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When I turned the corner and walked into the living room, I watched Dad seize a gun from his briefcase, turn around, and pull the trigger. The bullet whizzed through the air and pierced through Mom’s skull.
She dropped to her knees, taking one last breath, then fell onto the marble floor with a thud. I stared at Dad with wide eyes and gulped, my heart pounding inside my chest as he put the safety back on and tucked the gun away.
“You crazy fucking bitch.”
Deafening silence fell over the room.
When I stepped into the living room, Dad cleared his throat. “Don’t ever say I never did anything for you, son,” he said, as if he had known I was there the entire time. “Your mother is dead, the mob is paid off, and Vera is safe.”
I dropped my gaze to Mom’s corpse and set the gun Kai had given me on the coffee table, my hands trembling.
What the fuck did I just witness? When did Dad find out about her plans? Why has he paid off the mob?He didn’t give two shits about me; he definitely didn’t care about Vera.
“I expect you to come home,” he said, straightening the cuffs on his shirtsleeves. “I need you to attend a couple work meetings with me. You will work for the company once you finish high school so—”
“I’m not coming home,” I said, shaking my head. “And I’m not working for the company.”
Dad gritted his teeth and turned back to face me. “What was that?”
“I’m not working for your company. I’m going to do my own thing.”
After taking a deep breath, Dad turned back to his briefcase. “You’ll change your mind.”
I pressed my lips together and stepped toward him, not wanting to fight with him right now because who knew if he’d blowmybrains out next?
“I, uh … I wanted to ask you about Vera’s mother.”
Dad froze. “What about her?”
“Is Mateo your kid?”
Vera had mentioned it briefly, and with what Mom had said a while ago … if this was the last time I saw him because I didn’t plan on staying here, then I needed to know what had really happened.
Silence.
When his jaw finally twitched, he nodded. “Yes, but Vera is not mine.”
Again, I dropped my stare and looked at my blood-soaked shoes. Mateo was my … half-brother. I bit my lip to hold back a smile. While I’d never say a word to him about it, unless Vera’s mother did, I knew.
He was my flesh, my blood.
“Now,” Dad said, clearing his throat and grabbing his briefcase, “I have work. If you ever need me, call me. I won’t pick up, but I’ll send you the money that you need for anything.” He walked to the front door.
“Wait!” I shouted after him, and he stopped at the door. “You should do something for Mateo.”
Dad chuckled and said, “I’ll do what I please,” and then he walked out of my life for good.
I stared at his departing figure and frowned.
Sometimes, the villain of our stories escaped alive.
ChapterEighty-Three
VERA
Two weeks after theincident, I grabbed a box from Blaise’s car and hauled it into his new apartment. Mom had told him that he didn’t need to leave, but Blaise wanted some time to himself, and I didn’t blame him.
He had been alone in that big mansion for nearly all his life. It might’ve been too much for him to be living in our small house when one of us was always home, or maybe he wanted to prove to himself that he could do things on his own with his own money.
