Have you ever seen those nesting dolls? Beautiful, ornate little things that pop open to reveal another inside and another and another until you’re left with dozens of the little bastards. My old boss had tons of these in his offices, all around his businesses, hell his house was littered with the damn things and I never understood the appeal.
One day I asked him about it and I’ll never forget what he told me.
“Gino my boy, take a closer look at the dolls. See the differences in them. The tiny little scratch on one, the stripe of differing paint on another, the small defect in the hands of a third. Not noticeable enough if you’re not paying attention but if you truly focus, each one is different and unique. Just like every face we have to show the world is”
I never truly understood what the old man was talking about until his death, until I found out the truth behind Sonny Mariano and the dozen other aliases he used over the years. The many faces he showed the world, the many faces he had to shed to escape those who might cause him harm. The hidden truth of this godforsaken place.
To survive, the smart gotta be intelligent in what they show this world. They’ve gotta be the charming businessman, the loving boss, the cold and calculated villain. Every little facet of themselves hidden behind a mask, wrapped inside an enigma. And when one falls, you’ve gotta have something else to fall back on, a smaller version to rise back up.
And bury the old shell you came out of.
Link me to Troy’s bullshit all you want doll, that was legit and by the book. No law of Zeus’s say you can’t donate to the church, that you can’t contribute to your faith. A simple businessman trying to do what’s good for his community ain’t much of a story.
Neither is Colt. The disgraced journalist who found his faith and wanted more, wanted to run the whole damn thing and found his just desserts. That ain’t the story you want to run kiddo, no. You found something much juicer. A simple name erased from history.
That tiny little morsal erupted your curiosity, makes you want to know more and more but you’re going down a rabbithole you can’t come out of Alice. Doesn’t matter who you are, everyone’s got some darkness in their past, some terrible secret they’d prefer to keep buried and dumb little shits like you trying to put the dolls back together only results in finding out truths you wish you never knew.
Tony Vincino is dead so let him stay dead. Just sit back and allow me to end a business arrangement and we can call it even.
But if you keep digging, it won’t just be you and me who don’t like what you find. Don’t look closer at the dolls Kane because if you start finding out the truth?
Candy Kane will be just another name erased from history.
Capiche?