Chapter Six
L eon looked over at Calli and said, “I’m going to have my security men read these conversations, ok?”
Calli nodded.
Leon said, “Thank you for bringing this to my attention, young man. You and your sister warned me about this threat and I will forever be grateful.”
“Mr. Vincinti,” Rowen called out his name.
When Leon looked at her she told him, “My father is not a kind man, he is a weak man but he’s very much under the thumb of his own father even though his father left him a long time ago.
He’s still under his thumb and now he wants my dad to help him come after you.
My dad is little more than an alcoholic, it was one of the reasons mom left us.
She hoped he would stop drinking and take care of his kids but he never did.
She didn’t care enough to come back once she left him not even for me and Calli but that was ok, she wasn’t much of a mother either.
She couldn’t take having a son less than he should be either.
But Calli isn’t less than anyone else in my eyes.
He is who he is and that’s enough for me. He’s my brother and I love him.”
Leon nodded. “I understand.”
“No, I don’t think you do.” Rowen shook her head.
“Calli is fully functional. He can hear and understand what’s going on around him, but his brain is wired a little differently than yours and mine.
He doesn’t speak but he understands everything.
He also doesn’t like to be touched. That’s his choice.
My father never liked the fact that he couldn’t touch his son so he did whenever and wherever he wanted.
Calli freaked out every time so my dad made sure his touch hurt.
He thought hitting him would toughen my brother up, but it only made it worse. ”
Leon shook his head as he looked disgusted by this.
She wiped the tears running down her cheeks away and went on, “Now he won’t let anyone touch him and as much as I want to hug him, I know I can’t.
” She looked over at Calli and said, “When he reached out to pet the dog, that was the first time in a very long time he’s ever touched anything on his own.
” Looking over at the laptop, she shook her head.
“And that is a complete and total surprise. I knew grandpa was gonna go after you, but I didn’t know about this plan.
And I have no clue how Calli knew about it.
” She paused then looked at Calli. “Did you hear Dad and grandpa talking?” She looked quickly at Leon to explain, “My father talks while he types and he mutters when he gets upset.”
Calli nodded at the laptop. Then he pointed at his wrist and held up ten fingers then added two more.
Rowen gasped and looked back over to Leon. “He said dad would come home on his lunch break and talk to grandpa on the computer. I usually work during the day and Calli is at home alone. Dad is supposed to be at work as well.”
John finally arrived.
Donavan was with him. So when he saw Rowen and Calli he paused.
Leon turned the laptop toward John.
When John saw the conversation he looked confused. “What the hell is this?”
“This is Gianno and Stephano's plan and some of the details about my upcoming demise,” Leon told him. Then he pushed the flash drive forward and said, “And this has more conversations between the two.”
John leaned over the laptop to type in commands. “I sent the conversation to my own computer.” Looking at Leon he said, “I’ll go over this information and get the gist of it back to you.”
Leon nodded. “Gianno and Salvador had another brother, Marco, see if you can find him. I’m sure their father is dead by this time, see if you can find out where he’s buried. This case broke the old man’s heart and he disowned Gianno, twenty or more years ago.”
“He disowned my dad and us too,” Rowen told him softly.
“I found that out three years ago when Marco’s daughter reached out to me at work.
She told me the old man died about that time and that she was my cousin.
I never knew I had cousins before then and she told me the story of how my great granddad disowned us.
I mean how could he just turn his back on family?
But I guess he felt justified in doing so.
” Rowen looked at the laptop and said, “And after that comes to light, I don’t imagine the family will even speak to us ever again. ”
Leon shook his head. “Your great grandfather was so wrong in disowning you and your brother. After the trial, Stephano got mouthy and he said some things that he shouldn’t have during the revelation of what his father had done, but not to reach out to Stephano’s children who had nothing to do with this case, just wasn’t right. ”
“It doesn’t matter now,” Rowen told him. “From what I understand, he grew into a bitter old man. Did he have a reason? Maybe. But for the record, me and Calli had nothing to do with any of it. We weren’t even born back then.”
Leon sighed hard. “I knew your great grandfather. He was a very stern man and growing up, he might have even been a little harsh as his family grew up. But who am I to say another man didn’t raise his family right? I raised my son the same way I was raised, maybe he did the same.”
“I’ll look into the conversations between the two men and see what I can find,” John told them before he disappeared.
Leon turned to Rowen and asked, “Is your father going to know you came here?”
Rowen shrugged. “I don’t think so. I doubt he’ll even know we’re gone until he demands something to eat and neither of us show up to cook for him. Hell, he might not even know we’re gone if he stops at the bar on his way home first.”
“Does he do that often?” Calderone wanted to know.
“More often than not. When I got home this morning after I stopped here, I found Calli in his bedroom and the house all torn up. That means dad got mean this morning and he probably hurt Calli.” She just shook her head.
“I’d had enough. We packed up and we left his house and I’m not going back.
Calli will stay with me and we’ll start over again somewhere away from him.
” She narrowed her eyes and said, “He won’t hurt Calli anymore if I have anything to say about it. ”
“Commendable,” Calderone admitted.
“Commendable, hell. Calli is my brother and I will protect him even from our father,” Rowen swore. “I love him and I will not leave him behind. He’ll stay with me.”
Leon nodded but didn’t say anything.
Just then, John came rushing back inside the office. “Leon, did you read the whole conversation Calli showed you?” he asked urgently.
Leon slowly shook his head at him. “No, I didn’t. I just read the first page.”
John handed him a print out of the laptop convo.