Clearing my throat, I take a different direction. Gigi had spoken of people breaking into her house in the diary entries due to John’s gambling habits, and Nana had said in passing before that her father liked to gamble.
“My Nana mentioned before that he liked to gamble. Maybe he owed some people money, and when he couldn’t pay up, they went after Gigi?”
Mark nods his head thoughtfully. “John was known to have really bad gambling habits. They almost lost Parsons Manor at one point because of it. The only reason they didn’t was because Gigi came up with the money to pay off the mortgage and property tax,” he explains.
I tighten my lips. According to her diary, Ronaldo paid off their overdue bills, but the excuse Gigi spun was that she borrowed it from one of her girlfriends. John wanted to know who, but she refused to tell and it caused a fight considering John was a typical man back then with pride and an ego.
But from what I gleaned from the entries, I can’t be sure if Ronaldo ever paid off John’s debts. He had mentioned he’d take care of it, but when the righthand man for the mafia says those words, that can mean a number of things.
Maybe he killed the people instead and gained Gigi enemies by doing so.
Jesus, it really is like time repeating itself if that’s the case.
“Then how did he pay off the men he owed?”
Mark finishes off his drink before refilling. “You know, now that I think about it, I remember overhearing a particular conversation. My father told him that he needed to quit with the gambling, and John wasn’t listening. He said one of the men he owed was Angelo Salvatore—who was a pretty notorious crime lord back in the day. But turns out Angelo’s righthand man, Ronaldo, convinced Angelo to hire John instead.”
It takes monumental effort to keep my eyes from blowing wide. John was working for Ronaldo’s boss? There’s no way Gigi knew about it. I imagine that’s something she would’ve mentioned if she had.
“Why would he hire him? Why not just kill him?”
“He almost did,” Mark counters. He then opens a drawer in his desk and pulls out a cigar. Lighting the tobacco, Mark leans back in his chair, the leather creaking beneath his weight. A woodsy scent fills the air as he puffs.
“I’ll never forget the way my father ripped into him over it. Calling him names and telling him he could’ve gotten himself killed. John said Angelo had a gun to his head, ready to pull the trigger before Ronaldo stepped in. Said the man asked Angelo to consider hiring John to pay off his debts by working for him instead.” Mark sucks in deeply and then coughs a few times as smoke puffs from his mouth. “Guess it worked.”
So, Ronaldo saved John’s life. I don’t need to have been there to know he only did it for Gigi. But it’s not like he could’ve told Angelo his real reasons for bartering John’s life, which means John had to have been useful in some form—that would’ve been too risky of a move otherwise, and possibly could’ve gotten him killed if John wasn’t valuable.
“Do you know what he did for Angelo?”
Mark’s brows raise, and a small smile curls his lips. Almost as if he finds my question amusing. “John was an accountant back then. Real good with numbers. Pretty sure he helped Angelo launder his money, but that was never proven.”
I blink. “If he was so good with numbers and money, why did he suck so bad with gambling? The man could’ve just counted cards or something.”
Mark bursts out into laughter, his plump stomach shaking. “You’re a funny girl, Addie. You’re right, I think if John was in his right mind when he played, he might’ve won big. But he couldn’t stop with the drinking. Angelo told John he didn’t give a shit what he did in his free time, but if he showed up to work drunk and fucked with his money, he was a dead man.”
I frown. I can’t imagine Angelo would target Gigi if John messed up, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t do something else to piss off the mob boss.
The possibilities are endless on the ways John could’ve gotten Gigi killed.
“Wasn’t this something Frank told the detectives since he believed John was guilty? They didn’t look into this?”
He huffs out a dry laugh. “You ever try to pin a crime on a mob boss? Not that easy, kiddo. They got all kinds of people in their pockets. It was dropped due to a lack of evidence. If you want my opinion, I think John got a taste for the danger, and whether it’s because Gigi was having an affair or because she wanted to leave John, he snapped and killed her.”