We arrived in a room without windows. Another man waited inside.
He was very tall, with dark hair, and stood with his arms crossed. His expression terrified me. It promised trouble. But I knew that even a smile didn’t mean anything. Pain often followed sweet words and kind smiles. His eyes were almost black and so was his hair. He only briefly looked at me then he narrowed his eyes at Mom and her boyfriend Cody. Cody had a bloody nose. I didn’t know why, but I wasn’t sad. He was a bad man. A different kind of bad than Dad. Worse, even if Mom didn’t see it. Mom hated Dad. She said I needed to hate him too.
“You know who I am?” the tall man asked. His voice was deep and confident.
Mom tightened her hold on my hand. I glanced around. The gray eyed man leaned against the desk, watching me. He didn’t smile or glower. He didn’t do anything, only looked as if he could see below my skin to the dark parts of me. I stared down at my dirty feet in my flip-flops.
“Of course,” Cody said. His voice trembled. My head shot up and I looked at him. I’d never heard that tone from him. He sounded terrified. Sweat glistened on his forehead and he looked about to cry.
“Who am I?” the man asked. He wasn’t very old. His voice was low and calm, but Cody’s face scrunched up.
“You are Remo Falcone.”
“And?”
“Capo of the Camorra.” He swallowed audibly. “I’ve been dealing for you, Sir, for almost six months. But I’m nobody you would know.”
Cody sounded so demure. When he ordered me around, he was always confident and angry. Why was Cody so scared of Remo Falcone? If a man like Cody felt that way, I should be terrified.
“You were supposed to sell crack and weed, but I hear you build a little lucrative side-business with the help of the lady over there. Maybe you thought I wouldn’t notice because I was too busy establishing power.”
Mom’s hand around mine was painful. I’d never heard anyone say the word lady with more disgust.
“What’s your name, woman?”
My mother twitched. “Eden.”
“I’m sure that’s your real name.”
Mom didn’t say anything. Like me she’d had many names in the last few months. “How long have you been doing your side-business in my city?”
Mom looked at Cody.
“I didn’t know what she was doing!” he croaked. “Today was the first time, I found out.”
“What a coincidence that you happen to find out about it the same day we catch you.” Remo nodded toward the gray eyed guy who had set up a laptop in front on the desk and was staring at it. “My brother grabbed a few discs from your place. I assume they won’t prove your words to be false, right?”
Cody paled.
Remo turned to Mom again. “How much money did you make?”
“I—I don’t know. I never got money.”
“You got a roof over your head and enough drugs to forget the past and black out the present too, right?” Remo walked closer to Mom, towering over her and me. “In my city I make the rules, and no one goes against them.”
“I didn’t know,” Mom said. “It was Cody’s idea.”
Cody glared but lowered his head when Remo turned to him.
“How much further does your business reach? Are there others we should know about?”
“No, it was only us.”
“Is he telling the truth, Eden?” Remo asked.
“Y-yes. We only just started.”
“Only just started. Sounds as if you had big business plans without involving the Camorra.”
Mom tugged a strand of her beautiful red hair behind her ear and gave Remo that smile she usually only gave her boyfriends. “I could tell you about the customers. I’m sure you could make so much more money with it. We were never professional. If you and your Camorra organized everything, you could make millions.”
Remo smiled, but it wasn’t a nice smile. “You think so?”
“You should take a look at this,” the other man said. Remo turned and headed toward the desk. He looked at the laptop for a couple of minutes. Silence reigned in the room. The faces of both men didn’t show any emotion as they watched the screen. Remo shoved away from the desk. “Did you sell these videos on the Darknet?”
Cody didn’t react. He only blankly stared down at his feet. He looked as if he was praying but I doubted he believed in anything.
“Yes, we did. You could make even more money with it than with your racing and cage fighting,” Mom said. She reminded me of the mom she’d occasionally been back at home with Dad.
Remo only stared at me, not saying anything. Mom released my hand and touched my shoulder. I met her gaze. She gave me an encouraging smile. “Why don’t you show Mr. Falcone how nice you are.”