Chapter 3 #2
Their good-natured teasing continued as we carried everything out to an elegant patio, which was surrounded by two rows of Italian cypress trees.
An older gentleman and two college-age guys were clustered around a laptop at one end of a long table.
It had been set for ten people but could easily seat twenty.
I was introduced to Nana’s husband Ollie, who was a jolly little cherub of a man. I could tell right away he was a huge upgrade from her first husband, who I remembered as a bit of a douchebag.
Dante also introduced me to his nephew Josh, and Josh’s fiancé Darwin before asking them, “What are you up to?”
Josh grinned as he moved his glasses to the top of his head. “We hacked into Humpington’s smart home hub, and we just finished putting together a playlist he and his cohorts are bound to hate.”
I repeated, “Humpington?”
“The neighbor across the street,” Darwin explained. “He’s actually called Huntington, but Nana renamed him.”
Charlie asked, “What’s on the playlist?”
“At first, we went with all gay artists because he’s such a homophobe,” Josh said.
“But it was way too good,” Darwin told us.
“We didn’t want him to actually enjoy it,” Josh continued.
Darwin said, “So we switched to this experimental metal band from Portland, Oregon.”
“They literally use stuff like buzz saws and dental drills on their tracks.” This tag-team conversation made it clear Josh and Darwin had been together a long time. They seemed like two halves of a whole. Josh clicked a button and grinned. “Here you go, Humpington. Enjoy.”
We all waited to see what would happen. Half a minute later, we heard someone yelling in the distance, “Damn you, Dombrusos! I know you’re behind this!”
Everyone laughed, and Ollie patted Josh on the back. Josh looked pretty proud of himself as he said, “Mission accomplished,” and closed his laptop.
Darwin high-fived him and said, “Good job. For next time, maybe we can highjack Humpington’s TV and play some gay porn for him and his guests.”
Josh smiled at his fiancé. “I like the way you think, and I’ll definitely work on that.”
This family was twisted, and really not what I’d expected. That made me happy. I didn’t have to worry about being the black sheep, not when I was in an entire flock of them.
A little while later, when we were all seated and passing the dishes around, Trevor said, “I heard you grew up in Rome, Salvatore. That must have been interesting.” He was a pretty man with dark hair and light eyes, and his hand kept straying to his husband, who he clearly adored.
“It was very big and very noisy, but yes, also interesting,” I said. “I left when I was fifteen though, after my parents died.”
Trevor’s forehead creased with concern. “I’m so sorry.”
“Thank you. It was a long time ago.”
“Can I ask what happened?”
“A car crash.” I kept my eyes on my plate and tried not to get lost in the memories of that terrible night.
Nana said, “And then you went to live with your uncle Flavio. All I know about him is that he’d been married to your father’s sister, and she died the year before you lost your parents.”
I nodded, and she continued, “I’d get occasional updates from your grandmother about how you were doing, but I guess she didn’t hear much, either. Where did you go after you left Rome?”
“We bounced around Italy, then Spain and Portugal before finally settling in the UK. I spent the last seven years in London.”
“That’s a lot of upheaval for a young person. What about getting to finish school?”
I muttered, “My uncle saw to it that I studied art history, and that I was well-trained as a painter.”
“That’s good to hear,” Nana said with a smile. “What I remember most about you as a child was your love of art.”
My uncle had had ulterior motives for making sure I was educated, but they weren’t something I particularly wanted to discuss at the moment.
Dante asked, “So, why’d you decide to move to L.A.?”
I planned to tell him everything when we were alone, but for now I went with, “I needed a change of scenery.” Then I changed the subject by asking about the feud with the neighbor. They all took the topic and ran with it.
After we ate, everyone began to move from the table to a seating area beneath a pergola, but Dante said, “Sal and I will join you in a few minutes. We have some things to discuss.” He kissed his husband and nuzzled his cheek before telling him, “See if you can save me that last cinnamon roll. They were damn good.”
From across the patio, Vincent called, “Too late!” He smirked at his brother before taking a big bite of the last roll, and Dante sighed dramatically.
We went inside, and once we were seated in an elegant study, I said, “I have a question for you. I’ll understand if you think it’s none of my business, and please forgive me if it comes across as rude.”
“Fire away.”
I hesitated before saying, “Years ago, my Nonna told me your grandmother had married into a family that… well…”
“Was involved in organized crime?”
“Yes. But Nonna told a lot of stories and loved to gossip, so I never knew when to believe her.”
“No, we are. Or were. We’re retired now, but as I’m sure you can imagine, it’s not the kind of thing you can ever fully walk away from.”
I nodded. “Thank you for being honest with me.”
“Of course. You’re family, so you deserve to know the truth.” He leaned back and crossed his ankle over his knee. His Italian loafers looked as expensive as his perfectly tailored suit. Now I understood why this branch of the family had always been so well-off.
“I want to be honest with you, too.”
“Let me guess.” He held my gaze steadily and grinned. “You’re about to tell me you spent the better part of the last decade forging works of art at your uncle’s behest. Am I right?”
It felt like all the air had left the room. “How could you possibly know that?”
“I have connections all over the world, and I make a point of staying informed about what my family members are up to. You never know what might blow back on the rest of us.”
“Does the whole family know this about me?”
He shook his head. “There was no reason to share this information with everyone.”
“Okay.”
“Even though I dug pretty deep, I don’t actually know much about your uncle.
There’s no record of him prior to marrying your dad’s sister, so he must have changed his name and taken on a new identity.
But I’ve gathered he was a two-bit grifter until you came along, and you were his ticket to a much more lavish lifestyle. ”
I muttered, “That sums it up.”
“So, what was the racket, exactly? Start at the beginning.”
“Uncle Flavio recognized my talent early on and saw an opportunity. I didn’t realize what he was doing at first. He expressed an interest in me and hired the best art teachers he could find. I was na?ve, and I didn’t get where this was going.”
“Well, yeah. You were just a kid.”
“Yes, in the beginning. But later on… I won’t try to excuse what I did by saying he manipulated me.
I participated willingly, for a lot of reasons—the money, the challenge, the fact that the people we stole from were all filthy rich bastards who made their fortunes by exploiting others.
I didn’t feel guilty about sticking it to them. ”
“You don’t need to justify it, Sal. I come from a long line of lawbreakers, so I don’t really care that what you were doing was illegal. I’m just curious about how it all worked.”
“Usually, it would start with a request. One client might want a specific Monet, which its owner refused to sell. Another might want a certain Mondrian, or maybe a Picasso. Whatever it was, I could duplicate the original so precisely that no one, including a well-trained expert, could tell them apart. My uncle worked with a pair of thieves, and it was their job to swap out the originals with my copies. We only targeted private collections, never museums. We would sell the original to the client for a tidy sum, and the previous owner would be none the wiser, so we didn’t have to worry about anyone calling the police. ”
Dante asked, “How did the buyer know he was getting the real deal, and not your perfect forgery?”
“Our thieves would document the switch with photos and videos.”
“This is all very interesting.”
“It worked perfectly for several years—until one of the thieves got caught in the act of switching out a painting with its copy. Unfortunately, the man whose artwork was being stolen turned out to be an incredibly powerful billionaire named Philip Ashcroft. He’s not the type to take being ripped off lightly.
It wasn’t enough to take out his anger on the thief, either.
He wants all of us to pay for daring to cross him. ”
“So, you’re in L.A. because you’re hiding out.”
“Precisely.”
“Where’s your uncle?”
I muttered, “I don’t know or care.”
“Did you two have some sort of falling out?”
“It was more than that. As soon as he found out one of the thieves had been caught and had spilled the beans about our operation, he fled without bothering to tell me what had happened. All he cared about was saving himself. That was when I realized how little I mattered to him. I’d been nothing more than a means to an end, a way for him to get rich. ”
“What a prick.”
“That might not even be the worst of it,” I said. “When the thief’s partner finally called to tell me what had happened, I asked about my uncle. He told me it was best to forget about him, after what he’d done.”
My voice was shaking with anger. I had to take a moment to calm down before saying, “When I asked him what he meant, he said he’d heard my parents’ car crash was no accident.
According to his source, my uncle had arranged to have their brakes rigged, with the plan of stepping in as my guardian once they were out of the picture.
He did it because he wanted to exploit my talent for his own personal gain, but he knew my parents would stand in his way. ”
Dante muttered, “Jesus.”