Page 125 of Silent Schemes
I sit in my father’s old leather chair—worn to the shape of a bigger man, still stinks of his cologne and the cheap disinfectant they used to scrub the bloodstain out of the armrest.
On the table: a tumbler of whiskey, warm, and a Polaroid that’s so faded it could be a forgery.
It’s the only picture I kept.
Sienna, sitting on a dock in deep summer, big belly, hair wet and wild, mouth open on a laugh so real it breaks the bones of memory.
Someone else took the picture.
She didn’t know I was always watching.
She wasn’t wearing the mask.
Not yet.
I flip it back and forth, thumb worrying the edge until it starts to fray.
I stare at her face and feel absolutely nothing.
That’s the lie I tell myself every night.
Outside, the city sounds like a dying animal: sirens, tires, distant gunfire echoing off the water.
I drink slowly, letting the burn remind me I’m not dead yet.
When the phone rings, I let it buzz three times before picking up.
I don’t bother with hello. “Talk.”
A voice like gravel, thick with old country: “Varrick. It’s Lombardi. I need a minute of your time.”
I set the glass down. “Your brother’s debt was due last week. Why are you still breathing?”
He laughs, but it’s a death rattle. “Salvatore’s a fuck-up. I know this. But family is family, eh?”
“Five million is a lot of family, Enzo. Where’s my money?”
There’s a pause, the sound of a cigarette flicked against tile. “We can settle this. You want something, I want something. Maybe we talk face to face.”
I glance at the Polaroid, then the fire burning in the grate.
The wood snaps and pops, a chorus of little deaths.
“Tomorrow. My office, eight sharp. Bring your answer, or bring a coffin.”
He hangs up. He knows not to try and negotiate.
I set the phone down, then stare at the photo for a long time.
The urge to tear it sharpens, but that’s not enough.
I want it gone, atomized, stripped from the world the way she stripped me.
I toss it into the fire.
Watch the white edges curl, the center blister.
Sienna’s face warps, cracks, turns into a smear of black on orange.
