Chapter Seven

Enzo

“You were always a sensitive child, Tesoro. No matter how hard your father tried to toughen you up, you never could get rid of that part of you that’s so much like your mother.”

The words of my grandfather floated around in my head.

I wasn’t so sure that was a good thing. It always irritated my father that I tended to express my emotions easily when I was a child. I always wore my heart out on my sleeve or, so I was told. I got overly emotional and no matter how hard he tried to beat it out of me, it only made it worse.

Eventually he gave up, blaming my mother for my soft side. My grandfather believed it came from her as well, but I always believed it actually came from him. He may have been a hard man once upon a time when he was in his prime, just as brutal and held the people underneath him with an iron fist. Making sure that the business was thriving, that the Russo’s were well aware not to mess with him and what belonged to him.

It wasn’t until I was born that he started to turn soft according to my mother. He raised my father and my uncles Tavani and Big Tone just the same way my father had tried to raise me. While it worked on them, made them hellbent to keep the rivalry and the legacy alive, I didn’t want any part of it.

I hated the family legacy and what it represented.

And when I came along it was like my grandfather became aware of what that legacy was doing to him and his family. Eating them alive on something that no one even remembers what it was even about. According to my mom, as soon as he laid his eyes on me for the very first time a switch had been turned.

She said he smiled so gently that she swore she had been dreaming since she was still under pain medication after giving birth. Apparently, my grandfather never smiles, and no one had ever seen him smile, even my dad and his brothers.

But since then, he had been a gentle and caring man towards me and Domenico. As if becoming a grandparent suddenly made him realize that life was so much more than fighting and taking territory from others who wanted to gain higher than what he had achieved.

He gave the title over to my father shortly after and became a devoting Nonno to us two boys while growing up. When my father was hard on me, it was always Nonno I ran too. Right before college I had even run away from the suffocating name, Giordano’s had become because my father was trying to convert me into what he wanted me to be. I wanted to continue my education; he wanted me to start learning the ropes of the Mafia trade.

It was Nonno who stepped in and fought for me to do what was best for my sake. He stood by me in getting my father to agree on me graduating a four-year college in business. I wanted to learn and grow Giordano’s Winery, but all my father saw was the making of a businessman to grow profits for his own greed and gains.

I continue to think about the conversation I had with my grandfather the night before.

“Tell me what’s going on.” His voice was calm, but also curious.

So, in the end I told him everything that I knew about the kidnapping, how it turned out to be Gabby that was wrongfully taken, to the part that I discovered her true identity.

“That boy needs a damn beating.” He grouched with displeasure. Then he sighs like the whole world was on his shoulders. “And you can’t just release her and take her back to her father, the damage has already been done. There’s no way Alejandro Russo would let this go, not after blackmailing him. He definitely wouldn’t want Domenico walking around knowing all his dirty secrets.”

Silence meets the two of us as I sit there on the ground swishing the golden liquid in the glass, not really drinking it anymore.

“Bring her here.” He states with conviction.

I stopped what I was doing, with a little shock going through me. “What? There? That’s a horrible idea, Nonno.”

“Not really. Alejandro never knew that her and her mother spent their days here on the vineyard. In fact, I know he never even knew we were acquainted over the years. Isabella never told him, otherwise I’m sure he would have forced them to move back to New York with him and tried to bring hell down on my ranch. But that never happened.”

“Besides, it’s where she grew up. It’s her home, Tesoro. She’ll feel way more comfortable and relaxed knowing she was in a familiar place and close to where her mother is buried.”

That caught my attention. “Her mother died?” I whisper in surprise.

“Mmhm, six months ago in fact.” He sounded sad and heartbroken by that. “Cancer, stage three two years ago. They had a hard time Tesoro. Gabby was supposed to go to college, had to drop out right in the beginning after her mother was diagnosed.”

I could tell it was hard for him to even talk about it. Had he really been that close to the two of them? A sickening thought suddenly enters me. Had Gabby kept returning each summer and spring break waiting for my promised return that I never got to keep?

“I didn’t know.” I whisper, my thoughts going in a different direction.

“How could you? You never got the chance to know her, to know them. But…” He stalls for just a moment, making my heart beat a little faster.

“Isn’t this the chance to get too, now? After all, you still owe her that promise, Tesoro.”

Get to know her? She thinks I don’t remember her, but how could I not? I remember her as a little kid who had become infatuated with me. I assumed that was all it was. I made sure to never give her any indications or misinterpretations of our friendship, because that was all it could be at the time. She was far too young, and I never really viewed her that way.

But that didn’t mean I didn’t think about her from time to time. Wondering what she was doing, how she was fairing in high school since she had voiced her worries of being a freshman. Afraid she wasn’t getting along with her peers since I’ve noticed she didn’t have any friends during spring break.

A time or two I wanted to look her up, but I was afraid too. I had made a promise to her that had to be broken. When that summer came along, I had never felt so deponent in my life. I wanted to help my grandfather with the ranch, but mostly I felt like I let Gabby down in not returning and not saying why.

It was the hardest summer I had to endure. Angry at my father, feeling guilty towards my grandfather, and mad at the world for making my life a living hell for the next decade. To this day I still felt trapped, but I was doing everything I could to get myself out of it. This thing that Domenico created was a set back for me and I would have washed my hands of it if it hadn’t been Gabby standing in that room instead of Ivy.

Now she was just as trapped as I was. But if I can give her a little peace of mind, then taking her to Crested Butte, Colorado, taking her to my grandfather, a man she loved like he was her own, was what I was going to do.

She doesn’t know it, but I was taking her home. A place where I know she’ll feel safe.