Chapter 6 - THE BOY WHO DIDN'T KNOW HE HAD BEEN THREATENED
Eli did not learn the details.
Not at nine.
Marin insisted.
Dominic agreed.
The school increased ordinary safety procedures.
Police handled the threat report.
No armed Varelli men followed the boy through recess.
Dominic offered.
Marin said no.
He listened.
That was becoming a pattern.
Eli only knew his mother had been frightened by “a difficult person.”
He asked:
“Did I do something?”
Marin crouched.
“No.”
“Then why are you scared?”
“Because adults sometimes try to use the people we love to make us do things.”
Eli thought.
“That's dumb.”
“Yes.”
Children remained efficient.
Then he looked at Dominic.
“You're the guy with all the cars.”
Dominic almost smiled.
“I suppose.”
“Mom says you're her boss.”
“No.”
Marin looked at him.
He corrected:
“Technically my mother employs her.”
Better.
Eli nodded.
“Do you have video games?”
Dominic stared.
“Somewhere.”
Eli looked disappointed.
Apparently organized-crime power had limitations.
Isabella liked him immediately.
Eli initially struggled to understand her communication board.
Then he invented his own system.
He brought index cards.
YES.
NO.
BORING.
SNACK.
Marin objected to BORING.
Isabella insisted it remain.
Two weeks later, Dominic entered the sitting room and found his mother pointing repeatedly at BORING while Gerard Bell's replacement attorney explained trust law.
May you like
Dominic laughed for almost a minute.
It was the first laughter the room had heard in months.
