Page 97 of The Killer Cupcake
"Debs?" Kathy asked.
Sobbing. Raw, broken sobbing was all that answered.
Kathy closed her eyes and silently cried, but tried to speak coherently through it. "Debbie, I'm so... so sorry. I didn't know when you called earlier. I'm..."
"It's okay," Debbie said. "I'm sorry, Kat. I'm sorry for what I did. I just wanted to believe them when they said the marriage was nothing, that you and Carmelo were already married, and then he had babies with her, and I didn’t know how to tell you?—.”
"Debs. I don't care. We'll never talk about it again. Uncle Pete..." Kathy broke. Debbie cried as well. They cried together for a stretch, taken in with grief. Kathy put her back to the wall and tried to catch her breath. "We're coming, Debs. All of us. Hold on, okay?"
"I can't. I need Matteo. I need?—"
"I know."
"Mama's dying, Kat. She's giving up. And Daddy—" The scream that followed was primal. "THEY BEAT HIM TO DEATH! THEY THREW HIM IN THE RIVER LIKE TRASH!"
"Listen to me." Kathy's voice turned steel. "We're coming. And whoever did this—they're going to pay, damnit.”
They said their goodbyes, and Kathy hung up the phone, then gripped the sink for strength. She closed her eyes and counted down the rising rage inside of her, not sure where it was surfacing from. She did her best not to submerge herself in it. But she wanted it. She could taste it, she wanted it so bad. This pain would push her family to the brink. Nothing would ever be the same.
"Carmelo?"Maria's voice was barely a whisper.
She pushed open the door to his office—what used to be the guest room before he'd transformed it into his center of operations. Ledgers sprawled across the desk, each line a thread in the web he was weaving by understanding his father’s financial empire.
"What do you want?" He didn't bother looking up.
Her sigh carried the weight of their marriage.
Finally, his gaze lifted. Maria stood in the doorway like a 1950s housewife—pressed dress, perfect hair, their daughter on her hip. Nina's toothless smile melted something in his face, and Maria knew enough to seize the moment. She crossed the room and placed the baby in his arms.
Carmelo's hands—the same ones that had been such a powerful weapon of destruction in the ring—cradled Nina withinfinite gentleness. He kissed her forehead, breathing in her fresh baby smell. She was a gem, his heart.
"Two men are here to see you." Maria kept her voice neutral. "And Matteo's called three times. He says it's urgent?—"
"I said no calls." But his voice stayed soft as he lifted Nina over his head, delighting in her giggles of the baby and kicking feet. One more kiss, a tickle under her chin, then he handed her back. "Send the men in."
Maria took their daughter, her eye roll saying everything her mouth couldn't. The moment the door closed, Carmelo returned to his ledger, squinting then lifting a magnifying glass to inspect the numbers so cramped they made his head pound. His father's consigliere was worthless—couldn't even keep proper books.
He'd have him replaced soon.
"Boss?"
Carmelo recognized the voice before he saw them—Midas and Luigi the Fish, his father's top capos. Luigi still carried the stench of his fixer days, a mix of formaldehyde and river water that no amount of cologne could mask. These were his eyes on Harlem's streets, reporting to him first on every shift in power since Bumpy's arrest.
"Did you find him?" Carmelo asked.
The men exchanged a look that made his stomach drop.
"Did you look for Pete Freeman?" His voice sharpened. "Bumpy's enforcer? I told you—anyone named Freeman was untouchable. Did you find him?"
Luigi shifted his weight. "Boss, we looked, but your father... he gave an order."
"What order?" The words came out dangerously quiet.
"We had to check in, boss. He—" Luigi faltered. "Tell him, Midas."
Midas swallowed hard. "Don Ricci said any order from you has to go through him. When we checked in about Freeman, heoverruled. Called the cops, holding him. Told them to... handle it."
Carmelo rose slowly, his hands flat on the desk. "He did what?"
