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september 2022
Popular Front Runner Delphine Adams Drops Out of District Attorney Race
My eyes scan the newspaper headline before moving on to the rest of the article. Nothing but paragraphs upon paragraphs whining about Ms. Adams’s decision to end her campaign. More paragraphs about how she was crucial to saving the city from rampant crime. Her prosecution rates were even higher than those of her father, Ernest Adams. She was the future. A big ray of hope for everybody.
…and now, just like that, she’s resigned as ADA. She’s dropped out of the running for DA.
The article asks what would make a successful and ambitious career woman like Delphine Adams leave it all behind?
They don’t get it. But I do.
I fold up the newspaper and step between the flower hedges. Rows upon rows of roses in full bloom.
Her favorite.Hisfavorite too.
Because they’re hers.
He likes making her happy.
Right now, he’s taken her out on his bike. He’s brought her to Rose Hill for an evening gazing out at the roses and the city river at sunset.
How fucking romantic.
Some things never change. Salvatore Mancino will do anything to make the special woman in his life smile. I’ll do anything to make his life a living hell.
I watch for a moment as they stand by the guardrail overlooking the sparkling river and come together for a kiss.
Disgusting.
It makes me sick to my stomach. He’s lived his life on easy street. He’s never really struggled a day in his fucking life.
I toss the newspaper on the ground and walk off. Maybe they’ll find it, Delphine’s picture on the front page, and wonder if it’s coincidence… or if somebody left it for them.
Who am I kidding? These two are so self-centered, they wouldn’t notice.
I get in my car and ride across the city for a meeting. When I was invited, I wasn’t so sure it was a good idea.
It could be a trap. It could be nothing but a ploy to set me up.
He hates Salvatore as much as I do. But he’s hated me too.
I turn up outside the Mancino compound as an outsider. These men murdered my family. They killed Gloria. They took away everything I had.
Turning up solo on their turf, I expect trouble. For them to fuck me up.
But they wave me through. They stand by with their weapons and study me as I pass down the long hall.
I’m led to the end, where the boss’s office is.
“Go on in,” says Ray De Trolio. “He’s waiting for you.”
I nod, then enter with a turn of the doorknob.
It’s a room full of wood. Wood walls. Wood floors. Wood furniture.
He sits, large and round, behind his desk, smoking on a cigar. His eyes are already on the door, on me from the second I walk through.
