Page 82 of Thin Lines (Donati Bloodlines 2)

Calisto shrugged. “Same difference.”

“When did you learn that Affonso was your father?”

Her words had come out quiet but sure. They still hitCalisto in the chest like a ton of bricks had just been dropped down on him.Out of instinct, he tried to move away from what Emma was saying, but his backhit the door again.

“I don’t know what …” Calisto clenched his teeth,willing his angry denials away. Emma watched him through her thick, longlashes, silent and waiting. “How?”

It was the only thing he could ask.

Anything else could kill him.

“I heard some things, he did some things.”

Affonso.

Calisto wet his lips. “Like what?”

“The hospital, for one. The day after. I heard youarguing with him. It took me a while to figure it all out. I felt so stupid.”

“Don’t feel that way. Only a handful of people know.Three of them are dead. I even have two birth certificates. One listing myfather as deceased. The other listing my father as Affonso Donati with hissignature. The nurse who forged the documents for Affonso the day I was borngot thrown in the bay after he had her hands cut off.”

Emma’s cheeks drained of color. “Oh, my God.”

“My mother refused him, you see. He wanted to sign,and she hid as much about the pregnancy as she could from him. Right up untilthe day she gave birth. She didn’t want his name on my documents as my father.She never did.”

“Why?”

Calisto’s truths pressed up his throat, wanting out.“She didn’t want him around me after all he had done.”

Emma chewed on her inner cheek. “Oh.”

“Is that all you have to say?”

“She was the one woman, wasn’t she? You told me oncethat he hurt a woman. You only knew of one that he’d done something to thatmade him a monster.”

Calisto nodded. “She was the one. She trusted him—shefound a friend in him when her husband was running with all sorts of women allover the city. Affonso took it as something else, and one night, he took it toofar. She hated him, and I never understood why.”

Emma drew in a deep breath. “But you do now.”

“A few months before she died, I was going through herthings. We knew her heart disease wasn’t going to give her a whole lot oftime—she was diagnosed late, after a minor cardiac arrest—but we thought shehad a bit. She wanted to have things settled.”

“Keep going,” she said when he quieted.

“I found some papers. Letters from Affonso to her. Heapologized. I don’t know why she kept them. I confronted her like it was herfault. I went at her like she had been the one who had done wrong. I didn’thave a clue, but I was so angry because they all lied to me. I didn’t realizehow badly she hurt, or all the years she’d turned her cheek to the monster whokept her son too close because she didn’t have any other choice.”

Emma reached out, and snagged his hand with hers.Calisto let her.

“I adored him for years,” Calisto continued, rubbing ahand over his face. “I thought he was a king, but he was just … a wolf insheep’s clothing. When I refused to marry the woman he wanted me to marrybecause I was angry over his lies and what he had done, he put a gun to my headand laughed.”

Emma bit down on her lip hard enough to draw blood.“Really?”

“Yes. He didn’t even flinch. In fact, he asked me howmuch I loved my mother. Did I love her enough to get myself killed for the sakeof pride? Was I willing to do that to her just to punish him for the past?”

“He’s always saying to leave things in the past,” shemumbled.

Calisto scoffed. “It’s his favorite thing. I can’t outhim for what he did without outing who I am to him. I can’t get away from himwithout losing something. I won’t give him what he wants—I can’t get what Iwant, either.”

“I’m sorry, Cal.”