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Let’s get this party started,” Carnell says. He gestures for us to grab the folding chairs that are lined up against the wall. Most of us do, but I prefer to remain standing, putting my back against the wall. From here I can see everything going on. Keep an eye on my team, and Harper.
Shadow leans back, looking at Carnell and his men. “You brought friends.”
“I’m not the only one interested in bringing Mesner down. He’s hurt a lot of people in this town.”
“Speaking of which,” I say, drawing everyone's attention my way. “Why are you so fixated on him? I get that you’re a cop and he’s a bad guy, but there's more to this than you're telling us.”
Carnell wets his lips. “Doesn't matter.”
Surprisingly, it's Harper, who speaks up. “Actually, no. I want to hear this. He has my mother, and I need to know you're not going to sacrifice her if you get a shot at Vincent.” It's a fair fucking point.
But Carnell looks horrified, showing more genuine emotion than I’ve seen from him so far. Like her suggestion is inconceivable. “I would never let anything happen to Eileen. Never. I can promise you that.”
“Why?” Shadow looks at him suspiciously. “When Harper showed you her picture, you reacted. You know her.”
“I—” He stops, and deflates, pain written across his face. “I do, or rather, I did. A lifetime ago, Vincent and I ran in the same circles. We were close, and Eileen went to his school. Looking at him now, you might think we were a bunch of spoiled rich kids, but none of us had shit. We grew up behind the glitz and the glamor. We were fucking troublemakers. Skipping school more often than not. Vin started running small time jobs for gangs and got me into it as well. I was always looking for a way out, but his aim was up. He wanted to be the man at the top. I would’ve walked away, but there was Eileen.”
Harper leans forward, obviously curious. “Mom’s never told me anything about how she grew up. I could tell it hurt her when I asked so I stopped, but… I've always wanted to know more.”
Carnell snorts. “There aren’t many happy stories, to be honest. She was a nice girl, pretty. Lived down the street from Vin with a grandmother, I think. He was obsessed with her. Obsessed with the idea of having a pretty girl on his arm and the way other people would assume he was something special because she was with him.”
“Did he love her?” Harper asks quietly.
“Fuck… I don’t know. He probably thought he did. He loved being with her at least. I haven't talked about this in… in a long time, but she’s your mother. You deserve to know why he might be acting this way.” There's a catch in his voice.
“So what happened?”
“You mother did.” He shakes his head with a little humorless laugh. “I was already frustrated with how Vin gave up even trying to do better, and I saw how staying with him was slowly killing everything beautiful in your mom.”
“You loved her,” I say quietly. Doesn’t mean I like him for it, but I recognize the look in his eyes, the one that says he lives with the regret of letting something precious slip through his fingers.
Harper spins to look at me, and Carnell grimaces, but he nods.
“She wanted out but he wouldn’t let her go, and at that point he was starting to move up the criminal ladder. One day I saw a bruise around her neck and, shit, I lost it. Everything blew up. We beat the shit out of each other, and by the time I was patched up, your mom had skipped town. She used to tell me about how she dreamed of moving as far away as she could and starting over, so I assumed she finally did it. Looking back, she must’ve realized she was pregnant with you and that gave her the courage she needed to make a clean break.” Carnell tilts his head back, looking up at the ceiling with a wistful expression.
Thunder scoffs. “So this is all about some girl you both had the hots for? Twenty fucking years go?”
“Hey! That girl's my mom,” Harper says.
Carnell laughs bitterly. “No. Maybe that's where it started. Hell, it was my reason for getting into the police academy. I knew exactly what he was capable of, because I'd been there to see him grow into it. Trust me, it wasn't easy because I had a record of my own, but that’s not as unusual as you might think. Without me and Eileen around, Vin dug deeper and deeper into the worst cesspools of this city. He was ruthless. Murder, threats, anything that would give him an edge until he was in full control of most of the drug supply chains into the city. And when he had enough, he rebranded himself into a businessman, appearing on the scene like he sprang out of nowhere, but those of us who’d watched him grow knew exactly how his money was made. And continue to be made now. So yeah, it started with Eileen, but the harder I worked, and the more I witnessed, the more I realized he needed to be stopped. I’ve been the thorn in his side this whole time, but I've never gotten everything I needed to actually put him away.”
