Page 9

“How are the boys?” Boone asked.
“They’re great. Loving that play slide you installed for us.”
Who was this man? She had never heard anyone close to him talk like this, with such admiration. People complied with fear and pain. She was used to seeing people nervous, shaking, terrified. This woman had an easy smile and looked happy.
“All right, Boone,” a man said from behind the counter.
“Hey, Tyler,” Boone said.
It wasn’t long before Tyler came toward their table.
“Has Nance told you about our boys?” Tyler asked.
Lucia tensed up as he reached into his pocket, but he didn’t pull out a weapon, instead, his wallet. Within seconds, she was being shown three very devilish-looking boys, and they were covered in mud.
“Damn, can you believe one of those little lads is nearly in high school?” Tyler asked.
Nancy laughed. “He’s a proud papa.”
Lucia loved watching them and she couldn’t look away from the smile on Boone’s face.
“Well, I guess I better introduce you to my wife. Nancy and Tyler Wright, I’d like you to meet my wife, Lucia Grinder.”
She held her hand out. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Wow, man, you got married. I didn’t even hear about it,” Tyler said.
Nancy slapped Tyler in the chest.
“Well, it is so lovely to meet you.” Nancy didn’t take her hand but pulled her in for a hug.
Lucia tensed up because the truth was, she really wasn’t used to too much human affection. Her mother had been so disappointed with her, that she had rarely held her.
She accepted the hug, patted the woman’s arm, and in a whirlwind, they took their orders and were gone.
The café continued to be busy.
“They are nice,” Lucia said, hoping to dispel the awkwardness she felt.
“They are.”
“How do you know them?”
There was silence, and she glanced up to see Boone looking at her.
“I met them four years ago. I came to have a drink and some food. It’s a nice lovely quaint little café. Not too far from one of the many places I lived. Anyway, on the day I came to enjoy my food, Nancy and Tyler had fallen on hard times. The economy at the time fucking sucked. Prices were soaring and it was hard for small businesses. The land you’re standing in was once owned by the Bonaldis. To do business, not only did they have all the usual legal outlay—the general running of the building, initial outlay of expense for food and furniture and such—but Bonaldi decided to set a tax for each business within his own areas. Each month, he sends in a couple of goons to collect. Those that don’t pay end up with interest added on. It gets to the point when bones start to get broken.”
She didn’t like this story. Nancy and Tyler were nice people.
“So, I was there, minding my own business, enjoying a juicy piece of steak, when two goons walked in. Now, I had no idea who they were and I don’t scare easily. Other customers got up and hightailed it out of there. Not me. I sat and watched as they threatened Tyler. He didn’t have the money, and they decided to start smashing up the place. I heard enough, especially when one of them grabbed Nancy and said if he didn’t pay, they were going to start using his wife.”
Lucia gasped.
“That was when I heard enough. I don’t know if you heard of me at that time. You’re twenty-two years old, and four years ago, you would have been eighteen. I gave the two men a choice. Leave, and never return, or attempt to throw the first punch. They chose wrong, and I sent them to Bonaldi in body bags. The next night, two more came, and I did the same. Then, piece by piece, I started to take back each of these businesses. The streets we just walked were once owned by Bonaldis and controlled by your father. Now, I control them, and people here conduct business and do not have to pay a fee.”
****
Boone saw the shame in her eyes and when Nancy came to deliver them food, he also saw that his wife couldn’t look at her. He didn’t tell her this story for her to feel guilty. He wanted to make her aware of the family she came from.