the larger the family, the
more disgrace you are likely to have.
-Punjabi
Proverb
CHAPTER
TWENTY-THREE
Upstate New York~
Along the United States-Canadian border, halfway between Ogdensburg and Alexandria Bay, was a remote tract of land on which stood a mansion of staggering scale and opulence. The property had been acquired by Humphrey Tesano shortly after he took his father’s company public. The Tesanos had still been regarded as ‘new money’ up until that time. The heights that Humphrey took his father’s company, had quickly propelled the family beyond what the backhanded compliment implied.
Humphrey’s interest in land acquisition more than doubled the family’s holdings within a year following his takeover. That first acquisition however, held special sentiment. Humphrey’s enthusiasm for socializing quickly gained him a respected name among society’s elite.
The mansion wasn’t only for socializing with the banking and other old money heirs of the world. Annual stockholders meetings were held there as were events of a more unsavory variety. The remote house served as the meeting place for certain Tesanos and their...playthings.
The Fat Cats Weekend had been coined by younger males in the Tesano clan- ones who had yet to earn the stature required to receive one of the gold embossed invitations to four days of uninhibited revelries.
Of course, there was still business to be handled. Executives from various holdings; that operated in a more questionable realm, would also be in attendance.
Hill sat in the SUV he’d driven from the jetport and studied the lofty iron gates of the stone fence that section off the front of the property. Dense forest encircled the remainder of the vast landscape.
“Ah man...do you even know what the fuck you’re doin’?” He debated leaving then to find another way.
Unlike most of the younger males in the Tesano clan, he hadn’t had to wait to earn his place at the table. As the first Tesano grandson of his grandfather’s direct line, his place had been secured from the moment of his birth. He’d attended his first Fat Cats Weekend, the summer before he’d set sail for Black Island. The summer he’d exchanged words with his father that he’d feared would never be forgiven.
“Get the hell out of here,” he sighed as images of that first weekend played out in his head.
This place, changed him- changed him in the worst ways. He didn’t want to be that guy again- he couldn’t be that guy again.
He took his phone from the passenger seat and recalled the video message the girls had recorded before he left. He smiled, brushing his fingers across their smiling images on the screen.
“Come back soon, Daddy! We love you!”
No, he couldn’t be that guy again. But he would have to be. This needed to end and the beginning of that end started past those gates.
“So stop dickin’ around,” he put aside the phone and reached past the driver’s side window to enter the unlock code for the gates.
The house was another half mile down the winding dirt road. To the uneducated eye, the area had the old fashioned allure of warmth and family. Leave it to the Tesanos to take innocence and turn it into something foul.
Hill seethed over the idea, put his foot
down hard on the accelerator and took the rest of the road in a
blur.
***
“Ram? You home?!” Johari called when she got in that afternoon. In the two days since they’d returned from the wedding festivities in Nevada, she’d been on the run scouting locales for an upcoming shoot.
“In here Twig.”
“Hey stranger,” she sprinted towards Moses where he stood in the door of his study. “How ‘bout we go out later?” She suggested once she was snug in his arms. “We’ve been like ships passing in the night since we got back and I-oh. I’m sorry I-I didn’t know you were busy.”
“Nah, come on in- they want to meet you.”
Johari kept hold of Moses’ arm as he led her into the study where his guests waited. She hoped she was doing a good job of keeping the uncertainty out of her eyes. She didn’t think she’d ever meet another group of men as outwardly dangerous and disturbingly gorgeous in appearance as her husband, his family and the Tesanos. She supposed she was wrong.
“Sorry for catching you off guard Mrs. Ramsey. We didn’t believe Mo when we saw your picture and he told us you were his wife,” one of the men said.
“That’s right-we couldn’t believe he could convince someone as beautiful as you to marry him,” another added.
“Thanks,” she laughed, “and it’s Johari.” She extended a hand to shake with each of the men who dwarfed her height as easily as her husband did.
“Alright, enough of the cute stuff. Before I kick these fools out, Twig, let me introduce you.” Moses slanted Johari a wink when she looked his way. “If I’m privy to your info, you should be privy to mine, right?”
Johari smiled, understanding the point he was making.
“Unfortunately, I can only give you their names. I’m not sure they’ve ever been straight with me about who they really work for.”
“Ah Mo, you know we’re always straight with you,” a third man grinned.
“Yeah right, you just love
me so,” Moses waved a hand. “Grimm Ophion, Masud Trent, Teak Sands,
Darwin Rush and Kaspar Hunt, my wife Johari. Twig, I’d like you to
meet the guys who are going to do us the great service of ridding
the world of one Evangela Leer.”
***
“Smart of you to come in early, kid. This crowd looks to be one of the biggest since your Uncle Hump passed… or so I’ve heard.”
Hill smirked toward the 70something man who didn’t look a day over 50. Edward Stokes ran a chain of successful barbershops throughout the Tri-State area. He had been the resident barber for the Fat Cats Weekend since the earliest days of his career.
Edward Stokes’ attempt to pass himself off as an average employee was both amusing and pointless. Almost every room carried a picture with Humphrey and Edward. Some said Eddie Stokes knew where all the bodies were buried because Hump just adored the way the man pampered his hairline.
Hill agreed. When he cut his hair every few years or so, it was Edward Stokes who always did the honors.
“You sure about this, kid?” Eddie was checking his stash of straight edges and shaving creams. “You’re not due for a cut just yet.”
