Page 102 of Second Chance

“This is not about that!”

“You’re right. It’s about protecting students who need help.”

“Your savior complex can’t cure mental illness!”

“Hey!” Emilio yells, his voice a thunderclap through the kitchen.

Everyone stops to stare at him.

“I don’t give a shit about the criminal justice system. I care about my dead wife and our kid. Tell me who did it.”

Daniel’s chin juts out. “Not until I’ve found her a lawyer.”

“Fine.” Emilio takes a long sip of his coffee. “Then I’m staying right here until you do.”

It’s understandable, if not reasonable. Emilio has no reason to trust them. Tony doesn’t trust them either right now.

With nothing better to do, he makes breakfast.

Bigger pan, he puts on his mental list of things to talk to Daniel about getting. Ma made sure the fridge was stocked to bursting, but he can only fit so many eggs into Daniel’s shitty Jamie Oliver pan (three for two on Amazon the week Daniel moved into this apartment, which makes Tony cringe almost as much as the scratched-up Teflon on the smallest one in the set. Ma always says you have to pick a pan up before you buy it), especially if he’s frying up hash browns in the biggest one.

Emilio takes up residence at the island, watching him cook. Colette and Daniel abscond to the office, presumably to get in touch with Jeff.

“You realize this is insane, right?” Emilio asks Tony eventually.

“Yeah. I know.”

“Why are you going along with it?”

“If he hadn’t been around last year, it could be me.” Gianna bumps Tony aside to grab a plate from overhead. She fills it straight out of the pan.

“It wouldn’t have been you,” Tony says.

“You don’t know that.”

“I do.” Tony makes a plate for himself. His appetite is all over the place and nowhere to be found right now, but he should probably eat anyway. He fills a third plate and offers it to Emilio.

Emilio eyes it skeptically, but he takes it all the same.

Gianna could never have ended up where Lily is now. She’s too smart to get hooked on drugs, too good to do the things Lily has done. Tony would never have let her get so lost.

Maybe she’s a little right.

“How’s it going in there?” Tony asks.

She shrugs. “Blake’s good with her. But he thinks she’s gonna need a hospital and a real doctor sooner rather than later.”

Emilio’s fork clatters to the floor. “She’shere?”

Tony closes the kitchen door.

“The woman who killed my wife isin this apartment, and you want me to, what, sit still and eat some fucking eggs?”

“Yeah. That’s what I want.” It’s not though. It’s not what Tony wants, not even for a second, and the lie tastes bitter on his tongue.

For a moment, Emilio stares at him. Then, he says, “Fuck no,” and makes for the door.

Tony blocks his way. “What are you gonna do?”

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