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Lavena stopped and faced me. “What did he say?”
I tried to recall his exact words. Milo wasn’t known for his conversation skills. The few times we’d actually chatted, his answers were always short and cryptic.
“Was having a bad day.”
I could see Lavena trying to process the information the way I had and fail as I had. “What does that even mean?”
I shrugged. “That’s all he said.”
“He killed five men with a pool stick because he was having a bad day?”
I nodded. “Seems so.”
“What…?” She shook her head. “I know he’s Mom’s little brother, but how?”
He technically wasn’t, though.
I was seven when my mom’s parents brought a thirteen-year-old Milo into our lives. He’d been wild, and violent, and angry with the world. He’d been brought to the house in filthy, ratty clothes stained with blood. He hadn’t been fed and his entire body was a road map of abuse. He’d refused to talk to anyone for months but he’d lash out at the slightest provocation. Yet somehow, my grandparents had kept holding out hope, refusing to let him pull away. In the end, it must have worked because he stopped trying to run away. He stopped keeping knives under his pillow. He stopped getting into fights at school. He finished highschool and got a job running Titans. One night, he just killed a bunch of people and was sent to prison for ten years.
“It’s his last year,” I said, remembering one of the uncles saying so. “He should be getting out later this year.”
Lavena hummed thoughtfully. “I wonder if he’ll take his place back at the Titan.”
“Probably.”
She hummed again and started walking. “Well, he better not think he’s in charge. Our profits are up by sixty percent since I took over and I’m not just handing that over to some crazy person.”
It was my turn to stop and stare at her. “Milo isn’t crazy.”
Lavena raised an eyebrow. “Five people, Darius. For no reason other than because he was having a bad day.”
“I’m sure there was more to it than that.”
She shrugged. “I don’t care. I worked my ass off making that place successful. I’m not letting him ruin that.”
I let it slide.
I couldn’t speak for Milo.
I had no idea what actually happened.
I barely knew the guy and we were together almost every day for four years. He was probably the closest thing I had to a best friend in that place. He’d had my back a few times when any of the other groups tried to start anything. He only had to look at a guy to warn them to back off.
But it still wasn’t up to me to decide what he would do once he got out.
“How’s Mom?”
My change in topic got the reaction I’d been hoping for.
“Crazy.” I was pulled into the hallway and towards the stairs. “I seriously think she’s lost her mind. You would not believe what she bought the other day because Dad was late arriving to their anniversary dinner.”
I grimaced. “I don’t know if I want to know.”
“Matilda’s,” Lavena said anyway.
“The clothing boutique?”
She nodded. “She said she went for some retail therapy to overcome the trauma of being forgotten and fell in love with the place, so, of course, she had to have it.”
