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“That he was your father. Even back then, I couldn’t bring myself to contemplate any action that would bring you pain. He would have had to have done much worse than what he did before I could have torn him from your life.”
“Like my mother did,” I whispered through the tears. “Then why do you have a copy of the police report? You didn’t just let it go after you decided not to...” My voice trailed off. There were things I needed to face, but I didn’t have to say them.
“I have to apologize for that as well. My nose was out of joint. I was miffed that the contract was still open, but someone had apparently taken the job. I wanted to know who had the audacity to make a move like that. My research led me to the truth. I dropped it after that.”
I wasn’t sure it mattered but now that the truth had come to light, I wanted it all out there.
“Your ego was bruised because someone killed my father too soon?” He truly lived in a messed-up world. “Who put the contract out on my father in the first place? It had to be McKenzie.”
“There’s a certain protocol involved in these things. You don’t get to pre-empt the contract. That’s not how it’s done, but once the contract was taken down, there was nothing more I could do. I’m sorry, Noemi, but I don’t know who initiated it.”
He was genuinely remorseful, and I should have been glad, but it seemed every question, and every subsequent answer, led to more questions.
“My freaking head hurts,” I muttered. But I squared my shoulders and forged ahead. “Do you have any clue then, why all this would be brought up now? What does it have to do with me?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know yet, but I promise you, I’m already working on it. I also don’t know who the man in the knit cap was who planted that envelope on your bed.”
“Oh, God, I nearly forgot about that envelope and the fact that someone got into my house when I - How do you know he wore a knit cap?”
It just wouldn’t end.
“Surveillance footage,” he answered as he returned to sitting next to me on the couch.
“You’re recording me?” I asked, or accused, I suppose, depending on how you looked at it.
“No, not specifically. Some of the camera footage from the exterior of our house covers a bit of yours. The street out front, some backyard shots, and a little bit of your front door and driveway. I saw a man pull up after you left with Gabriel. He was wearing a long winter coat and a knit cap. I suspect that he’s the one who left the envelope. As you said, he must have had a key or been good at picking locks.”
“Is it possible that he could have done that? Picked the lock?”
Dante nodded. “Trust me. It’s very possible, which is why I’m installing an alarm system as soon as you return home.”
The next few seconds felt like an eternity as the silence grew. When Dante opened his arms, I didn’t give a second thought to moving into them. I had questions still lurking in the back of my mind, but I was exhausted, and I knew I wasn’t done with the tears yet.
“It’s so much,” I muttered to Dante’s chest as he scooped me into his lap.
“I know.”
He rubbed his chin against the top of my head, and I snuggled deeper against him, seeking as much of his warmth and strength as I could steel.
“I know you wanted the truth, baby girl, but I would have spared you this. I would have taken these secrets to my grave with no regrets.”
“It’s too bad someone else doesn’t feel the same way,” I muttered with a yawn.
“Whoever that person is, they’ll realize their mistake soon.”
I wrapped my arms around his waist and held him tighter. His nearness, his conviction—they were the only things making this bearable. I had a long night ahead of me as I struggled to deal with all that I’d learned.
Dante held me through it all. Dropping a soft kiss on my forehead or one on the top of my head every now and then. Letting me soak his shirt until I cried my eyes dry. Covering me with a blanket as he stretched out on the sofa next to me and spooned with me until my tired eyes could take no more and I finally cried myself to sleep.
