“You okay, Reese’s?” He asked, leaning over the table to touch my cheek.
“I’m okay.” I said, realizing I was actually okay for the first time in a long time. I may have lost a piece of my heart the moment the cuffs were put on my father but I also reclaimed all the pieces I’d lost. I looked at the man in front of me, my first boyfriend, and my last love.
“I love you to pieces, Bianci.”
I smiled as he lifted my hand to his lips and whispered across my knuckles.
“I love you too, Reese’s.”
Chapter Thirty-Three: 3 Months Later
“Boss, you have a visitor.”
I lifted my head from my hands, peering through the bars and glanced at the correction officer that called me boss. It was a name I had been called nearly all my life, but somehow, someway it had lost its luster. I wasn’t a boss. Not in here, not in this cage that was my home now. The men that called me boss back home used it because I was the ruler of the streets. I was the man they feared, but these guards they called me boss out of respect. It was strange because I had done nothing in this life to earn their respect.
“Thank you,” I said, lifting myself off the cot and walking towards the guard as he opened my cell. I stepped outside the confined area and started the walk, passing the inmates that lined their cells and banged on the iron bars. I kept my eyes trained on the white canvas shoes I wore, long gone were the expensive loafers, and counted the steps. I tuned out the inmates that were now my peers, ignoring them when they called my name and told me I was the man. I don’t know why these men are fascinated with me.
I was nobody.
Upon my arrival to federal prison, I braced myself for what I believed would be my new life. I had many associates who had been locked up, some still are, but they’re all tied to a crew here in jail for protection purposes. I don’t need to make peace with the gangs here, I’m not looking for someone to save my ass. If someone wants me dead, then so be it, I’m here because I failed my family. I’m here seeking penance for the sins I committed.
People have this perception that the mafia is a glamorous life, they’re blinded by the money and the flashy things we flaunt in their faces. They don’t realize what goes on behind the scenes. They don’t care that the first bracelet I gave my wife was stolen from a woman whose house I invaded in the middle of the night. They don’t care I missed the birth of my first daughter because I was bashing someone’s skull in because they didn’t pay. Yes, I provided for my family, my girls never longed for anything but I learned the hard way, that all those things I showered them with meant nothing. In the end, all they needed was their father, and that was the one thing I couldn’t buy.
I stepped into the visitors room, crossing it to find the man I had requested come see me at a table in the corner. His eyes lifted and locked with mine as I pulled out the chair across from him and took a seat. Beside him sat the man I employed as my lawyer for two decades, the man who was still bitter I hadn’t used his services for this final case. However, he was still under my retainer and I used him to tie up any lose ends I had needed to be taken care of.
“Pretty impressive Vic, still got juice even while you’re in the can,” Jack Parrish said, leaning forward, the leather of his jacket stretching across his biceps as he crossed his arms.
I’ve managed to keep my organization a float for the last three months, during my trial, with the help of my lawyer. It gave me chance to get my affairs in order and set my wife up financially. Tomorrow is my sentencing, I was found guilty on all counts, so tomorrow is the day I turn the thrown over to Jimmy.
I glanced at my lawyer. “Do you have everything I asked for?”
He lifted a manila envelope in the air, waving it slightly before placing it back on the table and slid it across to me. I opened the flap and peered inside the envelope.
“I’m a man who prides himself on paying his debts,” I said, satisfied with the contents of the envelope, I placed it neatly on the table and lifted my eyes to Jack.
“Gonna be hard to do that from here … right?” He asked.
I flashed a smile. “Not as hard as you think.” I folded my hands over the envelope, drawing Jack’s attention towards it. He looked between my attorney and me before fixing his gaze on me.
“Why am I here?” He asked.
“I need one last favor from you and your club.”
Jack shrugged his shoulders, leaned back in his seat, and crossed his arms against his chest.
“What’s it going to be this time?”
“I’d like for you to provide protection for Anthony,” I paused for a moment. “For him and his family.”
“Your daughter.”