When The World Turned Purple

Frankie Chapter 5

(From Frankie's point of view)

“What's this?”I inspected the fine old thing under the light of the falling sun and watched the sunlight sparkle in its gold filmed hands. It was a windy day, I was wearing a turtle neck beneath my coat to keep me warm.

I carefully placed it inside its box that was resting on top of the files Calum had asked for. They had been difficult to extract, and I wanted to be done with business for the weekend so I could enjoy Luca's birthday.

It had been a long week. I had flown to Asia and back with Calum and returned without doing anything and accomplishing nothing. Calum was reluctant to explain the purpose of our trip.

“A gold watch, with a moonstone. Custom made on short notice.”Said Calum, his arms were gently resting on his legs and he looked at ease yet indifferent. His sunglasses reflected the park around us, he was wearing a hat and his fur collared coat for the occasion.

When he didn't say anything else I raised my eyebrows.

“Well? What the bloody hell is this for Cal?”

He cleared his throat as a man jogged by us,“It's a gift, for dad's birthday.”

I closed the box with a thud and placed it in the space between us. Anger simmering inside me as I pieced together what this meeting was for.“I suppose you won't be attending the party then.”

“That's right." He said, easily and without the slightest remorse. "I have a flight to Russia today and I'm going to need those files you've scavenged.”

I turned to him with a glare, "Over. My. Dead. Body.”

He took off his sunglasses and looked at me with his haunting blue eyes. A hint of a grimace forming on his face. "I'm not in the mood to argue.”

Luca, my adoptive father, was turning 63 and he was planning to celebrate the day by beating all three of my brothers in a wrestling match. It was all planned out, Luca's mountain cabin had a fine sun room, it was big enough to fit a raised boxing ring in it and there was enough room for their wives and children and the rest of the family to watch them being taken down by their old man.

He was very excited. Charlie had even hired him a photographer to capture every moment. Luca was planning to start with Blaine first, because he was the oldest and the heaviest built, then he'd move to James, so all his little boys and girls could watch grandpa take down their papa and then finally he'd take on Calum in the end as a show of strength.

My gender had exempted me from the fighting but because Luca didn't want me to feel left out he had decided to spend the weekend with me even after the family had left on Saturday.

And even though it was obvious he wanted me to stay for his own sake and not for mine, I didn't object. Despite being adopted I had always been his favorite. I was still very smug about it.

It was going to be perfect, all the women were in on it. Blaine's wife, Val, had even volunteered to cater the event with the family's chef. James was going to bring his latest girlfriend to introduce her to the family because he'd found the one for the fifth time and Calum and I were coming alone.

We had planned the fighting before the cake cutting so the bleeding would be done with and also because no one liked watching a fighter vomit his guts out. Luca didn't want to see that, he was more than happy with beating up his sons and getting his blood pumping.

I had spent the night arranging everything with Charlie and when morning came the only thing left to do was grab Calum and drive him up to the house.

And now Calum had ruined it all. Again. Like he always did with his monotone voice of reason.

“Frankie. Give me the files and then you can leave. It's as simple -”

I remarked for the millionth time how much he resembled his murderess mother, Luca's ex-wife Julia, who had tried poisoning me after he had brought me home from an orphanage in New York.

I raised my hand to stop him, I wasn't in the mood to listen to anything stupid.“Don't Calum. Luca is waiting in his mountain cabin for the lot of you and me as well, and believe it or not Charlie tells me he hasn't had a sip of whiskey all day and it's already 1 pm.”

“Good let's see how sobriety treats him. I have business that needs attending.”

“Oh don't give me Bull, you haven't got anything planned today, every family member is showing up for this God-damned birthday party. It's a company holiday!”

“This is private business.”

“What private business could you have?" I scoffed, then widened my eyes, "Unless you've gotten yourself stuck deep somewhere and can't get yourself out!" I scanned his face, he looked at me impassively, “Well, what have you done?”

He sighed and took of his hat turning to me, he even had her light brown hair. “Listen to me,” He said, his patience clearly wearing thin, “You're not the only one who's had a s**t week Frankie and I don't want to disappoint the old man, but I have responsibilities, ones he's given to me. Now I never asked for the mess but I have to resolve it.”He raised a finger warningly,“I'm not going to ask you again; give me the files.”

I looked down at the brown folder on my lap begrudgingly and extracted the first of the three files with my eyebrows furrowed. Calum was twelve years older than me and having him around was like having a second Luca in the room. “Dominic Sokolov, 68 years of age, Russian Nobel Laureate. He was last seen one week ago arriving in his childhood home in Siberia. No one has talked to him or heard of him since.”I handed him the file,“This contains most of his activity in the last month, where he went and what he did. This report was extremely difficult to compile and has resulted in a strained relationship with our clients in the Soviet Union.”

He gave the file a once over.“They have our security and blessings to be trading in the country, what more do they want? We'll do fine without their goodwill.”

“So, this file was important enough to you that you're risking losing revenue over it.”Calum narrowed his eyes at me as I took out the next one,“Elina Latif, Chief Secretary of her state and only twenty six years of age. This report was also extremely difficult to compile. It includes most of her personal data, who is she, where she was born, but nothing about her daily activities." I handed it to him,“It was the best our sources could do without being discovered and hung for spying.”

It was a thin file, Calum looked dissatisfied but didn't comment,“And what do we have on Dr. Osborne?”

I extracted the final file and opened it,“William H. Osborne, also a Nobel laureate, deceased at age 65. He was buried last week in his hometown in Colorado. The report says he died of cardiac arrest and was last seen alive by a local shopkeeper who sold him a crate of beer the night before he was buried. He was a known alcoholic and had no family. There was no procession. But his death was reported by the local news.”

Calum remained silent and took the last file from me. There was a pause, after which he stood up and dusted his coat. “That'll be all then Frankie, you can leave. Tell dad I'll come see him in the following week. Make sure you're the one who gives him the news of my absence. Seeing you will automatically lessen the blow.”

I narrowed my eyes at him.“What about the embarrassment he'll have to face in front of the family? They'll call him weak, you know how they are.”

Calum remained unaffected,“Tell them I'm working. Not everything has to be about power and if anyone has something less courteous to say about dad then I'm sure James and Blaine will take care it.”

Calum was the youngest of my three adoptive brothers. Blaine first, then James and finally Cal. On Luca's retirement everyone was expecting to see Blaine rise up and take his position as the head of the family but after taking Blaine in confidence Luca gave leadership to Calum instead.

The Toscani enterprise's main dealings were in export and import of everything illegal and legal and had even started work in e-commerce a few years ago. The company had it's own international courier service as well.

The entire family had been there for the voting, my presence was frowned upon but Luca and my brothers had insisted on my appearance. The day after it Calum was made the CEO of Toscani enterprise and every family member pledged allegiance to him.

“Fine.” I said giving up.

Luca's going to be alright Frankie, I told myself, he has tougher skin then you give the old man credit for, and he;ll like the moonstone watch. It's not all bad.

“Everything we do has consequences.”Calum said, I looked up at him, his jaw was tightened and he had an angry look in his eyes,“Dad should have left you in that f*****g Orphanage Frankie.”

What a stupid thing to say I thought.“To do what? Rot?”

“To live an ordinary life. To find a normal set of parents or yeah to rot even. Anything would have been better than this. We're all doomed by blood but you aren't.”

“What the hell are you blabbering about now? Who said anything about you people being doomed?” I looked down at my hands, exhausted by all the confusion. I just wanted to get to Luca's party,“Just go will you? I'm going to sit a while and think of a good excuse.”

“You were poisoned. And you could have died.”

As a child I wondered if he was Julia's illegitimate son. He had her big blue eyes and a hauntingly expressionless face and her papery appearance, while Luca and my other two brothers had the Toscani's family's dark curly hair and flawless pale skin.

But Calum was always warm in his own way, he'd be the first one to figure out what was bothering me and he'd always get me the best gifts, somehow knowing what I really wanted. He was also the one who figured out his mother was poisoning my food.

And in the end he even stood by Luca when he divorced her and sent her away.

“It wasn't your fault Cal and it wasn't Luca's either.”

Calum was silent, then he cleared his throat again, “You're mistaken Frankie.”

I was about to ask what the hell was wrong with him but he walked away, leaving me sitting on the dumb bench with wind and in the stupid chilly morning. I stared after him for a bit before I shook my head and looked down at my hands again.

What a mess this birthday is going to be. I thought to myself.

“You poor girl." Said the old woman sitting across the bench from me. I had forgotten she was still there. “I couldn't help but over hear both of you had your voices raised. Children these days, so ready to run off. Your father will be so disappointed.”

She was wearing a bright pink blazer and baggy jeans, I hadn't noticed how odd she looked until now. She was giving me a big grin,“Luca is such a nice name. How old is your dad?”

I raised my eyebrows, was she really talking to me?“Are you talking to me madam?”

“Oh yes." She got up from her bench and walked up to me slowly she had a little limp in her left leg, she was carrying a big flowery purse,“What's he like?”

Did she want me to set her up with Luca or something? Where was this conversation going? “Ummm …He's a good bit old and foul tempered.” I picked up Cal's gift from the bench as she sat down,“And he's probably waiting, I should leave.”

She nodded, her bright green eyes sparkled, she had her thin blonde hair tied behind her in a bun, “Oh that's too bad." She opened her purse and reached into it, pulling out a few things and placing them behind her before she extracted an expensive looking pocket watch,“I've seen that case before. It looks custom made. I have something similar as well, it was my husbands! Isn't it beautiful?”

“Umm … yes …”

“Oh I'm holding you up aren't i? You looked about ready to leave!”

“I was, yes.”

“Well then maybe I should go as well.” She got up and gave me another smile, “You're a very pretty girl Frankie.” And then she turned around and left in the direction opposite to Cal's.

What in the world was that? I watched her walk away until she was a little dot.

I shook my head and stood up, only to find a plastic wrapped parcel on the bench. I had watched her take it out when she was showing me her husband's watch. It was wooden box that was open from the front and had an old tape recorder and a tape inside. I looked around for her and realized she had disappeared.

“Now what the hell will i do with this junk?" I picked the odd thing up, jiggling it a bit and watched the things dance before I turned it around.

That was when my legs turned to jelly.

To Luca Toscani, The mobster. It read. To give you a taste of your own medicine.