9. My Linny, Our Linny
NINE
My Linny, Our Linny
JULIAN
I hear Milana in the back seat with Alessio, and I'd like to resurrect her father from his grave and kill him myself. When she saw me being tossed into that freezer, who knows what was going through her mind? She's handling herself beautifully with Alessio. She doesn't offer excuses and respectfully responds to his questions. Josie obviously had a talk with her husband, which means that Milana has her approval, and I know my sister must think highly of her if she's telling Milana about her abduction. It's a story she rarely speaks of and never to anyone outside our own family.
"We're here," Jack announces.
I turn my head to the back seat. "I'll check it out."
"No need," Alessio retorts. "I've had men planted here for the last half hour. It's all clear." He jerks his head up to the sky. "Their plane is coming in. It might be easier for Milana to go aboard and talk Barry into coming out. It might make him more secure."
"Thank you." She smiles at me. "Barry will be much easier to handle when he sees I'm safe. And when he knows you, he'll be even better."
We watch the plane land and wait for the stairs to lower. When Nero comes down the stairs, Alessio and I are there to greet him.
"Good flight, I hope," Alessio says.
"It was fine. Sebastian is on board with Barry. Sebastian was able to keep him calm on the way down. Go figure, the hothead out of all of us, and that's the guy Barry listens to." Nero shakes his head.
"Go get Milana," Alessio tells me. "Take her aboard. Nero and I will wait here, but as soon as Barry's ready to spill, we want to be there to get it firsthand."
Milana has her head out the window and is waiting for my signal, so as soon as I give it, she tears out of the car and races over to me. She pauses long enough to thank Nero for being so kind as to bring Barry down and then is up in the plane in a flash.
Barry is in his seat, Sebastian next to him. As soon as they hear us, Sebastian stops talking and says, "I think they're here, bud."
Tears openly stream down Barry's cheeks when he sees Milana. "My Linny." His voice is rough, and he's emotional as Milana drops to her knees and rests her head in his lap, his bandaged hand rising to stroke her hair. "My Linny. My girl."
Milana peers up at him. "I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. This never would have happened to you if I didn't get you involved." Her voice cracks, and soon, they're both weeping. Sebastian slides out of his seat and comes to stand beside me.
"It fucking sucks, man," Sebastian grits out.
Confused, I ask, "What sucks?"
"This guy cares more about this girl than her own fucking parents."
"He lost his wife and daughter. She lost her family. Together, they made a family of their own," I surmise. Milana is talking gently to Barry, stroking his hand and face. He looks like shit, but the doctors did a good job cleaning him up. He looks a lot younger without the beard, and his hair is cut. "What's the damage?" I ask.
"Fifteen stitches in his head," Sebastian informs me. "Ten on his cheek. Luckily, they didn't break his jaw. Two broken ribs, sprained ankle, and broken arm. He had some internal bleeding. The doctor got to that right away. He wouldn't eat anything, thinking we were trying to poison him. He has to eat."
"Got any of that cup o' soup on this lavish plane of yours?" I tease.
He grins and goes to get me some. I wait for Sebastian to hand me the soup before approaching the loving reunion between Milana and Barry.
"Hey, Barry, remember me?" I ask.
"Jules. You took care of Milana. You're keeping her safe. You need to keep her away from them." He's anxious, and his voice rises.
"I'm taking care of that, but I'm going to need your help." I take the vacant seat beside him. "But first, I hear you're not eating. That's not cool. My friends, they did a lot to get you to Linny, and we need to get you feeling tip-top again." I put the soup in his hand. "Can you drink this for me?"
Barry looks suspiciously into the cup. I take it back and take a sip. Milana takes it from me and does the same.
"Mmm, it's good. Try it," she urges. She carefully puts it back in his hands, and he drinks it up. "Barry, I know this has been hard for you, but I really need you to tell me what happened in my apartment. Do you remember?"
He sucks back every last drop and nods. "Big guys. They were making a mess. I tried to stop them."
I interrupt. "I'm going to get you more of this. Then I'm going to call back my friends and my boss. He wants to help you and Linny. If he knows, we can work harder to take care of her."
Barry gets really agitated. "Those men wanted to hurt Linny. Don't let them find her!" he shouts. I see the fear in Milana's eyes. They know who she is, and they're after her.
"Calm down." I lower my tone, putting a hand on his shoulder. "We have a plan, and you can help. You can do that for Linny, right?"
Barry looks directly into my eyes when he responds. "I would do anything for my Linny."
"She's our Linny, bud. We both take care of her," I tell him. He lets out a heavy breath and closes his eyes. "I'm getting you more food and calling my friends. We can get this done, and then we're going to take you to my home. You can rest, and we can talk more later."
Sebastian has been listening and is already warming up more soup while I give the sign for Alessio and Nero to come on board.
Barry looks apprehensive when he sees Alessio and Nero approach. "Barry, these men are my friends. Honest, bud, I wouldn't lie to you. This is Alessio Cassini, and you've already met Nero Moretti. They're good men who care about our Linny. We can't stop these guys who are after her without you." I plead with his sensitive side and his love for Milana.
"I told them to stop, but they wouldn't," Barry says.
"Start at the beginning," Milana says. "One step at a time. Did you hear them in my apartment?"
"Okay. Okay, yeah. I heard them throwing stuff. Crashing and banging! And when I got there, I saw they were breaking stuff. I told them they had to stop and told them it wasn't their house. Get out! That's what I told them," Barry says emphatically. "They were looking for Linny. They said Anton would pay me if I told them where you were." Barry looks down at Milana, who still hasn't moved by his feet. "I would never tell them. They could kill me. I would never tell them." He touches her cheek when she begins to sob.
Alessio says, "He said Anton would pay? Did they say anything else?"
"They said Linny did a bad thing and had to pay. The bigger one said it was her fault his friends were dead." Barry points his finger at me and says in a really bad Russian accent. "‘They all gotta pay. Italians got to pay.' That's what he said. Then they started beating on me. It hurt so much, but I didn't say a word. Nothing. When I didn't move no more, they went back to breaking shit. The shorter one called Anton and said Linny was gone."
"Did they call her Linny?" Nero asks.
"No. They called her by her real name. This guy was mad. He was yelling so loud, I could hear him. When they hung up, they left. The short guy said to call Tom Leary and Jasper Steely to arrange a meeting. Then they left, but I couldn't get up," Barry finishes.
I see Alessio and Nero look at each other. They recognize the names. I recall Jasper's name from earlier. Barry looks over at me. "I didn't earn my money. I couldn't keep her place safe. I had it in my pockets, but they took my clothes when the doctor came."
"Must have been when the doc was working on him," Nero suggested. He nods to Alessio, and the two stand and exit.
"I don't care about the money," I say. "You did the best you could. It wasn't a fair fight, bud. Believe me, you earned that money. I've got to go and talk to my friends. Stay here with Linny. I'll be back for both of you."
Milana comes to her feet and grabs my arm. "Was that enough? They won't hurt him, will they?" she asks pleadingly.
"Trust me." I kiss her softly and walk out.
* * *
A lessio and Nero are waiting at the base of the steps of the plane. Their heads are together while Nero holds a phone between them. I don't want to interrupt, but I want Alessio to know that I'm here if he needs me. I move across to Sebastian, who is standing a few feet away.
Sebastian pats me on the back. "That's good work. He must really care for Milana, because from what I know, they've been trying to get him to string two sentences together without any luck, and all he kept screaming for was his Linny."
"He's not stupid," I say. "He's broken. His wife and daughter are dead, and he hasn't been the same since. But when Milana was out there alone, he's the one who took care of her." I glance over at the two capos. "I'm hoping Alessio will allow him to stay. I want to set him up as a gardener or handyman."
Sebastian shrugs. "Why would Alessio care?"
"I don't know that he would, but under the circumstances, I want his approval."
"Smart," he mumbles. "He looks fit to be tied. Nero doesn't look very pleased either."
Alessio lifts his head, turning it in my direction. Immediately, I move toward him, Sebastian coming along.
"We think this Anton is Anton Stanovic. He would be the cousin of the dearly departed Boris. That is if our information is correct. Jasper and Tom are union leaders. Marco has his men looking for Tom. Our men are out hunting for Jasper. No luck yet on either side. Dante's analyzing the prints you found," he says to Sebastian. "We need to rule out Milana's and Barry's so we can see if we can match the others more easily."
"I'll take care of that," Sebastian offers, then goes off to do so.
"I've got to get back to New York," Nero says. "Sebastian's going to refuel, and we'll be off. What do we do with Barry?"
"He's harmless," I put in.
"Leave him with Julian. Apparently, we're taking in all sorts of strays lately," Alessio comments. "Keep him out of the way."
"You won't know he exists," I say.
"I need a fucking drink," Nero huffs. He looks like he hasn't slept in days.
"That I can accommodate," Alessio says with a sly grin. He turns and calls for Jack to get him two glasses of scotch. Seconds later, Jack emerges with two crystal glasses with a smooth amber liquid, which I'm sure is the finest scotch money can buy.
"I'm going to call Fausto to come and get Milana and Barry," I say.
"No need. There's plenty of room in our car," Alessio says. "What are you going to do with him?"
"I'm hoping he'll be open to working on the gardens at our new house. Milana says he's a good handyman. I think he'll do fine if he's close to Milana."
"He's got nothing to go back to," Nero says with a shrug. "Why not? He seems to really care for his Linny, as he calls her." He chuckles.
"He has a wife and daughter buried in New York. He visits them every day. It's part of his routine. I'm not sure how he's going to handle not having that every day," I confess.
Alessio doesn't respond, but is listening.
"Shit! That's a tough break," Nero says.
"I don't know the full story, but it seems he never got past their deaths. He needs a purpose. A reason to get up each day. I think he found that when he met Milana. She says Barry's been a lot better the last couple of years and even started taking some short-term work," I explain.
"Maybe he'll get himself sorted out for Linny," Nero jokes.
"Except she's my Linny," I reply with a laugh.
"She's our Linny. She belongs to Il Destino ," Alessio states. "Go get them off the plane."