When it was just Ricci on my hitlist, or more like before I knew the truth about that night, things were pretty much cut and dry. I knew what I needed to do and made my peace with it.
Now that I know the horror, the degradation my mother had faced at the hands of these people, no way am I going to let any of them live longer than it’s going to take for me to hunt them down and slaughter them.
But even that’s too easy, too straightforward. I want these people to suffer in the worst ways possible, and I want them to know why before they take their last breath.
I took her inside and up to her room. “I have to go see Pop; I’ll be back to tuck you in.” Another kiss to her forehead, and I left. I walked down the long hallway in search of the room he and Ma were sharing, putting my game face on as I reached the door. I know Ma was with grandpa down the hall, but I hadn’t expected the ninja turtles to come filing out of the suite where Pop was.
I gave them a slight smirk, having already guessed what they’d been up to. “Hi guys, thanks for today. You did me a solid.” I pounded fists with each of them, disarming them with a smile. Now, these guys may know martial arts and excel and various fighting techniques, but their minds don’t work like mine. I can run circles around them all day, every day, like now. They’re looking at me and each other in confusion because I went from cold to hot; amateurs.
Pop was pacing the room deep in thought when I walked in. “Hey Pop, you got a minute?” He seemed surprised to see me but recovered fast enough. “Of course, thanks again for finding your grandfather. Your mother is over the moon.”
“That’s what I’m here to talk about. I wanted to apologize for keeping this from you all this time.”
“It’s noth…. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I’m not really sure. I guess it’s because I felt like it was something I needed to do for Ma. I guess by now; you also know that I know what happened to Ma.”
He didn’t answer right away and wasn’t quick enough to hide the flash of pain on his face. I felt that shit in my chest. I’ve always known that he hated the fact that I knew, even though we’ve both been playing the guessing game, pretending that neither knew what the other was doing. Now there was no longer any need to keep it hidden.
“I know. Who’s this nun that you met with?” Now here is one of the things I’d struggled with. Should I tell him about what really went down that night? All of it? I’ve decided not to for multiple reasons.
One, he’d take the plane back to Sicily tonight and fuck his life up by going after Ricci blind, and two, I don’t want to put the things in his head that are now in mine. Which reminds me, I have to do something for Ma.
“She’s the one who helped grandpa get away from Ricci,” I told him about grandpa going after Ricci and what happened then, leaving out the part the others played; he doesn’t need to know that shit. Besides, that’s not why I’m here. I’m here because now that grandpa has been found, Pop has no reason not to go after Ricci. Now I have to find a way to keep him out of it while buying myself some time.
“You know Pop, it’s way off-topic, but we haven’t talked about my early enrollment in a while.” That coming out of left field stumped him.
“What?”
“School, your alma mater, remember, we applied, I got accepted, you were going to take me around to all your old haunts….”
“Yes, yes, we should do that when we get back, as soon as.”
“Awesome, now that this is behind me, I can breathe again. I think we should take the twins with, let them see what their futures are going to look like. And again, I’m sorry about the whole grandpa thing; I didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up, you know, and then things didn’t work out.”
“No, you did good.” Even his voice sounded sus. He was trying to weed me out, but he should know by now that I’m excellent at keeping my true feelings hidden. I don’t like deceiving him, but there’s no other way. I have to keep him out of trouble while plotting against Ricci, nothing new there, but now that game has changed just a little bit.
“I’m tired, Pop. I think I’ll turn in now. You’ll take care of grandpa’s papers and stuff to get him home with us?”
“Already made some calls, but since it’s this late, we have to wait until the morning. Don’t you worry, son, it’ll be taken care of. It might take some doing, but we’ll get him out of Europe in a matter of days. You kids are heading back with your grandparents and Sheila, your mother, and I’ll stay here for another few days….”