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Mia throws her head back and bursts into laughter. “Thank you, Deputy Chief Abruzzi.” Ordinarily, I would have thrown my head backward as well and just acted like everything was funny, but nothing seems funny in my life right now, no matter how hard I try to pretend.
Finally, I take a deep breath and meet my dad’s gaze. “Dad, I’ve found something really important about Mario’s death.”
The smile wipes off his face immediately, the air between us thickening. “So, you’ve found out,” he says quietly.
Confusion prickles at the edges of my brain. “What do you mean? Why do you not seem surprised?”
Mia’s hands reach tentatively for my shoulders, stroking me into calm.
His shoulders sag, and he immediately looks older, more fragile than just five minutes ago. “I’ve known the truth about Mario’s death for two years now,” he says, his voice trembling. “I should have told you sooner, but I couldn’t bear to shatter the way you saw him. You always looked up to him. He was…your role model.”
The words hit me like a physical blow. My head feels unsteady. I can feel Mia’s hand dabbing around my thighs to grab mine as the first set of tears spill freely down my cheeks. “You knew?” That’s all I manage to whisper.
“Aria, five years ago when Mario died...I didn’t believe for a second that it was just a random mugging.” My chest tightens with piercing pain. I’ve never heard him say this before.
“I couldn’t prove it then,” he continues, “I was just an inspector who didn’t have the right resources I needed." He leans forward in his chair, eyes taking a guilt-filled look at me, then falling back to the ground. “I tried, but every lead seemed to end at brick walls. I failed, Aria. Time and time again. I failed both you and Mario.”
He just sits there, fingers interlaced, eyes on the floor, looking broken and shattered. I turn my eyes away from him to Mia.She’s wiping tears from the corners of her eyes with a paper towel.
“You should never have kept this away from me...”
“I could never have told you, Aria. How did you want me to walk up to a seventeen-year-old and say that her brother was dealing with drugs under a false name?”
My jaw drops open. Mia’s eyes widen with surprise as words struggle to proceed from my mouth.
“What are you talking about?” The words are a whisper as they finally escape my lips.
“Your brother’s alias was Antonio Bellini, and he used to sell drugs for the mafia. You know your brother, Aria. How he was always going beyond his boundaries in the name of trying new things…” The look in his eyes is strained as his voice cracks. “This is why I’ve been after those miscreants. I want to find those bastards who took my son from me and make them pay...”
My shoulders sag as it seems the weight of the world has just come crashing down on them.
My brother was a drug dealer?
The room seems to tilt. My mind struggles to process the words that crush the beautiful memories of Mario I’ve clung to for so long.
Mario, my brother, the one who taught me how to ride a bike, who told me to chase my dreams, who always protected me…was living a double life? And as a drug dealer for a mafia family, no less?
Fuck!
My voice shakes as I speak. “But why would Mario do drugs?"
“I don’t know, Aria. I found out that it started as an undercover mission to gather information but you know he loved power and freedom. Journalism was supposed to be his outlet, but maybe the lines blurred somewhere in between and he toppled over to the other side before he could stop himself. He underwent the mission alone so it was easy for him to get consumed in that world. I just wanted to protect you from the little I knew,” he says, his own tears glistening on his wrinkling cheeks. “I didn’t want you to lose the brother you idolized.”
“But I have lost him already.” My voice doesn’t help me, so I just mouth the words. “I lost him years ago in ways I never even knew.”
Mia’s grip tightens around my hands, grounding me as my world takes a completely dark and different turn.
I don’t know if I can forgive my father.
I don’t know if I can reconcile the Mario I loved with Antonio Bellini, the stranger he became.
All I know is that nothing will ever be the same.
“I’m sorry, Aria. But I need to show you something.” My father’s hand shakes as he unlocks his phone. He holds it out to me, but I don’t move. Instead, Mia grabs it and holds it in front of me so I can see.
A grainy video is playing on the screen showing a dimly lit warehouse. Mario steps into view first, his physique unmistakable. My heart clenches at seeing him alive again, moving, breathing, even if it’s just pixels on a screen. He’s holding a suitcase, pacing nervously.
Three men arrive minutes later. They’re faceless shadows at first, stepping into the light one by one. None of them look familiar…none of them are Elio, Cortez, or anyone I’ve associated with Elio’s family.