Page 71 of Heart Of A Goon II

I noticed the hospital band that was on her wrist, and the hospital sticker on his shirt. It was small details like that, that I wouldn’t have noticed had he not explained it to me.

“You casually just have two estates?”

“My father’s estate.” He took a long sip of his smoothie before he spoke again. “He purchased this before he was able to surprise my mom with it. This was going to be her anniversary gift.”

“Damn.”

“She always said she wanted to be further out. Said Staten Island stopped feeling like home… think she felt the disconnect between my father’s family before he did. This was his surprise to her… showing her that he was listening to her needs.”

“Perfect distance away from the noise of the city, but still close enough.”

He nodded his head slowly. “Kora probably would have flipped her shit having to switch schools. She never got the chance to.”

“If it means anything, I think she would have loved it.”

“Me too. When I took over everything, I found out about this estate. I got sick when I pulled up to those gates and the Eaton crest was there.”

It probably felt like a punch to the gut. On one hand, that was his birth right, to be an Eaton. Then on the other, that same name was responsible for murdering his parents and leaving him and his siblings out to die.

“First thing I did, was getting those gates taken down and destroyed. Commissioned this picture to be painted into this portrait.”

“Zoya been here?”

“Only me and Don. Our parents’ death was hard on all of us but was hardest on Kora. She never admits the shit, but it tore her apart. Made her into someone that she wouldn’t have become had they never been killed.”

“And Boobie?”

“Bean hides her emotions. What would bringing them both here do?”

“Encourage them to stop suppressing their emotions for starters,” Don reentered the room, taking place in the entryway. “Last time we showed emotion, I wanted to be a fucking wrestler.”

Menace never turned around, his eyes remained trained on the portrait. “Like the Staten Island house you couldn’t fucking let go of?”

I didn’t know what house they were referring to.

“Yeah. You sold it like it didn’t mean nothing.”

Menace turned around so fast, he nearly spilled his smoothie. “It didn’t mean nothing.”

His voice was even, laced with pain, but calm.

“It fucking meant something!” Don raised his voice. “That fucking house was my childhood! It fucking meant something to me… that was home!”

“That wasn’t fucking home!” Menace roared. “Home was where they were fucking murdered! Home was under that roof, not the fucking roof they stuck the orphans under because they didn’t know what to do with them.”

Core came down the hall once he heard the commotion. “Chill out.”

Tears threatened to fall from Don’s eyes, but none from Menace, as he stared at his brother.

“That fucking home didn’t mean shit to me!” he continued.

“Nothing ever matters unless it matters to you, right? We were a fucking family in that house… we got billions and then what happened? We fucking separated. Living our own lives like there’s not four of us that exist and share the same blood.”

“I did my job.”

“Heard you, Maverick,” Don turned and headed down the hall, while Core looked at his best friend.

There was so much pain shared between this family. I thought my family had shit with them, but there were so much hesitation, fear, and pain mixed into these siblings. The two people up on that wall dying caused a domino effect that none of them were sure how to fix.