"Are you searching for something?" I take my focus off the computer in front of me and settle my sights on him.
"No."
"Very well."
"But like, have you seen those fruit cups?"
"Right side, bottom drawer," I tell him and try not to sound too fucking annoyed. He's like a child but I see what Cora sees in him. He's a nice guy. Very polite. A bit oblivious to the dangers of the world but treats her with more kindness than I could ask him to.
Cora waddles into the room, her cardigan hugged around her chest, her eyes puffy and tired. She rubs them and yawns. "What are you guys doing?"
Alec returns from the fridge with his treasure in hand, a smile across his face. "You hungry?"
She stops behind me and leans her head on my shoulder. "No, not really." Cora nods to the screen. "What are you doing?"
"Well, I can't really go into details, but I heard you when you said you were worried about what would happen to London last night. I'm working on helping her disappear." I close the screen so she doesn't see details that could jeopardize making that happen. "This sort of thing is rather delicate, so for now, the less you know, the better."
I worry Cora is going to get mad, demand to have every bit of information I have, but instead, she wraps her arms around me and says, "Thank you."
I've spent most of my life alone up until this point, only answering to myself and the jobs that I'm tasked to handle. I'm not used to caring for another person, let alone fulfilling their needs when they're not explicitly stated. But ever since Cora met London, I've sensed a connection between the two, and if I'm not mistaken, Cora feels bad for the role she's played in making things potentially worse for London.
With Ricardo out of the picture, London is free from him, but in a way, she'll never fully escape him, considering he sold her off before his death to some scumbag. I'd like to think I could eliminate the threat for her, but with the uproar all these deaths have caused, Vito's son has more protection than he ever has, making him harder to kill than Ricardo ever was.
And honestly, I don't really want to risk my life for her, not when the threat to Cora's life is finally over and we have a chance to be happy, together, all four of us.
So, I'll do what I can, what I do best, and solve the problem how I see fit.
Helping London disappear.
Here's to hoping she takes the opportunity and doesn't fuck it up, because I've put my life on the line far too many times and I'd like to stick around a bit longer and try this whole happily ever after thing.
"Can I say goodbye to her?" Cora asks me, still leaning on my shoulder.
I press a kiss to her forehead hoping it'll soothe the hurt I'm about to cause her. "I'm sorry, Angel, it's too risky. It's better this way."
Cora stands straight, her nose twitching like she's holding back tears as she nods. "Okay." She turns around, leaving me behind with the weight of helping her and hurting her all at the same time.
43
CORA
Idon't have a funeral for my mother.
I don't tell my father that she's dead.
Instead, with the guys’ help, we make arrangements to have her body buried in a cemetery where some of her family rests.
Holding my arms around myself, I stand a few feet from her casket as it's prepared to be lowered into the ground. I never got to say goodbye to her, not really. I never got to tell her how the job I had gotten would change my life forever. How I met three men who would do anything for me, and how I was starting to come to terms with the fact that maybe I deserved all the love they showered me with. I never told her about my fight with June, and how her betrayal cut deep. She would have given me advice, and maybe it would have been terrible, but it's what she would have done, and I would have been grateful for it, even if I didn't accept it.
I lost the woman who brought me into this life, the one who I thought might be there one day if I got married, to teach me my grandma's recipes, to help me move into my apartment. I lost all these versions of the mother who was supposed to grow old and guide me through life.
I hate my father for that. I blame him. Not for her cancer, but for the path he took with it. Every choice he made led to this outcome, the one where I never got to tell her how sorry I was for not seeing the signs sooner and doing whatever I could to save her.
"What's he doing here?" I say, the words like venom out of my mouth as I watch my father walk toward us.
"Don't be mad." Silver places his hand on my lower back.
I shrug him off and march around my mother’s casket to meet my dad halfway. "I don't want you here."
