“Wait, what?” Pacino asks. “When did this happen?”
“Um, around the time I was conceived.”
“No, I mean when did you find out? How did you find out?”
Swallowing, I roll my shoulders. “Nadia was at Velvet Desire talking to Queenie. Mama confirmed it.”
Pacino sighs. “Hell, if I’d known that, I wouldn’t have stopped you. I’d have helped you. I’m sorry, man.”
“Anyone else here know before now?” I ask.
Nancy shakes her head. “Only a few of us knew the truth, Zep. Your mom never wanted you to know.”
“Sorry about your wall. I’ll pay to have it patched. I can go get stuff to fix it now.”
Grabbing a hammer, she pounds a nail above the hole and grabs a painting of a hunter with a dead duck from a few feet away and moves it. I guess she really does hate ducks.
“I’ll call someone tomorrow. And I’ll put it on Butch’s tab.”
“Thanks, Nan.”
“Been a shitty week for you, huh?” Pacino asks.
“What makes you think that?”
I lost the woman I love, her daughter who I love more than life itself won’t talk to me, and I’m not sure I should even be here. Not sure what doesn’t sound like a banger week with that lineup.
“I got something for you,” he says and guides me back to the bar to sit down.
Nancy grabs the first aid kid and wraps my hand in gauze. I barely feel anything, but I let her do it. Makes her feel helpful.
“Yeah? What’s that? And if it’s more bad news, I don’t think I can handle it right now.”
“Got more info on Ben Samson. And it’s going to make you pretty fucking happy as well as pissed.”
“Why?”
“The money he’s making? It’s from drugs. And you’ll never guess what kind.”
My head snaps to the right to look at him. “Venom Dust?”
“You got it. But it gets better.”
“How?”
“He was just charged with murder. Some seventeen-year-old he sold to died. There was too much fentanyl in the mix and the kid overdosed.”
Mouth open, I gape at him. “He’s selling for the Venom? And killed a kid with their product?”
“Yep. But he’s gone off-grid. Cops can’t find him.”
“Motherfucker. Poor Misty.”
“The family also wants to go after him for a wrongful death suit. They want a shit ton of money, and there are PIs out looking for him. Bounty and everything on his head.”
I frown as I put this all together. “You don’t think he’d come around here, would he?”
“I think he’s going to talk to Butch. It’s known that Butch can work magic when he wants to and make things disappear.”
