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My sister glares, her eyes, red rimmed from crying. Maria slaps my shoulder.
“Be serious, Anthony. And let’s hear what your father has to say,” she cautions.
My chest tightens as I look at him. He’s more composed than he was two days ago. There’s a shadow in his eyes and a quiet grief hanging around him. He knows. I think he knows that no matter what he says today he has lost his son.
“Salvador,” Maria begins like the mediator she is. “I’ve known you for many years. And you’re my closest friend. I’m having a hard time believing that you would tell such a huge lie and keep it from all of us for so long. I think we all are.”
“I’m not,” I say which is a pretty big lie.
Roman glares at me. “Shut the fuck up,” he mouths.
Michael looks at me worriedly. He knows me best out of everyone in this room. And he’s had a first-class seat to my more destructive tendencies. I could be joking around now but it’s only because I’m mostly numb. And exhausted. I swam for so long last night, my entire body aches. The exhaustion did me good though. It was a great distraction. Because I really don’t want to lose it. If I start to feel, I’m scared of how much it’ll hurt.
It would be nice to have another form of distraction. My mind flashes to ocean blue eyes. She pops into my thoughts at the most random moments. I let out a breath to dispel her. I can’t think about her right now.
My dad sits up straighter. He exhales softly. “Anthony, Elena, I want you to know that I love you more than life itself. And everything I did, I did to protect you.”
Sure he did. I’d bet anyone a thousand bucks, he did it save his own ass. I don’t voice my thoughts though, I stay silent as he launches into his story.
“The both of you probably don’t remember why we had to move from Detroit. Anthony you were 14, Elena was 12. I had been working as a defense attorney but something went wrong on a case and I lost my job. So we moved to New York. Your mother didn’t want to. But I managed to convince her. I started looking for a job as soon as we got here, which is when your father found me,” he says looking at Roman.
“Ricardo reached out to me and offered me a job as consigliere. I knew him when I was younger. And it seemed like a great option, but when Annalise found out, she was so furious.”
Elena speaks up, her voice low, “Mom didn’t want you to join the mafia.”
“No, she didn’t,” my father says sadly. “And who knows maybe I should have listened to her and refused Ricardo’s offer. But then another boss got wind of my presence in town. My reputation from Detroit preceded me. I was one of the best defense attorneys, great at getting criminals out of jail and it seemed he wanted me on his side. That Don was Eduardo Mincetti. He was new to the game but had been slowly amassing power since he married his wife. He had most of the Russian Bratva on his side thanks to the alliance. I wanted nothing to do with him and I told him as much.”
“Let me guess, he didn’t take it well?” I drawl.
“Eduardo managed to dig up some dirt on me. He found out the real reason I left Detroit. I got involved in a case involving some powerful men and I pissed off the wrong people. we left because we were in danger and Eduardo threatened to bring them to my doorstep again. I was pretty much resigned to work for him after that but then he changed his mind and asked me to work for the De Luca’s instead and give him information. He wanted me to spy on Ricardo for him.”
I smirk, “And the plot thickens.”
Maria places a hand on my thigh and squeezes. I clamp my mouth shut. This story seems so freaking long, I just want to know what happened to my mother.
“Did you do it?” Roman asks, his jaw clenched.
My dad nods slowly. “I didn’t have much of a choice, Rome. It was either that or put my family in danger. Ricardo welcomed me with open arms and pretty soon I was a man on the inside, he trusted me and I betrayed that trust. When Eduardo asked for information, I told him about an important weapons shipment. He was only supposed to steal the cargo. But something went wrong that night, the fight escalated and Ricardo’s brother died.”
I suck in a sharp breath and my eyes immediately lift to Michael’s at the sound of Ricardo’s brother. He shakes his head once to remind me that his parents died when he was much younger in a fire.
Oh right.
I guess by Ricardo’s brother, my father meant Ivan’s father in which case it’s whatever. I don’t care too much about him. When I look at Roman his expression is steady. By my side, Maria stiffens. I take her hand in mine and squeeze reassuringly. It can’t be easy for her. We were too young when all of this happened but she must be in pain at the memories.
“Keep going,” Roman states.
My dad’s expression is pained but he continues. “When he died, the gravity of the situation became clear. I couldn’t let things continue so I told Eduardo I had had enough. He’s a bastard though, a controlling one who refused to let me out of his thumb. He went back on his word and told the men back in Detroit where I was. Which is when your mother got wind of the situation and realized how serious it was. She wanted us to leave.”
“You should have left,” I growl, feeling an ache start to bloom in my chest.
“I should have,” my dad agrees and I see so much regret in his eyes. I look away. It makes me feel sick. “But I went to Ricardo instead and I told him the truth, everything. I thought he was going to kill me. I would have deserved it. But he had a soft spot for you kids by then. He was a good man and he couldn’t just hang me out to dry. So he helped me out with the men from Detroit. We got rid of every last one of them. And we were going after Eduardo as well. Until he abducted your mother.”
My heart stops at that. For some reason, I was really hoping we would get to the part of the story where mom ran away because she was scared. I want so badly to hang on to what I’ve always known.
“You said she left,” Elena says, her voice breaking. “You told us she ran away.”
He shakes his head, tear filling his eyes. “Your mother would have never left you. Eduardo took her and I tried to save her. You have to believe me, I did. But by the time I got to where he was holding her, it was too late. She was dead. He killed her.”
