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“She’s been kidnapped,” I say.
He swears. “You fuckingwhat?” he screams.
“By Marco. He’s the rat. He’s the Manetti rat. And it’s him who’s been doing everything.”
Tommy says nothing. We sit on the phone for a few moments in silence. I’m trying to figure out what to say, how I can guarantee him of getting her back or—
“Okay, damage control,” he says. “How much do you know about Marco? What can you tell me of his dealings in the last few months, and what else do I need to know about him? What ventures does he have? How much does he know about the Colombino’s? What is his family history? How much—”
“Everything,” I utter. “He’s been my right hand man forever. He’s just as tight and in the know as me. Maybe more so, with all that he's been doing behind my back.” I pause, trying to find the right words that don’t make me sound like a complete idiot. “He manipulated all of our shipments and deliveries, he signed off on deals I was unaware of. He’s been hacking our phones so that I would blame Sophie for everything.”
Tommy is silent at my last confession.
“Tommy, I’m sorry.”
“You can be sorry later,” he replies. “For the time being we’re finding my fucking daughter, then I’m gonna skin this fuck until he wishes he’d never been born.”
“Okay,” I say.
Tommy grunts. “Alright Lucas, up on your feet. C’mon,” Tommy says. “That’s the first thing. Up.”
I do what he says.
“Second, where are you?”
“At the safehouse,” I say. “It was Ma’s old place. It’s been destroyed, and they took Sophie with everything. But Tommy, there’s something else.” I pause and he waits for me. How do I sway the next part? How do I tell him she’s pregnant? “Marco took her, and I can only think that she told him cause she never said anything to me.”
“Just fucking spit it out!” Tommy snaps.
“She’spregnant.”
There’s silence for a long time. I hear Tommy fumbling the phone around. Finally he comes back. He’s overly calm. “You know Greenwood Avenue?”
“I do,” I say.
“Good, get on that and head until you see the intersection of Banebridge, turn left and take the bridge. Drive until you see an old shipping dockyard. You’ll see a green sedan out the front, plates start XGH. Get there as soon as you can. I’ve got information that only makes sense as of this conversation.”
I’m nodding like some dashboard figurine at the faucet in the kitchen. “Right, and what are we gonna do?” I ask.
“Just get there first, alright?” Tommy says. “We’ll discuss it later.”
“Okay, I’m leaving,” I say, heading through the house and out to the car. I’m about to sit into it when I remember my parents’ picture that I’d left on the floor. I head back in and put it up on the kitchen counter, taking a last look at my parents and vowing revenge yet again. Then I close the door behind me and lock it. I drop into the car. “Leaving now.”
Tommy says nothing and hangs up the phone. I reverse out of the driveway and head for Lindgren, it’s the quickest route to get up to Greenwood and out towards the port. I drive like a maniac, speeding through red lights and overtaking every car I come across. I’m tryingnotto think. I’m trying not to feel ashamed and beat myself up at how I’ve been acting. I thought I was getting my control back. I thought I could fix this. I thought I could do this, but it turns out, I’m always behind. I’m always falling one step short, and it’s because Marco has been blinding me the whole time.
I take my phone out and dial the blackmailer number, the photo of Sophie bound and gagged taunts me.
It rings out and it goes to voicemail as I careen through a busy intersection. “You fucking piece of shit, Marco!” I scream. Suddenly I’m on fire, alive with energy and injustice. “You piece of fucking—” I bark frustration out into the car. “We took you in, you bastard! We took you in and gave you a home. You were nothing without us. Nothing! And if you hurt Sophie, I will—I will kill you. If you hurt her, if you kill her—” But I can’t say the baby inside. “I will make it slow. I will make the days seem like years, and the years seem like decades. By the time I let you die you’ll have lived an eternity of pain!” Spittle is flying all over the car. I’ve slowed to a complete stop now in the middle of a different intersection. I’m screaming into the phone as car horns blare all around me and lights flash at me to move. But I don’t stop my tirade. “I’m coming for you Marco! I’m going to end you. I’m going to make you regret ever meeting me.”
I’m breathless, and the cars are starting to head around me. I think the people have seen me losing my head in the car. I’m gripping the steering wheel now. The phone is broken and I don’t remember breaking it or hanging up.
If I lose her, if I lose the baby …
I didn’t even know. That’s the worst part. I didn’t even know she was pregnant.But can I blame her?
Would I tell someone who acts the way I’ve been acting?
The haze leaves me and I realize I’m still in the intersection. The cars are streaming around me and I shift into gear and inch my way out. I continue on. My anger calms and I’m energized. I felt weak before. I felt scared and trapped. Now I only feel alive with the need to make thingsright.
