Miles smiled at her response. Giving her a glance back as he walked out of the room, he noticed that Letty didn’t follow him, but instead dug into another letter, clearly invested in the words he wrote so long ago. Miles walked down the narrow hallway, his rough hand brushing along the polished oak banister as he approached the linen closet that was set between Letty and G’s bedrooms. Opening the door with a pull, Miles eyed the shelves of neatly folded linens. On the top shelf, Miles reached for a black terry bath towel. Pulling it down, he noticed something else—a piece of paper had fluttered to the ground. It looked like someone had discarded it quickly, tucking it away from view.
Reaching down to the floor to pick it up, Miles promptly realized that it wasn’t a piece of paper at all, but a photograph. Flipping it over, a pang of jealousy swirled through Miles’s stomach as he took in the image of Richie “Ruin” Rizzolli with his arm wrapped around Letty’s shoulder. They were dressed to the nines, with Letty wearing an elegant, champagne-colored gown, and Ruin dressed sharply in a tuxedo. Flashing his million watt smile up at the camera, Ruin looked like a movie star instead of a boxer. As he looked at the photograph, Miles wanted to break Ruin’s face. Once one of Miles’s best friends growing up, Ruin had clearly strayed from that role when he hooked up with and impregnated the only girl Miles had ever loved. A voice from behind Miles spoke, startling him as he looked down at the photograph.
“That was taken at your cousin Freddie’s wedding almost three years ago. That was the night. The only night. He can be quite charming when he wants to be, and I was lonely. It’s stupid, really.”
Turning around to face Letty, Miles had a look of understanding painted across his face. Letty found more kindness in Miles’s eyes than she expected to.
“Everybody has a past, Letty.”
Shrugging her shoulders, she replied, “Well, that’s over now. It was one night. I’d say I made out okay in the deal. I got G.”
“Gabriel deserves a father, though...” Miles said as he cast a hard look at Letty. Glancing down at the photograph, he flicked Ruin’s face with his index finger. “And if this idiot’s not gonna do it, I sure as hell will fill in the role.”
Miles passed Letty back the photograph. She watched, mouth gaping, as Miles walked down the hallway with the towel draped over his shoulder. Shaking her head, Letty tucked the photo away in the closet again, out of view, but not destroyed. She figured she should save one photograph to show her son once he was old enough to understand. While Ruin might not be much of a father to G, he deserved to know the truth. Letty’s heart hammered in her chest as Miles glanced back over his shoulder at her.
“I told you. Everything is gonna be all right in the end. You’ll see...” Miles assured her.
Not waiting for a reply, Miles turned and entered the bathroom, closing the door firmly behind him.
Miles opened the shower door and turned on the shower head, making the water as hot as he could tolerate. After years upon years of terrible water pressure and lukewarm water, what Miles truly needed right now was a hot shower. It cured so many ails. Placing his bath towel on the edge of the sink, Miles stared at himself in the vanity mirror while the water heated to his desired temperature. Miles Capadonno was the picture of rugged strength. His tattoos, muscles, beard and stature gave him the appearance of someone that you did not want to fuck with. Generally, Miles liked his appearance, but he didn’t look this way for vanity purposes. He needed to look a part to keep himself alive.
Miles’s eyes were transfixed on the mirror. There was one thing that hinted that his heart didn’t always match his appearance or his body language. It was all in the eyes. The eyes that Letty loved so dearly, and the eyes that Andie Cormack could always look into to gauge her son’s well-being, were the very same eyes that peered back from the mirror at Miles. There was a softness to them. His eyes revealed the sensitive heart that hammered within his chest. He was a man that understood the plight of others. He was a man that had been through hell and back and now had a score to settle, a family to silence. Despite his outward strength, Miles’s heart was much more like his mother’s. He was a kind man with a giving nature, and that is something that he has had to hide all his life from his family and from his cell mates. The only two people that ever got to see that side of him were his own mother, and Letty Alves.
Removing his t-shirt and dropping it to the floor. Miles stared at his reflection again. His eyes tracing the tattoos on his chest, the long scar that covered his stomach where Michael Capadonno’s own men had tried to kill Miles in jail just a few months after his arrival in prison. Miles was a hard man to take down. He knew he’d end up with more scars before this fight was done. Miles knew three things for sure:
1. He is smarter than Michael Capadonno and all his men combined.
2. There will be blood.