Chapter 13

NOVALEE

T here were plenty of things in the Louisiana State Pen that sent a chill up my spine, but this visit was almost daunting. Now that I was here there was no escaping the reality of the situation. My anxiety about what Kato may know was at heightened peaks, but my heart was hammering for a different reason.

Atlee took me over to a door on the left side of the building and gave three quick knocks, followed by two slower taps.

A few seconds later the door was thrown open by a man in a uniform. He looked at me, then Atlee, and stepped to the side for us to walk in. It was all very mission impossible.

I walked into the building and instantly got the distinct sense that this was more than an unregulated visit. It was a show of power. Almost as if Gio’s dad was following me around and whispering in my ear.

When the side door that shouldn’t be used by the general public to enter the building creaked, the voice in my mind laughed. And it wasn’t a whimsical, ”I snuck into the movie theater laugh.” It was a manacle ‘look what I can do’ snicker. When various guards nodded at Atlee, I heard the words ‘it would be for us to get to him’. Then came the buzz and clink of the sliding barred door. With that I could picture hyenas picking over my brother’s bones.

The guard that opened the door for us stopped at a desk and tipped his head at the guy sitting behind it. “You can leave your phone, keys, and purse here with Ed.”

“Do I look like the purse type?”

Not to mention I wasn’t carrying one. That should’ve been obvious, but who was I to judge? We’d been on the highway for an hour before I noticed I was wearing two bras. For all I knew this guy thought I had one of those tiny little purses that would barely fit my ID.

The guard gave me a once over and said, “your phone and keys then.”

I shrugged, dropped my keys on the desk and pulled out the flip phone Maw Maw gave me.

“What the hell is that?” Atlee pointed.

I looked at where his finger was aimed. “That is a communication device called a cell phone. Some people use it to call other phones.”

Not me of course. I was more of the texting type. Or I normally was, but on that thing it was almost as exhausting as talking to someone. I had to press the number buttons a hundred times just to send Memphis a hello. I would not have survived in the nineties.

“That is not a phone.” Atlee argued. “That is a relic. What happened to your regular phone?”

“I threw it in the lake.”

“Alright,” he nodded, as if that was a perfectly normal explanation.

I wasn’t sure how to take that. “You aren’t going to ask me why?”

“Nah. I get it. I’ve smashed three phones this month.”

He smashed them? Okay, I had to know. “Why?”

“My dad says I have anger issues.” He shrugged.

“Do you?”

It was hard for me to picture Atlee’s face with anything other than a smirk, but there was that one time in home ec when I mentioned his mom.

He swung his eyes my way. “I do when I’m talking to him.”

Okay, I could understand that. Most teenagers could. Being mad at our parents came with the territory.

The guard who let us in waved down a hall to the right. “This way.”

Was it that time already? I had been thinking about this moment for days, but now that it was here, my feet felt heavy. If Kato knew about Gio he was not going to be happy. Hence why I wanted to convince him otherwise. But now I couldn’t help but wonder if I should just tell him the truth? He would find out eventually.

“Come on.” Atlee pushed on my back.

My cheeks puffed out with a huff of air. Let’s get this over with.

I took a step then stopped and eyed Atlee. “Aren’t you gonna give them your phone?”

“He’s fine.” The guy sitting behind the desk said.

What did he mean he was fine? “His phone is right there.”

Anyone could see it in his pocket. And still no one asked him to hand it over. They didn’t even acknowledge my statement.

Atlee shot me a grin, “I told you, I’m not everyone,” and headed down the hall.

God I hated him. He was so not getting any of my truck cookies.

The claustrophobic feeling of the prison walls closed in on me as I walked down the hall. My feet felt like they weighed a hundred pounds and every step I took echoed off the cement walls. It felt like I was walking down one of those never ending hallways in horror movies, where dread was around every corner.

I was so on edge that I almost screamed when the guard leading us stopped and nodded to a door on the left.

“You have ten minutes.”

My mouth was so dry it took a second to speak. “This isn’t the visiting area?”

I wasn’t entirely sure if this part of the prison was even used. It was oddly empty and quiet.

“Where did you think we were going to go?” Atlee asked.

“The normal room.” The one with various tables and chairs, and other people should I need a witness.

“That would be fine if it wasn’t Friday.”

“What’s wrong with Friday?” Did Atlee have a grudge with Friday, because, personally, if I was going to hate a day of the week, I’d pick Sunday when I had to get up at the crack of dawn and go to church. Day of rest my ass.

“Visiting hours are on weekends, Nova.”

Crap. Why didn’t I remember that?

Damnit, Kato was going to know something was up now. Then again, maybe he wouldn’t? He did say that the days blurred together in here, and I didn’t see any calendars around. So, he might not know what day it was. The change in location might be a bit difficult to explain, but I did convince Maw Maw that a squirrel broke in and stole her cookies last week.

“Do you want to see the inmate or not?” The guard huffed impatiently.

“His name is Kato, not inmate.” Prisoners were people too.

“Everyone’s name in here is inmate.” He hissed back.

I had enough nervousness, without this guy pissing me off. “Well, maybe if you treated the inmates with a little respect, then you wouldn’t have to walk around with a stick up your ass.”

“I don’t respect criminals.”

“My brother’s not a criminal.” He was a little overzealous in protecting Veda, that was all. “People make mistakes.”

“Your brother is the same as every other piece of shit in this place.”

I didn’t care if this guy was a foot taller than me and armed, I’d still kick him in the nuts. “Listen here…”

“Okay,” Atlee cut me off and grabbed my arm before I could jab my finger in the guard’s chest. “How about we leave the nice guard alone…”

“Pfft. Nice.” There was a snort worthy statement.

“Your brother is waiting, you can tell this idiot off after.”

Oh I would.

Atlee reached out and grabbed the doorknob. “Now, let’s go and see him.”

Let’s? Oh hell no.

“Oh no.” I stopped him from opening the door. “ We are not going anywhere. You are going to stay out here.”

Atlee Fiore escorting me was not going to help. There was no excuse in the world Kato would buy for that.

The guard huffed, “minors must be accompanied by an adult.”

This guy was really getting on my nerves. “God forbid we break the rules. Or do you only do that when you’re paid.”

He smacked his lips at me.

I smiled at him.

That’s right buddy, I got your number.

There was a high chance that I may have gotten slapped – I saw the guards hand twitch – but Atlee intervened. Killjoy.

“She can go by herself.”

The guard wasn’t letting it go. “Minor’s must be accompanied by an adult.”

“You want to call Cesare and tell him that?” Atlee asked with an arch of his brow.

A spark of fear flashed across the guard’s face before he cleared his throat and grumbled, “fine.”

That’s right asshole. I’m with Cesare Mancini… wait.

He waved at the door and said, “You have eight minutes.”

“I’m gonna take nine.” I spat and walked in the room.

The look he gave me in response had me feeling pretty proud of myself. That is until the door clicked closed and I heard a familiar voice say, “Nova?”

That one word echoed through the air like an orchestra of drums. I didn’t know if it was because the room was empty, except for a small table and two chairs, or if it was because of the way my brother was staring at me.

Kato was seated at the table with his arms folded over his chest. He was not happy. I could feel the anger burning in his piercing blue glare all the way across the room, which felt a lot smaller than it actually was.

It wasn’t the first time I’d seen him like this – hell, I’d pissed him off worse on more than one occasion – and there was only one thing to do when he had that look on his face.

I gave Kato a big smile, raised my hand, waved and sang, “surprise,” in the most annoyingly sweet voice I could muster.

He didn’t say a word. Just sat back and continued to glare as I walked over.

The silence was almost deafening. It was weird being alone with my brother. Every time I’d seen him there were people watching. Guards, and other visitors filled the room we were in.

I hated having to share my time with him, but right now, I’d give anything to have someone else in the room. Maybe then I wouldn’t notice how much of him was gone. I couldn’t see the Kato I grew up with anywhere. There was only hardness and anger in his blue eyes. This place didn’t break him, it made him someone else.

“So…” I sat down in the other chair. “How have you been?”

“I’m in prison. How do you think I’ve been?”

Alright, that was a dumb question.

I stared at him for a few seconds while trying to think of something to say. Did I comment on the tattoos on his knuckles and neck? Or ask him about his day? I didn’t butt heads with Kato like I did with Veda. He was easy to talk to. Or he used to be. Was there any part of my brother left?

“It looks like you’re using the time you have in an effective manner. You’re all beefcake now.” His arms were full of bulging muscles, and his chest was twice as big as the last time I saw him, two months ago. “Do you bench press cars in your free time?”

It wasn’t the best start to a conversation, but it was the only thing I could think of.

Kato huffed out a sigh, “why are you here, Nova?”

“Can’t a sister visit her brother?”

“Not on a Friday.”

Damnit. So much for the days blending together. I came here for a reason, but I couldn’t exactly blurt out that Snake was lying, or risk telling him the truth. My brother would be pissed and give me an angry talking to. This Kato was more likely to break out of prison and snap Gio’s neck. I had to ease into it.

“They added another visiting day.” I thought it was believable.

Kato did not.

“No they didn’t.”

“Yes they did.” I insisted.

It was harder for someone to argue your lie if you stuck with it.

“Okay,” he swung his eyes around the room. “Then why are we here?”

“The visiting room was full.” I was a bit proud of that explanation. I didn’t even have to think about it.

“This is the west wing, Nova. It’s been closed for ten years.”

I thought it was a little dusty in here. “They must’ve reopened it.”

He didn’t know. Things were reopened all the time. Like the pizza place that gave a bunch of people food poisoning. They had their grand reopening last week. They closed two days later, but they still reopened.

His brow pulled up in an arch that I recognized. It was the same ‘do you really expect me to believe that’ look I’d gotten many times over the years. Maybe my brother was still in there.

“Why would they reopen it?”

“I don’t know.” Did I look like prison personal to him? “For someone who is told where to go every day, you’re getting awfully hung up on a room.”

“They pulled me out of solitary for this.”

Yeah, that was grounds for suspicion, and also made me a little scared about the reach of Cesare Mancini. But it was also easy to turn around onto Kato.

“Why were you in solitary?” Who was the troublemaker now?

“Ask your boyfriend.”

That comment caught me off guard.

I snorted, tsked, huffed, sighed, snorted again, then gave Kato a look like he was dumb. “I don’t have a boyfriend.”

It wasn’t my best performance, and it didn’t improve when my brother reached in the pocket of his grey jumpsuit and slapped something down on the table. That’s when my heart dropped into my stomach.

Sitting there in perfect HD color was a picture of Gio kissing me in the school parking lot. It was the same day that Atlee’s sister kissed me and I met Snake at Quackwater. I was definitely going to use that number he gave me now. Snake the douche was going to get an earful, but first I had to do damage control.

Waving my hand, I sat back and acted dismissive. “That’s not what it looks like.”

I didn’t know what I was going to tell him it was, but denial seemed like the first step.

“Really? Because it looks like you’re kissing Gio Mancini.”

“That picture is too blurry to make anything out.”

It wasn’t blurry at all. In fact it was the most crystal clear picture I’d ever seen. I could even see the safety pin on my skirt.

“I expect you to act out. Veda was a fucking nightmare at your age. But this…” he jabbed his finger down on the picture. “This is the brother of the man who raped our sister!”

“That doesn’t mean he’s a bad person.” Wait… did I just defend Gio? Ugh, I was going to have to wash my mouth out when I got home.

Kato hung his head, pinched the bridge of his nose, sucked in a breath and sighed, “all the Mancini’s are bad people, you think I can’t see that bruise on your face under all that make-up?” The fire burning in his blue eyes had turned into an inferno when he looked back up at me. “I’ll fucking kill him for that.”

“That wasn’t Gio.”

“Don’t lie to me Nova, I can see how aggressive he is in this picture.”

Okay, so Gio did seem handsy, and kind of feral, maybe a little angry, but I wasn’t lying.

“Enough with the picture. It’s not what you think.” I panicked and blurted out, “I lost a bet.”

“You lost a bet?”

“Yeah.” It seemed plausible so I went with it.

“A bet to kiss Gio Mancini?”

“Yes.”

“Alright,” Kato said. “So, why did you get in the car with him after?”

How much did Snake tell him? Did the creep sit back and watch the whole thing? Did he take pictures of it? Oh God, did he send them to my brother?

“That depends,” I did my best not to look suspicious. “Do you have pictures of that so-called incident?”

“If I did, what would I see?”

That was a no. There were some things that scarred you for life. If Kato had seen what Gio and I did in his Range Rover that morning, he would still be throwing up. I walked in on Kato making out with one of his girlfriend’s three years ago and still wanted to scrub my eyes clean.

“You would see nothing, because that’s what happened. It was stupid bet.”

Kato didn’t give me so much as a twitch in response, which only made me more nervous. And when I was nervous, I talked.

“You can’t get mad at me for losing a bet.”

Kato continued to stare.

“It wasn’t like I chose the guy.”

He smacked his lips together.

“We go to the same school you know.”

Kato sucked in a breath through his nose and re crossed his arms.

“As if I would ever want to kiss Gio Mancini. Ugh.” My lip curled. “Eww. Atlee has way softer lips.”

I stopped cold as Kato tipped his head.

“Atlee? As in Atlee Fiore?”

Damn my mouth.

“How do you know that Atlee’s lips are softer?”

Yeah, I kinda dug myself in a hole with that one. “That really isn’t what it sounded like. I only kissed Atlee to piss off…” I quickly choked back Gio’s name and cleared my throat. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is that it’s not what it looks like.”

Now that we had that cleared up…

“I talked to Veda.”

Fuck.

Stupid Veda and her big mouth. “Veda doesn’t know what she’s talking about. She barely leaves the house.”

“Because Atlas Mancini raped her!”

“I know. I was there.” They all seemed to forget that. It didn’t just happen to Veda, it happened to all of us, including me. I was the casualty left behind.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Nova?”

“Apparently I’m losing my ability to argue.” Now I was going to have to make up some ridiculous story to argue with Memphis about.

Kato braced his elbow on the table, pointed his ‘I’m being serious finger’ and demanded, “Whatever deal you made, get out of it now.”

“I didn’t make a deal.”

“Don’t bullshit me. I know exactly what you did.” I was getting flashbacks to the time I stole his beer and drank it in the woods. “What the fuck were you thinking?”

“Oh, I don’t know, Kato. Maybe that I wanted my brother to survive long enough to get out of here.”

“That is not your problem.”

“Of course it is.” I snapped back at him. “Do you think it’s easy for me to sit back and watch you get tortured? I don’t recognize you anymore, Kato. I had to do something before you disappeared completely.”

Kato’s eyes softened and for the first time since I stepped in this room, I saw my brother looking back at me. “I don’t need you to take care of me, Nova. I’m supposed to take care of you.”

“Well, you can’t. You took care of Veda, and now I’m all alone.”

None of this was Veda’s fault. I didn’t blame her or Kato, I just wanted them back. I lost them both that night.

“Nova,” Kato grabbed my hand and let out a breath. “I know I fucked everything up. If I could go back and change it, I would. The last thing I want is for you to pay for my mistake. Stay away from the Mancini’s.”

This was the first time in two years that I had seen my brother without some kind of injury. His face was clear of bruises, there was no swelling or dried blood. He was in one piece and safe. I would trade my soul to keep it that way.

“End this deal.” Kato insisted.

I looked him in the eyes and said, “no.”

“Goddamnit, Nova!” He slammed his fist down on the table, causing the picture to jump as the table legs screeched on the cement floor. “I won’t let you do this.”

“It’s done.”

“You’re seventeen.” He shook his head. “You cannot make these kinds of decisions.”

“You’re in prison, Veda’s gone. I’m the only one left to make decisions, Kato.”

“I’ll tell Maw Maw.”

That was a valid threat, except…

“She won’t believe you. Gio can play the perfect angel when he wants.” I rolled my eyes, “trust me.”

Help clean up one church yard and suddenly you’re a hero.

“I won’t let Gio hurt you.”

“But you expect me to let him hurt you?”

“Yes.” Kato nodded. “I can handle it.”

“So can I.”

“You don’t deserve this.”

I crossed my arms. “Neither do you.”

What other arguments did he have?

“Nova.”

“Kato.”

“I forbid it.” He said with a firm point.

Really? “When has forbidding me to do anything ever worked?”

He should know me better than that.

“Why are you so stubborn?”

“Gee I wonder who I got that from?” I looked right at him.

We sat in silence staring at each other for a few minutes before Kato took a deep inhale and calmed his voice. “Fine. You do what you think you need to.”

I didn’t like the look in his eye. “What are you up to?”

“Do you remember what I told you would happen if you ever dated someone I didn’t approve of?”

“Yeah, you said that you would have your friends follow me around and harass…” I stopped and narrowed my glare on my brother. “You wouldn’t.”

“Oh, but I would.”

“If I see that scumbag Quincy following me around…”

“Why would I call Quincy when I have other friends, like Snake.” His eyes locked on mine. “You met him, didn’t you?”

Fuck this. That was not going to happen.

Before I could say anything there was a loud knock on the door, and it swung open.

“Time’s up.” Stick in the mud Guard called.

Kato smiled at me. “Thanks for the visit sis.”

“Kato.” I warned.

“Let’s go.” The guard yelled.

The smile on my brother's face grew. “Give Maw Maw and Veda a kiss for me.”