Chapter 28- Simone
I found myself zooming around curves, as my Acura handled like a dream. This car had been the first purchase I'd made once leaving the Thieve's Guild. Midnight grey with a leather interior, she had to be mine.
Stopping at a stop sign, I waited until a car passed before turning down a dark road. It had started raining just slightly and the only sound was the splash of water spinning from beneath the tires. The road seemed almost foreign to me; years had passed since I’d been to my father’s house. Max had conducted most of the meetings so I never had to see the old man.
Finally, his dilapidated old two-story house appeared before me. The white paint was peeling from the shutters, from the house itself. This could have been considered a tragedy. All the money that he'd stolen, he was living like a disgraced pauper.
The door parted and light spilled out.
There were no guards out, like when I’d been a kid.
It was Albie and I could see him squinting to make out who it was.
When I got out of the car, trying to dodge the muddy puddles in the shitty driveway, he looked surprised.
“Simone?”
“Know anyone else who’d come this way?”
He shrugged and then stepped out fully onto the porch. He lit a cigarette and tried to offer me one.
“Don’t you know those things will kill you?”
“So will fucking a boss in the Bratva,” he pulled and the end glowed cherry in color.
“That’s fucking rich coming for your ass,” I leaned against a pillar.
God this place needed all the paint you could find. A cockroach scurried by my foot and I almost stepped on it. Making a face, I turned back to my brother who was waiting on my explanation for the sudden drop in.
“What the fuck are you doing here, Simone.”
“You know.”
He smirked before puffing on the cigarette again. I wanted to slap it out of his hand. How dare he stand here as if he didn’t know.
“I haven’t the faintest idea and honestly after getting my ass whooped by your boyfriend…I’ve been kind of over bothering you.”
“What are you talking about?”
He chuckled. “So he didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
I watched Albie rub the bridge of his nose. “He fucking flat out refused the money I was bringing him to cover my debt. We fought. He won…end of story.”
“No, he didn’t tell me that,” I frowned.
My brother smirked and finished off his cigarette; the white smoke curled in the air before disappearing.
“I just want to know why you burned my fucking shop down,” I said, my anger ready to boil to the surface. “I’ve never asked you or dad for anything. You two fucking did this as what…? Some sort of payback.”
Albie’s motions stopped mid-stride from disposing of the cigarette in the dish. “What are you talking about?”
“My shop just burned down…and I thought…”
From his eyes, I could see hurt in his eyes.
“Fuck, I’ve been a shitty brother to you, Simone. But I would never…”
