Page 126 of Beni

“The guy who figured out you were stealing from the crew to fund your little brother’s issue … and by issue, I mean the fact that he was smoking meth like it was going to keep him alive, and then when he got mixed up in the gang business, well, shit really went downhill for you, huh?”

“Shut your fucking—”

“I get it,” Beni said quickly, shrugging his shoulders. “See, I’ve got a lot of brothers, but one specifically, my twin—shit, I’d do anything for him. Someone needs to die? Cool shit, give me a name, you know? So yeah, I get where your mind was at when he caused problems with the gang trying to get in with them, and you wanted to fix it.”

Neil’s shoulders stiffened. “I just wanted to make it go away.”

Beni nodded.

That’s what sucked.

Because maybe—fuck, just maybe—had he been honest with his Capo from the start, and told him they were in trouble, Jerome might have been able to help. Or, he could have brought in someone else from the Outfit to get these kids away from the gang.

Now, though?

Now, they stole from the Outfit. They fucked with a Capo’s business. They allowed a gang into their spaces to cause problems, and take their profits.

There was no saving it.

No excusing it.

Only one thing would answer for it.

“My twin called in some contacts,” Beni said, “people he knew around Chicago that had some beads with the Easties gang. At first, we were just looking for connections, but then we found your brother right smack in the fucking middle.”

“He was a good kid.”

“Yeah, weren’t we all?”

And then life happened.

This fucking life.

Beni didn’t regret it.

He wouldn’t regret this, either.

“Anyway,” Beni said, standing from the metal chair, and flicking the blade of his knife closed before pocketing it, “that’s how we figured out it was you, and I kind of put two and two together to make four, so I had the gist of the rest. Unless, of course, there’s anything else you might want to tell me. I’ll let Jerome know—hope you know what this is going to do to him because he cares a lot about you. Like a son he doesn’t have.”

Neil’s jaw trembled as he tried to shrug it off.

Didn’t matter.

Beni saw the emotion.

“They didn’t give me a choice,” he muttered “it was fucking feed into their shit, supply them with whatever I could—money, or something to make money—or they were gonna kill my brother. And he—being young, and fucking stupid—didn’t know anything about it because he thought they were his fucking brothers, all right? What was I supposed to do, Beni?”

He didn’t know.

Didn’t have those damn answers.

“I would have done the same thing,” Beni admitted, “if that’s any consolation here.”

“It’s not.”

“You had to know this couldn’t go on for—”

“Fuck you. I was doing just fine until you came onto the scene to fuck it up.”