Page 7 of The Rescuer

They didn’t want him in their lives. The librarian, on the other hand, welcomed him with open arms, even though he wasn’t his flesh and blood. He gave him free lessons of writing, reading, and English, and was going to do a lot more, but Raven’s Sicilian pride and stubbornness didn’t allow him to.And, as a reward for everything, I will hurt his best friend, the boy thought, ashamed of what he was about to do.

Next day, after a night of tossing and turning in bed, the teenager headed to the place known as The Base where the library was. His shift only started at noon, so he had time to go there, say those words, and go back. To his great relief, the librarian’s best friend was there, too, which made things a lot easier.

“Hey, we were worried about you,” the librarian exclaimed, and wanted to continue, but the kid cut him short.

“This man is a liar and a thief.”

CHAPTER 5

“Who are you talking about?” Brian looked in shock as the teenager pointed at Luca. “This is one of my best friends. I’m sure you’re taking him for someone else.”

“No.” Raven vehemently and stubbornly shook his head. “No mistake. He kept things hidden and stole from me. He’s ashamed of the bastard, like all the others.” Hands balled into fists, the kid was on the verge of crying.

“I don’t like to use this word any more than you do,” Luca replied in a calm, but pained voice. “As soon as I found out about your existence and where you lived, I’d gotten in touch with two attorneys, one from Naples and the other from New York City. They collaborate on determining your share from…Don Ruggero’s estate, and as soon as the procedures are finished—”

“Lies!” Raven exclaimed, cutting the man short. “You’re hiding behind big words like a coward. You hired lawyers so you can rob me of what’s mine, not to give it to me.” The teenager stopped to catch his breath. “Why didn’t you come to where I live to meet me face-to-face and talk?”

“I’m not lying.” Luca was struggling to maintain his composure, as the teenager’s insults started to affect him. “I went to your uncle’s home, but your aunt told me you were at school. I had an important meeting in half an hour; otherwise, I would have waited for you.”

“You are lying!” Raven saw the man was starting to lose his patience, so he pushed again. “They didn’t let me go to school and said I don’t need reading and writing when I just feed the animals, clean the stable, or push the wheelbarrow.” He paused a bit, thought of something, then continued on in a defiant voice. “Take me to your wife; I want to meet my sister-in-law.”

“I don’t have a wife.” Luca inhaled sharply, then continued patiently. “My life is very complicated right now, so I can’t take you to live with me.” He gave the kid a weak smile. “Whenever you want, we’ll go and tour some houses for sale, and we’ll buy the one you like the most. I’ll pay it from my share, so we don’t have to wait until—”

“You don’t have a wife?” Raven raised his voice. “How come? With your money, looks, and position, at your age, you are still unmarried? That’s another—”

“Enough.” Luca cut the teenager short in a tired voice, then turned to Brian, his voice louder than usual. “I'm not a thief. I'll give him what's his. I'll find him good, loyal lawyers, but I won't talk to someone who calls me names and thinks I'm a thief. I may be a bastard, but I'm not the dust under everyone's feet.” The man lowered his head. “I apologize. Shouldn't have yelled in your presence.”

“Nothing to apologize for.” Brian gave his friend a pale smile. “Now let's figure this out. There's a huge misunderstanding here.”

Luca ran a hand over his face, sighing tiredly. “There's no misunderstanding. I'll give him half of the Rinaldi estate and that's it. Half of everything. I don't need anyone's land or money.”

“You’re testing my patience,” Brian growled, then his voice softened. “He clearly believes you did this on purpose. He's your brother; he needs you and you need him.” The librarian looked into his friend’s eyes. “How would you feel if you were in his place?”

“I knew better than to call my older brother a thief.” Luca spoke in a flat voice, then gave his friend a pained look. “How wouldyoufeel if you were inmyplace?” The man pressed his lips in a white line for a few moments, then continued in a bitter voice. “Who stopped the boy from telling you who he was, then to ask for me and come talk to me? No. He stayed who knows where while I was losing sleep over him.”

Brian went to the other side of the counter and put a hand on the Sicilian’s shoulder, lightly massaging it. “I'm sorry. He only told me his name, Raven. Had I known, I would have told both of you and helped things be less rough.”

“I've told you I'll give him half of everything.” Luca closed his eyes for a moment, inhaling sharply. “Don't make me talk to him; I can't. Please, allow me to continue to live like a man. Back home, brother or not, I would have killed him for insulting me. But this is not Sicily, so I choose to ignore him.”

Brian nodded in understanding, then pulled Luca into a tight, warm embrace, rubbing soft circles on his back. He smiled internally when he felt tension gradually leaving the other one’s body.At how much shit his younger half-brother piled on his head and how many times he called him a liar, it’s a miracle my poor friend didn’t have a stroke or a heart attack.

Something is very wrong here, Brian said to himself, still holding Luca in his arms.The Raven I saw today was very different from the reserved, shy kid who came to the library ten days or so ago, asking for any book to read. The two of us talked a lot, and he never came across as someone capable of gratuitous cruelty, of lashing out at a person the way he did with Luca.

Brian looked around the library and shook his head internally when he saw Raven had disappeared again.It must have happened right after Luca cut him short when I was busy trying to calm my friend down and make him see things from his younger brother’s point of view. I have the feeling this is not the last time we’ll hear from my little friend.And with that, the librarian put an end to his internal monologue.

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“Back home, brother or not, I would have killed him for insulting me. But this is not Sicily, so I choose to ignore him.”The librarian’s friend’s words, the last he heard before leaving through the secret door he discovered behind one of the shelves, were roiling in Raven’s mind like a hive of mad bees.

Bit by bit, the plan of the one who paid him was revealing itself in all its evilness. Luca—his supposed half-brother—had to be brought to the point where he would have lost his mind and would have killed Raven. Not just hit or kick him a few times, but murder him, and the man who paid him knew that from the very start.

For some reason, he wanted Luca behind bars, and that was the most convenient way to do it. The words he told the kid about the librarian were meant to keep him from becoming attached to the man and opening up to him about his real intentions. As he loaded and unloaded packages and boxes from the trucks coming and going to and from the warehouse, Raven realized the painful truth.

If his uncle and cousins saw him as an animal, then for the one who paid him to rile Luca up and bring him to the point of committing murder, he was much less. Once the teenager had been killed, the man would have found out his last address and would have recovered the fifty thousand dollars he gave him.

I want to buy a house and find a good girl to marry. That's what good men do. I don't want to be a dirt-poor nobody.This is what Raven told the librarian when the man asked him what his plans were for when he grew up. He wanted a well-paying job but needed at least a GED for it, and that discouraged him a bit, but then the librarian told him about the evening schools, giving his hope back.

I’ll tell you a secret. There is this farm in Sicily with many olives and oranges. And a lot of land for growing crops. I want to buy it for me and my wife.Raven couldn’t understand why, after only a few days since he’d met the librarian for the first time, he trusted him with his greatest dream but yet couldn’t tell him about that man and what he asked him to do.

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