I didn’t know what time it was, but the house was dark. Only the study was lit. My father’s yelling had woken me up from a dream about unicorns and fingernail polish. My freshly painted nails reflected in the light, and I smiled.
Gianca was going to be so jealous tomorrow when she saw them, and everyone in our seventh grade class was going to be talking tomeinstead ofher.
“I didn’t do it!”
Nico and I exchanged looks at the voice, recognizing it immediately. It was one of the men that had been frequently coming and going from the house recently. I didn’t like the way he looked at me.
“That doesn’t sound good for him,” Nico said in a low voice, his brow furrowed.
“No, it doesn’t,” I answered, chewing the inside of my cheek. Father seemed so angry these days that Nico and I stayed well out of his way whenever possible. The yelling woke us up more than I cared to admit most nights.
“Tell me again,” my father said angrily, the shadows from the open door of his study dancing across the wood floor.
There was silence, and my shoulders relaxed. The capo was smarter than I had pegged him for, and maybe he would get out of this alive.
“Say it!” my father slapped the desk so loudly that I jumped. “Tell me that isn’t you stealing from me, you fucker!”
Nico’s eyes widened, and I sighed inwardly. To cross our father was one thing, but to steal from him was another source of anger altogether.
“Please, Don,” the capo stated, solidifying that my father wasn’t wrong in his assumptions. “Please, I needed the money. My wife has cancer. I—”
“You could have come to me like an honorable man!” Father demanded. “You could have come and asked! Instead, you chose to steal!”
“Please,” the capo continued, his voice wavering. If his story was true, then I felt horrible for him and what he was going through. “It won’t happen again.”
“No.” My father’s words were slow and methodical. “It won’t.”
There was silence, and my heart hammered in my chest as I thought about what my father must be doing, weighing whether or not to kill the capo. It was rare that anyone came out of his study alive this late at night.
“Here’s how you can make it up to me,” my father finally said. “Give me your wife, and I’ll let you live.”
“What?” The man asked. “What do you mean?”
Nico swore under his breath, and I shook my head. It was a trick. We had heard this one before.
“I’m going to fuck your wife in exchange for you to live,” my father said. In my head, I could see him grinning at the desperate man to see how far he could push him.
“Don,” the man started.
“These are my terms,” my father interrupted, his voice taking on a hard edge. “Follow through, and I will forget this small indiscretion.”
“Come on,” Nico whispered to me, rising from his perch. “You know what’s going to happen.”
I did, but my hands wouldn’t unwrap themselves from the railing. Nico didn’t want to see the ending, but I did.
“Y-Yes, Don. She is yours.”
I closed my eyes as my father laughed before the gunshot rang out, causing us both to jump.
“You dumb fucking idiot,” my father said, the smell of gunpowder permeating the air. “Get rid of the body and bring a car. I have to go pay his wife my condolences.”
My stomach turned, but there was nothing I could do. I finally peeled myself away from the railing, and found Nico’s hand reaching for mine.
“It’s all right,” he said softly as he led me back to our suites in the back of the house. “One day he’ll be gone, and we’ll be free.”
I squeezed his hand and gave him a slight nod. One day.
Chapter 8