Page 70 of Tito
Rocky nodded. Then he turned to look at Tito. “Tell me.”
“Well, Valen’s father is Tommy.”
“Tommy?” Tito looked perplexed then he gasped. “You mean he’s Tommaso? Really?”
“Yes, really.” Tito nodded.
“So their dad was our dad’s best friend?”
Nodding, Tito said, “Yes.”
“A fucking small world,” Rocky mused with a smile as he shook his head then he paused as his smile slipped away. “Oh, fuck.”
Tito stared at him. “What do you mean by that?”
I got a bad feeling while staring at Rocky’s expression. No, no…
“You knew?” Tito’s voice rose with the question as he stared at his brother. “About the killing?”
Rocky let out a long breath and replied simply, “Yes.”
“How long have you known?” Tito demanded in a strained tone.
Crap, I knew this would be rough but it was not going well at all. I clasped my hands together in my lap.
“A week after it happened,” Rocky told him. “You were at the lake and had been ever since the funeral. Uncle Stephano took me with him to Italy. We had a very skimpy trail to follow as someone had murdered the hitman who took Papa out. We were there for two weeks and discovered that it was because of our grandmother’s will.”
“What?” Tito looked surprised as he sat up higher in the seat.
“I don’t know if you even paid attention at the time,” Rocky reminded him. “You were grieving hard, brother. But our grandmother left everything to our dad.”
“Who did it?” Rocky growled as he clenched his fists.
I almost held my breath. The anger on his face was something I’d only glimpsed a little of at that Zoom meeting.
“Our Uncle Marco. He was married to dad’s sister, Stella, remember?”
Tito nodded.
“I went with Uncle Stephano and we took him out. Buried him in the grape cellar. That fucker begged for his life, said it wasn’t fair as they had stayed in Italy and took care of Grandma Francine then she leaves her estate to Angelo. But Uncle Stephano had no mercy for him. He gave him the same as he gave our dad. A bullet to the back of the head. It was the first time that I…” Rocky let out a heavy breath. “…ever saw a killing or was in on one.”
I finally spoke up to ask, “H-how old were you?”
“I just turned 18.”
“Then you came back,” Tito speculated. “And never told me?”
Rocky shook his head. “You were a mess when I came to get you at the lake. I knew if I told you…” He shrugged. “I’m not sure what it would have done to your mindset at the time. Your attitude was really bad. Mom was sick and Uncle Stephano…” Rocky shook his head.
“What about him?” Tito asked.
“He told me tonever…evertalk about it.” He shrugged. “You were my brother so I definitely was going to tell you. Then I saw you and you were like…pazzo…crazy?”
Tito lowered his head and admitted it, “Yeah, I was.” Then he looked back up at his brother. “Still, there’s been a lot of years since then.”
“Yes, but Mama doesn’t know.”
Tito stared at him.
