[As Salvatore Tommasi]
It had been weeks since, but once I revived everything was in its familar, proper place- Summer at my bedside slumped over in her consistent wait for me. I smiled then, thinking perhaps this what a clean, married life was like that Mama had always advocated for the Tommasi Two. And I knew I had many to answer to while I was away- especially Diego. But in some ways, I was beginning to entertain that perhaps I should remain in the shadows with only Summer...Maybe go off somewhere out East and start a new life together with her.
But then Big Brother got rid of any lingering birdies that had carried over from my coming to. Al sent his goon, Eduardo, to convey a message. Files encased in a weathered attache spelled it clearly for me. The medical attention...the roof over my head while I was out...the reason why Summer was kept away from me (a fact revealed last night in the limo when Eduardo had succeeded in getting under her skin)...it's no surprise Alfonso Tommai's signature is penned to this mess. But what is astonishing is who is backing him.
I thought the Zasa's were done. With what the papers say- Aronne behind bars and Dante six-feet-under- who is there to pull the strings? Their lawyer? But Liam Herridge is no wise guy- he's a caretaker, I understand, at best. But he's got no muscle. And Gabriel- that backstabbing son of a bitch- despite his beastly demeanor, he's no idiot- he knows better than to put his corrupt badge into headlines.
But there are numbers. All under the Zasa account, according to the files. But I thought Zasa Pharmaceuticals was legit? I thought the reigns over the drugs being peddled was released to Fuente's hands, and that the Geno had that under tight wraps? And I realize with Al's lockdown over the MGM, Bellagio, and Mirage out over in the desert there is a huge nest egg- but what does that have to do with the Zasa's, and how are the Zasa's still raking in trafficing like income when their only selling legit markets now?
And then it hit me. Alfonso is Zasa. Perhaps he always was a Zasa. And now that he has an iron fist over the casino rackets out West, he's peddling the Zasa drugs for them in his hedonistic playground. But he'd need contacts and insider information to line all that up- and only Diego can provide things like that. And there's only one way Al could have pulled that off since his ass had been excommunicated by Farina back to Corleone- he stole my identity while I was out. The bastard hid me away and took advantage of the situation.
And now that I am back he thinks he's being generous by "returning" my identity back to me- to assume my role for him over here in New York; in a way, allowing him to be in two places at once. That doesn't roll over me too well, but I don't have a choice. In the file he attached numerous photos of Summer for every day of the week I was unconscious. He's letting me know he is in control of my world, and he can take away the Key to my happiness in a blink of a shutter.
With so many things clouding my senses, I can only do one thing at the moment: light up a Marlborro, take a drag, silenting releasing my sigh with the smoke.
