Ryder

 

Ryder was jittery, his fingers trembling a little as he poured the wine for himself and his mother. “That enough?” he asked, looking up at his mother, who gestured for him to keep going.

 

“It’s been a hard week,” she explained with a tight, unattractive smile. She looked tanner than the day before, with more wrinkles. Ryder wondered if she’d made a stop at the tanning salon after his dad’s funeral. It wouldn’t exactly surprise him, given his mother’s usual priorities.

 

“Tell me about it,” Ryder said, sliding into a seat across from his mom. “Really, I’d like to know. Has it been hard readjusting with Giovanni in charge?”

 

Mama Rainieri took a large gulp from her wine before answering. “It hasn’t been the easier transition in the world, no,” she admitted, licking her lips before taking another sip of wine. “Giovanni’s a temperamental fellow, you know; he always has been. But I know how to rein him in.”

 

Ryder wasn’t so sure of that, thinking back on the deals with the underage girls that he’d discovered with Adriana, but for his mother’s sake, he nodded and smiled. “Of course. You know, I’ve just been worried about you, that’s all.”

 

“Why’s that?” his mother asked, furrowing her brows together in confusion.

 

Ryder felt a little pang of guilt at that. He knew he wasn’t the best son in the world, but it hurt to realize that his mother didn’t expect him to care about her. Then again, she didn’t really deserve it now, did she?

 

“I just know that you’ve been through a lot this year,” Ryder said after sipping a little of his wine. He wanted to keep his head, though, so he wouldn’t drink much more. The wine was for his mother’s benefit, making sure she got loose enough to start talking about her more secretive business deals.

 

“Every year, really,” his mother said, drinking more wine until her glass was practically empty. She reached across the table to pour herself some more from the bottle. “But you’re right. This year has been particularly busy.”

 

“And really hard, emotionally, too, I imagine.”

 

“Why’s that?”

 

“Well, losing Dad, of course, but then the other older guys who have passed away this year. Bobby. Old Tommy. You know, a couple others that I’ve heard through the grapevine died recently,” Ryder explained, keeping his tone light and casual so that his mother wouldn’t get suspicious.

 

His mother was silent for a moment, though, staring at him like she was sizing him up. Ryder met her gaze as confidently as he could, keeping a soft smile on his face to compensate for the fact that his heart was thundering in his chest like a stallion, adrenaline flooding his body as his mother looked at him with some mixture of hope and suspicion in her eyes.

 

Finally, she cleared her throat and downed her second glass of wine. “Mm, this is good,” she murmured, pouring herself a third glass. Ryder smirked to himself when his mother wasn’t looking. He knew he could count on his mom’s trusty old alcoholism to pull through.

 

Yuri appeared a moment later, placing fancy plates of pasta and chicken on the table, along with a side salad for each of them. “Thank you, Yuri,” Ryder said, nodding at his servant to go back into the kitchen and leave them in privacy.

 

“How have you been doing finding replacements for the people we’ve lost over the past year?” Ryder asked, bringing the conversation back around to the men his mother had indirectly killed.

 

Mama Rainieri shrugged, taking another deep drink of wine before beginning to pick fussily at her side salad. “You know, that part wasn’t very difficult. I was prepared for it.”

 

“Oh, yeah? Were Tommy and the rest in poor health before they went?”

 

Mrs. Rainieri paused, her fork frozen in midair as she looked back over at her son, making tiny beads of sweat pop up at the back of Ryder’s neck as he tried to look as unassuming as possible. “All right. Who told you?”

 

Panic sparked inside of Ryder’s chest, but he kept his cool as best as he could, shrugging as he said, “About Tommy going? I don’t know, I think Giovanni might have texted me the news a couple months ago…”

 

“No, that’s not what I mean,” Mrs. Rainieri said, putting her fork down and reaching over to finish her third glass of wine in just a manner of minutes.

 

“What do you mean?” Ryder asked, forcing a confused look on his face.

 

“The hits!” Mrs. Rainieri said, raising her voice as she got to her feet. Ryder was a little nervous that she was about to flee from his apartment entirely, but she just walked around the table to grab the wine bottle, pouring out the rest of its contents into her glass, even though her speech was already starting to slur a little bit. “The hits I called on Tommy and Bobby and Sal and the rest.”

 

Ryder felt his heart stutter in his chest, probably letting his genuine shock slip onto his face. “Uh, Ma…” He trailed off, unsure of what to say.

 

“Was it that little whore? Adriana?” Mrs. Rainieri said Adriana’s name in a lilting, mocking tone of voice before she cackled and finished off the wine, going over to the counter by the mantelpiece to grab another full bottle. “You want some of this?”

 

“Sure,” Ryder said, putting his nearly full glass out so his mother could mix in some of the new wine. She was continuing to talk to him. That was good. It would be best if he had as much information as possible to use against his mother.

 

“It was that little bitch. Had to be. I bet Giovanni told her,” his mother spat out as she drank more wine, shaking her head in disappointment towards her younger son.

 

“So Giovanni was involved…?” Ryder said slowly, encouraging his mother to go on.

 

“Of course, of course,” Mama Rainieri said, waving her hand dismissively. “Giovanni and I made sure we got rid of the problem people, if you know what I mean.”

 

“Tommy and Sal and Bobby and Harry?” Ryder prompted her.

 

His mother nodded. “Yep. All those useless old codgers. You know, for thirty fucking years, I ran the show, and they all worshipped your idiot father instead. No disrespect to the dead, of course.” She waved her glass in the air as if she was addressing some ghosts in the room.

 

“They never respected you? Is that why you had them killed?” Ryder asked, tasting the coppery flavor of his own blood in his mouth as fear and excitement built even higher inside of him.

 

“Yes. Well, that was part of it.” Mama Rainieri leaned forward in her seat, so she was closer to Ryder. It seemed like she was excited or maybe even relieved at finally having the opportunity to talk to him. Again, he felt a little guilty about that, but it was hard to feel sorrowful for long when he remembered the extent of his mother’s actions. “They always treated me like I was this stupid bimbo, you know, who got lucky by getting knocked up with you. That wasn’t it. They never understood that Paolo was nothing without me. Where would he be if I hadn’t driven him, if I hadn’t led him to where he needed to go? Huh? Nowhere! Fucking nowhere! The Rainieri name would mean nothing if it weren’t for me. But none of them realize that.”

 

Despite everything, despite his loyalty to his father, to Adriana, to the legacy of his family, he felt heavy in his heart, which ached for his mother, his poor, drunk, foolish mother who thought she’d finally won. It was tragic, in a way, recording her like this when she finally trusted him enough to tell him the truth.

 

“But they were in the way, right? It wasn’t just a pissing match with those old fuckers, was it?” Ryder prompted his mother to continue.

 

“Right,” Mama Rainieri replied, pouring herself yet another drink, even though she was swaying back and forth in her seat like a toddler. “I knew that once… once Paolo was gone, they wouldn’t back Giovanni. Or you, really. They’d want to take over for themselves. And then what, huh? They’d have run the Rainieri business into the ground with their stupid ideas and their weak little limitations.”

 

“You knew Dad was going to die?” Ryder asked. He almost didn’t want the answer. It would be simpler, easier if Adriana were wrong. If it was all just some terrible coincidence, an awful turn of events that nobody could have foreseen or predicted. But the truth was rarely as merciful as fantasy. And Ryder had to know the truth.

 

Mama Rainieri paused, looking up at him with something like fear in her eyes, if a woman like her was even capable of fear. “I had a suspicion,” she whispered.

 

“Why?”

 

His mother hesitated, opening her mouth and then closing it a few times in quick succession before she finally sighed and pressed her head into her hands. “I’m so sorry, honey,” she whispered.

 

Ryder felt his heart fall into his stomach, his eyes falling shut by themselves as he let the truth sink into him. His mother had his father killed. The two people he was supposed to trust most in the world had hated each other and driven each other to insanity. It was a lot to take in, even though Adriana had warned him about it.

 

“I should have been able to stop it,” Mama Rainieri uttered the next moment, tearing Ryder back out of his thoughts.

 

“What? You mean, you didn’t…?” Ryder trailed off, incapable of saying the words out loud, though he knew it was probably crucial to do so for the sake of his mother’s official confession.

 

“Of course not!” his mother yelled. “I loved your father. I never could’ve…” She sighed and shook her head, steeling herself before she pushed the words out. “I never would’ve hurt him, let alone kill him. But I knew that Giovanni was upset. He got a peek at the will that your dad had drawn up, and he just went ballistic. Sometimes I think that your dad put you as the heir just as insurance so that Giovanni wouldn’t have an incentive to kill him and inherit the business.” Mama Rainieri paused, shaking her head sadly again. “I should’ve stopped it.”

 

“So it was Giovanni? Giovanni killed Paolo? You’re sure?”

 

“I think so,” his mother whispered, rubbing her forehead a few times. “He was just so mad, and I saw him go into your dad’s office when he thought I wasn’t looking, holding coffee and a gun. At the time, I thought he was just going to see his dad before doing a mission with his boys. But I realized later… he made your father drink the poison that killed him. I’m sure of it.”

 

Ryder felt a surge of anger explode inside of him, forcing him out of his seat until he was standing over his mother, glaring down at her with all the fire that burned inside of him. “Then why the hell would you put Giovanni in charge of the company?”

 

“What other choice did I have?” Mama Rainieri blinked rapidly as she battled to fight back the tears that had pooled into her eyes. “He threatened to have you killed if I didn’t support him, and anyways, I know that Giovanni will never be happy unless he’s in control. He isn’t like you. He’s like me.”

 

“Stop with the bullshit!” Ryder yelled, no longer having any patience with his mother’s crying fit. “You’re manipulating me, and I’m not going to fucking fall for it. You had men killed so that the top people in the organization would support Giovanni. You want him in charge, not me. Don’t act like you’re some innocent flower who just got caught up in this mess.”

 

His mother nodded and sniffled, straightening up until she was at her full height, nearly as tall as Ryder, looking him directly in the eyes. “You’re right. It’s my fault. I created him. I set him loose in the world. I just thought that if I gave him what he wanted, if I kept a watch on him, I could keep him under control. I could make him into something better, something stronger. Like I did with your father.”

 

“You’re evil,” Ryder spat at his mom, feeling the righteous burning fire of fury continue to consume any emotions he still held for his mother. “You murdered innocent men, men who were the best friends of my father, and then you let my father get killed, all to preserve your own power. You’re sick.”

 

“Maybe,” Mrs. Rainieri said, smiling sadly up at her son. “But I’m strong. I’ve survived. Who else can say that?”

 

“You’ve survived because you’ve killed other people. Say it. Admit it,” Ryder said harshly, staring into his mother’s eyes until she sighed, apparently relenting.

 

“With Giovanni’s help, I killed Tommy and Sal and Bobby and Harry. And your father. There. I admit it. Happy?” She finally let tears leak from her eyes.

 

He got it. It was on tape. Confirmed. After another few seconds of overwhelming anger, Ryder felt a little thrill go down his spine, the glow of victory descending over his head. He had to fight to keep a grin off his face so he wouldn’t betray his real intentions to his mother, but before he could come up with anything else to say, his phone rang, ripping him out of his thoughts.

 

Ryder pulled his phone out of his pocket, intending to just check who it was and then go back to talking to his mom, but he saw that it was Adriana’s number. That’s odd, he thought, feeling a little wave of anxiety crash over him. She knows what I’m doing right now. What could be so important to interrupt it? Maybe something happened to her dad?

 

“I have to take this,” he told his mom, no longer particularly concerned with good manners after his mother’s confession. “Hey, what’s up?” he said after answering the call.

 

“Ryder! Ryder, okay, you have to help me, you have to—” Adriana stuttered into his ear, her voice filled with panic and terror.

 

“Adriana, what is it? Calm down, honey. Tell me what’s happened,” Ryder said slowly, walking away from the table and grabbing his coat off the back of his couch. He heard his mother start to follow him into the living room, but at this point, he didn’t really care. He got what he needed from her.

 

“Giovanni! It’s Giovanni. H-he came to my apartment, about an hour after you left and he made me come with him, and he just stopped to get gas, and he doesn’t know I’m calling you, but I’m on Oak road, okay? And I think we’re heading for the compound. Please, come here, please come get me, Ryder, I need you, I need—oh, God, he’s coming back, okay, I have to go, please, never forget me, please, goodbye.”

 

“Adriana! Wait, Adriana!” Ryder called out, but she already dropped the call, leaving him with static.

 

“What’s going on?” his mother asked, tapping him on the shoulder until he turned around to look at her.

 

“Your precious, perfect son,” Ryder spat at her, all of his fury from before returning tenfold. “He’s going to kill Adriana, just like you taught him.”

 

“Wait, wait, Ryder, I’m sorry! I’m sorry, okay? Let me help,” Mama Rainieri said, stumbling on her way to grab her coat.

 

“No.” Ryder opened his front door and headed out, yelling behind him so his mother could hear. “You’ve done enough damage today. Oh, and by the way, thanks for the confession. You might want to get out of the country while you still can.”

 

“What? Ryder!” his mother cried behind him, but by now he was dashing down the stairs, going as fast as he could to get to his car.

 

“Donnie,” he called out to his driver, who was waiting for him in front of the apartment complex. “Head for the compound. Go as fast as you can.”

 

I’m coming, Adriana, Ryder promised silently as he clambered into the car, which rushed off in the direction of the compound. I’m coming.