Page 10 of Running

“Do you have to ask that question?”

“No. No I don’t.” He slumps down into his chair. “I have another kid. Please I need to meet them.”

“No.”

“No?” Snaps Luca.

“No.” I reply again with more force.

“Why the hell not? It’s Bosco’s kid.”

“One he didn’t go looking for!” I yell back. My voice rising though I hadn’t intended it to.

“I didn’t know.” Whispers Bosco. “If I had known. If I had any hope they were alive…” He trails off.

I wipe my hand down my face. I did not want to be having this conversation today. Maybe not ever. “Even if you thought they were dead. If you believed the lies you were told. Why did you not seek retribution?”

“What?” He looks perplexed.

“If someone I loved was murdered. I would burn the world to the ground.” I can’t hold back the venom in my voice. “You were told she was run off the road by the Cartel. Yet you didn’t go after them. You must not have loved her.”

“You know nothing!” Bosco screams as he jumps from his chair. “She was the love of my life.”

“Was? Interesting. If she meant so much to you, you would have ran after her when she first left. You would have avenged her when you learned of her death and you would say love not loved as though she no longer holds a place in your heart even if she no longer exists.” I can’t help but to argue back. I have never loved anyone the way my mom does my dad. Even after all these years. “After all these years she still says she loves you. I've tried to talk her out of it, but I get my stubbornness from her.”

I’m done talking now. I flip my legs out the window and drops the bag down to the ground. Luca moves closer to me. His gun pointed at my forehead.

“You really don't want to do that.”

“Oh I think I do.”

“Yeah well Bosco doesn't want you to. Right Bosco?” Luca keeps his gun trained on me but looks out the side of his eye to the man in question.

“Where is she?” Asks Bosco.

“Hospital.”

“Why? What’s wrong with her?”

“Kidney failure. It’s why I came to Chicago. Call off Santo’s men. Let her contact her family. Hopefully one of them is a match and willing to donate.”

“Who is she to you?” He asks, though I can see he already knows the answer.

CHAPTER FIVE

Luca

“YOU REALLY HAVEN'Tfigured it out?” Both Bosco and I give a small shake of our heads. “I'm disappointed dad. She says I have your eyes.” I flip between her face and the Dons like I’m watching a tennis match.

“Dad?” Bosco gasps.

“Surprise! It was a girl.” She says with absolutely no enthusiasm or affection. “You would have known if your men hadn't run your wife out of town.”

Damn. I can tell she isn’t going to let that go any time soon. Not that I blame her. What Santo did was shitty. Worse than shitty. It was fucked up.

“Don't go.” Begs Bosco. She wasn’t going to stay. You could see her itch to leave growing by the second. “What's your name? Where is Violet? Can I see her?”

“You should know my name. You picked it out.”

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