Chapter 39

Mafia Kings: Valentino: Chapter 39 It was a long drive back to Don Vicari’s. I dreaded what would happen the entire way.

Rocco had probably already let his father know what happened in Pozzallo...

And Don Vicari was probably going to have something to say about it.

I was right on both counts.

When Paolo pulled up to the compound, a foot soldier was waiting for me by the side of the gravel drive. “The Don wants to see you.”

Great.

Paolo gave me an uneasy half-smile – Good luck, bud – and I followed the foot soldier into the house.

He took me to a door at the far end of the house and knocked.

“Come in,” said a gruff voice.

The foot soldier gestured – Go in – then walked off.

I entered a small study that was white like all the other rooms in the house.

It was lined with shelves. There were very few books, though. Mostly it was displays of old hunting rifles, knives, and binoculars.

Don Vicari was sitting behind a large wooden desk, which took up half the width of the room.

As soon as he saw me, he got a sour look on his face.

“Sit,” he said, pointing to a wooden chair across from the desk.

I sat down and braced myself to get ripped a new asshole.

It didn’t go quite the way I expected, though.

“You got balls, kid,” he said grudgingly. “I’ll give you that much. Going up against my son, in front of all his men, in a town you don’t run? You got a bleeding heart and shit for brains, but you got balls.”

“Uh... thank you... I think.”

“What the fuck were you thinking?”

“Rocco was hassling an old man with a sick wife,” I said. “I didn’t want to see an old man get beat up, so I offered to pay for him.”

Vicari rubbed his chin thoughtfully, not saying anything.

Then he finally asked, “Are your brothers pussies?”

I immediately got angry. “Excuse me?”

“Anybody who owes them money and doesn’t have it – do they just let them walk away? ‘Cause only a fuckin’ pussy does that.”

“My family doesn’t steal from old men,” I snarled.

“So you look down your nose at me. Is that it?” Vicari asked coldly.

I wanted to say, Well, YEAH –

But I knew I was swimming in dangerous waters and needed to be careful.

“We do our fair share of illegal shit,” I said darkly. “We pay off politicians so they give contracts to the people we tell them to. We pay off judges to throw out cases or give verdicts we want. We pay the police to make sure investigations go nowhere or evidence gets ‘lost.’

“And people pay us a lot of money for those government contracts, and those court cases, and those botched police investigations. Businessmen. Other politicians. Rich people whose kids get in trouble.”

“You control the docks on the west coast, from what I hear,” Vicari said.

“Yeah, and we do have a protection racket so shit doesn’t get stolen or ‘misplaced’ – but we’re dealing with businessmen.

Politicians. Rich people. What we don’t do is go around beating up old men who don’t have any money because their wives are sick.”

Vicari looked at me for a long time.

I just waited.

Niccolo said that in a negotiation, after you’ve laid out your offer, the first person to speak is the one who loses.

Again, I pretty much hated my brother right now –

But he was a smart motherfucker.

And in this case, he was right.

Vicari grumbled. “Sometimes Rocco uses a heavier hand than he should with civilians. When it’s pimps and drug dealers, it’s fine to break a few arms and legs – maybe even kill ‘em. Make an example so nobody else steps out of line.

“But I told him to use a lighter touch with the shopkeepers. Most of ‘em are scared shitless and pay on time. If they want to pay but can’t, I told Rocco to just run up the debt and tack on interest. Keep them on the hook.

“But unless a guy is openly defiant – unless he refuses to pay and threatens to make trouble – don’t burn down his fuckin’ shop.

Don’t take his livelihood away from him. Otherwise, how the fuck is he gonna pay us?

“But you... you were openly defiant,” Vicari said, wagging his finger at me. “So what the fuck am I supposed to do with you?”

“Maybe don’t make me work with Rocco anymore,” I suggested.

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” he said, with that cold laugh that didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m going to cut you some slack this time because you’re gonna be my son-in-law. But this time and this time only.

“You’re gonna go out with Rocco again tomorrow, and you’re gonna follow his orders. No more of this bullshit. No more making him look bad in front of his men. Got it?”

“I have one question.”

Vicari leaned back in his chair and snorted in exasperation. “What.”

“Once I marry your daughter, am I going to be one of Rocco’s thugs? You just want me to be one of those meatheads who works for him?”

“Two of those ‘meatheads’ are my sons-in-law,” Vicari reminded me.

I tried a little bit of flattery. “Your older daughters seemed pretty smart from what I saw of them yesterday at dinner. But I don’t know about their taste in men.”

“Neither do I.” Vicari chuckled, and this time he actually seemed amused. “In answer to your question: no, I got bigger things in mind for you than being one of Rocco’s flunkies. But first you gotta learn the territory. You see how it all works. Then we talk. Got it?”

I knew he was letting me off the hook and that I should get out while the getting was good.

“Got it,” I agreed.

“Good. Now get the fuck out of here.”

I stood up and started for the door –

“And don’t be late for dinner,” he ordered. “I want you to spend more time with Isabella.”

“Yes, sir,” I said and left the room as fast as my feet would take me.