Chapter 7: Think back

"She tells me you're quite the intellect"

"She did?"

"She's trying to get by in her academics, I was hoping you would help her step up"

I wondered what else she was telling about me and why getting a tutor wasn't an option. Helping Konstante was a risk that wasn't worth taking.

"I'm a little preoccupied"

"It's okay"

I skipped dinner and we stayed out of people's earshot, Konstante looked dismal and Emma was the only one who could put it to her gently.

"I don't think I'm ready to face him, I don't want to"

"Why, the fate of the world is in your hands"

Quinn pushed her back with a grim stare.

"Think of it as getting him out of your system"

"I can't believe you came here to ask for that"

"We can't ask our 'friend' for favors or what?"

"Stop," I said to Emma and faced Konstante.

"We need this"

"If it's that severe I guess you can ask him yourselves"

"We already tried that"

Konstante held Diamond's paws when she wanted her affection.

"I owe you one but one last favor"

"Then you'll leave, again. The answer is no"

"What are you three talking about?"

"Uh...there's four of us" Emma retorted with the same tone at the disrespectful little brat.

Pietro marched to us and his eyes moved over our faces except Konstante's.

"I see only three of you."

Konstante turned dark and he flinched when she shoved him.

"It's none of your business"

He scoffed "Oh yeah? What's this about Register, what are you up to!?"

She stepped back and took my arm "I'm going back to him"

Diamond howled picking up the tension and fussing.

He squinted his eyes "Just as you should, you don't belong here, you're not Giordana and you are not my sister!"

"If that's fine with you"

Pietro growled while we were leaving "So you're going anyway!? Konstante!"

I hurried after her to the exterior and she steamed walking toward the gate.

He stopped by the end of the steps. "I'm telling dad!"

***

She flipped her hat over her head and her glasses. Then she passed Quinn the leash

"Watch over Diamond for me"

She crossed the street to the police department while Diamond howled in protest, Quinn passed me the leash and that set her off dragging and pulling to get to them.

I struggled with her and Emma looked skeptical when he said something to her and Konstante slowly took off her hat and glasses passing them to him while she hunched walking inside.

***

The place seemed to swirl as she walked through the entrance, her adrenaline pumping, her visions were foggy and she could hear her heart beating fast when she reached the counter and the same cop tapped his pen on the surface.

The door opened and she nodded and stepped into the room with empty tables and several windows around every corner.

She sat back six feet from him on a large desk with his hands cuffed, he still had that rough hair and looked laden with an eye patch on prison orange.

She almost laughed at the irony, he was scrawny from the harsh setting and she was well taken care of.

He sat up sharply roaring and she stood back from her chair staring at the cop, he leaned on the doorway with a baton hanging by his belt.

She sat back with her hands clasped together and his one good eye on her, his face contorted as he grinned, no canines, just regular blunt teeth with plaques.

"You look nice"

"I don't understand, you used to look nasty, what happened? Did your fairy godmother visit you? Ask you to come over and tell me to set aside our differences?

He taunted her and she hunched in her seat, the door was behind her, her leg shifted and his eye lowered.

"If you wanted me back, you coulda just say so, I treated you better"

She pulled out a bottle and his eye flickered.

"This is the same bottle you left behind at home, do you care to explain why it was filled with that serum?"

"Your little friends put you up to this, didn't they?"

She pulled out a knife from the cop's view and his hands fell flat on the desk.

"I didn't need a knife to hurt you then" He said with longing.

"Now you do, but you can't."

His contorted face relaxed and he sat back "You're barking up the wrong tree"

"Who did you get this from, any hints at least?"

"Why don't you crawl back up into your little Sty while they fatten you up you pig?"

"Are you furious?"

"I'm not telling you anything, you've got a bottle and a knife"

"You mean yours" She pulled out the blade from the case.

"Are you wearing wires? You've got wires on you, she's got a knife!"

He pushed himself up and the cop pulled out a gun, he crouched facing her squarely.

Konstante bent the rubber knife and squeezed the plush toy bottle.

"Cut to the chase, you can't pin this on me"

"I'm going to love this. My mind was a little cloudy and it's dark, there are four guys in this murky place and a little light bulb, it's flashing when I step in.

I wonder what the mafia gimmick's for but I want a bottle, I don't see their faces clearly because they're backed to the light bulb but this one person who's not hiding sells it to me, and hey, what the heck, it's highway robbery with that stupid price and I get kicked to the curb, I'm planning on getting back at you because you're not working enough shifts to_"

"Answer the question"

"Sheesh, you've grown a nerve. I have a clue to remember this rascal by, never thought I'd see him again...he owes me forty-five dollars" He shook his head in deep thought.

"You got a piece of paper?" He asked.