The Mirror Cracked.

Chapter 10

"And no..." Tonio finished.

Tony looked at his son confused.

"Yes, I know that the man was murdered, I was there. But no, I didn't kill him." He clarified.

For a moment Tonio was worried, he knew this man was a federal agent and also that he had said he was his father, he wondered which part of the man would be there for him. Would it be the federal agent who would arrest him for being part of a mafia family, or the father he had heard so much about from his mother as he had grown up? He hoped it would be the latter, but over the years he had learned that family tended to betray you, so he waited.

"Who did?" Tony asked. "I need names son."

His son looked sad and shook his head, looked like it was going to be the federal agent, not the father.

"Tonio." Tony sat by his son's side and took his hand, "The federal agent was doing his job, he was a man with a family, he had a six month old daughter; she's going to grow up like you did, without a father due to the actions of someone else. Please, help us so she knows the man who killed her father is paying for it. Don't let her be fearful every night that the man who hurt her daddy will come back."

Tonio looked down, ashamed, "Uncle Marco." He whispered. "Grandfather discovered the FBI agent had infiltrated the family, he lost it. Yelling about not being screwed over by the feds again, I walked into his office and he got mad at me saying it was all my fault and that I should take him out, prove my loyalty to my mother and the family. I went with Marco to meet with the man... But i couldn't do it, I couldn't shoot him in cold blood. But... Father, I have killed. The two men my grandfather sent to work me over before... The guys who put me in here... I fought back, they are dead." He admitted.

"Where are they?" Tony asked as his gut sank.

Tonio flinched in pain as he shrugged, "I left them in an alleyway, I'm not sure where." He admitted sadly, "I didn't want to, but they were killing me."

"That's self defense," Tony told his son, "Your injuries prove you were fighting for your life."

Tonio lay back for a moment and closed his eyes. "I never wanted to kill them, I never wanted to work for grandfather. I wanted to go to school, I wanted to be an architect. I like buildings, design, the lines and style. I wanted to design things that would be useful and last forever."

Tony smiled sadly as he looked at his son, "Maybe you still can, after all this is over you could go back to school."

Tonio shook his head, "No... Not anymore, that part of my life is over. I have nothing now." Tonio looked away, he was done and he was alone.

Tony looked up as the door knocked quietly. "I'll be just outside."

Tony closed the door and looked at the two men standing there.

"What have you got McGee?" He asked.

McGee shifted uncomfortably as he stood in front of his teammate and friend. "We had the body transferred to Ducky, he's done his autopsy, It looked like he was shot at close range by someone he trusted. Abby ran a DNA on some skin cells found under the man's finger nails, there were two sets of DNA, one matched up to a Marco Valenti and one to Tonio." He stepped back expecting Tony to argue and was surprised at the nod he received.

"I expected as much, Tonio just told me that he was with Marco when the FBI Agent was killed. However, he didn't pull the trigger, Marco did. Believe me Marco is more than capable of doing it as well." Tony sighed. "Let Gibbs know and have Fornell pick up Valenti for questioning."