Page 140 of Always: A Legacy Novel

He suffered from Bipolar Disorder, also known as Manic-Depression.

Now, John was doing okay. Catherine really wanted it to keep being okay for her cousin. He was close to her father, like a second son, in a way. She always remembered John being at their house when she was growing up, sometimes more than he was at his own. It had been hard to see Dante panic and try everything he could when John went missing for weeks at a time, only to show up in a hospital, out of it from drugs, or fighting, or simply because he crashed. When his body couldn’t take it anymore, and he just crashed, Catherine thought those times had been the worst for their whole family.

“John?”

He didn’t look up from his sister counting cards as he said, “Hey, Catty.”

“Jesus, I hate all of you, now. Everybody uses that stupid name, you know.”

John chuckled. “It fits, though.”

Not for reasons you know …

She eyed her Uncle Lucian, Johnathan’s father, as he passed through the dining room with her Uncle Giovanni right behind him. Once they were out of earshot, her attention went back to her cousin.

“I have a question,” Catherine said quietly.

“Shoot, kiddo.”

“You know I’m sixteen, right?”

“You know I like pasta, right?”

Catherine’s brow dipped. “What does that have anything to do with what I said?”

John smirked, and looked up at her. “Nothing, I just like to fuck with you. What’s up?”

She pulled out her phone, brought up a series of text messages she had received from students who attended the Academy over the last four weeks since school had ended, and pushed it across the table. John looked down at the screen, then used his finger to scroll through the messages, nodding as he went.

“Yeah, I figured that was going to happen when Michel headed out.”

Catherine shifted in her heels, and shot a look over her shoulder. She didn’t know why she was so goddamn nervous, as she really shouldn’t be. This entire thing was exactly what paid for the clothes she was wearing, the car they drove to get to their grandparents, and the house she was standing in.

Drugs, crime, and all the rest.

That’s what paid for it all.

Still, she had not been the one doing those things.

However, there seemed to be a lot of students from her school that kept messaging her thinking she absolutely could provide what they wanted. Catherine suspected because Michel was no longer readily available to supply, and Academy kids had no interest in buying their shit from someone on the street given their spoiled dispositions, they asked Catherine.

Did she know someone?

Could she get what they needed?

Money, money, money.

That’s what she heard, but it wasn’t what caught her interest. She was simply curious. How it worked, how to sell, or deal … whatever.

John kissed Lucia on the top of her head and said, “Go find Ma, huh? Get a snack for me, topina.”

“And me?” Lucia asked.

“And you.”

Catherine’s littlest cousin was gone in a flash, ready to make her big brother happy, and feed herself, too.

John turned back to Catherine. “I mean, I can get somebody to handle them. You’ll just need to pass on a phone number and a first name. Eventually, they’ll stop texting you for all this.”