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“He’s my son. He owes me his loyalty.”
“And his life?”
She grins.
“I think he’s more than paid, don’t you? You let the Commander make an enforcer out of him. You know what he’s done. You know what that cost him.”
“Enlighten me.”
“His soul.”
“That’s dramatic, isn’t it?”
“It fits.”
“Have you lost your soul too, then?”
I grit my teeth, force myself to file her words away for another time. But she sees the impact they have on me, and her grin widens.
“You’ll both burn in hell for what you did all those years.”
“And you think your prayers will save you? We’ll all burn together, Bea.” I stand and lean toward her over my desk. “I know what you did,” I say in a low voice.
“What I did?”
“My mother came to you for help. I know what you did to her.”
Her eyes grow wide, eyebrows disappearing into her hairline. Then she surprises me by laughing out loud.
“What I did to her? What did she tell you exactly? Let me guess, a lie.” I am caught off guard, and she sees it and continues. “You think she came to me for help? Is that what she told you? Let me tell you how it really went, Santos.” She sits back in her seat, cocks her head to the side. “She came to me for money. Money to keep her mouth shut about who fathered her bastard. She didn’t come to me for help. She came to blackmail me. She thought if Alistair found out, he’d set me aside and marry her. She was a stupid girl then, a stupid woman now. What I did was explain reality to her.”
“And what was your version of reality?”
“He’d take the bastard and get rid of her, and you know it.” I do. It’s how the Commander operated. He’d feel he owned Caius. “And what do you think he’d have done with your brother? Do you want me to spell it out?”
“Get out, Bea.”
“He’d make another Thiago out of him. So, I did help her, just not in the way she wanted. I helped her go. But not without leaving my mark on her. So every time she looked in the mirror, which the vain woman does often, I am sure, she’d remember me. Your mother is nothing. She was always nothing. A whore. A liar who would sell her own son to save her neck. Whodidsell her own son.”
“She did what she did tosaveher son.”
She opens her mouth, closes it and grins wide, her eyes gleaming. “Ask her to tell you the whole story sometime, Santos. Because she does havetwosons.”
I’m at a loss for words and she knows it. Satisfied with her advantage over me, she stands.
“Find Thiago, and I’ll tell you what your mother won’t—although you may not want to hear it. Truth is often a bitter pill to swallow, isn’t it?”
She walks toward the door, and I walk after her, capturing her arm and spinning her to face me.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Get your hand off me.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Is that Italian place any good?” she asks casually. Her words turn the blood in my veins to ice. I tighten my grip, but she only grins wider. “It’s so hard when the innocents are hurt because of us, isn’t it?”
“Val!” He opens the door in an instant, and I toss her at him. “Get her off my property!” I order, not looking back but stalking out the front door and back into my car. I call Madelena’s cell phone as I peel off the driveway and drive like a bat out of hell back to the strip mall.
