Mariano had been the scapegoat, all along, while everyone bar Alfredo misunderstood how he died and was cut to pieces, for what seemed like a violent crime to someone so nice.
Alfredo had run out of credit with the Sampson Twins several months prior. He wasn’t getting much income from his job, as his sales results were poor and consequently commission coming in was only enough to barely survive. He fell into a depression, and what was a very occasional escape from reality turned into a bit of an obsession.
He was desperate! He had nowhere to turn or ask for support. He had no close relationships with anyone to fall on their shoulder and reach out for help. He hadn’t spoken to his brother for years. He was tense and argued with his boss, almost jeopardizing his career. He was so ashamed he couldn’t open up with anyone, as they might call him a loser. He became so hooked on cocaine, but didn’t have money to fuel his need to buy it from the brothers.
Against his wishes, and to be fair, probably against the odds, he reached out to his brother on the off chance that his brother would help, several months before the murder. Mariano being a good guy embraced his brother for making up with him. Mariano never mentioned it to Natalie, as he had never even told her he had a brother. The timing wasn’t right.
A month into the rekindling of their brotherliness, and Alfredo leaned on Mariano for funding. So happy to have made up, Mariano gave him enough money to pay off his debt. As he was doing well financially, he even gave him more which allowed Alfredo to buy enough for another month.
Then when Alfredo had run out of dope, he turned to Mariano and came up with a story to get Mariano to say that he would vouch for him, and even pick up his drugs.
It is a shame Mariano fell for his bullshit, as it got to the point of no return. Alfredo had promised to pay the debt, but didn’t even though he had promised Mariano he would.
As a consequence, Mariano even argued with a neighbor one day to let out his anger and frustration, as the Sampson twins had threatened him, and all along he was just vouching for his brother. They were unaware that his brother was the user.
Perhaps his real mistake was believing his brother’s tale to pick up the stash, as if it was for him, even tough he used it on occasion.
The end!
Take care!
Prof. Carl Boniface
Vocabulary builder:
Scapegoat (n) = accused, fall person, singled out, take the blame, is condemned even though he could be innocent.
Barely (adv) =adverb used to give condition as is partly, hardly, scarcely, just, only just. “He barely got the door open, and the dog managed to slip through the small gap.”
Jeopardizing (v) = risking, endangering, exposing, threatening
Open up (phrasal verb) = expose, speak freely, but also used to accelerate i.e., put your foot down, speed up, turn the throttle. “He opened the throttle and accelerated away. Or to uncover a mystery plot. “He opened up the book and read why he did it.”
Hooked (adj) = addicted. Habituated, dependent
Against the odds (idiom) = if something happens against all odds, it happens or succeeds although it seemed impossible or very unlikely. “Some people manage to achieve business success against all odds.”
On the off chance (idiom) = used to talk about something that might happen or be true but that is not likely. “I called his office on the off chance that he would still be there, but he had already left.”
Rekindling (n) = regeneration, revitalization, rejuvenation, repair
Brotherliness (n) brotherhood, friendship, fraternity, comradeship
Dope (v) = drug, fix, incapacitate
Vouch (v) = promise, vow, swear, guarantee, assure, give your word
Bullshit (n) stupid or untrue talk or writing; nonsense. (v) talk nonsense to (someone), typically to be misleading or deceptive.
Stash (n) = supply, hoard, mass, pile, reserve, heap, store
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