Page 48 of Light Me Up

“The coke you found in my dresser is shit he gives me to sell. But I don’t do it myself! I sell to my friends, and I make sure he gives me the pure stuff. That way I know they won’t die, at least.”

“Why didn't you just hide it from your friends?”

“By the time we got to high school, our fathers insisted we start selling to other kids. Fresh new market to hit, you know? And at this point, Santi and I wanted out. We tried to say no. You know what they said to us?”

I blink.

“The only life we get is the one they’ve built for us. That we should be grateful.”

My eyes blow out and my jaw slackens.

“Then we tried a different angle. How would we explain it to our friends? But that completely backfired.”

“Carter, and D, and—”

Lorenzo nods his head. “They told us to let them in on it. Lou, too. The more people selling, the more people buying. They don’t know everything, of course. They definitely don’t know the shit is cut with fentanyl. They had no idea about me and Santi’s level of involvement, not at the time.

“We couldn’t say no. They didn’t outright say it, but they’ve killed for less. Santi and I knew that it was a death sentence if we didn’t do what we were told. They could pay anyone off to make it look like an accident, and that’s the end of our lives.”

“So this isn’t just a drug ring… this is some mafia shit.”

“No, it’s a drug ring. Or was, after tonight. And a tight run one, at that. But who do you think drug dealers run with? It’s all the same shit at the end of the day. Different motives, same means. Power, money, and more power are what rules.”

“Fucking hell…”

“Yeah.”

All of the doubt I had begins to drip away. “I’m so sorry.”

“When I was going away to college, the death threat became real. I wanted out. I couldn’t live with myself, knowing he was dealing drugs that could hurt people. That literally killed my mom. I went the easy route and told Marco I wanted to pursue an IT career and I wouldn’t have time for his business.

“That didn’t go over well. Said I was wasting my time. I fought him on it. You know what happened on my first day of college?” He doesn’t wait for my answer. “I get a knock on my dorm room door. I recognize the guy immediately—it was Ron. The guy I shot last night.”

My brain explodes at this information.

“Ron was Marco's right hand man. He didn’t sell drugs, but he did all his dirty work for a pretty penny. Beat the shit out of people, even killed a few, whenever a threat appeared to the business.”

I pull the comforter up to my chin. “Why was he at your dorm?”

“He feigned concern for wanting out of the business. But I understood the underlying message. I knew who my father was at that point. It was a threat. A threat on my life. You leave, and you’re done.”

“This is… insidious. So fucked up.”

“I know. I called Marco the next day, told him I was sorry for being so difficult. That of course I wanted to be in the business. His reply: “I knew you’d make the right choice. I’m glad Ron was able to talk somesenseinto you”.”

“So you had to continue selling drugs to people?”

“Notquite.Naturally, Santi and I went to the same college. The crew did, too. He—”

“Why do you guys call yourselves that?”

Lorenzo shrugs. “Kinda just happened. We’re all highly loyal to each other. Whenever we’d be apart someone would say, what’s up with the crew? We seeing the crew later? Shit like that. It just stuck.”

“Were Melanie and Maria part of it, too? And what about Larissa? Did they all sell drugs?”

“Nah. Larissa hung around with us because she’s my cousin, and when she moved here, she had no one else. I introduced her to Maria and Mel, and they eventually joined our group.”

I nod, and Lorenzo continues what he’d been saying.

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