Page 65 of Dirty Legacy

I planned on saying thanks. That’s all I wanted, to thank you for saving my little sister’s life. They told me how people saw you go back for Rowan, how you ripped yourself up crawling over broken glass to pull a total stranger from a nasty fire. They told me you sat with her afterwards and didn’t want to leave her alone. How you only let her go when you were both safe and in the hospital.

Then I saw you lying in the bed. You were asleep. A teenager, probably the same age Rowan is now. A normal girl, I realized. Pretty in an awkward way. I watched you for a while, wondering where your family was. Why weren’t your parents there? Didn’t anyone know what happened to you? I asked around, but nobody knew if anyone was coming to check on you.

I made you a promise. You never knew. I didn’t want to wake you up. But I swore to you, right there, that I’d look after you the way you looked after my little sister. I’d do everything in my power to make sure you were always safe and cared for, no matter what happened.

I left you sleeping. I never mentioned you to Rowan. How could I explain it? I decided to stalk your savior? It wouldn’t have made any sense. She would’ve called me crazy, and I would’ve deserved it. But I learned your name and I burned it across my heart, because you gave me the gift of my little sister’s life, and there was no way I could ever repay you.

Angelina Bellandi.

The girls stare at me in stunned silence. I pour myself a drink. “I’ve never told anyone that before.” I return to my desk and slump down in my chair. “Feels strange saying it out loud.”

“Strange?” Rowan puts her palms against her forehead. “My brother’s a psycho. Holy shit.”

“You already knew that.”

“Yeah, but this is a whole new level.” She looks at Angelina. “You really had no idea?”

“I really didn’t know.” My wife’s watching me with a wary and puzzled expression. I wish I could read her thoughts right now. How does a person hear a story like that and make sense of it? She’s going to be afraid of me, and I don’t blame her one bit.

“Well, this is insane. How long were you watching her for? What were you doing? Like creeping outside her house in the bushes?”

“There aren’t any bushes outside of her apartment building.”

“Oh my god! You know where she lives?!” Rowan slaps the arms of her chair. “Connor, what the hell is wrong with you?!”

“A lot,” I say, watching for any reaction from Angie that might give me a hint to how she’s feeling. “Too much.”

My wife reaches out and touches Rowan’s hand. “Do you mind… if me and Connor talk for a bit?”

Rowan shifts toward her. “He just dropped an enormous bomb. You sure you want to be alone with him?”

“It’ll be okay, don’t worry.” Angie’s mouth pulls into a slight smile. “If anything goes wrong, you can pull me out, right? Listen out for the screaming.”

Rowan grins back. “Good point. Hopefully, he does something stupid and I can make us even.” She gets up and walks to the door. My sister turns back, her eyes flat on me. “Behave yourself, asshole.”

Then she’s gone, leaving me and Angie alone.

I sit in the silence. Angie’s watching me warily and I wish I knew what she was thinking. How does a person come to grips with finding out that their husband has been stalking them for years?

I pictured this moment a dozen times since I saw her sleeping in that hospital bed. What I’d say if she ever realized what I’ve been doing. How I’d make her understand. But now, facing it, I find all my words are gone.

“I have questions,” she says at last, which sounds like the greatest understatement imaginable. “And I want straight answers.”

“I’ll tell you what you want to know.”

“Have you been following me?”

I rap a knuckle on the desk. “If you’re asking if I’ve been lurking outside of your building every day in a black ski mask, the answer is no.”

“Have you been watching? Everything I’ve done?”

“More or less.”

“How? And why?”

I get up. I can’t help myself. I pour a drink and down it. “I wanted to repay you. That’s how it started. I thought I could do something for you without revealing myself. I didn’t want to draw you into my world any more than you already were. Those days were very dangerous for my family.”

“More dangerous than now?”