And the meetings with Seven Quad that they’d allowed me to sit in on hadn’t given me any information other than the fact that they have a truce, yet they all seem to hate each other. Diamond, in particular, has a strong hate for the Costas, while his father is always willing to play nice, though there’s an edge of danger to him and his words.
Maximo also seems to be beyond playing nice, but well, I don’t think I’ve seen him be nice to anyone, so that’s not a lot to go off of.
“I don’t really know anything, other than that you have some sort of treaty.” I think of the first time we met when he broke into the club, just like he’s doing now. “You seem to be at the top of the list when it comes to breaking that treaty though.”
Amusement lights his eyes and he shrugs a shoulder. “I was never going to actually hurt you when we met, you know.”
“I don’t know,” I tell him, a part of me wanting to push to get back to the original topic. “It took Maximo shooting someone in the head for you to release me.”
“I would have let you go… eventually.”
I shake my head. “What does any of this have to do with my mother?”
“Ah, well, a lot actually. The why and how doesn’t matter, but what you need to know is that the Costas and Seven Quad were at war. Maximo and Giovanni’s father, Vincenzo, was still in charge at that time. My father was over our gang still, but his brother, my Uncle Landon, was also still around to help. That is, before a young Giovanni shot and killed him.”
…Ask your uncle. Oh wait, I forgot, my brother shot him down in the middle of the street like the piece of useless shit that he was.
I remember Maximo saying the words to Diamond, cruel and satisfied with it.
“It was an ugly time, and the guard was getting close to changing. Maximo and Giovanni were both already made men and there were rumors that Giovanni would be taking over soon. But Vincenzo and my father were determined to set the whole city on fire before that happened. Things started getting real personal.”
I hang onto his words.
“It was also at that time that my father and your mother reconnected. Vincenzo thought that she was my father’s lover and so he figured it would be best to use her. As the story goes though, he had his son decide her fate.”
My blood runs cold.
“Which son?”
“Giovanni.”
My eyes fall closed before I blink them back open, steeling myself for Diamond’s next words.
“He ordered to have her killed.”
It's even harder to keep the nausea down this time and the room spins. “I saw her… I found her. It was a suicide,” I tell him, remembering the way my mother had looked in the tub that day. It was my first time seeing a dead person and the blank way her eyes had sat open had haunted me. They were what I saw the first time I slit my own wrists.
“It wasn’t,” he shakes his head. “With the way things were going at the time, it was getting harder and harder for the police department to hide and disguise all the violence. So the Costas made it look like a suicide to prevent heat coming down on them.”
“No…” I lay my head on the table, the chill doing nothing to cool my too hot body. I inhale a deep breath, my eyes burning as a tear rolls down my check. “There’s… no, it can’t be.” I sit back up, my chest tight and I swipe at my eyes.
Diamond remains still, just watching me. “It’s unfortunate, but it’s the truth.”
“Why… none of it makes sense.” I shake my head, sucking in a deep breath. “Does Giovanni know that I’m her daughter?”
He tilts his head to the side, the look of pity in his eyes only making me feel sicker. “Surely, you don’t think it’s all a coincidence, do you, Winter? I thought you were smarter than that.”
Of course.
If what Diamond is saying is true, If Giovanni really had my mother killed, then there’s no way me coming into contact with him is just a coincidence. No, if it's true, then he set this whole thing up.
Richard going to him for drugs and running his debt up so high that he had no choice but to offer me up, that’s not a coincidence. He set my brother up. Richard told me he was the one to bring me up to the Costas. But my brother is always so damn out of his mind on drugs, that I wouldn’t be surprised if he got the story messed up or got it fed to him and didn’t doubt it.
More likely, Giovanni was the one who told him he could trade his sister to pay off his drug debt.
“What does he want with me?” I ask, slightly breathless.
“I wish I could say that I know, but I don’t. What I do know is that it’s nothing good, Winter.”