“Um, yeah, I have an interview later.”
She knows I’m lying, but her face doesn’t change. “I’ll be late tonight. There’s money on the counter for dinner.Don’tget cheeseburgers again. You need to eat better.”
“Okay, Mom.”
“And you need to send me your logs. They’re late.”
“Okay, Mom.”
“Watch your tone. Goodbye.” She shuts the door again and I let out a big exhalation as I wait for her to leave the house. Eventually I hear it, the bang of the front door. From my window, I watch as she gets into the Porsche SUV waiting there for her. Her colleague picks her up in that every day for their carpool to the office. It takes off down the driveway and I sit back down in front of my computer.
Why evenhavea Porsche if it’s going to be something as fugly as an SUV? Lame.
I bring up the logs I’m supposed to give her every week—the logs that show her exactly what I’m doing on the computer, where I’ve been, what sites I’ve been looking at.
I hate it. It makesmefeel like a criminal, but I’m not in a position to argue. I got in big trouble with Mom a while back for runningCute Crims. Like, she absolutely lost her shit with me, and I promised to shut it down.
I just moved it a little deeper on the web.
Lucky she’s pretty clueless about tech. I definitely wouldn’t be able to fool my Dad with it, but I edit my logs, paste in the usual substitutions, and email them to her. Then I get back to work, and upload this photo of Luca and Finch D’Amato to the website.
I’m pretty sure my Mom knowsCute Crimsis still live. I’ve had to move hosts several times, and we’re getting closer and closer to going dark web completely, which will be a pain in the ass for momentum. At the moment,Cute Crimsearns me alotin crypto each month, thanks to paid subscriptions. Going dark will make it harder to attract new users.
For now, though, it’s not a problem. I swore up and down, when Mom asked a few months back, that I had nothing to do with the “new”Cute Crimssite, and she seemed to believe me, especially when I showed her the “logs” of my internet history. Now I send them through each week, and she stays off my back.
What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.
Photo uploaded, I turn my attention to the real news of the day: the death of Don Castellani. I’ve been saving this thread up, my heart giving a little bounce every time I think about it.
Yesterday, there was an announcement that Ciro Castellani had died. I cast an eye over the discussion, checking first for anything that needs moderation. But in this private part of the forums, people behave themselves a lot better—it costs a lot to join the closed areas, a long time to pass the requirements for the evenmoreprivate areas, and I don’t hesitate to ban people who don’t fit in with our board culture, or posters who keep testing the boundaries. I’m ruthless about keeping things safe, and that includes not just trolls, but law enforcement who try to sneak in. I’m pretty sure my ban-hammer has come down on more than one LEO who tried to infiltrate. They really just don’tgettheCute Crimsculture. We’re not glorifying the Mob.
We’re just very passionate enthusiasts.
Ciro Castellani’s death-by-heart-attack made the national news, and, naturally, there’s a lot of speculation onCute Crimsabout whether it was really a heart attack or a hit. But that’s not where my personal interest lies.
No. I’m much more interested in thenewDon.
Alessandro Castellani, Ciro’s son and heir, and object of my deep affection and admiration.
I’ll admit it, I’m obsessed, totally obsessed. The guy is hotter than the Amalfi coast, and I haven’t been able to get an updated photo of him forever. The last one I have is his mugshot from over a decade ago, and I’ve stared at it so often I think it’s burned into my retinas. I try to keep my thirst under control when I’m talking to other people online, but a few have figured out that I have a soft spot for Alessandro.
He’s incredibly private, but because of my personal interest, people fromCute Crimsare always on the lookout for him, and I’ve consistently heard reports over the last few years that he’s…well.
Changed a lot.
Physically.
Ireallywant to see for myself.
Exactly what happened to him, when, and why—there are a million rumors. That he’s lost a leg. An arm. That he was caught in a fire and his face was burned, that he was stabbed by a Bernardi Family member, that he has a huge scar across his throat from being garroted by an Esposito. I believe none of these stories, but I do believesomethinghappened. He’s been out of the spotlight for so long, working in the dark for his Family—and no photos. Never photos.
But there are very few mentions of Alessandro in the current discussion, beyond speculation about when he’ll officially be made the new Don. The discussion is getting repetitive, so I close out and go to my DMs instead, hoping for something good today.
As Site God, I get a lot of direct messages, of course. I have a few trusted admins who can access and manage the moderation queues, but my personal DMs contain the real gold: intel, photos, links, even video or audio sometimes. People all around the country—all around theworld—will send me pics, vids, info, because they know I’ll treat it with the respect it deserves. And getting hold of those exclusives is one of the reasonsCute Crimsis so popular.
Today, most of the tip-offs are junk, and the photos are too blurry or feature onlyrumoredMob men, peoplenoton the certified list I keep updated for everyone’s reference.
“Time wasters,” I mutter resentfully. When I see a new message from Pepperoni_lover, though, I give a little wriggle of excitement. He’s a relatively new member—just a month or so under his belt since I allowed him into the most locked-down forums—but he’s impressed me with his access to information that other people just don’t have. Everything he’s given me so far has turned out to be accurate. And if this is also true…
