Page 2 of Pen Pal

When my sister stopped visiting me, I knew that I had lost the only family that I had. My parents lost custody of us when we were young, so my father didn't bother to visit me now. It didn't matter that he was the Italian mafia boss. All he cared about was himself and having an heir to pass his kingdom to.

So, I made a decision; I didn't plan on surviving my stay. My sister had a life of her own now. She was married and pregnant, so I knew that she would be fine. It actually brought a smile to my face, knowing that my father wouldn't have a sonanymore to pass his legacy to, so he would be forced to give everything to my sister.

Everything was the least that she deserved after everything he put her through.

My mind raced with memories, mostly bad. I remembered hearing my sister's cries in the night as our father beat her. When I couldn't stand it anymore, I stormed into her room and knocked my father on his ass, and since that night, he only beat me.

When I showed up to school with two black eyes and a broken arm, only then did they finally call the police.

My sister and I were removed from our home and bounced around from foster home to foster home. No one wanted to adopt teenagers, and they were afraid my family would retaliate if they did. All we maintained was our names. Everything else was stripped from us.

So Sofia and I did what we could to survive, and when I was locked up for killing our high school coach when I was sixteen, I never saw her outside of these bars again.

When she turned eighteen, she was kicked out of her foster home and left to fend for herself. She went back to my father, but instead of hitting her this time, he saw her as a pawn in his game. Hewanted to marry her off, setting her up with many different mafia princes.

She eventually chose one and refused to marry anyone else. Sofia fell in love and got married, and now she lived in his house with him.

I had my people watch them, and they confirmed that he treated my little sister like a queen. She deserved the life she had now, so I accepted it when she stopped seeing me.

I met Vitali when I was in juvenile hall, and we both got long sentences. We bonded over our shitty childhoods and mafia families, and now we were part of the same crew. Other than a few new faces here and there, no one messed with us.

All I could do now was pass the time and wait. Court dates were months apart, so I had to keep busy somehow. I mostly read books and worked out since there wasn't much else to do around here.

I closed my eyes, trying to will myself to sleep, but as usual, it eluded me. All I could do was try to relax my body and rest as the night dragged on.

I tossed and turned until I heard the dreaded words. "Count time!"

I groaned as I dragged myself from my bunk, getting to my feet along with Vitali. It was seven o'clock in the morning, and the count was also at seven o'clock at night. Deputies and guards countedeach inmate in the prison, making sure everyone was accounted for.

Romano, another one of my family connections, was the deputy on shift this morning. He glanced at Vitali and me before moving on to the other cells.

"Get any sleep?" Vitali wondered.

"No," I scowled. "You did, though."

"I accept my fate, so now I sleep like a baby," he shrugged. "Maybe you should try it sometime."

"I'm not done yet," I smirked. "Maybe I'll get found innocent."

Vitali laughed. "That's funny, Enzo. They've got you on video killing the guy."

"Would be a shame if Romano lost the video," I mused.

"I don't know what you have on him, but I doubt it's good enough for him to risk his career," Vitali chastised. "I know you might think so, but even you aren't invincible Enzo."

Maybe he was right. But until I was sentenced to life, there was still hope, however fast it was dwindling.

"Chow time, line up," Romano announced.

The cell doors unlocked, and inmates streamed out of their rooms, but I stayed rooted to the spot. Visiting hours sometimes started during breakfast, and I didn't want to miss my lawyer's visit.

I wanted to fire Gerald, and I wanted to do it in front of his intern.

I sat on my bunk and waited, and soon enough, Romano began calling out names until he reached mine.

"Ricci, Salinas, Stevenson," he rattled on until finally, he ran out of names. "Visitation time, line up."

I stood and walked to the line, slowly forming as inmates hurried to scarf the remainder of their food down their throats. The door to our block opened, and we followed the guard out the door to the visitation area.

---