Page 36 of Queens and Monsters

“Hey.”

Armando was about fifteen years older than I, tall and muscular, even more so than Piero. He could be the poster child for the bodyguard persona. While Armando’s current primary responsibility was Catalina’s safety, he too had been present since our arrival and was an intricate part of my life. To some, I supposed that he would be intimidating, perhaps even frightening. That’s not the man I knew. To me he was a gentle giant. “I need your help.”

He turned off the tablet and sat taller. “Anything for you.”

“Thanks.” A grin curled my lips as I pulled my phone from my back pocket. “Dario informed me that there’s a block on my phone, not allowing me to call, text, or to be called or texted by Reinaldo Roríguez and Emiliano Ruiz.” I pushed the phone across the shiny table in his direction. “Can you please undo that for me?”

“Can I?” He nodded. “Will I?” He shook his head. “Not without Mr. Luciano’s permission.”

“Armando, please? If he didn’t want me to get it changed, why did he tell me about it? Besides, shouldn’t I have some say over something?”

“Let me talk to Mr. Luciano.” He pushed my phone back. “From what I understand, neither of those men are part of your future.”

“Friends. I want to talk to friends,” I lied. The pain in my chest told me that they were both more important to me than simply friends. My feelings were strongest forRei. If I married Zhdan, they’d both be out of my life. I didn’t like the thought of that.

“If he says it’s all right, I’ll be happy to do it for you.”

Taking the phone, I murmured, “I guess that’s better than a flat denial.” Feigning a smile, I took the seat across the rectangular table from him. “We can wait for him together. I wouldn’t want you to forget.” I thought about my mother. “Did you know about my mother?”

His smile dimmed as he nodded. “What about her?”

I sighed. “First that she’s out of prison. And second, I don’t know anything about her.”

“I learned about her when the two of you moved in. Mr. Luciano likes thorough research.” His lips pressed together. “She’s a bad seed. You don’t want to have anything to do with her.”

“Another subject that I have no control over.”

“Jasmine.” His voice softened. “You don’t owe her anything. You don’t remember, but mothering wasn’t her thing. Whoring was. She raised you and Josie in the back room of a club not half as nice as Emerald Club.”

“I don’t remember that.”

“It’s why Mr. Luciano doesn’t want you at Emerald Club. Also, the woman’s a criminal. She killed a young man by selling him fentanyl-laced drugs—a college student.”

“I’m just trying to get this straight. I shouldn’t see her because she is a criminal—as in she did or does things to break the law, killed someone, and had sex for money?”

“Correct. I know Mr. Luciano made the decision totell you she is out of prison. If I were him, I wouldn’t have darkened your life with the news.”

I sat straighter. “Tell me how what she did is any different than what you do or Dario does?” I asked. “I don’t think you’ve ever sold yourself to support your children, but I’m most certain the difference between my mom being a murderer and you or Dario is that to our knowledge, my mom has killed only one person. The famiglia owns Emerald Club. The club has prostitutes.” My phrases grew louder. “Explain why she’s bad, but you two and others aren’t.”

Armando lifted his hand and spoke softly. “I promised your sister to not tell you things that your mother did. I already broke that promise. I’ll just say that you’re right. We’ve never claimed to be good men. Those of us sworn to the famiglia do bad things for the right reasons. We have honor. In the case of Leah Renner, she sold drugs for drugs. Worrying about feeding her children was way down her priority list. Mr. Luciano doesn’t tolerate illegal drug use.”

I scoffed. “Come on, the famiglia and cartel sell it.”

“Sells yes. Uses no.” He leaned forward. “I doubt she’s clean.”

“Seventeen years in prison makes it hard to get drugs.”

“The world isn’t nearly as black and white as you believe it to be. There are shades of gray everywhere.”

“What can you tell me about Zhdan Myshkin?”

It was as if a shadow passed over Armando’s face. “Mr. Luciano has done his research.”

“And…” I prompted.

“His father started Zhdan out as a brigadier. That’s like our capos on the street. They oversee a group of boyeviks, or soldiers. Zhdan proved himself worthy. When the sovietnik, which is like our consigliere, died, Kostya made Zhdan his sovietnik. That means he works for and advises his father, the pakhan.”

“He’s high ranking.”

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