Star-Crossed(109)

By second grade none of his teachers knew there was anything special about him. He did good in school but not amazing. They didn’t know he was helping me with my algebra when he got home.”

“That seems like such a waste.” Jules frowned. “Think of what he could have done with a mind like that.”

“I do think about it,” Romeo assured her. “I can’t stop thinking about it. Ma and I used to argue all the time ’cause I hated that we were dumbing Nova down to the public just ’cause of Frankie. Turns out she was right.”

“How so?”

Romeo rubbed a hand against his forehead; the exhaustion and headache made his vision blur, and he closed his eyes against it. “When my ma got sick, money got 282



tighter. She couldn’t work, and I was trying to make up for it working part-time after school. We were on public assistance. She eventually got disability, but it still wasn’t enough. Then Nova started showing up with money, and we needed it so badly we didn’t ask where he got it. We were scared to know.”

“Did Frankie give it to him?”

Romeo snorted. “Fuck, no. He was gambling.”

“How old was he?” Jules asked in disbelief.

“Young, but people knew he was Frankie’s bastard kid. He was a novelty. We’d kept to ourselves before that, but Nova started muscling in on some of the underground poker games out of desperation. I dunno why he thought that was the only place to get cash, but it was easy money and it was untraceable so we wouldn’t lose our benefits.

Can you imagine? Some eleven-year-old kid showing up wanting to play poker with a buncha old guys—and winning.”

“That’s seems immoral, letting a kid that young—”

“They’re mafia,” Romeo reminded her. “They aren’t moral.”

“What happened then?”

“Word got around, and Frankie started showing up at our place.” Romeo sighed heavily. “By then my ma was dying. She wasn’t all there anymore, stoned outta her friggin’ mind on pain meds. I tried to stop him from moving in, but Ma thought she wanted it, and the kids were curious about him. I lost the fight.”

“Did he find out about Nova?”

“On his own turf it was harder for Nova to curb himself. Frankie started noticing things. Not to mention the small fortune he made gambling. They all knew he was rigging the game in his favor. I think they started setting up those games just to watch him and figure out how he was doing it.”

“And figure out how to capitalize on it.”





283

“Exactly. Not that it helped them. He was counting cards, and who the fuck can do that?”

“What happened when your mother died?”

“The state gave me custody of Nova and Tino,” Romeo said, still surprised by the small stroke of luck. “I was working a legit job at the time. We were still on benefits, but we were making ends meet. The kids wanted to be with me, and Frankie’s wife sure as shit didn’t want them. At first Frankie was fine with letting me have them as long as I let him spend time with them.”

“But you didn’t.”

“Fuck no,” Romeo spat bitterly. “The last thing I wanted was them mixed up with Frankie’s bullshit. Ma was gone. The only one I answered to was myself. I forbid them from seeing him, and neither of them was too torn up about it. He’s an asshole. They were young, but they figured that out real fast.”

“Even now they don’t like him?” Jules asked.

Romeo snorted, thinking of Nova stealing Frankie’s job. “Especially now. There’s no love lost between the three of them. Nova tolerates him for business reasons, but they don’t get along.”

“Then how’d they get mixed up with him if you blew him off?”

“Frankie was pissed,” Romeo said simply. “He started threatening me when I stopped Nova from gambling. When I ignored his threats, he made up some bullshit and reported us to the state for fraud. It was a lie. I wasn’t making that much, but he had someone in his pocket and we lost our benefits. No food stamps, no housing, no fucking insurance for the kids. I was about to lose custody, and the state would’ve got them because Frankie’s wife still fought against taking them in.”

“So you started stripping.”



284



Romeo nodded. “Even still, the state was breathing down my fucking neck. I needed to make a lot of money to keep them off my ass. That’s when Nova started gambling again. Legally this time, ’cause we couldn’t afford to get busted.” Jules looked at him in confusion. “What?”