by Cat Mann
Chapter 28
Gallo
“Cameron Gallo…”
Ava’s laptop was a slow and frustrating piece of machinery. Her MacBook hummed in a sort of threatening way as the search engine slowly turned out news stories, tabloid pieces and Wiki pages. Combing through the slush pile of information over the past few weeks, I learned that his father’s business failed when Cameron was an infant. Gallo Sr. killed himself, leaving young Cameron with a mother who was less than capable of caring for him.
A stranger took pity on Gallo as a young kid and mentored him, helping him get a better start in life. When the mentor died, he left a large fortune to Gallo, a fortune that helped the young man to live but not to live with seriousness. He started school at Harvard but soon dropped out, more interested in being a philanderer and seeing his name in print. One affair after another with a page-long list of beautiful women made the tabloids … until he married a doe-eyed Texan, Dove Bethel.
“Useless garbage…” I mumbled and continued my search. A peal of Max’s giggles rang from the sun porch and was followed by a happy meow from Fluff.
Images of Cameron and Dove together littered the search page, the two of them polished and smiling together at charity galas and ribbon-cutting ceremonies. There were a few, too, of Dove in a string bikini lounging on the deck of a yacht while Cameron chipped golf balls into the Adriatic Sea. They looked happy together.
The computer pages continued to roll along. School long forgotten, Cameron seemed secure at 29… his net worth had climbed to $21.5 billion, he had been considered America’s foremost and youngest billionaire for quite some time, he owns the largest privately held equity company, The Gallo Firm...and so on. But none of what I was reading mattered to me. I needed to know what he wanted with Ava. I needed to know who he was. Gallo is Greek. It means cock, like a rooster – a Gallo is someone who is vain, egotistical, arrogant and haughty. A fitting name.
“Max,” Ava warned as she passed by the den, “don’t squeeze Fluff too hard, you can hurt him. Ari, watch him.”
“I am…” my eyes stayed on the screen.
“The guy's a philanthropist,” I muttered mostly to myself. “He donates millions of dollars a year – listen to this list! Global Fund for Women...Witness for Peace…Global Hunger Project… Farm Sanctuary… Cancer Care and Research…Center for Survivors of Violence and Kidnapping…National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress… Huh… he gives to House to Home…wow, a lot, too…”
“What, Ari?!” Ava hollered over the babble of my mother and Gianna’s conversation as it floated in from the kitchen.
“Nothing, Babe.”
Scrolling the curser through pages and pages of articles relating to his love life, business affairs and humanitarian work, I found a piece of interest that was dated nearly two years prior.
“He funded an extremist group in Greece? What the fuck!”
“Ari!” Ava hissed and I could imagine my mother and Gianna both sending me nasty, disapproving looks.
“Sorry, Babe. Mom. G.”
I clicked the link.
“I thought you said you would help!”
“I will. Just a second….”
My eyes scanned the report, quickly reading parts of the article to myself. “Business Mogul, Cameron Gallo was questioned today concerning a money trail linking him to a highly secretive Greek extremist group known as the Ziloti. Little is known about the Greek secret society but it has been suggested that they hold strong ties associated with the terrorist family of Kakos brothers. Gallo denies any affiliation with or funding of any extremist or terrorist groups and… ”
Ava’s laptop closed in my face. “Are you listening to me?”
“Of course…”
“What’d I just say?” Ava flashed a white-toothed, plump, pink-lipped smile at me. The dining room light shined down on her and gave her a soft, angelic glow. “Hmmm? I’m waiting, Ari… What did I just say, Mr. I’m Listening?” Her fingers impatiently tapped the top of her closed laptap. The curve of her mouth lifted in a tease causing her freckle to dance.
“Umm…” That tiny little freckle has the ability of making me forget my own name. She is a goddess designed to take a man to his knees. “You’re gorgeous, Ava.”
“That’s what I thought. Now, you promised you would help us so come on and get up. If you get working, we 'll be done in an hour.”
“Okay, I am all yours, what do you need me to do?” It was the weekend before House to Home’s charity gala and to cut back on spending the center’s funds and taking more money away from the cause, Ava decided she would do as much as possible herself, recruiting the family to pitch in with a list of side jobs.
“Rory is loading all the door prizes into my car … you can help him with that or you can help Gianna, Lauren and Aggie with the centerpieces.”
“Or?”
“Or…you can help me with the place cards.”
“Do I get to hang with you if I do the place cards?”
“Yep.”
“Then I’ll do that.”
“Great! Here is the list of guests; every name has a number associated with it. For example,” she plucked a place card from a small stack of finished cards, “Robert Phillips - 8.1, so Doctor Phillips will be seated at table eight, seat one. As a guest arrives, he will find his namecard with the table number printed on the back. All you need to do is make sure all the names are numbered. Here is a diagram of how the seating should look.” Ava set a poster board on the table that replicated the round tables with numbers and names.
“Sure, I can handle that.” I took the list from Ava’s hand and read some of the names of donators who had purchased tickets for the evening. She sat the big stack of unfinished place cards beside me on the table with a get to work look on her face.
“Hey Baby, do you remember Cameron Gallo? We met him a couple of weeks ago at the Rangers game.” Quickly, I scanned the sheet but he wasn’t listed as a guest. “He donates quite a bit each year to the charity.”
“Gallo?”
“Mmm hmm…”
Her nose scrunched. “Oh yeah, he’s that guy your sister crushes on.”
“Yeah, him.”
“I vaguely remember meeting him, why do you ask? Is he a friend of yours?”
“No. No way. He donates a lot of money to House to Home, are you sure he’s never called you for anything? He’s never come to the center for a meeting?”
“No, Ari. Gallo must be one of your dad’s donators. Andy would handle anything that would have to do with him. I work with my own people and he does the same, it’s just easier that way.”
“Right… sure.”
She pushed away from the table and stood, grabbing the laptop and putting it under her arm. “I’ll put this back in the study.”
“K… Oh, wait a minute, Ave!”
“What?” She turned back around to face me.
“This place card is wrong. You have Fauna Korie printed but she doesn’t work for me anymore, this needs to be reprinted, it should be for Lirik Nino.”
“No.” Ava pointed down at the sheet of names. “Lirik is on here, too. See? Lirik is included with your work table that you purchased and Fauna is included with this group.” She pointed to table number four on the diagram.
“Fauna bought a ticket?”
“Not really, she is just someone’s plus one, she is coming with another donator of your dad's.”
“Oh. Cool. I guess.”
“Very.” Ava rolled her eyes in a tease. She never liked Fauna. “I am putting this away now. I don’t want to see my laptop out for the rest of the evening – you promised you would help.”
“Whatever, whatever, that computer is garbage anyway. I am buying you a new one first thing tomorrow.”
“You wouldn’t dare, Ari!”
“Obviously, you don’t know me well enough.”
Shit. I regretted that sentence immediately. Ava frowned and three worried creases set in place in her forehead. He
r light happy attitude was instantly gone and her mind filled with dozens of what ifs and doubts. What if Persephone comes for me? What if we were wrong for each other… What if What if What if…
“I love only you, Ava.”
“Please start working, Ari.”
She left and I knew she wouldn’t come back to the table, she would find something else, some other task that was more pressing and needed her full attention.
Sitting alone, I sorted through hundreds of names and numbers slowly, putting everyone in his or her place.
“Have you seen Ava?” Lauren fell back into the seat next to me with an exhausted breath.
“Nope. Not for a couple of hours anyway.”
“I need a break from centerpieces and mom and aunt G. Whatcha doing?”
“Place cards.” I handed her the last of a small stack to sort.
“Yikes, what do I do with this, Ari?” Lauren plucked the card from the top of the stack and held up Julia’s name that was perfectly penned in calligraphy script across the heavy, cream cardstock.
“Crap.” Raking my hands up my scruffy face and through my hair, I stared back for a moment. I missed her. It had been nearly six weeks since Julia left. She hadn’t returned any of my calls. The only person she had any contact with was my father and he assured Rory that she was fine; Julia just needed some space to grow. Whatever that means. I hadn’t gone this long without talking to Julia since she came into my life when we were thirteen. I missed her more than I ever knew I would.
“I don’t know, Lauren.”
“Well, is she coming?”
“I don’t know, Lauren! I doubt it.”
“What do I do with this?”
“Just give it here!” I snatched it from her hand.
“Where do I get to sit?” Lauren looked over the diagram searching for her name.
“Umm, you aren’t coming, Lo.”
“What?!” She snapped.
“You’re on Max duty all night. Mom volunteered you.”
“You're joking right?”
“No…”
Her face fell in complete disappointment.
“Get real, Lauren, you don’t want to be stuck at some stuffy charity event.”
“I do when everyone else is gonna be there! Let me take Julia’s spot.”
“You can’t. If you're at the gala, then who'll watch Max? Ava and I really need you this time, and Max loves hanging with you.”
“Mommmmm!” She yelled as if she were seven years old again.
“Ava invited Luke for the weekend, so you two will pretty much have my house all to yourselves. All night.”
“Oohh.”
“Max goes to bed at eight.”
“Ohh.” She smiled.
“What is it, Lauren?” My mom rushed in from the kitchen. “Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m cool. Ari took care of it! Thanks, Mom! Love ya!”
“Gosh! You nearly gave me a heart attack, Lauren! But I love you, too!”
Lauren was giddy with the idea of time alone…completely alone…with Luke.
“No sex or else I will kill you.”
“Oh, my God will you shut up! You are so gross. You literally make me puke.” She pushed away from the table. “You’re stupid, Ari. That is totally none of your business. Like literally, oh, my God…I’m outta here!” Lauren stormed out of the dining room and out on the deck to head for home.
“Yeesh, what’s the matter with her?”
“Hey Baby! I missed you, I thought we were working as a team tonight.”
“Sorry, I got busy. Did you finish?”
“Nearly.”
She took the last stack of place cards and quickly organized them into their pre-determined order. “There, all done. Your mom and Aunt just left, too.”
“What do we do with this one?” I asked, holding up Julia’s card.
“Oh, my gosh, Julia! I saw her today! I talked to her!” Ava squeaked.
“You talked to her?”
“I did! I’m sorry I can’t believe I didn’t tell you sooner! My mind is so distracted with all of this.”
“When did you talk to her, Ava? I have been trying to reach Julia for weeks!”
“Earlier this afternoon. You were out and Max and I had just pulled into the driveway from the store. Julia was waiting for me at the front of the house. She asked if she could come inside to talk. She came into the house with us but she seemed weird...”
“Weird how?”
“She said she wanted to talk to me, but as soon as we got inside, she said she had to leave. She told me she was sorry, gave me a hug and left. It was all so strange, I highly doubt she comes to the gala.”
“How long did she stay?”
“Not even a minute.”
“What time was it?” I pulled my cell from my pocket and accessed our security footage from the day.
“Umm, sometime before three. Maybe two thirty?”
“Two thirty.”
“Yeah, that’s probably right.”
At two thirty-two, Ava’s car pulled into the driveway. I could see her make the turn from the road and I saw Julia waiting for her by the front gate. Julia walked up to Ava’s car, got in and they entered the garage. Julia followed Ava and Max into the house.
“I miss you all so much.” The sound kicked in as soon as they entered the house.
“We miss you, Jules. Come on in and we can talk about everything. Rory is a mess.”
The alarm was giving a warning beep in the background.
A close up of Ava’s pretty face was on the screen, she pulled up the system and gave her verbal code and then the alarm gave one last beep and disengaged.
“Ava, I gotta go.” Julia slipped her cell phone into her pocket.
“You just got here. We really need to talk.”
“I love you, okay?” Julia threw her arms around Ava’s neck. Ava hugged her back, hard. “Ava, I am so sorry.”
“Don’t leave, Julia.”
Jules grabbed Ava’s palm and squeezed. “I love you, Ava. Bye!”
She darted back out the garage door and I watched as she slipped through the side door and head toward the beach.
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me that happened today, Ava.”
“Ari, I am so sorry. I can’t believe I forgot…it was so strange.”
“That was strange.” I rewound the footage beyond the two thirty mark to watch Julia approach the property. She was on foot and waited for Ava at the gate for over an hour…and then left as soon as she got inside the house.
What the hell was she doing?
I watched the video three more times. Julia was visibly nervous. She paced the property while she waited for Ava to arrive home. She fiddled with her cell phone again and again and fidgeted with her bangle bracelet. I zoomed in. The Band-Aide was finally gone. There was a black circle of ink. Julie had been hiding a tattoo. I zoomed in further to see what the tiny tattoo was of and the image turned grainy.
“Ari, I am so sorry, I really cannot believe I didn’t tell you.” Ava had wet eyes. “I wasn’t trying to keep this from you, I promise.”
“It’s okay, Baby. Are you alright?” My hands encompassed hers and I pressed our foreheads together.
“I’m okay.”
“Are you sure?”
“Mmm…”
My lips pressed into the corner of her curvy mouth.
“It’s okay that you forgot. I know you have a lot on your mind. Did she say anything out of the ordinary while she rode up in your car? Did she do anything?”
“She was nervous.”
“Yeah, I can see that. Can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“Ava, do you know anything about the Ziloti?”
“Ziloti?”
“Yeah…ever heard of them?”
“Yes. I have.”