8:30am, the sun comes in just right through Almonette's window to shine in her eyes and wake her up. She sits at the end of her bed, rubbing the crud out of her eyes still reeling from the night before, "Ugh, it's waaaay too early to be awake. However, there are pockets to pick, banks to rob and this life waits for no one" she thinks to herself as she gets around.

She walks to the door, as she goes to grab her keys she stares at two sets of keys hanging there. "If you'd hang your keys up Alma, you wouldn't loose them." Hotice would tell her all the time. Her mother drove her nuts, but now that she's gone Almonette can't help always hanging up her keys, just wishing to hear her mother call her "Alma" one more time. Almonette stares at the second set of keys, they were the only thing of her mother's she kept. She hung her own keys back up and grabbed her mother's set, Amonette made a promise to her mother, and today she was keeping that promise.

The morning air was cool, crisp and Almonette decided to walk, trying to remember the directions her mother gave her. As she was walking she realized these places looked vaguely familiar and she knew she had been here before when she was much younger. Her legs walked and she just seemed to follow, finding herself on the corner of a busy street and a now dingey alley. On street level there is a busy gun shop, Tri-R-Guns, owned by the 3 Rodriguez brothers. The second floor looked to just be a storage area, but there was a long faded sign in the window, at one point in time it was a shop of sorts.

Almonette took a deep breath, "This is it" she says to herself as she makes her way up the alley entrance. She unlocked the door and stands there for a moment.

"Our bloodline's suit shop..." she said as she stared at all the fabrics and 3 sewing machines. "How did I forget about this place?" Looking at the floor she can see foot prints in the dust, and when she looks even harder, every now and then there are a child's footprints, Almonette's. She stands at the thresholod, looking for a moment, as memories come flooding back, both good and bad. Almonette wipes the tears away and walks into the shop, goes to the window and takes the old faded sign down. "Hot-Ice Suits - Hot Suits, Cool prices" She laughed at how cheesey it sounded. She looked around a bit more, touching the fine fabrics and running her hands over the old machines. She sat down at a machine, surprised it still worked. "Either the electric company forgot about this place or was too afraid to shut power off" she thought to herself, and smiled.

Almonette walked over to the desk that sat in the back corner, and turned the lamp on. Two pictures sat on the desk... one of her as a child with her mother, and one of her ancestor with 3 other people. There was text below the picture and Almonette cleaned off the photo and frame and looked "The Bastille" then "Hot-Ice's button day" then the names of the people in the photo "Uma, Flying Pig, Hot-Ice, Robspierre" The picture was old, she had only heard stories of these people from her mother, seeing the picture was a little sureal. "Heh, I really do look like my ancestor" Alomnette says to herself as she sets the photo back down.

"Mom was right, this place does need opened back up. Now that I'm back in Detroit, this is the perfect time to do so." she says. Almonette rolls up her sleeves and gets to cleaning.

By late afternoon the shop was looking presentable again. Floors and walls are clean and dust free, machines are cleaned off and working, sign had been repainted and hung back in the window. She salvaged what she could of the of the older fabrics, and hung the rest along the back wall. Along the wall across from door she hung examples of suits that had been made by her bloodline, by her mother, and some she had even done herself. The pictures that once sat on the desk she proudly desplayed behind the cash register in the corner opposite the desk. Very happy with what she's done, Almonette locks up and heads out, knocking over the local Post Office on her way home.

Almonette is back in the shop by 8:30 the next morning. It was a humble shop, not fancy by a long shot, but Almonette was proud. She looked out the window toward the sky "This is for you mom, I promised I would re-open the family shop, and I am keeping my word."

Almonette hangs a "NOW OPEN" sign below Store Sign, and takes a seat at her desk waiting for the first customer.

While busting a few friends out of jail MartinaGiorgio bribed the jail guards for information about fast drivers with arrest records. She recognized several names as associates of hers or mobsters working in other cities. None of them would've been the driver for the hitman who killed her employee at the brothel.

"Benny Jackson was known to be a getaway driver for a few big heists." A guard said to Martina after she dismissed the other names he told her. "But he's serving time up in the maximum security prison. You won't be able to bust him out."

"I don't want to bust out a driver." The mobster replied, but didn't give him anymore information. "Who else do you know?"

"The only one other one I can think of is Jeff Montoya." The guard answered. "He's a real mean son of a bitch. I heard he ran over his wife when she tried to leave him."

"Thanks." Martina said and gave the guard an envelope full of money.

The mobster got in her car across the street from the jail and looked at her watch. "Fuck!" She cursed when she realized she didn't have time to look for Jeff Montoya before her flight to Chicago. Driving towards the business district she decided to ask to help her.

"WHY IS IT SO FUCKING HARD TO FIND PARKING?" Martina yelled in her car after driving around the business district for fifteen minutes. "Fuck it." She mumbled and parked at the corner in front of a fire hydrant.

Martina walked into HotIce Family Suits and found Almonette behind the counter. "Hey there, how's things?" Martina greeted and looked around the shop. "Nice place."

"Thanks for stopping by the cathouse last night." Martina said and leaned against the counter. "I've been looking for the driver the hitman used for the job. I think his name is Jeff Montoya. Will you look for him? The car was a black Buick Marquette. If Montoya owns one put a bullet in his head."

Almonette is standing behind the counter pouring herself a drink when she sees Martina walk in. "Greetings Martina"  She says as she pours Martina a drink as well.  Almonette sips her drink while listening to Martina.

"Yeah, I know Jeff, had a thing with his brother back in school.  Jeff was always a bit jealous of his little bro, and a total asshole. Ya know he ran over his wife for leaving him.  He drove a black something or other last I saw him.  I'll find out if it was a Marquette, and do the whole world a favor if it was."

After Martina walks out Almonette picks up the phone and calls the cop she's been working with.  "Calvin, you still keeping eyes on the Montoya brothers? Nah, Jeff."   She takes a drink while Calvin makes another phonecall.  The phone rings and Almonette picks up "Yeah Calvin.  Right, the bar is right down the road."  She hangs up and straps her knife to her thigh, slides her gun in her holster and locks up the store.

Almonette walks in and quickly spots Jeff sitting at the bar.  She walks up and takes a seat next to Jeff and orders a beer.

"Alma? What the hell are you doing here?"  Jeff looks at her and smiles.

"Jeff, hows' it going?  Ha, yeah.  I opened the family's old suit shop, and I needed a break.  So how's Johnny these days?"  Almonette casually asks.

"Ah, you know Johnny, he hasn't changed any."  Jeff says while staring at her chest.

"Yeah, very true.  Well, I should get back to the shop.  Was good seeing you again."  Almonette says, as she sets her glass down.

"Wait."  Jeff says as he grabs her hand, "What are you doing later?  Meet me here after work?"

"Ya know, I could use some company around the shop..."  Almonette says with a smile and a wink.  "Why don't you stop by, we can, reminisce.   Ah man, I would love to see that old get-away car you and your brother use to drive, what was it a Marquette?  Uh, I can't remember... but GOD there were good memories in the back of that thing."

Jeff grins at her, "Yeah I can stop by, but yeah, I don't have that Marquette anymore.  Crazy thing, this last job paid so fucking well, I can just spend my nights here and picking up hookers for the rest of my days..."    Almonette glares at him...  "Not that I consider yooou a hooker.   I'll just see you at 9."

Almonette's takes a long drag of her cigarette, as 9 o'clock rolls around.  She hears a loud motor outside the window, and looks out to see Jeff stepping out of a sporty little red coupe.  She puts out her cigarette and grins broadly, and laughs while thinking to herself "Play time."

Jeff knocks on the door and Almonette ducks under her desk and yells, "ITS OPEN, I'M IN THE BACK FINISHING UP SOMETHING!"   Jeff comes in and takes two steps into the back room before Almonette pistol whips him in the back of the head sending him falling to the floor.  Almonette pulls him in a chair and ties him up.  She wakes him up and starts interrograting him.

"LOOK BITCH I TOLD YOU EVERYTHING ALRIGHT, I DIDN'T REALLY LOOK AT HER FACE I WAS LOOKING AT HER FUCKING TITS" Jeff shouted before spitting blood all over Almonette's face.

"Hahaha.  Too bad you fucking bastard."  Almonette says to him before slitting his throat.  She looks for a bit and says to herself "Martina did say to put a bullet in his head..."  She pulls out  her gun and fires a bullet in Jeffs head.

Almonette walks in the shop area and dials up Martina "Yeah it was him, it's taken care of.  He wouldn't tell me about who hired him. Said he was too busy looking at her boobs, and all the cash that was shoved his way.  He had just gotten rid of the Marquette, such a shame.  His trade up is a nice coupe if you are looking for something to sell, should get a nice profit.  If you find this hot big busted woman in charge of it all, I can make sure you have a nice little present"  Almonette coughs "to send her."

After hanging up she dials up Calvin.  "Yeah, I got a clean up.  At the shop.  Just DO it."

Almonette locks up the shop, lights up a cigarette and just talks a walk.

When Martina got home after a trip to Philadelphia for a big job she was exhausted. Instead of spending the night at a nice hotel in The City of Brotherly Love the innocent mobster was in jail overnight. No matter how many times she was arrested Martina couldn't sleep in a jail cell. She heard serial killers fell asleep like babies after confessing their crimes. Fucking weaklings, Martina thought as she drifted off to sleep in her California king size bed.

A loud sound startled Martina awake. The mobster grabbed her gun from under her pillow and waited to hear it again. A few seconds later there was a knock. Someone was at the door. Martina quickly got out of bed and got dressed. At the door she sighed when she saw a prostitute from her brothel.

"What the fuck do you want, trick?" Martina asked. "Why are you banging on my fucking door so early?"

"It's... um... I..." Mary Jane nervously stuttered and looked at her cheap dime store watch. "It's almost 4pm."

"Wow, you can tell time!" Martina commented sarcastically. "I bet the johns love that talent."

"Officer Chelton asked me to give this to you as soon as possible." The prostitute handed the mobster an envelope. "He said it's important."

Martina opened the envelope, rubbed her sleepy eyes and read the note from the FBN agent she often bribed for cheap cocaine and information.

"Fuck!" Martina cursed after reading the note.

"Bad news, boss?" Mary Jane asked with concern.

"None of your business, trick." Martina replied. "Get back to work."

After cup of coffee and a cigarette Martina picked up the phone in her kitchen and called HotIce Family Suits. As the phone rang Martina's cat, Killer strutted into the kitchen and meowed loudly.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Martina yelled at the cat at the same time Almonette answered the phone.

"Sorry!" Martina quickly said to clear up the mistake. "I was talking to my cat. Well, not really talking. We don't have conversations. Cats don't talk. If mine did she would probably rat me out to the pigs. She's a cold blooded bitch."

"Anyway, speaking of pigs..." Martina poured herself another cup of coffee and continued, "I got a tip a pig named Calvin is being investigated by the big dogs in the FBN. I heard he's been working for you. Keep an eye on the fucker. They might threaten to make him retire early if he doesn't feed them info about our business. If you hear he's about to retire it's fucking bullshit. He'll rat you out. Put him in the ground before he can run his big fat fucking mouth."

"Thanks for the heads up Martina."  Almonette says, and hangs up the phone, and walks behind the counter and pulls out a bottle of Vodka and just starts drinking straight from the bottle.  "Something tells me I am going to need a LOT more of this before all is said and done."

She leans on the counter, and covers her eyes thinking. When a customer walks in.  

"Mr.  Valentino, I have your suit right over here"  Almonette says as she walks the gentleman over to a black pinstripe suit with white highlights, and red accents.  "Please feel free to try it on, I promise you, and the ladies will love it."

After a few minutes the gentleman walks out of the changing room and the shopkeeper says "Damn, this girl can't speak for the rest of the girls out there... but this girl thinks you look DAMN good."   The gentleman smiles at her and hands her a stack of money and casually says "keep the change," walking back out the door before Amonette can even mutter a thank you.

"Back to the real business" she says as she picks up the phone and calls Calvin.  "Hey Calvin, hows it going?  No, No... I don't have another clean up.  Yeah sorry about that last one.  I'm calling because I hear rumors that you are retiring?  NO way!! Say it isn't so.  Well congrats my friend.  Hey how about I make a suit for you.  YES, I actually make suits. Maybe I'll buy you a drink once you actually look presentable.  Right right, stop by for measurements whenever you're free.  Oh, sure I'll be here, I will see you then."

"FUCK!"  Almonette shouts as she slams her knife into the counter.Fire burns in her eyes "That bastard doesn't even deserve a personal death"  She says as she cock her gun and leaves the shop.  She steps into the alley to find Calvin taking a piss against the wall.  "ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?!" Calvin stops pissing and turns around to find Almonette standing with her pistol pointed straight at his head.  "On your knees and tell me what the fuck you told them!"

Calvin cockily smiles at Almonette and says "Everyone knows you're a knife girl, I bet that little gun isn't even loaded."

Almonette shoots him in the foot and calmly says "Guess again pig, now I said, on. your. knees.  and talk."

"Fuck, fuck... fuck..." is all the cop can stammer.

"You told them 'Fuck, Fuck, Fuck' I'm sure that was quite the orgy..." she says sarcasticly, but quickly loosing patience, "...now seriously... tell me what you told them before I shoot your fucking balls off."

"Fine, fine... all I told them was about the most recent clean up I did... that's it so far.  There's supose to be another meeting tomorrow. To discuss more.  Please belie...."  Almonette pulls the trigger then dumps his body in the bin and covers him with trash bags.  

"They'll pick you up later today and bury you where you deserve, with the rest of the trash..."  Almonette says without a shred of remorse.

"I need to get out of town, find some place safe and figure this shit out..."  Almonette thinks for a moment, "and maybe get laid." She shakes her head, "First I must go and warn Martina.  Calvin didn't say if she was mentioned anywhere, but I have to warn her.  Just in case."

Almonette walks to the Cathouse and informs Martina of whats happened.

Driving from Raoul's Sex Shop to HotIce Family Suits MartinaGiorgio didn't go over the speed limit and kept checking the rear view mirror. The mobster was glad she went to her old friend's store and talked to him about everything that happened in the past week. It helped her put things in perspective. The bodies were piling up and The FBN couldn't be trusted no matter how much they were bribed. Martina decided it was best to let things cool down before her luck ran out. A few days or weeks on the lam would give her time to think and figure out how to find the car company CEO who hired a hit man to kill a prostitute outside The Cathouse.

"I'm sorry about getting you involved in the bullshit with Peterson." Martina said to Almonette who was in the car with her and involved in the drama since she killed the hit man's driver and a FBN agent. The deaths of two of Giovanni's associates and the prostitute made Martina worry about who could be next. "Only a few people we work with will know where we'll be." Martina explained to Almonette in case she was worried too. "When we get to the airport I'll buy a couple of tickets to Philly using my real name. That'll throw off The Feds if they look for us."

When they arrived outside HotIce Family Suits the mobsters rushed into the shop. "Hey, I'm going to use your phone while you get your bag." Martina said as Almonette went into a room in the back of the shop. Behind the counter Martina picked up the phone and called The Fish Market.

"Put Melizzano on the phone. Tell him it's Giorgio." Martina said to the man who answered her call. A few seconds later she heard the familiar voice Joe Melizzano. "Hey Joey! How's things?" The mobster greeted the FBN agent. "I'm glad you still hang out at The Fish Market. I need a tip on drug prices in Philly."

After she thanked the FBN agent for the information Martina hung up the phone and mumbled, "Stupid fucking pigs." A few minutes later as the mobsters left the shop Martina lit a cigarette and said, "When we get to New York the first place I wanna go to is Sinfest's bakery. He has the best fucking cookies and knows where to score cheap coke."

Almonette walks up with Martina to HotIce Family Suits, and says to her, "Hey, don't worry about my involvement.  What kind of mobster wouldn't offer some assistance to their family after  hearing a story like the one you told me.  Peterson needs taken care of, and I'm glad to help anyway I can."

Almonette grabs her bag.   As she waits for Martina to get done on the phone she makes a sign that says "Out of town on Business" and placees it in the window.  As she walks down stairs with Martina, Almonette says to her, "Nice idea calling in for the Philly drug prices.  I gotta run into the weapon place.  It will only take a minute."

Almonette walks into the weapon store, and walks up to the knife counter.  "I need a knife, something sleek and a little sexy, but demands attention and fear.  It needs to compliment the woman who will have it."  The mobster says to the man behind the counter.

The man looks at Almonette, and says "Don't  you have that Pichangeti,  what do you need with another knife?"

"Look I don't have time for this, Just show me what I'm asking for, and I need one of those training blades where the blade retracts... yeah one of those."  Almonette says to the seller.  And looks in the case... browses over the new items and looks at the antiques.  "YES!"  Almonette nearly shouted when she spotted the right weapon. "I want that Turksih Khanjar, the one with the ebonized hilt w/gold inlany. Its perfect."  The mobster throws cash at the seller and books it out the door.

"Hey sorry about that."  Almonette appologizes as she gets in the car. "Lets get the fuck out of here... cookies sound so damn good."

"Get in the fucking trunk!" Martina ordered the man she dragged out of The Assassain's Den.

"But I...." The man objected. Before he could say anymore the mobster hit the side of his head with her gun. The man stumbled and fell towards the trunk of the car. Martina pushed him in and slammed the trunk closed.

The mobster got in the car and slowly drove through Corktown. A few cars passed her, but she didn't care. Stupid kids. They spent most of their lives in jail because they did dumb things like driving too fast after buying drugs or committing other crimes. With a man in the trunk Martina smartly drove just below the speed limit.

When Martina turned on the street that lead to her business, The Corktown Cathouse she noticed two police cars parked in front of the building. The brothel owner didn't know if the police were there for the prostitutes services or to raid the place. Instead of stopping her car at the cathouse Martina continued to drive and turned into the alley behind HotIce Family Suits.

With murder in her eyes Martina opened the trunk and pointed her gun at the man inside. "Get the fuck out!" She snapped at him. "Hurry up. I don't have all fucking day."

"Mar.... Martina." The man stuttered as he climbed out of the trunk. "Please... "

The mobster aimed her gun at the man's head and pulled the trigger. As he dropped to the pavement she tried to remember how many time she heard 'please' as the last word out of her victims mouths. Obviously too many to count. They always begged for their lives, but it never stopped the mobster from doing her job.

After putting the man's body in the dumpster Martina used a key Almonette gave her weeks earlier and walked into HotIce Family Suits. Behind the counter she picked up the phone and called Giovanni. "Hey Gio." She greeted. "Send your goons to the dumpster behind Almonette's shop for fish food." Martina laughed at Giovanni's response and said, "No it wasn't her this time. I popped the schmuck who owed our bookie 2 million. The stupid motherfucker should've never bet against The Yankees."

The mobsters continued to chat on the phone about important business such as ice cream, rockets and margaritas. As Giovanni bragged about nailing a stripper Martina absentmindedly moved odds and ends that were on the counter and opened a book next to the cash register. The lists of numbers in the book didn't make sense to her. They were obviously codes of some kind. They could've meant how many suits Almonette sold, how many bums she killed or how much money she made from her DFP. Martina paged through the book as she told Giovanni about the excitement of being on the lam. The last few pages of the book had doodling and drawings of random things, mostly knifes and swords. Martina was about to close the book, but checked the last page. It was full of hearts and a name written hundreds of times.

Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina Martina

"Ah, Gio...." Martina said to her friend on the phone and nervously looked around as if she was about to get caught snooping. "I... ah, I have to go." She quickly hung up the phone, rushed out of the shop and hoped she didn't leave any evidence behind. As for what she saw on the last page of Almonette's book she didn't know what to think about it.

Almonette thinks about her time in NY with Martina as she walks up the stairs to her shop when she feels something metal below her foot.  The mobster takes  a step down, looks and spots a key.  "What the fuck is this?"

Almonette says to herself as she walks to the door, which she finds oddly not locked.  She still tests the key in the lock just to see if its the shop.  Martina is the only person the mobster has given a key to.  A slight panic sets in as she swings the door open and yells "MARTINA?! MARTINA!?"  The mobster relaxes a little, as she finds the shop empty and with no signs of a struggle.  She is still worried about her friend though, and walks to the counter and begins to dial the Cathouse.  As the phone rings she begins to realize that things arou out of place around the counter, and the book by her cash register was open to the last page.  Almonette's heart sunk as she realized it was Martina who had been in the store, Martina had seen the last page... a secret hidden on the last page that Almonette dared not even admit to herself.  She can't let herself care for another person, no one cares back. "

"After all who would care for someone so scarred, both mentally and physically?" She thinks to herself. "No one, that's who.  You're nothin more than a tool to be used, be it for pleasure or killing... hell, that's what you've been told all your life."

A voice finally picks up on the other end of the phone, and Almonette can tell by the sharp tongue it is her friend on the other line, and the mobster studders worse than one of Martina's tricks... "I, I... found the key and shop, I was worried."  Her words make little logical sense, she realizes that and just hangs up quickly, wondering how the hell she was going to make things right with her friend.

"Hello Mr. Vodka, Miss Gin, it's good to see you both again." Almonette says as she grabs the bottle of Vodka and Gin she keeps under the counter and just starts drinking.     "What the fuck am I going to tell Martina..."  As she mindlessly starts to lightly tossing her knife.

As Almonette was walking back to the shop following the funeral of her friend MartinaGiorgio, she decided to stop by a liquor store to pick up some Tequila. "I've got vodka and gin..." She couldn't bring herself to finish her thought, since she arrived at the store.

Almonette walked out of the liquor store and up the stairs to her shop. She entered and walked behind the counter and grabbed her glass and poured herself some of the Tequila, forgetting her higher ups were sending her an associate to train under her. Almonette stared around the store, and then looked at the book and sighed; she tore the last page out and let it fall to the floor, remembering her time in NY, and how she worried at the time of what her friend thought of the last page of that book, but now she's glad. "At least she knew. Feelings should never be left unsaid... even if she didn't hear it directly from me." The mobster said out loud to herself remembering the fight she had with her mother before her mother died, and all the things that were left unsaid.

The bottle of Tequila was about half gone when Almonette heard a commotion outside, she groggily looked out her window, and saw a very attractive well dressed woman walking toward her store. "Oh great a customer, I'm drunk and I have a fucking customer, I'll just tell the bitch I'm closed." Almonette said as she heard a knock on the door, "I'm closed!" the shopkeeper said in as polite as possible manner. Then there was another knock, to which Almonette yelled "I SAID, I'M FUCKING CLOSED!" When there was a third knock, Almonette took a look in the book to see if there was an appointment. "Ah shit, fuck, fuck shit, fuck." Almonette cursed to herself as she remembered the associate was to be stopping by that day.

Almonette, wipes away her tears as she walks over to the door and opens it up. Almonette holds out her hand in greeting and introduces herself. "Hi, I'm Almonette. I'm a consig for the Grimes Family. I assume you're Silk?" As she motions the gangster to come in, Almonette can see a questioning look on the associate's face, and Almonette says, "I must appologize for my current state, I just buried someone i l.. a friend, I just buried a friend."

The two women chatted for a while, and Almonette handed the associate a large bag, with a significant amount of money in it. "Here take this, and get yourself set up. There's enough there for you to get some drug runs set up, buy some BG's and even find a place for yourself to settle in at. For now, you can stay in the studio aptartment, attached to this shop. I'll show it to you, it's not much but its a warm bed. Until you find someplace else you like." Almonette says to Silk, and walks her to where the studio is. "It even has it's won private entrance, so no worries about privacy if you bring a lucky fellow up with you."

As Silk is looking around, Almonette notices a man she is very familiar with walk into her shop. Almonette takes Silk by the shoulders, and tells her "Go, take your money and get the fuck out of here! This asshole is not to be messed with." Almonette gripped the knife at her thigh and pulled it from it's sheath, walking out the door.

Almonette had only 2 real weaknesses. Those she grows care about, and her past. Now that she's buried the only one she truly cared for; that left her past, which just walked in the door. Almonette sprinted toward the the man. knife in hand and pinned him to the wall with her knife at his throat.

"Alma..." The man studders, "you wouldn't hurt your father now."  Almonette presses the knife slighty into her father's neck as her father chokes out, "Would you?"

"Don't you DARE, call me that! You have no right to call me Alma or my father you fucking pig!" Almonette said through clenched teeth and hatred burning in her eyes.

"But, but Alma...I..." Her father pleaded to her.

"I know exactly what you did! You knocked mom up and left. Oh, but you came back, to fucking KIDNAP me from her! To freaking SELL ME to pay your for your drug addiction and gambling debts! Yeah real father of the year material." Almonette says as she knees her father in the groin. "You picked the wrong fucking day asshole."

Her father knew then how to get under his daughters skin, and foolishly provoked her, "Yeah," He said. "I heard aaaall about that little trick you had feelings for."

In less than 10 seconds after hearing her friend called a trick, Almonette had kicked her fathers legs out from under him, pinning him to the ground by stabbing her blade through his hand and into the floor. "Insult her one more time you bastard, DO IT!" She screamed at him.

All her father could do was look at the knife, and say "That... knife was Jimmy's Knife, how'd you?"

The mobster cocked her head to the side and gave her father a depraved grin, "Yeah, Daddy" She says with an angry sarcastic tone. "That last guy you sold me out to, what did you say his name was Jimmy, yeah Jimmy didn't die in any fire. I gutted that bastard with his own knife, then kept the knife for myself. Do you know the sheer pleasure that's derived from plunging steel through flesh and bone? The feel of someone elses blood? The sheer joy of knowing you're holding the life of another person in your hands. It's better than any drug, and ten times more addicting. Oooh, don't worry... Jimmy didn't go w/out a fight."

Almonette lifts her shirt to show the scar left from the stab wound she received to her lower abdomen. "I spent a fucking week in a hospital knocking on deaths door from this wound. A fucking unconscious Jane Doe, until mom got a tip of where I was. We wont even talk about what you did to her after she found me again. You sick fuck!" Almonette pulls a small pocket knife out, and presses the blade to her fathers eye "On second thought, why don't we return the favor... an eye for an eye maybe?"

"Fuck Alma, no..." Her father says as Almonette punches him in the face.

"What the hell did I tell you about calling me that!" Almonette screamed at him. She looked down at her father for a second, he was terrified, and this brought a sadistic joy to her heart. She rips the knife out from the floor and his hand. "Remember this old man, if I ever see your face anywhere NEAR me, or my shop. I will fucking gut you like the pig you are. Now get the hell out!"  Almonette said while kicking him in the ribs while he was down.

With out saying a word, her father stumbled out the door, however on his way down the steps he yelled, "You're a crazy fucking bitch!"

Almonette sat down on the couch in her shop, she knew this wasn't over. As the adrenaline left her system, her body started shaking and she started to cry.  She looked up and saw her associate standing in the doorway of the studio apartment, "I thought I told you to go?"

"Thank you..... "

The words Silk repeated over and over were starting to make her head spin or maybe it was the generosity and welcome she received in Detroit. The young gangster didn't expect her life to change when she came to The Motor City. Silk was a California girl, born and raised in Los Angeles. Until recently her only ambitions were to surf and sell marijuana to support herself until something better came along.

One morning while waking up with coffee and a joint Silk received a telegram. With bloodshot eyes she read the few short lines notifying her a distant cousin of hers was dead. Silk recognized her cousin's name, but they never met before. Since Silk got disowned by her parents for getting arrested she didn't keep in touch with any of her relatives. As far as she was concerned she didn't have a family.

Two days after receiving the telegram Silk got a call from an accountant. He told her there was a lot of money in Detroit for her cousin's next of kin. It didn't take long for the young woman to pack a suitcase and get on the next flight to Detroit to claim the money. During the flight from Los Angeles to Detroit Silk drank so many martinis she openly and shamelessly flirted with the flight attendant. Silk usually got anything she wanted with her charm and dazzling smile. By the end of the flight she got the flight attendant's phone number.

In Detroit Silk was surprised to see two men at the airport to pick her up in a limo. They introduced themselves as Zero and Giovanni, friends of her cousin. They took her out to dinner then dropped her off at a hotel downtown. The next morning Silk was barely awake when the limo driver knocked on her room door and told her Zero sent him to pick her up. Silk figured it was about her cousin's money. The limo took her to a fish food factory where Zero and Giovanni were waiting for her. They didn't beat around the bush. The men told her they knew she was a small time drug dealer in California and said she'd make a lot more money working with them. Silk was too young and free spirited to give it any thought or ask any questions. The moment she heard money she accepted their offer.

By the end of the day Silk met the boss, CarlGrimes and was given instructions to go to HotIce Family Suits to talk to the owner about dealing drugs and doing other work for the family, as they called themselves.

The limo dropped Silk off in front of HotIce Family Suits then drove away. As she knocked on the door Silk heard yelling inside. She knocked again and wondered if she should just walk away, but she didn't know where she was or where to go in the city. When the door flew open Silk could see the woman was drunk or upset or a combination of both.

"Yes ma'am, I'm Silk." The young gangster said and smiled despite being nervous and slightly worried the woman was going to tell her to get the fuck out out of her store. When Almonette told her about the studio apartment the California girl was relieved to have a place to stay in Detroit.

"Thank you... "

Violence was nothing new to Silk. Dealing drugs in California wasn't all rainbows and sunshine. The young gangster dealt with violent drug suppliers and junkies enough to trust her gut when she got a bad vibe about someone. The man who walked into the store immediately made her feel that bad vibe.

"I'm not leaving." Silk said after Almonette warned her the man was dangerous.

Watching the explosive scene between Almonette and her father made Silk fear and respect the woman. Expecting Almonette to kill him Silk was surprised when she let him go. When the man ran out and Almonette sat down in tears Silk cautiously approached her.

Instead of mentioning the drama she just witnessed Silk sat down on the couch and said, "You ever wonder if reporters were born nosy?" As she asked the most random question she could think of the California girl took a joint out of her cigarette pack a lit it. "Imagine reporters as kids, questioning their parents about everything., interviewing teachers and asking stupid fucking questions no one gives a shit about." Almonette laughed as Silk gave her the joint. "I mean, who cares how many miles The President jogs every morning?"

Almonette takes a long drag off the joint Silk had handed her. "I know," the mobster says laughing, "Its hard to believe the general public cares more about jogging presidents and what color socks movie stars are wearing than the fact their local businesses are being robbed and shot up. It sure makes our jobs easier though." Almonette says then takes another hit and passes the joint back to Silk.

Almonette can tell her associate is still a little nervous around her. "Silk, look, I realize your first impression of me hasn't really been a good one. Burying a friend, to turn around and have" Almonette paused for a moment, "that man. show up. Yeah, you haven't exactly caught me on a good day. No fault of your own, just the way shit goes down sometimes." Silk offers her sponsor another hit, which the mobster gladly takes, but can tell there are still uncertainties in her associate's face. "You have nothing to fear from me, its my job to take care of you, show you around, and see what you're made of. If someone's fucking with you and they won't listen to you, send them to me. I will make them listen, one way or another. We're family now, we take care of one another." She says passing the last bit of the joint back to Silk.

Almonette finally relaxes, half slouching on the couch. "I see you met my sperm donor... erm father." The mobster stares at the ceiling. "I haven't seen seen that man since" She stops in mid sentence and clutches at the scar on her abdomen, "Yeah since then. What the fuck, made him think to show back up? After all this time, why? More importantly, why the hell did I let him go? He freaking deserved to die, painfully too, but he's blood. No matter how badly I wanted to kill him, I couldn't."

Silk takes out another joint and lights up, quietly listening. "Aah, nothing more sobering than a visit from the old man, but it looks like you're going to get me stoned. I like you." Almonette laughed as she spoke. "You should have listened to me. Honestly not because of your safty, I wouldn't have let that fucker touch a hair on your head... but because the shame of my past." Almonette was always plainly honest when she was high, the high made her not care about what people thought.

Almonette, took another long hit off the joint, then looked over at her associate and thought, "Her second night here and -this- is what she sees. It's bullshit, just not right. God damn, my messy life dumped right out in front of her. She knows my weaknesses, for better or worse. Only time will tell."

Almonette passes the joint back to Silk and says with a smile, "Welcome to the family."

The California girl was so high her mind wandered and she forgot where she was for a moment. She wondered what it would be like to fly. Almonette's voice brought the stoned young gangster's mind back to reality.

"Don't worry about what I heard." Silk said and lit a cigarette. "I'm fucking starving. Let's order a pizza."

Later there was a knock on the door and Almonette reached for her knife. Silk quickly stood up and went to the window next to the door.

"It's just a kid delivering the pizza. I'll get it." Silk said and glanced at Almonette who was still holding her knife with a far off look in her eyes.

Figuring she didn't have enough drugs to make her sponsor stop worrying Silk decided she would do something else.

"I just remembered I have an errand to run." The young mobster said to her sponsor and put the pizza on the table in front of the couch. "I'll be back later."

By the time Silk walked back to HotIce Family Suits she was exhausted and hungry enough to eat two pizzas. When she walked into the suit shop Almonette was still on the couch, but sleeping. Silk picked up the pizza box on the coffee table. As she turned to go to the her apartment Almonette sat up quickly and aimed a gun at Silk. The young mobster dropped the pizza box and yelled out in fear.

"Hey it's me, Silk." She said to her sponsor who appeared to still be half asleep. The same far off look was in her eyes Silk noticed before she left to run her errand. The young mobster knew Almonette would eventually hear her father was dead. Silk spared her the details and simply said, "Your old man won't show up here or bother you anymore."

Almonette looked confused by Silk's comment, but didn't ask any questions. Instead she went back to sleep with her gun still in her hand. Silk looked down at the pizza on the floor and frowned.

Almonette wakes up and rubs the crap from her eyes.  "Ugh, how long have I been out?"  She asks the empty room, then looks around. "A good!  The little lady is out and about on her own."  The mobster takes quick smell of her clothes and gags, "Ugh, I'm going to get stoned again just smelling myself, I really should get home and change."

An hour later, Almonette is back at her shop and looks around.  "What the hell, was it Silk said about the old man? I so don't remember."   She vaguely remembers bits and pieces, but not everything.   Almonette calls up and orders another pizza.  While waiting for the delivery kid to arrive, she ponders to herself if she should tell Silk about her cousin.  "Meh, it doesn't matter now, but I don't want her to feel creeped out, if someone else tells her."  So Almonette takes out a page from the book on the counter and writes:

Silk,
Just so you hear it from me. The 'trick' I had feelings for, was your cousin Martina. It doesn't matter now that she's dead and gone. Just didn't want things to be anymore ackward if you heard from someone else.
-Alma

P.S. Here's the keys to the little coupe parked in the alley. Lets just say its previous owner won't be needing it. Sell / trade it in, if it's not your style, it's yours now.

As Almonette finishes the note, the pizza boy knocked on the door. The mobster payed for the pizza and gave the kid a healthy tip. She places the pizza box on the table in front of the couch. She takes the note and places the note and keys to Jeff's ford coupe on top of the box. Then heads out herself for some business.

Instead of using the door in the alley to go into her apartment Silk walked through HotIce Family Suits. The scent of pizza drifted through the shop. The stoned mobster walked around until she found the pizza box on the coffee table. "FUCK YEAH!" Silk cheered and pushed aside the note and key on the box.

After eating half the pizza Silk put her feet up on the coffee table and lit a cigarette. The California girl almost drifted off into a food coma, but the note on the table caught her attention. She picked it up with the key and read what Almonette wrote. The news about her cousin didn't surprise her. When she got to the part about the car Silk stood up quickly and ran outside to look at it.

"OH MY GOD!" Silk yelled when she saw the Ford Coupe. She couldn't believe the car was hers. "WOW!" The young mobster said as she walked around the car checking it out. When she looked at the engine it was easy to see the car was built to be fast. A get away car, she assumed and looked forward to putting the pedal to the metal.

"I have to thank Almonette for this." Silk mumbled to herself as she got in the car. "Damn! She's been so nice to me... gave me money, an apartment and now a car." As Silk said everything out loud a random thought popped into her head. "I bet she wants me!" With a cocky smile Silk checked herself in the rear view mirror and started the car. "I'm going to rock her world!"

"What a fucking day!"  Almonette exclaimed as she walked back into her shop, and back aorund the counter and grabbed her bottle of Gin.  She took one look at her glass and just said "Fuck it."  Opening the bottle and drinking straight from it.

Almonette walked over to the couch, glad there was still pizza left.  She grabbed a slice, sat down on the couch then propped her feet up on the table next to the pizza box. "What the hell was Silk thinking with that Martina stunt?  She had to have be weired out by the note, at least she heard it from me."  Amonette thought then grabbed another slice.  After finishing her second slice of pizza, and drinking about half her bottle of Gin a thought popped into her head... "OH GOD, was she acting like Martina to try and get me to like her?"  Almonette laughed outloud at the thought for several minutes.  "Like that's possible.  The shit she knows about me, and the shit she's seen with me.... yeah thats soooo not an option."

Almonette lays down on the couch.  Wiping away the tears from her laughter, she looks at her nearly empty bottle and slurs out, "Why, thank you for a fine evening Miss Gin, it's been a pleasure."  The bottle falls from her hand as Almonette fall asleep on the couch.

"ALMONETTE!" Silk yelled as she stumbled into HotIce Family Suits. "ALMONETTE ARE YOU HERE?"

The California girl was more stoned than usual after a night out with her friend, Warped.

"ALMONETTE!" Silk yelled again as she looked around the shop then walked to the back where she found her sponsor on the couch with a bottle of Gin.

"HEY ALMONETTE!" The young stoned mobster greeted. "I'm sooooooo fucked up!" For no reason she laughed then suddenly looked serious and said, "HEY! Why did you leave the hotel? And another thing, why did you fuck those tricks? They aren't good enough for you."

Before Almonette could answer Silk held up her hand, "Wait a minute! Where's my cat?" She looked around and laughed again. "The cat's name is Killer!" For some reason Silk thought that was the funniest thing in the world.

"I'm so fucking wasted!" The young mobster said and rambled on to her sponsor. "I know why you left! It was because...." Silk paused because she forgot what she was going to say. "Oh yeah, I know why you left. Because I talked like my cousin. I only did that to get us out of trouble with the pigs. I'm sorry, okay?" For some reason she repeated it louder, "I'M SORRY!"

With her head spinning Silk stumbled over to the couch and sat down.

"Next time you want to fuck don't go all the way to the brothel." Silk mumbled and continued, "I live right next door, girl! All you have to do is snap your fingers and say, let's rock and I'll be ready, babe!" With a laugh she added, "But not tonight. I'm soooooooo fucking wasted."

The drugs, the drama and the long day hit the big talker all at once and she passed out cold.

Almonette wakes and sits up at the same time when she hears her assoicate yelling for her.  Her fingers rub her head as her brain is throbbing.  She looks up as her Silk staggers into the shop.  "Wow, she's totally wasted"  Almonette thought before the young ganger even started speaking.  The sponsor listened as her associate rambled on.  When Silk had passed out against her, Almonette blushed a bit and thought, "Oooooh yeah, totally wasted."

Almonette stood up and gently laid her assoicate on the couch so she could sleep off whatever she'd been smoking.   She took off Silk's shoes and laid them by the door, then covered the sleeping ganster with a blanket from the apartment.

The mobster threw on her jacket, lit up a cigarette and shut the lights off in the shop before heading out and locking up.  She took a walk, needing to clear her head.

Late thursday SpaceCowboy is dinning at a well known resturant near home, feasting himself on french fries and a hamburger he quickly finishes his meal and pays his tab while leaving a tip on the table. He grabs a toothpick at the front counter, exiting the building he places it in his mouth noticing a mustard stain on his sleeve. He starts to cuss outloud flicking the toothpick to the ground and lighting up a cigarette re examining his expensive suit.

SpaceCowboy makes a call to a friend who gives him a name and adress of a place that has been known to do wonders. Finding his keys he walks to his spacecraft, entering it he starts it up.

Couple minutes later...

A loud noise of metal crashing is made when his spacecraft lands ontop of four other vehichles along side the sidewalk of HotIce Suit's. SpaceCowboy jumps from his ship and lands on his feet flicking his cigarette to the ground he enters the building.

"Good Evening Almonette, as you may have noticed I am in need of some help on fixing this problem I have at the moment. I am also open to the idea of looking around for something new, stylish. I am always a fan of those who put in the hard work to create fine art. What do you say miss? Think you could help this ol man out? It's getting dark and I didn't bring my glasses with me so I'm actually in a bit of a hurry today."