Family bonds

Lucas was sitting staring at his phone impatiently, waiting for a call from Italy. 

That morning when he came back from the cinema and after leaving Numa at home, he found his sister awake waiting for him. She told him about his cousin's room, so there were only two things left: the first one was to ask him directly and the second one was to get rid of the doubt by contacting a trusted friend in Italy. Manon had some friends over there, but that wouldn't help, Lucas knew very well. The only person who could help them, who belongs in the same environment as his cousin was a old friend of Lucas, an acquaintance he would have preferred not to have to contact again.

The sound of the telephone startled him, he answered immediately.

"Buon Giorno," a slightly gruff voice greeted him from the other end.

"Are you just getting up?" was all Lucas could ask, it was 5 o'clock in the afternoon.

"Lu, you woke me today quite early asking me to call you back asap after months of silence and not knowing anything about you, and the only thing that occurs to you now is to ask me that?," he sounded a little amused.

"It's true, sorry," that had brought a memory to his mind that he quickly pushed away.

"I don't think you want to talk about the past, am I right? You asked me if I had any news about Giovanni. And by the way, since when are you so interested in your little cousin that you are chasing him?"

"I'm not interested, just tell me if you know anything about him."

"I haven't talked to you for so long and you only call me to ask me about your cousin? How insensitive!"

"Get to the point Dante, I don't have much time."

"Your cousin is currently wanted by the police. He will get arrested right away once he comes back to the country"

"...."

"You're not saying anything? I guess you're not surprised since you knew he was a quite a big dealer"

Lucas nodded as if Dante could see it. Of course he knew, even after moving out of town he saw him again in Milano at one of the night clubs where he went with Dante. No one supposedly knew him but everyone knew where he belonged to.

"But, love, here comes the surprise, what you don't know is that the arrest warrant is not for the drug business, but for swindling."

"Scam? He's in the scam business too?"

"Yes, I heard he was part of a group which set up phantom corporations, and they swindled and took over 4 or 5 companies, among them, M.T.G."

"Wait, what?! But that's..."

"I know love, that's his father's company."

The amused laugh that followed that news sounded so creepy that he hunged up immediately.

#

A couple of day passed since Giovanni left, and since that day Manon did not see him again. And to think she was so nervous. She closed the book she had in front of her, she had to concentrate but there was no way, according to what Lucas told her, her cousin was involved in something more serious than drugs, but he did not want to explain it clearly and she did not understand why.

If only he would call, but his cousin simply disappeared for days and then nobody heard from him again, Manon was worried about what could happen to him, she knew very well that in that kind of business, today you are here but tomorrow you are not.

She got up and put her things aside, she didn't have the head to continue studying. Besides that, she did not have any reasons to ask him to leave the house. Maybe the poor kid was clean and even if he wasn't hanging out with the right people, he hasn't brought them any trouble.

The phone rang. She picked it up. It was a call from Italy. A very familiar voice asked for Giovanni.

"Aunt, it's me Manon. Giovanni is not here."

"I didn't recognize your voice. Can you please tell my son to call me as soon as he can?"

"Certainly aunt, is it something wrong?"

"Of course not. What could be wrong? Just let him know that, ok? I can´t reach him on his phone"

"Sure" she said, and annoyed noticed that the woman has already hung up, 

Was she getting paranoid or was the whole situation a little weird? Now she was really having second thoughts about Giovanni.

#

The cellphone rang again. 

"Gatto! Pick up the phone. I'm in the bathroom," Leon shouted.

Giovanni got up from the armchair with all the laziness that characterized him when he was watching something interesting on TV.

"Pronto?" He used to forget how to answer in English.

It was a deep voice that replied from the other side asking for Leon.

"Who is it?" 

"His father."

"One moment" put it aside while shouting "Leo, is your father!"

Leon let out an insult, wrapped himself in a towel and walked towards him with a grimace on his face, Giovanni laughed under his breath.

"What do you want," Leon replied.

"You don't read the papers, do you?"

"You always ask me the same question. What for? I know your lies by heart."

"How come you work as a bartender in a homosexual nightclub?"

Leon turned around and made a triumphant gesture to the Italian.

"Yes, it's my job. "

"You can go find yourself another one now."

"Right, let me get this straight: You're kicking me out of the house, you said I'm no longer your son, you don't want to support me and on top of that, you want me to quit the only job that pays my rent."

"I thought the money you took as a pension would be enough for you. You should be thankful that I didn't report you".

"Report me? The account was under our names. Nobody stole anything from anyone. And what are you going to tell the media? Come on, man, do you think I am stupid ? I might look like a one but I am not. Put Mom on the phone.

"Your mother should not talk to you. It is for her sake, because she's devastated to see what your son has become."

"You're a son of a bitch."

"You'd better quit that job before it's too late."

Leon stood there, with the phone in his hand, which he almost threw against the table.

"What's wrong?" asked Giovanni.

"I hate him... I hate that son of a bitch."

Giovanni smiled at him, Leon looked confused.

"You are just like me."

Leon looked at him with curiosity, the truth is that they never talked about family, he didn't know Giovanni had problems with his parents.

"And what are you going to do?" asked Giovanni.

"It is all because of him, my mom is being manipulated, it has been always like this. Now he wants me to quit my job, he is insane if he thinks that I am going to do it!"

"You don't have to do it either," added the dark-haired man.

"He is capable of reporting me to the police, I never had a good reputation as his son, since I always did what I wanted."

"And why do you think he can report you?"

"When he kicked me out, I took more than 10000 dollars that we have in our bank account, you know, as an inheritance I will never receive."

"10000 dollars is nothing, I also did something similar to my father."

Leon smiled complicitly.

"And how much was yours?

Giovanni had a fit of laughter.

"If I tell you, you won't believe it. Forget it better. Back to the subject, if he threatens you with the cops, why don't you threaten him with the press? Have you never thought about that?"

"I did, but it would be hell for my mom"

Giovanni shrugged his shoulders.

"What? What do you think?"

"Honestly?" Leon nodded at his question, "I think your mother lived her life already and is old enough to take care of herself. You're only 23, you shouldn't let your father get you in any trouble. Just threaten him, if he doesn't listen to you, go to the press, and tell any lie you can think of, for example, that your father beat you as a child."

"I don't need to tell any lies, just start naming some of the hundreds of women he had over the years would be enough. But I don't know if my mother knows and I don't want to hurt her."

"Whatever. I wouldn't let anyone fuck with my life, least any relative of mine. Sometimes I think family is the worst because they feel they have the right to fuck up your life."

"Yes, I agree. Giovanni, come on, tell me. How much did you take?"

"I'm not going to tell you, it's a secret, but what a great moment! You don't know the look on my father's face when he found out who it was. Serves him right for being a bastard."

Leon looked at him for a few moments, if he thought that he really hated his father then he did not know how to define what Giovanni felt, it was a hatred that was reflected all over his face.

"I'm going to follow your advice and I'm going to threaten him with the press, he will get scared as elections are next year"

"And all these problems because you are gay?"

Leon looked at him sideways.

"Of course, how did your parents react? Apparently your father is the same," Leon added.

"No, you're wrong, my father's anger comes from somewhere else, I don't think he doesn't care about me being homosexual. I've never seen him give his opinion on the subject"

"And your mother?

"Ugh, my mother is very understanding...she is a piece of art" His tone exuded a marked irony.

"How so"

"To give you an idea, when I told her, she said, she understands me, I don't need worry, this will have to stay between the two of us. She tried to medicate me to cure me of the illness I was clearly suffering"

"In that sense I've been a little luckier, my mother only worries about what could happen to me, I think she feels that we gays are prone to all the diseases that go around in the world, but that's all."

Leon looked at him for a few moments and finally his curiosity got the better of him.

"And Lucas' parents, how are they?"

Giovanni looked at him with mischief.

"You are curious, aren't you? I don't know them much, his father is a tolerant and correct type. Listen, let's keep this between us but his mother, on the other hand, is a real bitch, she used to sleep with my father".

"Say what?!"

"Yes, but that's something no one knew, except Alex, i guess, the eldest."

"And how do you know it?"

Giovanni smiled dangerously.

"Coz I was lucky enough to catch them, and I say lucky, because it gave me a way to do whatever I wanted. Do you know what that means in a traditional Italian family of the upper class, who also have joint business? They would have even paid me gold bars to keep my mouth shut."

Leon understood finally why he saw him as a manipulative guy, he was dangerous, he was not one to waste opportunities.

Giovanni kept thinking, as Leon was drying his hair, if he should help him out, and get benefits at the same time. But he soon dismissed the idea, it would be a bit boring. He turned his attention back to the television, even though his favorite show already ended.