Page 5 of Nicco

“I did, but you know I didn’t mean it. I would never hurt my brother. I love you.”

“Oh, God.” I think I rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t see my own face.

“I loved you, bro, the moment Dom showed me your picture. He said this is your little brother. He lives in Chicago. Look out for him always. Never abandon him. When I am gone, you have to take care of him.”

“Bullshit! I don’t believe it. He never said that.” What a crock of crap. Why was he lying on Dom’s behalf? Dom was dead and none of it mattered now.

“Why do you find this so hard to believe? He was so proud of you. Lord, look at you. You’re literally everything the rest of us are not. Independent, educated, successful on your own.”

I watched Nicco walk over to a bookshelf and remove a golden colored wooden box. He lifted the lid and handed the box over to me. I hesitantly looked inside even though I didn’t like surprises. Right on the top, there was a 5x7 picture of me. I was in my cap and gown at my graduation at M.I.T. It was a candid picture. How did he have this? Who took it? I wondered to myself.

I stood at the desk and sat back down in the chair. I placed the open box on the desk and went through the pictures one at a time.

There was a picture of me singing in the boy’s choir at Saint Sabina church. I was about eleven years old in the picture.

- A photo of me at the Lincoln Park zoo with Gram holding my hand.

- A picture of me at around six years old. I was up at bat in my red and black Trojans little league uniform.

- A picture of me at my high school sitting under a tree with two of my classmates.

- Another photo of me sitting in my first car, a tan Corolla, at a spotlight.

- A picture of me and Gram at her church when I was a preteen.

Who took these pictures of me? I thumbed through the stack of photos slower than when I started. There were so many more to see.

“Lord.” I looked up at Nicco when he called my name. He had made his way back to the other side of the desk. “Dom was so proud of you. He told me so. He said that you didn’t have the benefits of being a Bregoli and you made something out of yourself. He said you were stronger than all of us other kids because of it. He said you made your way on your own and he thought highly of you. You never took a dime from him and it upset him, but he understood. He knew you were trying to pave your own way.”

Emotions welled inside me I didn’t know were there. I wanted to deny the things being told to me, but how could I. There was proof that Dom was keeping tabs on me right here in his gold box.

“Listen, Lord, I’m your older brother. I’ve been looking out for you before you even knew I existed. Just because Cenzo runs Chicago doesn’t mean I didn’t come there for you. I came to see you, to check on you, to be a part of your life, because that’s my fucking job. I don’t care that we have different mothers. I came to hangout with you bro, all the dinners, the hunting trips, the parties in Mykonos. Remember when we spent two weeks in Brazil?”

How could I ever forget? Too much coke. “Let’s not talk about Brazil.”

“I’m closer to you than my other siblings. Now that Dom is gone, you are the one and only Bregoli I can trust.”

“What does that mean?” I frowned.

“Exactly what I said.”

“You have your family. You have a family. Why would you say that?”

Dom took in a hefty breath. Something heavy was weighing on him. “Do you think Dom died of a heart attack?”

“I have no idea. You didn’t tell my anything.”

“It looks like a heart attack but—” His forehead wrinkled as he stroked his beard.

“What are you saying?” I asked.

“Someone killed Dom.”

“What are you talking about? You just said he had a heart attack.”

“It appeared that way. That’s what it looked like, and that’s what I put out to the family and the organization.”

“But that’s not true?” This new turn of events confused me.

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