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“No, Big Guy, I have to do this. She had the strength to write it, I should have the strength to read it,” she says with tears rolling down her face.
“It’s dated the twenty-eighth of June, two thousand and six. Sweet Angel, I've spent all your life protecting you from the evil in mine. The last few months have showed me that no matter how much I tried to protect or shelter you and your father, Sir will do whatever he wants to get me.” She pauses and takes a deep breath. I prepare myself for what she’s going to say too.
“I'm so proud of you and so very happy with the young woman you are becoming. Your graduation was my proudest day. I know you'll make the decision that is best for you. I know you'll become a strong independent woman. You have always tried to prove you are better than most. You're strong, focused, and very beautiful, your father couldn't be prouder.
“I know he hasn't shown you and I know you feel you need to push yourself for him. He's only ever wanted the best for you. He wants you to have more than he ever did. He would be happy with you choosing Boston University. Yes, he wants you to be a lawyer, but only because you argue better than most of the partners in his firm. He also wants you to have the means to take care of yourself. To never have to depend on someone else to take care of you.” She chokes on a sob as she attempts to continue.
“Just before we flew here to Tel Aviv, I told your father about my past. I'm going to tell you now.” Maya pauses again, this time she shifts in her seat and rubs her forehead.
“When I was in college, I met your father. I instantly fell in love with him. He was doing an internship at a Boston legal firm. He was charismatic and so different from the boys I had dated and been around. I knew I was going to marry him and be with him forever. We dated, and I talked to him about converting to Judaism, he proposed to me that night. The process was taking some time, but it was worth it to be with him,” Maya ends in a huff.
“Yoseph was my life, although, I didn't tell him the most important thing at the time. My family had always had money, we just never let people know how much. What was the point? Money changed people. My parents liked Yoseph and were happy for me. They never had a problem with me changing my faith.” She turns to look at Duncan and I know she’s thinking about how she didn’t tell him about her money either.
“The night I was prepared to tell Yoseph about the money, I received a call telling me my parents were killed in an explosion at their vacation home in Kennebunkport. They said it was a gas leak and I was devastated, your father stayed by my side. Two weeks later I received the first letter from a man who told me if I didn't want anyone else I cared about to die, I would break off the engagement to Yoseph. The letter was signed Sir. I was so scared I turned to my best friends.
“James and Bella tried to help me. James put me in touch with his cousin Shawn, a Boston cop. I planned on going to the police station the next day when the next letter came. It told me if I went through with filing the report he would hurt James. I couldn't put James and Bella through that. I decided to just wait and see what happened.” Daddy pushes back from the table and starts pacing.
“Your father was getting ready to fly to Tel Aviv for a family visit, and I was continuing with my training. Shawn was killed in an officer involved shooting a month later. I began to worry about his death when an attorney called to tell me I was the sole heir to my family's fortune. I didn't know there was that much money. The attorney also told me that a man had been asking questions about the inheritance. I realized my family and those close to me were being killed because of the money.” Maya pauses again to look at Daddy.
“I knew I was being followed and I knew I was putting everyone in danger. I broke the engagement with your father and stepped away from everyone else. I hid out for a month in a Vermont cabin. You know your father, he's so stubborn, he never gave up on me. Between him and James, they found me. Your father begged me to come back, vowed there was no other woman for him. We were married by a justice of the peace. I moved to DC with him, dropped out of school, and just hid away in his world.
“James and Bella got married a month later. I was happy. I thought my worries were behind me. I received another letter, this time Sir was so angry, calling me awful names and telling me if I didn't leave Yoseph, he would kill Bella. James and I talked for hours, he told me to go back to DC, live my life, and he would protect Bella. I thought he was right. He protected her for so long. Years passed by, she had Duncan. I only talked to her. I never traveled to Boston or London again.
“When both Bella and I got pregnant with you and Anabel, I thought it was fate. Then she died, and I knew I never could out run this lunatic.” I can’t control the sob that escapes my throat. Joshua pulls me closer and I see the tears running down Maya’s face.
“I met with a friend in Boston who was a new attorney, we made a plan, and I have stuck to it to this day. We buried the money in several trust funds and spread the rumor that it was lost in a bad deal. James thinks he pushed me away, and I let him think that. I needed to protect Anabel and Duncan. Bella would never forgive me if something happened to her children. I raised you and loved your father knowing that someday I would be taken from you, I wouldn't allow him to take either of you. I knew distancing myself from James was for the best. I prepared you to protect yourself. Your father was so happy to push you into all his Israeli studies, but I knew you would need them. I was the one that actually talked him into letting you learn Krav Maga, the knife fighting, and all the shooting. Your Uncle David suspected something, but he still trained you and never questioned me.” She pauses for a moment, collecting herself.
“Today, we had lunch with one of my dearest friends. You and Anabel have started a friendship like her mother and I had. I knew my past would come back because this maniac has a connection to James in some way.
“My private investigators haven't been able to figure out the connection, maybe you can figure it out, darling. The coach from Boston University has been following us for days, bugging your father and me. I knew when I saw him here it would be ending soon. When he came to me years ago, he promised he would only return if the end were near. If he could no longer keep Sir away.
“Owen will try to protect you as much as he can. He has been on the inside, helping me for years, but he can't get away from Sir. He doesn't like what Sir has made him do, but he has had no choice. He won't tell me who Sir is. He says it's for both our protection. Owen came to me right after Bella was killed, saying he protected Ana that night. I've included his evidence of Bella's accident and the name of the man possibly responsible.
“Owen will protect you as if you were his own. He needs to stay where he is to protect his own family. I wish Owen and I had found each other sooner. I'll always regret not really introducing him to you. Sweet Angel, I've always been faithful to your father, Owen is a different love of my life. He will never tell you because it will put his family in more harm, but he's my half-brother. He was used from the beginning, he's only wanted to protect you and his own daughter.
“I contacted the firm today to make sure everything was ready. I'll miss you, darling. Grow strong and trust James and your father, they will protect you. I wish I could meet the man who’ll one day capture your heart, and pray you live ev…every day to the full…fullest.” Maya chokes as she reads it and I watch my brother pull her close. How she has the strength to read this aloud staggers me.
“On your graduation day, your father and I gave you a locket, open it and remove the picture of Abba, he left you a message.”
“I'm rea…read…ready to die.” She chokes through the sobs. “Your…Your father is arguing with the plan, but I will win. When I told him what I needed to do, he was angry at first but understands why.” Maya pauses. “How the fuck can he understand? Why didn’t he stop her?” she says before continuing with the letter. “Owen told me Sir wants him to kill Yoseph. I can't live without your father, and I hope my death will stop him. Please don't think this is your fault, don't blame yourself. I know when you read this you'll blame Owen, but he isn't happy with my decision. He still thinks there's a way to fake my death.” She grits out the last part through her clenched teeth. I bury my face into Joshua’s shoulder.
“Unless Sir learns about the trust funds, remember trust only James, no one else. The enemy is close to our group in some way. Be strong always, my darling, and remember I…I…will…always…love…you. Momma.” Maya finishes as Duncan pulls her closer to him while she cries.
There’s so much to process. Maya’s old coach is her uncle, and he killed her parents. But the letter stated only Cara was to die. I don't understand what happened. None of this makes sense.
I watch as Maya pulls her locket from her neck and opens it. Inside is a picture of her mom on one side and her father on the other. She carefully pulls back his picture.
“Give me a magnifying glass someone,” she calls out, and Timothy rushes to hand her one.
“It's in Hebrew. It says, ‘My truest soul and my greatest accomplishment. I'm always here. Remember I love you always, Abba.’”
She stands and pushes Duncan away. “I love you but give me a moment.”
Maya has always questioned her relationship with her father. She walks to the large glass doors and pushes them open, and steps outside. I know she’s contemplating running. In all our years as friends, she either fights or runs when she’s in pain. She's about to take off when I watch in horror as Derek throws a pair of fighting gloves at the back of her head.
“Okay, sexy bitch, you've been moping around here for months because no one will fight you. I need this release just as bad as you need it. Let’s go, wimp.” He signals someone, and I watch as Duncan starts to go after him. Greg drops and sweeps Duncan’s legs, he goes down hard. Greg wraps around him, holding him down as Marilyn Manson begins to blare through the speakers, and I look to Dr. Mason. He knew what she needed.
“You really think you’re fucking man enough to take me on?” she taunts Derek as she puts her gloves on. As if knowing that a soul is tormented, the sky opens up and rain starts pelting down on them.
