Luca
When the cell door slammed behind me, I was overcome with emotion. I had fully expected to leave the courthouse today with Charlotte, and instead, I had had to watch as the light drained from her eyes as the fear and panic set in. We hadn't had much of an opportunity to talk, and I knew she probably had a million questions. There was so much that needed to be done in my absence. The kids needed answers. There was money to move and accounts to close and men to inform and all kinds of other things. And I had left Charlotte to deal with it all. Marco would help her, but I knew Charlotte, and she was never all that accepting of help.
The judge denying us bail made absolutely no sense, unless she was in on the conspiracy herself. It seemed Angelo and I were being framed from deep inside the New York police department, and this was going to be a difficult battle. I knew Angelo was being held here, too, but they made sure to keep us far apart.
I had seen him briefly at the courthouse, but they hadn't even transported us together, intentionally keeping us separate so we couldn't plan anything. I was in solitary confinement for now, which meant that I was only let out of my cell for an hour a day. I rarely saw another inmate, which was probably for the best. I had rubbed elbows with many of these guys on the outside in one way or another and wasn't exactly friendly with any of them. A lot of the lower level gang members hated mafias and the way we monopolized the city at a level they could never infiltrate and I was sure any number of them would take their shot at me if they could.
The protection part of solitary was nice, but the rest of it was miserable. All I could do was sit here and think about how much I had fucked up and all the ways my family was suffering because of my mistakes. It reminded me so much of when I had been at Niko's. That situation had ended up okay, but I wasn't so sure this time. The corruption went so deep here that I didn't know if there was any way at all for the truth to come out.
I hadn't been surprised to see Layla's cop friend in the courtroom. Everything about their relationship was fishy to me, and I should have been more persistent about it from the beginning. She would be completely crushed when she found out the truth, knowing she'd been used all along. It was a terrible feeling and the very last thing I wanted was for her to blame herself for this. There was much more to it than some low-level call boy like Hunter. He certainly hadn't helped things, but he wasn't the cause of all of this.
I wasn't exactly sure who was.
Axel was always shady, but I didn't think he'd sink so low to help the cops put me away. It could be Whittaker. He was Charlotte's boss, after all. But that didn't make much sense either. He didn't have anything to gain by putting me away. He was retiring next year, so he wasn't even going for reelection. I wasn't sure who was behind it yet, but soon I'd find out, and when I did, that person didn't stand a chance.
I was only back in the cell for a little while when the door opened and a guard appeared.
"Catalano, let's go." He barked, motioning for me to stand up.
"Where are we going?" I asked. Were they moving me to general population?
"You'll find out soon enough." He slapped a pair of cuffs on my wrists and led me down the hallway and then down a set of stairs to the basement. I had no clue what was happening, but I had a terrible feeling about it. Something about this wasn't right.
When we finally got to the bottom, I realized we were in an empty storage room—one of the few places in the jail that there wouldn't be cameras.
There were three other inmates I recognized from a local street gang that had a heavy presence in Rikers. We didn't interact with them much, but that was because we had mostly eradicated them from the larger area in the city. They only operated out a smaller section of New York that bordered New Jersey.
"What the fuck is this?" I turned to the guard.
He didn't even have time to answer before the three men jumped on top of me. Unable to get my hands out of the cuffs, I fell to my knees, and they started pummeling me. Punch and jab after punch and jab. It felt like they were coming from all directions, and I couldn't even figure out where to try to brace myself.
"I told you not the face." The guard spit. "I'll have to answer questions if he has bruises where other people can see."
The beating went on for another few minutes until I crumpled on the ground, unable to breathe. Even just laying here I could tell I had a few broken or cracked ribs, and I'd be lucky if that was the extent of it. My hands were still secure behind my back in the handcuffs. I hadn't been able to fend them off in the slightest. The leader of the three landed one last kick into my ribs and spit into my face. "Things are different on the inside, Catalano. You're on our turf now, and you better learn the rules."
"Get this mess cleaned up." The guard ordered, gesturing to my blood that was pooling all over the floor.
He grabbed hold of the cuffs and ripped me to my feet. The entire time he led me back to my cell, I was trying to catch my breath. When we go there, he threw me inside and slammed the barred door shut.
"My ribs are broken." I said. "I'm going to need to see a nurse."
The guard burst out laughing. "Good one. Better rest up, there's plenty more of that coming in general pop."
"They're moving me?"
"By dinner. Can't be giving a mafia don special privileges now, can we?" He snickered and disappeared down the hallway. It was one thing to deal with vindictive inmates, but now I knew the guards were in on it, too. The only person I had watching my back in here was me and I couldn't ever forget that.
Charlotte
I stayed in the garage just sitting in my car for nearly an hour when I got home. After the arraignment, I felt like I was losing my mind. Stone hadn't been optimistic. I had expected him to reassure Marco and me, but he seemed bewildered himself. He had been given the evidence that the state had against Luca and Angelo, and it wasn't good.
The bullets found in the girl matched the gun that was in our house and Luca still denied it was his gun. They had surveillance footage showing Luca and Angelo and going down under the bridge shortly after the girl. She had to have been killed just seconds before they got there. They found Luca's DNA on the girl. The most incriminating thing of all were multiple witnesses who claimed they saw Luca shoot her. It made me nauseous thinking about how bad this all looked. If it was anyone other than my husband, I would have said they were guilty.
I was doing everything I could to push my doubts down, but it was getting harder and harder to do. There was just too much. It couldn't all be fabricated. And I was scared to say that outlaid to anyone.
My phone started ringing, and I pulled it out of my purse. Layla's name flashed on the screen.
"Hi Layla." I answered, trying not to let her know how defeated I was feeling.
"Mom, Reggie just got here and told me about Hunter." Her voice broke with emotion. "Mom, I'm so sorry."
I knew this call was coming the second he said he was sending someone to Layla. "Sweetheart, this has nothing to do with you. You have nothing to be sorry for."
"Of course I do!" She cried. "Dad is in jail because of me."
"Layla, this is not your fault. You father is in jail because of something he got himself involved in years ago. Everything is going to be okay, I promise."
"You don't believe that. I can hear it in your voice."
"I do. I promise everything is going to be okay." I insisted. "I'm just tired. It's been a long day. Court didn't go how we wanted it to this morning, and I have a lot of things I have to do to help Uncle Marco."
"I should come home. I'm coming home. I can help with whatever you need."
"No, you need to stay there. You have classes, and that's what you need to focus on right now. I promise I will call you as soon as I know anything."
"Are you sure?" She asked.
"I'm positive, Layla. Please. I need you to stay. I need for things to continue on as normal as much as we can. You know that's what you dad would want."
"God, he probably hates me. I really thought that Hunter liked me."
"I know, baby. And I'm sorry. Dad doesn't hate you, I promise you that."
"Can we go see him?"
"I'm going to go tomorrow and I'll find out if you guys can come."
"Will you tell him I love him? And that I'm sorry."
"Yes, I will." I said. "I'll call you tomorrow, okay? I love you."
"I love you too, mom."
I hung up with Layla and headed inside. What I told her was true. I needed everything to be as normal as possible around here for our kids. As distracted as I was, I needed to pull myself together and help them through this.