigars?”

  Gemma lowered her towel. “At first we concealed it from him. But he found out she was using. Lisa didn’t want me hurt. So she lied and blamed it on another of his men. Neither of us expected the outcome. I’ll spare you the details. Manny killed him with his bare hands.” Gemma glanced to Zia and then averted her gaze. “Our lives weren’t our own back then. We were trying to survive. Lisa fell into the role of mistress. She struggled with her addiction, but she believed the lies Manny fed her. He put her up in a fancy penthouse. It was still very segregated in Philadelphia at the time. Blacks on one side, and whites on the other. America with all its false dreams nurtures the root of separatism to this day. The country itself is big fat hypocrisy.” Gemma spat with disgust. She continued. “But with Manny’s connections, wealth and reputation he got Lisa through doors closed to brown women. And then she was pregnant.”

  Mira returned to her chair. “With us?”

  “With you two, yes.” Gemma smiled. “She wanted to do things right. Be a good mother. She thought Manny would leave his wife and marry her. He vowed he would. And she soon learned that too was a lie. So I helped her pack up her things. She was going to return to Virginia and leave Manny for good. She was going to try to bring you girls into the world clean and sober. Do it the right way. She ran away.”

  “She went home?” Mira frowned. “To my grandparents? Are you sure?”

  “Yes.” Gemma nodded. “They took one look at her and closed the door on her. I guess Lisa being swollen with babies from a Sicilian mobster wasn’t something her father could accept.”

  “My grandfather wasn’t like that. He was a good man,” Mira said.

  “He was not always a good man to Lisa. I’m sorry,” Gemma said.

  Mira wiped at her tears. “What happened to her?” Mira asked.

  “She contacted me. She didn’t want to return to Manny. She didn’t trust him. But she had nowhere to go. She was an unwed mother in her third trimester. She had very little options. And by then Manny had found out she was gone. He was coming to America to find her. None of us thought he would. But he did.”

  “Did you help her?” Mira asked.

  “I tried. I swear to you I tried. I hid her at a friend’s place in Philadelphia. It was a roach infested dump. But at least she was free. We were going to wait out the babies�
�� delivery and then when you twins were stronger she would get a job, save up enough money and move to New York where work was good for her kind.”

  “Her kind?” Mira asked.

  “Forgive me?” Gemma sighed. She nursed her side of her head. “I don’t mean it as disrespect. Lisa was different. I was different. That’s all I’m saying. Jobs were better in New York for black people.”

  Mira nodded. “How did we get separated? Me and Marietta?”

  Gemma glanced up. “Manny found her. And it was a good thing he did.”

  “Why?” Mira asked.

  “She had some complications. Her blood pressure when she delivered. She had a stroke.”

  The news hit Mira hard. She blinked at Gemma twice. Then looked up at Zia confused. “My mother, had a stroke? Like me?”

  “She was in a coma for several days after the delivery. If he hadn’t found her when he did she would have died. You all would have died. And he never left her side. He was determined to help her. Got her into the best hospital and saw to her recovery. I will admit that.”

  “Like Giovanni,” Mira said. She shook her head at the comparison. Zia put her hand to Mira’s shoulder. She was weak from the truth, but she had to see it through. “So what happened next?”

  “It was too late. Lisa despised him. He had told her too many lies. And she was wiser now. She knew his men weren’t fond of her. No one believed in their affair. Most mocked Manny and made fun of him behind his back. They didn’t give a shit about saying it to Lisa’s face. And Manny’s father was growing angrier with him leaving his wife and son behind to chase after Lisa. We all felt it. Something brewing.”

  “Did she run away again?”

  “Not at first. There was no way to do so at first. She had to do things Manny’s way. He had her in another place, this time in New York. And Capriccio was her warden. After the first few months of living there with you babies she convinced Manny to let me move in as your caregivers. Lisa and I plotted daily on her escape. We thought of everything but nothing we considered could work. Manny had the resources to find her no matter what she did,” Gemma sighed. She looked haggard. The vibrant woman that arrived aged within the hour of sharing her mother’s sad story. And though it tore at her heart Mira had to hear it all.