“That’s not the same as talking. You haven’t been inside the flat since you moved back from London. How can you know—”
Gianna snapped her lips shut.
Benito raised a brow. “Know what?”
“Nothing.”
“It’s not nothing if you’re bringing it up now, and not every day in the last six months. What’s changed?”
Gianna shook her head.
Frustration rippled through Benito, and he hated himself for it. It wasn’t Gianna’s fault he couldn’t be in the same room as their mum without wanting to Hulk smash the furniture she’d bought with her new husband—Gianna’s dad—at the expense of everything Benito had ever cared about. Everything his own father had worked for before his dead-end job had killed him. “What aren’t you telling me?” he tried again. “Is Roberto back?”
“No.”
“Sure about that? It’s the only thing I can think of that you’d be afraid to tell me.”
Gianna lifted her chin. “I’m not afraid.”
“You can be, you know. You’d still be the strongest little fucker I’ve ever known.”
“Don’t swear.” Gianna tried for a smile, but it was weak and wet.
Benito sighed and drew her into a tight hug. He hated a lot of things, butnothingmore than seeing her upset. “Look, if it’s that important to you, I’ll go and see Mum soon, okay? And I’ll do it when you’re at school so you don’t have to watch us fight.”
Gianna shook her head. “Not soon. You have to go today. Promise me you will.”
“I can’t—”
“Promiseme.” Gianna gazed up at him. “Please. It has to be today.”
Benito stared at her for a long moment, losing himself to the trust she’d placed in him since the day she’d been born. No one had ever owned his heart the way she did. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for her. Not even this. “Okay. I’ll go as soon as you get on the bus.”
“You promise?”
“I swear down, G. On Sullivan’s life, I’ll go.”
“Don’t kill my cat.”
“I won’t. I love you.”
Gianna nodded. “I love you too.”
* * *
Benito pressed his forehead to the cold wood of the closed front door, drowning in silence. Still. After an hour of knocking and pleading. But he knew she was there, watching him through the peephole like she always did. “Mum. If you don’t speak to me, I’ll get Gianna to tell me everything. Don’t put that on her. It’s not fucking fair.”
More silence. Benito exhaled with a loud whoosh and backed up, taking a seat on the top stair of the grotty landing. His eyes hurt, and his head pounded with stress and fatigue as if he’d been hit with a baseball bat.I don’t have time for this shit.
But he did. He had to, or every moment of his life was for nothing.
He pulled out his phone. A message from Mickey lit up the screen. He forced himself to ignore it and called the same number he’d been calling all morning, but it didn’t ring. Automated voicemail kicked in.
“Seriously?” Benito scrambled to his feet and banged on the door again. “You turned your phone off? What if Gianna’s school needs to get hold of you? For fuck’s sake.”
Benito kicked the door hard enough to rattle the hinges. Regretted it and backed up again, but before he could reclaim his seat, the letterbox opened.
A brown envelope dropped to the floor, landing by his feet.