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“You know me. What do you think?”
“Something discreet?”
I know he’s talking about the death of Captain Bentley Williams, which many believe to be a suicide, but we both know that is not what happened.
“Yeah,” I reply, without elaborating further.
“Have you made up your mind, then? Is she yours from now on?”
She was always mine.
“Nothing has been established.”
“But you want to protect her anyway,” he says.
“Zoe just signed a contract with me. It’s in my best interest to take care of her safety.”
He doesn’t say anything, and I understand because, even to my own ears, that sounds like a shitty excuse.
“You know how my men act in cases of danger, Christos.”
“I know, and that’s why I’m asking you. At the slightest sign of risk, there can be no hesitation.”
“Don’t worry, it will be done. Starting tomorrow, Zoe will have someone watching her twenty-four hours a day. Your . . . employee? Prefer that term? She will be protected.”
Zoe
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
BOSTON
“How are you feeling, Mom?”
She looks excited today, and my heart always lightens when I see her smile. Seeing a loved one slowly losing their strength is not pretty; cancer is the worst disease of all.
There are moments of hope for the three of us, and also those days that border on despair.
I’ve been praying a lot for her to get better but not to suffer. Otherwise, I’d rather God’s will take place. It’s a drop of hope in an ocean of certainty.
The doctors don’t have the answers I need. She gets better and worse. And that’s why, more and more often, they allow her to come home.
Thank God I’m able to pay for her to have a room set up like in a hospital, along with a nurse. It doesn’t matter to me how much time she has left; I want her to enjoy all the comfort I can give her.
“I’m fine, baby, but also very sad.”
I look at my hands. I don’t need to ask why. I know it’s because of Mike’s abuse.
“Don’t think about it, Mom. This week, everything will be fixed.”
“Your father told me that you asked him for help days after the wedding. I’m so embarrassed that he told you to stick it out a little longer.”
“And I regret having listened to him. I thought there was something wrong with me, Mom. I always think there’s something wrong with me because I don’t have many people who love me.”
“It’s their loss. There’s nothing wrong with you. You are a beautiful girl, inside and out.”
“When do we know we love someone, Mom?”
“Are you talking about Mike?”
