The Beginning

Nicky

The church bustled with De La Cruz's from near and far. It felt a little wrong attending Monday night mass after the things I'd done to Tess hours ago. Then again, that was the only thing that helped me through the monotonous ramblings. Roni gave my knee a slap once or twice to sustain my attention. Now that the service was over, the family stayed to gossip, share Rico's life story, and arrange the funeral.

I wasn't interested in any of their conversations. I was sucked into my phone. It was a greater task than expected to maintain my business out west. I'd only been in town four days' time and things had begun to slip through the cracks.

"Nephew."

My eyes flickered to Uncle Dom. His hand flagged me over. I popped my phone into my pocket and moved to his side. "Uncle Dom." My hands folded together over my lap.

"I'm sorry that the dinner got out of hand." Uncle Dom started for a set of gargantuan doors.

"Is that what you call it?" I fell in step with him.

"I trust you to tell me when I'm wrong, Nicky." He continued as if I hadn't said a word. "And you trust me to tell you the truth. You think I'm wrong for asking you to come back. I think you only have half the information."

The lobby was silent compared to the chapel. I watched beyond him as Santi gave me a pointed look. I let the silence hang over us. Last night's events made it clear that it didn't matter what I said.

"You remember your old friend Hannibal?" He wondered, tucking his hands into his pockets.

My heart seized at the mention of his name. "Hannibal Romero?"

"That's right." Uncle Dom's hand rose to scratch white stubble that formed on his chin. "You heard they're releasing him?"

"After what he did?" I snapped. Anger burnt through my disdain for Uncle Dom. "The Gregg's suffered because of him."

"I understand that their lives mean something, too, Nicky. The law doesn't always look at it like that. Right now, they're looking at a man who never got the chance to be a boy. They want him to be better. You and I both know the truth."

"He's playing the long game."

"He'll tell them what they want to hear."

"They let him go and this place burns to the ground." There were more elderly couples who wouldn't stand a chance. What would become of the girls when their whole world is taken from them? And Tess, Lexi, Star... who would make sure they were safe? Rico was able to fall into his drug-addled delusions because the town ran itself. If Romero came back, nothing would be left untouched. "What are you going to do?"

"Nicky." His hands rose, palms to the sky, in exasperation. "I need you." He clapped both square hands onto my chest. "No one knows Hannibal like you."

"We were kids. I don't know him anymore." I rebutted.

"You were teenagers." Uncle Dom reminded me. His hands shifted to my shoulders. "And if you weren't a De La Cruz, you'd be exactly like him."

"Don't act like it was you." My defenses rose. "You're not the one who kept me home that night." And, as much as he wanted the credit, he'd never be the person who saved me. Uncle Dom's sight was always narrowed on me. He should've looked at Rico a lot closer.

"I talked to your mother that night."

"Oh shut—"

"Watch yourself."

I flexed my jaw and released a sigh. "You do not get the credit for what my mom did, Dom. You do this all the time. She does all the manual labor and you sit at the head of the table. If you wanted me around, you should've taken better care of them."