The most surprising thing about getting the snot beaten out of me was the number of calls I had to make afterward. After I called Angelo to pick me up from Starbucks, I dialed Mia’s number. She was freaking out because I’d vanished into thin air at the casino and she couldn’t find Tommy after that either. It took a few minutes to reassure her that I was alright and I promised to see her later and explain everything in detail.
That reminded me that I’d left my car parked near the casino. Angelo suggested that I call one of the guys to meet up with us so I could give him my keys and have him drive the car back to my house, while Angelo took me to get my injuries looked at. I called Joey and he was more than happy to help out. What a great guy.
There were 15 missed calls from my mom, but I didn’t feel like dealing with that yet. I would see her when I got home anyway, so I didn’t see the point in calling her back.
It was raining outside when Angelo and I left the doctor’s office. I’d wanted to get checked out at a hospital, but my uncle insisted that I visit Dr. Greco, a local doctor who sometimes patched up members of our organization. I had a few broken bones but it didn’t look like I’d suffer from any long-term injuries. The doctor cleaned my wounds and gave me instructions on how often I needed to change my bandages before he sent me on my way.
“I still can’t believe Tommy turned you over to the Carusos.”
I scowled. “Yeah, I can’t believe it either. We’ve been friends for as long as I can remember. How could he do this to me?”
“Don’t worry. We already have a few guys out looking for him. Once we find him, we’ll make him talk,” Angelo said.
That didn’t do much to improve my mood. If one of my closest friends could turn on me like that, could I trust anyone? People always said that they had your back, but could you ever be sure that they meant it? I quickly shut down that line of thinking. Getting paranoid wouldn’t do me any good. Just because one person had let me down didn’t mean that I should assume that everyone would.
It was a few minutes past 8 AM when Angelo dropped me off at my house. I called Harry Xtreme during the drive over to let him know that I’d been in an accident and someone else from Divine Protection would be covering for me until I recovered. He didn’t manage to get many details out of me about the nature of my “accident” but he still seemed concerned and wished for me to get well soon.
The front door of my house loomed in front of me. I’d been dreading this moment. Mom was going to flip out when she saw me, which was understandable since I looked like a bear had mauled me. There was no way to shrug off my appearance, but I’d already spent some time on the ride home planning out what I’d say when I saw her. She was waiting in the living room when I came in.
“Where have you been? Do you have any idea how worried-” She froze when she finally got a good look at me. “Oh my god! What happened to your face?”
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” I lied. “Some guys mugged me last night. I went to the hospital afterward, but there was a long wait time before someone was able to see me. I would’ve called you, but my phone died. Sorry to worry you.”
Mom stared at me hard. “Your phone died? Couldn’t you have asked to borrow someone else’s phone? Don’t hospitals still have payphones in them? Why didn’t you use one of those?”
I shrugged. “I didn’t think about any of that. I was pretty out of it at the time.”
“Are you sure there’s nothing else that you want to tell me?” She said.
“Um… no, nothing else comes to mind. I think I’m going to head upstairs and get some sleep. I feel exhausted.”
“Domenico, can you tell me what this is?” Mom said, holding something up.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end and I felt a chill run through me. Her hand was shaking as it held up the bag of the pills I kept hidden in my room. Tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Where did you get that?” I said.
“When you didn’t come home last night I was so scared. I called your friends and nobody knew where you were so I looked around your room to see if there were any clues about where you might be. That’s when I found this. I’m going to ask you again, what is this?” She said.
“Um.. that’s… uh, I’m just holding that for a friend?” I cursed myself for coming up with the worst excuse possible.
“Can you please stop lying to me? I’ve had enough!” Mom yelled. “What have you gotten yourself mixed up in? Talk to me!”
I took a big breath and gathered my courage. There was no way I could bullshit my way out of this. “Alright, I didn’t really get mugged. I mean, two guys did get the drop on me and beat me up but they didn’t do it because they wanted my money,” I said. “I’ve been working for Uncle Luca for the past couple of months and these guys were upset because we’ve been cutting into their drug business. I’m a gangster.”
Mom slapped me hard. I stared at her in shock. She’d never put her hands on me like that before.
“Get out of my house,” She sobbed. “I thought I raised you to know right from wrong. I don’t want to live with a drug dealer.”
“What? Where am I supposed to go?” I said. “Mom, please don’t do this?”
She turned away from me. “Leave! I can’t bear to look at you right now.”
I wanted to argue but I couldn’t think of anything I could say that would justify my actions to her. I quickly ran to my room, gathered up a few clothes, and walked back downstairs to say goodbye. She was crying in the bathroom and wouldn't respond when I tried to knock on the door. A lump formed in my throat as I left the house. Joey had left my car parked out front with the keys on the dashboard. I wiped the tears from my eyes and drove away even though I didn’t have a destination in mind.
The drive was a bit of a blur but I found myself standing in front of Mia’s apartment building. It was lucky for me that this was her day off from work. She buzzed me in and after a short elevator ride, we were standing face to face. Mia stared at me in wide-eyed horror.
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“Are you alright? You told me on the phone that it wasn’t that bad but you look like you got hit by a train!” She said, pulling me into a tight hug.
“I’ll be fine. The doctor said I should be fully recovered in a few weeks.” I said.
Mia grabbed my hand. “Come inside and tell me everything that happened. You barely gave me any details earlier.”
Her apartment was just as ridiculously clean as it always was. There wasn’t a speck of dust or dirt anywhere. She had a few pictures of her family around, but overall the decoration was pretty bare. The first time she invited me over I’d joked that it felt like she’d just moved into the apartment even though she’d been living here for a couple of years. I sat down and quickly gave her the same story I’d told my mom earlier about getting mugged by a couple of guys.
“I’m glad you got out of that alive. But it doesn’t feel like you’re being honest with me.”
“What do you mean? You see these injuries, don’t you? Why would I lie about this?”
“I don’t know. I hate to accuse you, especially when you’re hurt like this, but it feels like you’ve been keeping something from me for a while now. You’re always working at weird hours and taking calls in secret. Plus there’s the new car and the clothes.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“I’m just trying to tell you that if you’re mixed up in some kind of trouble, you don’t have to deal with it alone. I’m here for you and I don’t want to see you get hurt like this again.”
“I appreciate that, but you’re worrying over nothing. Like I told you before, I just got mugged. If I’ve been working ‘weird hours’, it’s just because the schedule of an influencer isn’t that predictable. I’ve been through a lot and I really don’t need this right now.”
Mia opened her mouth as if to say something and quickly closed it. “Alright. Sorry if it felt like I was grilling you.”
“No, it’s fine. I’ve just had a long night. Sorry for snapping at you,” I said. “Uh, would it be alright if I stayed here for a couple of days? Things at home are kind of awkward right now.”
“Of course. I’d love to have you around,” She smiled. “I was just about to go to the grocery store, but you can get some rest in the other room until I get back.”
“Thanks, you’re the best,” I said, giving her a peck on the lips.
“Yeah, I know,” Mia grinned. She grabbed her keys and gave me a wave before heading out.
I went to her bedroom and dropped my bag on the ground. My body felt completely worn out. I decided to take a quick shower before I went to sleep. She had a flower-scented body wash that smelled great. It felt good to get the grime and blood off me. After that, I collapsed on the bed and tried to get comfortable. No matter how much I tossed and turned, I couldn’t fall asleep.
This was the first chance I’d had to slow down and relax all day. The horrific scenes I’d witnessed at the butcher shop played in my head on a loop. Even after taking a shower, I felt as if I could still feel Rocco’s blood and guts all over me. The guttural cry that James made when I jabbed the butter knife into his eye reverberated through my mind. I’d never been a violent person. Fighting just wasn’t something that I did. It scared me to know what I was capable of when my back was against the law. There was no telling if either of those guys that I’d fought would be alright after what I’d done to them. I wanted to blame the system for my actions, but I knew that this was all me.
Everyone around me seemed concerned about me. They’d noticed a change in me and tried to bring it up in different ways. I wasn’t the same innocent college kid that I’d been just a few months ago.
I’d earned 500 XP when I’d escaped from the butcher’s shop. Add the 150 XP that I’d already had before that, and I had 650 XP saved up in total, which was more than I’d ever had at any given point. I assumed that was the reason why the system was presenting me with more choices than it ever had before.
* CAPTAIN COOK I: MASTER 1 NEW RECIPE TO COOK DRUGS. COST: 100 XP
* SHARPSHOOTER I: GRANTS BASIC GUN HANDLING SKILLS. PASSIVE ABILITY. COST: 200 XP
* STICKY FINGERS I: GRANTS BASIC PICKPOCKETING SKILLS. COST: 200 XP
* NINJA RUN I: GRANTS BASIC PARKOUR SKILLS. PASSIVE ABILITY. COST: 200 XP
* BACON SENSE I: SENSE THE PRESENCE OF POLICE OFFICERS WITHIN A ¼ MILE RADIUS. 1 MINUTE TIME LIMIT. 24 HOUR COOLDOWN. COST 300 XP
* TOUGH AS NAILS I: HEALING SPEED INCREASES BY 25%, +2 TO CONSTITUTION
* MEAN MUG II: INTIMIDATE SOMEONE INTO BENDING TO YOUR WILL. 50% CHANCE OF SUCCESS. 2 MINUTE TIME LIMIT. 24 HOUR COOLDOWN. COST: 300 XP
* BRAWLER II: GRANTS INTERMEDIATE FIGHTING ABILITIES. PASSIVE ABILITY. COST: 300 XP
* SAFECRACKER II: GRANTS INTERMEDIATE LOCKPICKING SKILLS. PASSIVE ABILITY. COST: 300 XP
* SAFE HOUSE II: BECOME INVISIBLE TO POLICE OFFICERS FOR 2 MINUTES. 24 HOUR COOLDOWN. COST: 300 XP
It was good that I finally had the chance to upgrade some of the skills I’d already unlocked. Having Mean Mug become twice as reliable and last twice as long seemed like a no-brainer, so I immediately spent the 300 XP for that. Choosing how to spend the rest of my XP wasn’t as easy.
Wack stuff like Captain Cook, Sticky Fingers, and Ninja Run were ruled out quickly. Sharpshooter seemed like it could be useful now that things were getting tense between our gang and The Carusos, but I could probably learn the basics of handling a gun on my own in a day or two. Using XP for that felt like a waste. Bacon Sense was tempting. It would be great to have a warning about where the cops were when I was doing something illegal. I just wished that the range of this skill was a little bigger. That one got put in the “maybe” pile while I looked at the rest of my options.
Tough as Nails was another compelling choice. After the beatdown I’d just endured, there was nothing I wanted more than to heal up quickly. My earlier research about systems and litRPGs had taught me that constitution had something to do with your overall resilience. Being able to take harder hits in a fight and recover from injuries faster would be amazing. This jumped up to the top of my potential choices.
I wasn’t sure if this was the right time to upgrade Brawler to the second level. It wasn’t clear to me how big of an improvement “intermediate” fighting abilities would be over the “basic” abilities I already had. Plus, I might have had a fistfight in the butcher’s shop but that was just because the guys who kidnapped me hadn’t expected me to escape. I had a feeling that any future conflicts I had with The Carusos would probably involve guns and I wasn’t sure how useful the Brawler skill would be in a situation like that.
I hadn’t had a chance to use my Safecracker skill yet and already had buyer’s remorse, so it wouldn’t make much sense to upgrade it to the second level right now. It didn’t escape my attention that the second level of Safe House cut the cooldown in half, but I didn’t know how much value I could get from an extra minute of being invisible to cops. It wasn’t bad, but considering what I had to go through just to get this much XP it didn’t seem worth it to spend my XP on that.
After going over everything again, Tough as Nails appeared to be the clear winner. I spent 300 XP for it and watched my XP total drop down to 50. Usually, I didn’t feel anything when I unlocked a new skill, but this time was different. Maybe it was just in my head, but it felt like a warmth spread all over my body for a moment. When I looked down, my wounds were still there but they hurt just a little bit less. I wondered if I was able to feel the change this time because this skill was the first one that increased one of my stats.
It was too bad it couldn’t do anything about the pain I felt when I thought of how upset my mom had been with me. I hated the way she’d looked at me throughout that fight. The fact that she thought of me as a lowlife piece of shit felt even worse than when Ivan threw alcohol on my wounds.
But as bad as I felt, I wasn’t sure what I could do to fix things between us. It’s not like I could quit. I’d chosen this life and I was in too deep to just back out. The Carusos were putting pressure on our gang and they needed me now more than ever. Once things we were able to settle the situation with them and things quieted down again, I’d figure out a way to make things right with my mother. I told myself that she couldn’t stay mad at me forever.
“Yeah, everything will work out in the end,” I mumbled to myself as I drifted to sleep.