Genie loved the City.
She loved the lights, the cracked streetlights, the towers like rigid Yule trees, the distant flashes of a police car. She loved the sounds of it, of a stereo being played too loud, of some couple's argument, heard through a window left open on a hot summer night. She even kind of loved the smell of it, that weird mix of hot asphalt, spicy food and over-ripe trash.
The whole bright, crazy, dirty mess of it was so different from the antique streets of Windenburg where she's grown up. The Spice District was about as far from the stuffy elegance of her childhood as you could get. Sure, it wasn't the nicest neighborhood, but it wasn't that bad.
It wasn't like criminals were just randomly breaking into apartments, no matter what Representative Friend said on the news.
It was actually a shock to open her apartment door and find a man sitting on the couch, eating a sandwich. That, a moment later, she recognized him did nothing to reduce the shock.
"Uncle Max?" Genie gasped.
"Hey, Genie-bean," Uncle Max said cheerfully. "I let myself in. You know, your locks are shit. Hope you don't mind, I made myself a snack while I waited."
"What... where's Gabbie?" Genie stammered.
"Cute girl, short hair, glasses? She went out with some guy," Uncle Max replied. "I waited until she was gone. Wanted to talk to you in private."
Slowly, Genie made her way across the living room and gingerly took a seat on the couch next to him.
She hadn't seen Uncle Max in years. Her mother had made it clear that her younger brother wasn't welcome around the family. Even back then, Genie had heard the rumors... Max Villareal was a gangster. A dangerous man who had done horrible things. When she'd been younger, there had been a kind of dark appeal to it and to him.
Now, sitting in her apartment, the apartment he had just admitted to breaking into, he didn't seem appealing. He seemed frightening.
"What do you want?" Genie said, finding her voice and trying to put into it a confidence she didn't feel.
"I can't just check in with my favorite niece?" Max said smoothly. "Hey, how are the twins? They're in college now, right? And little Kassidy... not so little anymore. I bet she's driving Luna and Rohan crazy with her whole teen bohemian artist thing?"
He knew exactly what her younger sisters were doing, Genie realized. His warm smile never touched his cold, flat eyes.
"They're fine," Genie said softly.
"What about your little friends, Miranda Goth and Mariah... what name is she using now? Basso? Huntley? How are they?" Uncle Max asked coolly.
"I don't know," Genie said. "I haven't heard from them since the wedding. I just know what I saw in the news."
"Genie-bean, it's not nice to lie to family," Max said.
"Where are they?" he added firmly.
"I don't know," Genie insisted softly.
"Would you tell me, if you did?" Max asked with a slight smile.
"No," Genie replied, and the defiance of that one little word made her feel stronger.
"Good girl," Max chuckled, "but you want to reconsider that."
"No, I don't," Genie said. "I think you should leave."
"I'll leave when I'm done," Max said confidently. "You need to understand something, Genie..."
"I understand you're a gangster," Genie snapped.
"That's right," Max answered. "So, if you're smart, you'll shut up and listen... and you're a smart girl, Genie-bean."
"A smart girl like you knows that her whole family is bent," Max continued harshly. "My dear old père, your grand-père Jacques, he was as crooked as they come... and as connected as one man could be. He did deals with all the Families, with aristos and politicians, with captains of industry and finance. Anybody who is anybody did deals with the Old Man... and he kept files on every one of them. Even now that he's dead and buried, Villareal Files are a threat hanging over some really important heads. A threat your dear mère has used well... to advance herself and that limp-dick of a husband of hers."
"I'm not part of any of that," Genie insisted.
"You're a Villareal," Max snapped. "Even if your mom took that pussy Rohan's name, you're a Villareal in your blood. Remember it... because other people do. Important people."
"The thing is Genie, your little friend gave the Crown Prosecutors evidence against Nick Alto," Max continued, all cool menace again. "Evidence about things she couldn't have known about by herself. Your little friend gave up the Old Man's files on Nick Alto.
"Now some people... important people... dangerous people... wonder where she got those files," Max said softly. "Your mom managed to convince them it wasn't from her. After all, she had to do some fancy footwork to not get pinched with old Nick. So, who else could have given Mariah those files?"
"I don't know," Genie lied.
She remembered that terrifying night. Leading Mariah and Aadi... cheerful 'Double-O Aadi' in their fancy tux like it was all a game... into the mansion, looking for grand-père's secret office.
"No?" Max smiled like a shark. "See, there's a very dangerous man, his name is Grey... and if he thought that maybe Kassidy or the twins knew anything about it..."
"You leave them out of this!" Genie shouted, horrified. "You know they had nothing to do with it!"
"Do I?" Max snarled. "Let me tell you what I know, Genie. I know that Grey would do very bad things to whoever he believes is responsible for turning on the Altos. Now that can be Mariah B... or it can be someone else.
"Now, something else I know, Genie - family is important," Max added. "Like my fat brother Hugo, with his fat wife and fat kid... and my dear sister, Luna with your limp-dicked father... and my sweet nieces. Especially you, Genie-bean... you know you're my favorite niece. So, as long as my family acts like family... helping each other out, supporting each other... well, then I will make sure that nothing bad happens to any of you.
"So, if you hear anything from your little friends Miranda and Mariah, you'll tell me," Max said, standing and walking confidently to the door. "Won't you Genie-bean?"
"You're a monster," Genie whispered.
"Genie-bean," Max smirked, "if you think I'm a monster, you really have no idea what you're dealing with."
"No, I don't," Genie breathed as the door closed behind him. "But I'm a reporter and I'm damn well going to find out... because I'm going to help my friends!"
