Page 104 of Orion Ruined

She nods, and whimpers on another sob.

“Shh, don’t worry. I promise you, he’ll pay for what he did. Your Uncle Orion’s the best uncle in the world.” I peel her off me and look her in the eye. “He’s never going to let anything happen to you or your mommy.”

She points to me.

“Yes, and me, of course,” I add.

Lisa’s crying silently, tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Do you want to give your mommy a hug for looking after you all this time, and keeping you safe?”

She nods and runs into her mother’s embrace. More sobs. My own eyes burn and go glassy.

I have a job to do now.

“I’ll talk to you later. Stay here ‘til I come and get you,” I say to Lisa, and leave.

As I head downstairs, my heart hurts from everything Mya has been through. Particularly the trauma of seeing her father killed. That redacted information now makes sense. He was going to kill Mya. The ‘she’ who had to be killed. Yet again, Milan managed to fuck up another young life.

In the kitchen, I find Orion has arranged the chairs so he and I sit at the far end of the table and the three uncles are facing us.

I smile sweetly and sit next to him. “Hello, everyone.”

Uncle Colletti’s first with the compliments. “Maisy, you look fresh.”

“I just woke up, actually. Is there any coffee, Orion? I can get it.”

I’m half-standing when he stops me.

“Let me get it for you.” He jumps up, pours me a cup, and brings it back to the table, where he immediately becomes curt and to the point. “Now, let’s talk. What did you want to know?”

“Tell us what you have on the Delgados,” Uncle James says.

Orion and I look at each other. “She’s here to talk about what Milan has on us,” he says.

Uncle James seems to be looking for a fight. “The fuck she is.”

I remain silent.

“Tell us what we can use to get to the motherfuckers!” he demands.

“Uncle James, the Slavs are your biggest enemies,” I remind him. “They’re conspiring to work against you, and both the Delgados and you should focus on removing them from the picture. Judging by what I know about the Slavs, you’re in imminent danger.”

“You work for us now, little girl,” Uncle James snaps. “We saved your cute little ass, and gave you the freedom to give your little pussy to everyone in here if you want to, which you probably have already, so don’t get smart with me, you hear me?”

Uncle James is a fucking idiot.

Under the table, Orion places his hand on my knee, reminding me that he’s got me.

“I’ll tell you what I know, how about that?” I suggest. “What I know for certain.”

“Start talking.”

“When I saw you two weeks ago, you asked me about Christmas Day last year. I told you that someone got killed. And I mentioned an email thread between Milan and someone else.”

Uncle Leo leans in. “Yes?”

“Fuck that!” Uncle James interrupts. “We don’t wanna know about that. Tell us about the Delgados!”

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