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“I don’t know exactly what happened, but he got a call.” I shrugged. “He rushed to the hospital to be with your mom. He did call nine-one-one from the accident, but he didn’t stay. He could have helped my mom.”
“I don’t know what you’re saying, Antonio,” she said, shaking her head.
“And then he went to the hospital,” I said, as if she hadn’t just spoken, “and your mom died, too.”
She stared back at me, unblinking. “So our moms, they died on the same day?” she said breathlessly. I could see her brain thinking. I knew she would be wondering what the connection was.
“Yes.” I nodded it. “Your father was responsible for two deaths, and I have waited my whole life to get my revenge on him.”
“But I don’t understand. What do I have to do with it? Or are you saying I’m to blame? What’s that biblical verse? ‘The sins of our father…’?”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “You’re just collateral damage.”
“So you did want to hurt me.”
“No,” I said and then paused. “Maybe not deliberately. I did want to use you to get to your father.”
“Is that why you kept bringing up my father so many times?” she asked softly, and I nodded. “You set this whole thing up, didn’t you?”
I nodded.
“So was the ball even real? Do you really have to get married? Were all those women in on it as well?”
I shook my head. “No, the ball is real. I do have to find a wife. My father set that up. However, I knew that would be the perfect place for me to meet you.”
“I just don’t understand. How did you get me there? I mean, Valentina…” She paused. “Do you know Valentina?”
“Yeah, I know Vee.” I nodded. “She’s done favors for me in the past. Her father is an underboss for a Mafia family in Philly. We’ve been connected for a while now.”
She stared at me in disbelief. “So Valentina set me up. That’s why she never came back to the dorm room. Is she even a student?”
I chuckled. “I don’t really know what Valentina’s up to, but I did ask her to stay away from the dorm room.”
She stared at me in shock. “So everyone around me, they’re just liars. Is that why Gia wanted to meet up with me as well? Is she—”
“You met up with Gia?” I frowned. I hadn’t known that piece of information.
“Yeah, I’m sure you set that up, too.”
“No, she and I aren’t close.”
“Okay.” She nodded. “Well, I guess I understand why she’s no longer friends with you and your brother.”
“Did she tell you why?” I stepped forward, wondering if I’d finally get that piece of the puzzle.
“No, she didn’t. But I can imagine that she didn’t want to be associated with two psychopaths,” she said, shaking her head.
“You still don’t understand.” I reached out for her hand, and she pulled it away.
“Understand what, Antonio? That my dad and your mom supposedly had an affair and you took my virginity to make him pay?”
I stared at her, not answering. “Your father murdered my mother,” I said softly. “He had to pay.”
“How do you even know that my dad was the one driving or that… I don’t know, it was his fault in the accident or—”
I sighed. The thought had occurred to me that my father had set up the accident because there was no way he’d be humiliated by his wife. But the simple fact of the matter was my father would pay one day, especially if he had caused the accident. Her father had been the one driving. Her father had been the one sleeping with my mother, even while his wife was in the hospital with cancer. Her father was a disgusting human being. He deserved pain. “So, are you going to tell him?” I asked her, and she tilted her head to the side.
“That’s what you want, isn’t it?” she said, nodding slowly. “You want me to tell my father how you set me up and slept with me as this plan of revenge. You want me to confront him because you think that will be some sort of payback?”
