I keyed in 111387. There was a series of loud clicks. ‘Yes,’ I said as triumph flooded me. I pulled the handle and the safe heaved open. I backed up on my haunches as the door swung outwards. ‘Got it,’ I shouted. My voice echoed inside the metal din as I plunged my head into the depths of Jack’s and my father’s secrets.
Inside, the money was arranged in little towers. I guessed there were at least five hundred thousand dollars, but there were so many stacks, it could have been double that, or even triple. More money than I would ever see again. It was like something out of a movie.
‘Holy crap,’ I muttered. My hand hovered over a stack of bills. How much was in just that one? Ten thousand dollars? Twenty thousand? I dropped it on to the countertop. We’d just take one. They’d hardly notice, I said to myself. Besides, we were dead either way. At least this way, we wouldn’t die poor.
OK, maybe two stacks, then. I took out another one, pushing away the feeling of panic.
I brushed the rest of the money out of my way and stuck my head back in, trying to ignore the stale mustiness. Dirty money smelt bad. There were other things in the safe. I lingered, staring wide-eyed as I grappled with bits of paper. There were switchblades. Falcone switchblades with names I didn’t recognize. Ernesto. Alberto. Piero.
What the hell?
I lifted a piece of paper to the light. There was a list of names scrawled in my father’s handwriting. I recognized most of them. Felice, Evelina, Ernesto, Alberto, Piero, Angelo, Paulie, Calvino, Elena, Gianluca, Valentino, Giorgino, Dominico, Nicoli. There were different marks beside some of the names, the darkest one beside Evelina.
Behind the switchblades, at the very back of the safe, was a ring. It was a ruby ring – blood-red and still shining even in the darkness. I plucked it from the shadows of the safe and pulled it into the light so I could read the word engraved inside it, between a swirling E and F.
Sempre
Evelina’s ring.
I swallowed the bile rushing into my mouth and without thinking, I shoved the ring in my pocket. My legs gave out and I stumbled backwards, falling from the chair and whacking my hip bone on the stove. When I picked myself up, I was staring right at my uncle.
He was standing in the doorway between the kitchen and the diner. My mother was bundled in a ball at his feet.
‘You’d better not be doing what I think you’re doing,’ he said, calmly.
‘Mom!’ I darted across the room and crouched beside her unconscious form. ‘What the hell did you do to her?’
The rain and wind were so loud I hadn’t heard him come in. If there had been a scuffle, he had ended it quickly, and I had been too busy sticking my head into a safe to notice.
Jack – Antony – looked down on me, his eyes dark and hooded. ‘She was going to scream. I didn’t want her drawing any attention to us.’
‘You knocked her out!’ I glared up at him. ‘What the hell is wrong with you?’ I pulled her limp body into the kitchen, away from Jack’s muddy boots, and propped her up against the island. ‘Mom?’ I said, nudging her gently. ‘Wake up, Mom.’
‘So, I see you found your father’s key,’ Jack muttered. ‘I suppose you know everything.’
‘Just when I thought I couldn’t be any more disgusted,’ I hissed. ‘I know all about you, Antony.’
‘Good. It’s about time.’ He pushed past me, undaunted by my use of his real name, and unfolded a duffel bag from under the counter. He picked up the stacks of money I had dropped on the counter and held them up. ‘I see you decided to rob me.’
I channelled every drop of venom into my response. ‘I’m a Marino, right? Why not take what’s mine?’
He barked a laugh. ‘A true Marino would have cleaned the entire safe out.’
‘Well, I guess I’m not good at being a depraved criminal.’
‘You’re so dramatic.’ His movements were hurried as he shoved the money into the duffel bag in thick fistfuls.
‘Don’t forget the switchblades,’ I snapped. ‘What charming keepsakes. I’m sure all those Falcones are turning in their unmarked graves.’
‘That’s your father’s business,’ he huffed, climbing up on the counter to reach further inside. ‘The revenge was always more his thing. I just want to make money.’
Oh my God.
‘He’s been involved all along?’ My voice sounded impossibly far away – hollow, quivering. I swallowed the rest of my reaction. Not here. Not now. That brand of betrayal ran too deep. I would deal with it later.
Jack stopped his rustling to glance over his shoulder. He shrugged heavily, and something peculiar flashed in his eyes. ‘They took everything from us, Sophie. I thought you’d be able to understand that.’
I kept my voice as steady as I could. ‘I understand that you’re going to get killed pretty soon, and you know what? I think you deserve it.’
I patted my mother’s cheek. A welt was rising on the top of her head; Jack had hit her hard. I couldn’t drag her out, could I? Maybe I should just whack my head on something too and go with her, into dreamland, where I had a name and a family that still made sense.