Page 24 of Family Matters

“I’d never do something like that, and you know it.” Brian exclaimed in a passionate, sincere voice. “And I think they know it, too.”

“Most of them, yes, but there are others, who joined only relatively recently, and are not familiar with the history of The Council and that of the Grand Families, they don’t know what the Cavallieris did and what they sacrificed for the Old World Mafia.” Don Calogero let out a long, heavy sigh, then pressed his lips into a thin line. “I think this is Donna Fabrizia’s doing; scratch that, I’m so convinced she’s behind this, that I’m ready to bet all my money on it.”

“Why would she want Gabriele confirmed earlier?” Brian frowned in confusion. “It doesn’t make any sense, because Luca would be confirmed as Consigliere for life, too.” He shook his head, a gloomy expression on his face. “In spite of the assurances Graziela gave me, I don’t think Donna Fabrizia is going to give up on the idea of securing a seat in The Council for her granddaughter.”

Don Calogero, who listened to the other man with great attention, stared at him for a good while, then let out a loud gasp as his eyes went wide from shock. “This is it, this is what that woman is after! I knew it!” He inhaled sharply, then continued. “This woman is an evil genius; this time, she made a plan for the long run, one that would bring the position of Consigliere in the Rinaldi family permanently.”

“With all due respect, Educator, but I don’t understand anything.” Brian ran a hand over his face, letting out a tired sigh. “I thought the seat is hereditary, like all the others, but, judging by the sound of what you are telling me, I understood everything wrong.”

“No, you didn’t.” Don Calogero shook his head and spoke in an apologetic, patient voice. “I’m at fault here, because I left some things out when I explained to you the Old-World Mafia’s hierarchy, and didn’t realize it until now.” He cleared his throat. “You see, like in the case of the royal families, for every position in The Council there’s also a spare. In the case of the Consigliere, the Rinaldi family is the spare.”

CHAPTER 18

A long moment of silence followed Don Calogero’s words, then the old man continued his explanation. “This system was designed a few centuries ago, when wars, epidemics, other diseases, and natural catastrophes wiped entire families off the face of the earth, and its purpose was to ensure the continuity of The Council.”

“I can see that, but I still don’t understand how Donna Fabrizia hopes to get the position of Consigliere for Graziela, who is a woman, and a childless one at that, at least from what we know.” Brian sighed in frustration. “Suddenly, I find everything very complicated.”

“It’s understandable.” Don Calogero smiled affectionately. “You have only lived in this world for a little over two years, and, during this time, you faced a lifetime-worth of challenges, which didn’t let you have much time for an in-depth study of the Laws. Graziela won’t act as Consigliere in her own name, but as a regent of sorts for Gianluca.”

“Just like I did for Gabriele.” Brian exclaimed, relieved that he finally understood the complicated scheme, or at least a part of it. “Wait, is she going to start the bastard mumbo-jumbo again? Because if not, what’s the point of Graziela acting on behalf of her nephew, as long as the child’s father is alive?”

Don Calogero stayed silent for a moment, not knowing what to answer to the librarian’s question, then gasped loudly once again, as the realization hit him. “That evil woman wantsto eliminate Luca. She never gave up on the idea, just waited for the right moment to do it, and Martino giving birth to Gianluca, the fruit of a legitimate union, in whose veins flows the Rinaldi blood, offered her the perfect opportunity.”

“Goddamn her!” Brian exclaimed, clenching his hands into fists, as the anger started bubbling inside him. “I’ll protect Luca at any costs; I’ll surround him with an army of bodyguards, I’ll have him wear a bulletproof vest and I’ll take whatever other measures are necessary, but she won’t have her way. I won’t let her.”

Don Calogero stayed silent for a few moments, then shook his head and started to speak in a calm voice. “I understand your desire to protect your friend, I really do, but acting that way would be like putting a huge banner in the sky that we know about her plans. She would change them, and we won’t see it coming.” The old mafioso stopped and rubbed the corners of his mouth. “Anyway, I think she’ll wait until Gianluca is at least two or three years old.”

“Yeah, she has no reasons to hurry.” Brian scratched his chin, sighing in frustration. “There has to be a way to stop her, but how?” He rubbed his temples, thinking intensely, then suddenly a spark of hope appeared in his eyes. “What about the original holders of the Consigliere seat? Is there really no one left to reclaim the position from the Rinaldi family?”

“The Dukes Orsini, men of great honor and integrity, but whose lives were marked by great tragedies. First, the older son’s bride-to-be gone missing under mysterious circumstances two weeks before their church wedding. She was carrying his child, which made the whole thing even more heartbreaking. Then the wife of the second son died in childbirth, and the baby didn’t survive, either. He went to one of the family’s properties inArgentina, and only came back to Italy for his father’s funeral, some fifteen years ago. There’s also a daughter, but…”

“Yeah, the law stipulates that the descendants of a daughter do not count when it comes to holding a position or a title belonging to the maternal side of the family, because she is wearing her husband’s name.” Brian shook his head. “Pretty unfair, if you ask me, and I can’t say I don’t understand Donna Fabrizia’s wish to change this. Back to the subject, what if the current Duke Orsini’s missing bride and the child she was carrying would appear out of the blue?”

“If the baby, now a grown-up, would be a male, then Luca would have to resign from the position of Consigliere, and the seat would go back to the future Duke Orsini and the male heirs he would produce.” Don Calogero explained, a weak smile playing on his lips. “Anyway, this would be nothing short of a miracle; Duke Sergio and his mother, Duchess Dowager Maria Pia, spent a lot of money, time and resources searching for them for the past thirty years, without results.”

“Can you please get in touch with any of them?” Brian looked at the old mafioso, the spark of hope reappearing in his eyes. “As you know, my brother-in-law Julien, Edward’s husband, is great when it comes to finding missing persons. Scratch that, he’s a genius, I’m sure if anyone can track Duke Orsini’s heir and his mother down it's him.”

“We’ll do this, too, after Gabriele is confirmed.” Don Calogero reluctantly agreed, then fell silent for a moment, carefully choosing his words. “To be honest, I’m not very thrilled at the prospect of taking the position of Consigliere from Luca, who is more than qualified for the job, and giving it to someone who doesn’t have a clue about what it involves.”

“Are you suggesting we should find a way to keep my friend safe, a subtler one?” Brian fell silent, then continued when the other man nodded in approval. “Good, because this is what I intend to do, and I’ll start thinking of it from this very moment on.”

Don Calogero didn’t answer right away; for quite a while, he stared ahead, tapping his chin with a finger, frowning in concentration. “I think you should keep a closer eye on your family, too; I may be wrong, but my guess is that evil woman also plans to harm one of your children, or even Bart, to distract you from her other plans.”

“Ottavio attempted to kidnap Blaise, twice even, then he tried to take Simon and Breanna away from me, but failed. I don’t think Donna Fabrizia will try that, but some extra caution won’t hurt.” Brian left the armchair and, with a smile, headed to the door. “Thank you for the valuable advice and guidance; like every time, you helped me to see a lot of things I overlooked and to understand our laws better.”

“I thank you for keeping my grandson and great-nephew safe, giving them the fatherly affection they were deprived of from such a young age, and helping them grow into honorable, strong, generous, compassionate young men.” Don Calogero hugged the librarian. “Take care of you, there are a lot of people out there who depend on you.”

As he was driving back home, Brian couldn’t stop thinking of the old mafioso’s words about Donna Fabrizia targeting Bart or one of his children. If the man was right, she was going to attack after Gabriele’s confirmation as the next Judge of The Council. This time, the woman wasn’t interested in delaying theceremony, on the contrary; the sooner Luca was appointed as Consigliere, the better for her.

Even so, Brian tried to figure out whoDonna Fabrizia would choose as her next target. The children, guarded by both Malaspina’s men, and a few of Steel Raiders “brothers” Lawrence personally handpicked, were out of the question. Bart came from a rich, well-known family, and kidnapping him could be risky business, because his father would not hesitate to involve the police, the FBI, and maybe other law-enforcing structures.

Liam. The name of the newest addition to the family popped in Brian’s mind, written in big, bright neon letters. The young man integrated into the family, was not only accepted, but also loved by anyone, trained hard, developed a unique fighting style, even won against Luca a few times, and started to study the Laws, history, and traditions of the world his father and siblings belonged to.

Liam’s actions and his status of Brian’s firstborn were good reasons for Donna Fabrizia to think the youth was next in line to the Wisdom Keeper’s seat, making him her next target. However, in spite of his desire to find out everything about the Old-World Mafia’s ways, the youth confessed to his father he was more interested in the family’s companies than in filling the Wisdom Keeper’s shoes, when the time would come.

Donna Fabrizia didn’t know that, and, even if she knew, Brian suspected she didn’t care; Liam was his firstborn and that made him very important in that evil woman’s eyes; soimportant, that she could decide, at some point, to hurt him, knowing that the librarian would be devastated and wouldn’t pay attention to anything else.

I have to call Graziela and warn her about her grandmother’s intentions,Brian said to himself, his expression, gloomy until then, brightening a bit. Although he didn’t have any proof to back his theory up, the librarian sensed that the woman would believe him, especially after seeing with her own eyes the wounds those guarding Luca inflicted on his body, at Donna Fabrizia’s orders.She has to believe me, he continued his internal monologue, or else everything Luca and I worked so hard for could be lost.

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