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He shrugged his shoulders. “Surgery sucks, but I’ll be okay,” he said.
“But you carry the weight of everything, Sam. You're only human," I said, my words spilling out into the darkness that surrounded us. "We're siblings. We're supposed to share our burdens."
He smiled at that, a small uptick of his lips amidst the sea of melancholy on his face. "Yeah," he said, his voice barely audible. "I suppose we are."
Gripping his hand tighter, I scooted closer until our shoulders were nearly touching. I could feel his warmth through our clothes; it was comforting and familiar in a way nothing else was right now.
"I should've been there," he whispered, guilt lining his every word.
"We both have regrets." My response came out as a soft sigh as I tried to ease the heavy guilt off his shoulders. "That doesn't make us responsible for what Dad became or what he did."
“So what are you going to do?” Sam asked when I rested my head on his shoulder.
I took a deep breath. “I’m going to go out there and make Stephen believe that I want to be bait for my father. I assume he’ll want me to wear a wire. Then, when I’m able to, I’ll kill him.”
“In front of the feds? They might put you in jail for that.”
I shrugged. “Yeah. I know. It’ll be worth it.”
Sam gave a low chuckle, shaking his head slightly. “You always were the brave one.” His words were a soft echo, floating through the still air between us.
“And you’ve always been too hard on yourself.” I nudged him, but instead of laughter, there was a heavy silence hanging between our words. There was something raw in his gaze, something like relief mixed with resignation. It was then it hit me that we really were going to do this - push back against the titanic force that was our father.
We stayed there in silence for what felt like an eternity, not speaking but understanding each other wholly through the comfortable silence we’d created. It gave us both time to recover, time to let our hearts calm and our minds clear. It was only broken when Sam shifted slightly beside me, his voice quiet yet resolute when he spoke.
“Sof,” he said. “I will do anything to protect you. Whatever it takes.”
I nodded. “Yeah, kid,” I replied. “I know.”
Chapter Twenty-Three: Sofia
Igrabbed my hat and sunglasses again and slipped out the door. I didn’t want to say bye to any of them, it was too hard. Stephen followed me silently. Once outside, the humid Florida air clung to my skin like a wet blanket. I pulled my hat down low over my eyes, hoping the darkness it provided could mask the storm that was brewing inside me. Stephen was a few steps behind, his stern face hard to read as always. No one was around, so when Sam left with us, no one asked questions.
“Let’s do this now,” I said once we were out of earshot. It was the middle of the night and we were being inconspicuous. “Before Teo and the guys ask about where we are.”
“Take you back to your father right now?” Stephen asked as we were about to cross the street. “We could wait.”
“No,” I said. “This has been years in the making. If we don’t do this now, I’m going to lose my nerve.”
Stephen side-eyed Sam, who shrugged. “I can stay in the car.”
"Yeah, you will," I said, my voice firm though my hands were shaking. "Stay in the car and out of sight. If you're needed, I'll... call out your name or something, okay?"
Sam nodded, resigned. At least looking resigned. I needed Stephen to believe that no one was going to interfere in what he planned to do.
“Are you sure about this?” Stephen asked as we got to his car. “It’ll be dangerous.”
“Whatever. Wire me. I’m ready,” I said.
We walked to the back of his car. He popped open the trunk and pulled out a tiny device, not much bigger than a quarter. He handed it to me, and I pinned it under my shirt collar, the metal cold against my skin.
"Stay calm," he instructed. "Remember, you just need to keep him talking."
I gave a curt nod, "Right. Keep him talking. What’s the plan?”
“Well, I'll take you to him,” he said. “He thinks you’re his prison. He’ll probably want to kill you. Don’t let him. If things go really sideways, say the code word.”
“What’s the code word?” Sam asked.
