“It started about fifty years ago in San Myshuno. It’s a world away from Windenburg, where your mom is from. I was just a kid when my life changed forever. My old man passed from drinking too much; and the second Audrey was born my mother picked up his disgusting habit. She was Italian, my dad brought her to the country. She didn’t know more than two English phases; My father met her on a beach vacation.
I saw that my family relied on me now. Between school and taking care of Audrey I did a couple of delivery jobs for a local gang. By the time Audrey was six my mom died from mixing up her pills with whiskey. I still don’t know if that was an accident or intentional.” Tony’s voice falters a bit, trying to suppress the emotion concerning his mother.
. “Anyway, I took Audrey and we ran away from the city. We spent three years on the road, eventually ending up in Windenburg.” Tony chuckled lightly at Damien’s surprised face. “We stowed away on a cruise ship. The passengers kept wondering how their shrimp and soda supplies kept disappearing from the buffet. It was in Windenburg where I made a fatal mistake.”
Tony’s expression changed to match the grim tale he was about to tell. Damien had heard the outline before from his parents, but they would never go into detail. “I got mixed up with another gang to make some money. Only when we tried to leave town they caught us. I was stabbed in the gut, tied up, and forced to watch them mutilate my sister’s face.”
Tony turned his head away from Damien so he couldn’t see the emotion in his face. He might be old and sentimental, but he hasn’t sunken so low that he would let a Coleson see tears welling up in his eyes.
“I managed to drag us to what appeared to be a large mansion, but turned out to be Pines Orphanage. The only orphanage in the region that actively worked against the Glassbolt project.” A small smile mused Tony’s lips. “I couldn’t believe my luck. I crashed on the lawn when a woman rushed outside, yelling and making a fuss about my sister’s wounds. I left, Only to be picked up by cops about half an hour later.”
Damien opened his mouth to speak, but a single look from Tony made him rethink expressing sympathy. It was clear the man didn’t want to hear any of it.
“Two days later I was dropped into Glassbolt with a tag around my neck. I was sent to live in this shithole with four other teens. None of them made it through the first year. I did the only thing I knew how to do. I joined the local criminals. No small time gangs like previously. I ditched my tag and started trafficking drugs for big time mobsters. A couple of years passed while I worked my way up the food chain. By the time I was twenty I was planning organized crime. Robberies, kidnappings, high level hits, name it and I’ve done it.
But here is the problem. To organize all of these things I needed to work closely- And I mean very closely with the Informants department. One of these informants was known as Esmeralda Diaz. Of course that wasn’t her real name. She worked in a bar. Both tending the bar and the clients, if you know what I mean. She and her girls always got the best information. You have no idea what people blurt out when they’re drunk and and looking at tits. I went there often to collect vital intel on my next hits. Esmeé- which I found out was her real name- charmed me, and I spent way more time in that damn bar then I should’ve.
We spent plenty of nights together, I’m sure you don’t wanna hear the details.” Damien pulled a face. He definitely didn’t want to hear that.
“A few days after I saw Esmeé last I met a young lady named Janna. She was a reporter from the outside and determined to tell the people about what Glassbolt was really like. Her brightness was something I hadn’t seen in years. I knew Glassbolt was way too dangerous for a beautiful defenseless woman to go poking around in. I wanted to protect her. So I told her stories about myself and the city. I gave her a lot of information about the mafia too, I knew she wouldn’t put my name anywhere near what she was writing. What started as some article grew into a fuckin’ book of it’s own cuz’ her curiosity grew instead of being satisfied. We spent almost every day together If I wasn’t working. Roughly three months in I’d seen Esmeé only twice and I started to develop honest feelings for the amazing woman I spent nearly every day with.” Tony’s face looked both happy and sad thinking of this memory.
“Then one night Esmeé appeared at my doorstep; Crying and panicked. Turns out she got pregnant, and it was mine. I was all but prepared for something like this. I knew she’d lose her job at least temporarily, so I took her in and said I’d help care for the baby.
The flame we had flared back up a little in the time we spent together. A few months later, only days before Charlie would be born Esmeé sat me down and we talked about Janna. Esmeralda said she could tell I had feelings for her and wanted her out of my life. I reluctantly agreed, and from then I only had contact with Janna through letters. Years passed. I kept contact with Janna, cared for Esmeé and raised Charlie with all the time and love I had. Then it happened. I lost every woman that loved me in one single night.”
Tony clenched the sheets tightly still trying to fight off the emotions that came with telling this story. Damien felt almost guilty seeing the man in such a state. With a shaken breath, Tony continued talking. “I received a letter from Janna that her book was finally done. She’d return to the outside in two days, but wanted to see me one more time. I agreed to meet her the next night at my house. When I heard a knock I opened the door assuming to find her.” Tony clenched the sheets. “I found a box with her head in it instead.”
“Tony, I-“ Damien tried, but Tony interrupted him. “Save your breath kid. I’m telling you this to get the truth out; not for you to fucking cry about it.” The fury in his eyes was more than enough to shut Damien up.
“I went back into the house and nearly drank myself to death. I was so out of it I thought Charlie was Audrey. I started yelling at her. I assume Esmeé heard me and tried to intervene. I pushed her, and she fell on one of Charlie’s toys with her head. Her neck broke, and she died instantly. I lost them all that night. Janna killed for her curiosity, Esmeé for protecting her daughter, and my daughter’s youth by her own father.”
Tony looked at Damien. “You were both only five. I met your mom a few weeks later. All those years I was a shit dad, too busy wallowing in sorrow to look after his own damn kid. Nine years later, Charlie comes home crying, Tells me she got mugged on the street. Holding her bleeding face and crying.” Tony stares at the sheets. Damien noticed his breath getting more shallow. He was overexerting himself.
“Now Damien, I know what happens to pretty young girls on the streets. I looked her dead in the eye and told her to cover up more if she wanted to avoid that kind of attention. She runs out of the house and she’s gone for at least three days before she returns home. Stares me in the face and tells me she’s found someone that agreed to teach her martial arts.” Tony smiles at the last part.
“’Couple of days later, she meets you. We both know how it goes from there don’t we?” Damien nodded, recalling how his relationship with Charlie had been in the beginning. Tony rested his hand on Damien’s shoulder. “I don’t want my granddaughter to hate me like my daughter does. Take care of them both. Tell my bambina that I am sorry.” He looked desperate now. Damien could only nod. Tony let out a long sigh. “What’s her name?” “Ruby” Damien muttered to the dying man. Tony showed a faint smile. “May her spirit be as bright as her grandmothers’”