Eye for an Eye - Occhio per occhio Parte Due

Parte due

La sera seguente Luke è convocato dallo zio, Riceve da lui l’offerta di far parte della famiglia in affari, ma Luke spiga allo zio che lui comprende solamente ciò che è musica. Non potrebbe mai comprendere gli affari oscuri della Famiglia in prostituzione e gambling capaci di produrre grossi profitti nelle casseforti della famiglia. Accetta però il suo obbligo morale di sdebitare la famiglia per la morte del fratello.

Colui che aveva ucciso Salvatore apparteneva alla Famiglia dei Liotta, che era pure parte della Mafia locale. La fonte maggiore del loro profitto proveniva dalla vendita di droghe, mentre la famiglia di Luke, i Caruso, Calabresi di origine avevano tenuto per loro il Gambling e la Prostituzione nella loro area operativa.

Vi fu un privato contratto per l’uccisione di Salvatore, che venne raccolto da uno che apparteneva ai Liotta e lo aveva fatto di sua iniziativa, accettando l’offerta di qualcuno che non apparteneva alla mafia. Per questo motivo era possibile poter raggiungere un compromesso tra le due famiglie.

“Negoziero’ con i Liotta, mio caro Luke, e sono sicuro che i Liotta comprendono che la cosa migliore sarà accettare un risarcimento in denaro che il continuo ed inutile spargimento di sangue nel proseguimento della vendetta. Dopotutto chi uccise tuo fratello è una pedina inferiore della famiglia dei Liotta e pagandoli bene, nessun altro della nostra famiglia verrà ucciso.”

Cosi’ una notte Luke tese una imboscata e uccise l’assassino del fratello e nello stesso tempo fu capace di crearsi l’alibi necessario.

 Part Two

      By the evening the Trocadero was crowded. Lights were dimmed to created intimacy and on the tables burned red candles fitted in old wine bottles encrusted in colored wax, melted over many long nights. The atmosphere was warm with thick cigarette smoke hung in the air. CD music was piped in the background, while girls, in micro bikinis entertained the club patrons, in sinuous dances at the poles, while the patrons consumed their dinner and drinks.

     The main show was left as one of the last in the evening, with the band playing popular tunes and Rossana, the favorite performer, singing the songs requested by the patrons till the early hours.

     That night Rossana looked magnificent in her Gitano costume. She and her sister Lola were from Cordoba, the Gitano’s motherland and with her performance she well represented the arcane myths of these people. Rossana was well appreciated in the entertainment circles, not only as a talented singer. She also had a good reputation as a flamingo dancer. She had been named the queen of the stage, performing the most difficult steps requested in the dance at the rhythm created by a spirited Andalusian’s guitarist. Her native songs and dances had conquered a vast group of aficionados that kept coming back to her night shows.

   It was during an interval of the show when Luke met her at the bar. Rossana sat on a   stool with a Bloody Mary in her hand, and seeing Luke she couldn’t restrain her emotion. She rose and warmly hugged and kissed him, while tears welled in her dark eyes.    

  “It’s the best thing that could happen to me tonight, Luke.” She said.

  “I’m so happy to meet you too, Rossana. Tonight, you are as beautiful as a dream. Do you know that I often thought of you when I was confined in my cell? The last time we met I remember that I asked you to be part of my band. I have always been one of your admirers. Your performance tonight was splendid and more than ever I enjoyed your show. You are really talented, Rossana. Did you receive any good offers of work while I was away?”

   “A couple of singles of mine are selling well and are returning good money. Within a month I’ll be at the Jupiter Casino on the Gold Coast with a lucrative contract for the next season. Yes, finally, I’m getting some recognition.”

    “I’m really pleased to hear that, Rossana. I will miss you.”

    “You want my honest thinking, Luke?”

    “About what?”

    “Sydney is not good for you just now. You have too many enemies in this city. They ruined your life in the past and they will try again. I’m sure of that. Listen to me and this is a friendly advice. Cut loose all the contact with your ‘Family’ now. They are asking too much from you and in the long run you will be nothing but the loser.

     “It isn’t so easy moving away from the family, I owe respect to my Uncle.”

     “Why don’t you come with me to Surfers, Luke? We can work together and I can help you to stand again on your feet and form your band. The limelight is the blood of your life, Luke, you are born for stage. I’ll be proud if we work together.”

   “I’ll think about it, Rossana. But first I must settle some old business. I was held innocently in jail for three years and it wasn’t easy. Do you know what I mean? Also before I decide I have also to sort out things with Lola. What do you know about your sister?”

    “I’m warning you, Luke; it’s much better that you forget revenge. It’s too risky. It may cost you more years in jail if you are lucky, orb worse, you would pay with your life. Keep that in mind, Luke. Remember that the mob is vindictive and will be on your back all the time. They want you out of the way. Believe me, you got nothing to gain. Stay away from the Mafia and their laws.

    “I will let Lola know that you have been release from jail. But again, be very careful, particularly with her. They’ll follow her to get to you. They have a wide web of informers. It could be very costly trying to meet her.

     “Remember, I do care for you, Luke. Forget about the past and start a new life. You should come with me to Queensland where we can build our future and a career together.”

~*~

    It was eleven in the morning by the time Luke woke up. The house was dusty and neglected with a musty odor, ‘These windows probably haven’t been opened for at least three years,’ Luke thought.

      He looked around the house. The valuable had been removed, gone together with the rest of Lola’s possessions. There wasn’t much left around to remind him of their two years of marriage, only a couple of old photos hung on the wall.

    Was he still in love with her? That sensation of emptiness was a bell alarm telling him how much he missed that woman. Legally she was still his wife, but she had chosen to live and make love with somebody else.

    “My thoughts are obsessed with her. She has charmed me. Nobody else in the world is a better seducing lover. She is the only capable of fulfilling my intense sexual desires. I really want to make love to her again, my groin craves for her.’ Luke thought.

     The mobile phone interrupted his meditations. It was a message from his uncle, the Godfather, asking him to dinner at seven.

     He knew the reason for this meeting and what would be asked. Uncle would remind him the country old traditions of his duty to respect “Cosa Nostra”. Everyone had sworn to honor those old traditions of conspiracy and silence written down over the centuries from Calabrians and Sicilians. All in The Family must adhere to those codes of ethic, enhanced by ‘Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth’ 

     Those laws, between them, were kept alive into modern time and a debt of honor was only paid with enemy blood.

   ‘Since I was a young boy I learned that my duty is to stand with the family, in the interest of all of us. Therefore, I can’t refuse my obligations, or else they will point to me as a coward. I know that this evening Uncle Beppino would remind me of my obligation to reestablish the honor in the family for my brother’s killing.’

~*~

Part three