That sentiment resonated so deeply with me that I nearly started to cry. “I get it.”
“Honestly, my endgame was becoming a Costa. At first, I thought I’d just rise in the ranks, kill Illiana, and helm control for myself, but she…” He sighed. “She has a way of making you think she cares a lot more than she does.”
“I get that too,” I said. “Trust me, if she knew you weren’t hers, you’d be in a body bag on the way to the Mississippi right now.”
“I’m not stupid. I know that.” He stared at me for a minute after that, and then his gaze traveled down to the ring on my hand. “You married him?”
“I did. I love him.”
He snickered. “Good for you. Tell me something.”
“Okay?”
“On Wednesday, is Illiana going to die?” He finally managed to drag his gaze back up to me.
I took another deep breath. “Honestly? I don’t know what’s going to happen on Wednesday.”
“Good to know.” He stood up and walked over to the door of the bedroom and opened it. He stopped, turned to look back at me, but he didn’t say anything. He walked through the door and out of sight.
Part of me wanted to analyze the information I’d just received, but my brain was already too jam-packed full of everything else that I had to get done before Wednesday. I logged it away and planned to discuss it with Ashton next time we spoke, but in the meantime, I left my bedroom and made my way out of the estate and back to my rented car. I stashed my purse in the trunk just in case anything came up, and then I pulled out my phone and navigated to my mom’s phone number. I didn’t know if I’d be in Chicago, San Diego, or halfway to hell by the end of the week, but I wanted to talk to her nonetheless. I wanted to tell her the truth about what happened with my father and useless brothers. She had a right to choose whether or not to continue loving me when she had all of the information.
The line trilled a couple of times, and then my mom picked up. “Denise.”
I smiled. “Hey, Mama.”
“Oh, hi, honey. How are you?”
“Good.” I lifted my hand to look at my ring. “A lot has happened since we last spoke.”
“Really? Will we be able to discuss it all in person soon, I hope?”
“Hopefully,” I responded, “but I have to tell you something first.”
“Okay?”
“Um.” There was no real way to tell a woman that you were responsible for her sons’ deaths. “What happened with dad and the boys…I may have played—”
“Denise,” she cut me off. “I know your father was hellbent on keeping me out of the fray of the lifestyle he led, but I knew much more than he thought I did. What happened to him, what happened to the boys, it was a direct result of the life they chose to live. I will miss them every day of my life, but your world isn’t one in which someone’s death is just a single person’s fault. It’s a collection of events leading up to a single point. You are not to blame.”
My nose burned, and my eyes began to tear. “You knew?”
“I don’t want to be haunted by that life anymore. You are the only one I have left. I don’t want to throw it away because of a position you were born into, thanks to your father’s actions. I love you just the same. I want to put it behind me.”
I nodded. “Yeah. Me too.”
“Good. So when are you coming to me?” she asked.
I opened my mouth to respond, but a sharp pain cracked across the back of my head first. My eyes swirled as my world went upside down, and I clattered to the floor. My vision was just barely hanging on as Arturo stepped into my line of vision.
“Denise?” I could hear my mom calling from the other line.
“Mama, hang up,” I forced out just as Arturo brought the butt end of his gun down across my forehead. Then I blacked out.
Chapter Twenty:Ashton
I tried calling Denise for the fourth time, but no one answered. Even as I bounded up the stairs, I tried again, and again, and again, but I still got the same result. If I called so frequently, Denise would answer for fear that something was wrong. There was no denying it. Arturo must have gotten to her.
Still, I bolted out of the estate and back to where the cars were, but Arturo’s car was gone. “Fuck.” I whipped around and ran back into the house just as Callista and my dad were making it up the stairs. “Where did he go?” I screamed.
