Page 32 of Pocketful of Us

"I need your help."

Raffaele laughed humorlessly. "You have a lot of nerve, cousin, I'll give you that. Asking me for help after betraying me and kidnapping my son –"

"Where is he?" I snarled, barreling forwards, both unable and unwilling to listen to another word. "Where's Sketch?"

"Ramona," Mr. Capaldi replied, sagging in relief at the sight of me. "You're alright. Thank god."

"I'm alright, but Sketch isn’t!" Nobody tried to stop me when I lunged forward and slapped Chris's father across the face. "You let my father do that to him, you sick son of a bitch! You let that monster shoot Sketch!" Furious tears burned my eyes as I continued to push and slap at Mr. Capaldi's chest. "And worse! You let him killChris. Why? Why would you do that? Huh? And what about the way y'all treated Sketch his whole freaking life? You and your horrible wife. Did it get you off torturing Sketch? Letting your wife treat him like he was scum of the earth? Letting my father make his life a living hell!" I hit him again, harder this time. "He better be okay. I swear to God if he isn't, I will kill you. Do you hear me? I will kill you with my bare hands, dammit! Now, tell me where he is –"

"Pocketful!" Mr. Capaldi choked out, holding a hand up to shield his mangled face from my attack. "He's gone back."

"No…" I staggered backwards, hand snaking up to clutch my chest. "No, no, no. My father is there. Sketch wouldn’t go back there..."

"He has."

"Why?" I demanded, voice breaking. "Why would he put himself in danger like that?"

"Because he's going to kill your father." Shoulders slumping in defeat, Mr. Capaldi slipped a bruised hand into his pocket and withdrew his phone. "He sent me this."

I moved to take the phone, but Raffaele stepped forward and swiped it out of his hand before I could.

With a look of utter consternation, Raffaele glared at the screen for several beats, multiple emotions flashing in his eyes before he finally looked back at Mr. Capaldi. "You trained my son to call youdad." His words were laced with spit and venom. "Does he know yet? Does my son know that you are not hispapa?"

"He knows," he confirmed. "But only recently."

"How recently?" Raffaele demanded, eyes darkening like thunder clouds.

"A few weeks," Mr. Capaldi replied in a weary tone. "Listen, Raff, you have to understand –"

"Don’tlisten Raffme," he sneered. "I do not have to understand a damn thing. The words of a traitor mean nothing to me!"

"I kept him alive," Mr. Capaldi urged. "I protected Giacobbe when you weren't around to do it yourself."

"When I wasn’taround?" The vein in Raffaele's temple bulged. "You mean when I was betrayed and thrown for a crime I did not, have not, and wouldnevercommit?" Looking wholly enraged, he continued, "Were you there? Did you watch them burn my wife? Did you hear her cries? Did you do nothing like the rest of them?"

"I did what I had to do to ensure Giacobbe's survival," Mr. Capaldi shot back. "I couldn’t save Carmella, Raff. She was already dead when I got here, but Ididprotect your son. I did that much."

"Who cares!" I screamed, delirious with fear. "That's in the past. Fighting about it won't solve anything. We need to focus on Sketch, okay? He's the one who needs y'all right now!" Breathing hard and fast, I turned back to Raffaele and swiped the phone, desperate to read whatever message Sketch had sent Mr. Capaldi…

I should hate you, but I don’t. I should want to kill you, but I don’t. I don’t feel any of the things I should be feeling. I guess that makes me completely fucked up in the head – worse than you and Mama already thought. Listen, I need to do something and I don’t know if I'm gonna be able to pull it off. If I do, then you can forget about this message. But if I don’t, I need you to find Romi for me. I need you to make sure that she's okay. I shouldn't be asking you to do shit for me, considering all of the lies, but I am. I'm trusting you to have my back if shit goes south. I'm heading back to Pocketful with Seth. You know what he wants me to do. You know that I have to try. He's my only chance to find her. So, I guess what I'm saying is goodbye, hopefully not forever, but who the fuck knows anymore. Oh… and if I don’t make it back, look out for Presley for me. He's a good guy. Don’t let him get shot, okay. Bye Dad.

– Sketch.

"What the hell is he doing with Seth?" I demanded, waving the phone in front of their faces. "Sketch doesn’t know Seth – hell, I don’t even know him and he's supposed to be my twin! What does Seth want with him?"

"Seth wants to kill your father, Ramona," Mr. Capaldi replied. "And he wants Giacobbe to help him."

"It's a trap," Raffaele announced. A wild concoction of fury and terror flashed in his steel blue eyes. "A rouse to lure him into the lion's den." His gaze flicked to Mr. Capaldi. "They're going to kill him."

"What?" Feeling frantic, I turned to Raffaele. "No, no, no, no…"

Mr. Capaldi paled. "Raff, how are you so sure? Cal murdered his mother right in front of him. Maybe the boy wants –"

"The boys wants power and nothing less!" Raffaele roared, cutting him off. "I should know, dammit. He was my prisoner for four months!" he added, hands balling into fists. "Revenge and power. It is all he knows. All he thinks about. All heseeks." His eyes darkened. "Just like his father."

"Then you have to stop him!" Hurrying towards Raffaele, I gripped his arm with both hands. "Please. I can't lose Sketch again, and my father will torture him…" It didn’t bear thinking about. Throwing myself at the mercy of my captor turned ally, I begged, "Raffaele,please, you have to stop him before he gets himself killed!"

"If my son is with that boy, then he is already dead." Pain encompassed his features and he staggered forward, clutching the window sill. "It is already too late."

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