I want to snort. All those years of thinly veiled contempt and now, I’m “son.”
“Everything’s good,” I say. Good for me, that is. Even as we speak, Raoul’s making another deal to take over one of his main supply streams. I haven’t asked him for the details, nor will I. I’ve stepped away from that world. But it’s good to know that my father is being hit where it hurts.
“Giano says there’s been talk of—” he continues, but I cut him off.
“I’m not here to discuss your business issues,” I say. He leans back in his chair, eyes narrowing on me. “I know about your charges,” I go on. “The trafficking. The drugs. The killings…” He remains impassive. “What did you do to my mother?” I ask bluntly. There’s a cold edge to my voice – I keep it there to stop it from quavering. There’s expression on his face now. Something close to pain, if I thought he was capable of it.
“Your mother. Your mother was…” he says slowly, as if picking his words. He’d better fucking pick them carefully, because if it wasn’t for the divider between us, I’d smash his face in. “She never loved me,” he finally says. It’s my turn to narrow my eyes.
“Now there’s a surprise,” I respond. I doubt anyone has ever felt tenderness toward the monster sitting across from me.
“You don’t understand,” he snaps. “I fucking tried everything. Courting her. Wooing her. Expensive gifts…” My mind goes back to the diamond necklace. I guess he’s not lying about everything. “She wouldn’t love me,” he says. “Nothing I could do would change that.”
“You can’t force love,” I answer. “It’s not like one of your business deals. You can’t threaten it out of someone.”
He shakes his head. “You don’t understand. She came to me like a terrified gazelle. I was gentle. I swear it.” His lips twist. “At least…at first. But she defied me at every fucking turn!”
Who could blame her? This motherfucker was the reason she’d lost her lover. Had to give up her child. Though I suspect he doesn’t know much of that. Still, he was complicit. As much responsible for those losses as the family who’d committed the crimes.
“So, you killed her,” I say, surprised at how easily the words come now.
His eyes flicker. I see his throat work. “It was an accident,” he whispers.
“Accident?” I scoff. “You cut her throat and buried her in the desert.”
His face goes pale. His features somehow more gaunt.
“She never fucking loved me, goddammit!” he snarls. “She was my fucking wife! And she couldn’t stand it when I touched her. What woman denies her husband her body?”
“You beat her,” I say softly. “You beat her, and you raped her. Killing her was just the cherry on top.”
“I had rights!” he snaps. “She was mine to do with as I pleased.”
I stare at him as if he’s mad. Because he is – a monster from another era. But why should I be surprised? His enterprises deal in women…buy and sell them like animals. Would he treat his wife any other way?
“But to kill her? What right did you have to take her life?” I hiss. My hands have curled into fists. I can imagine closing them around his fucking throat and squeezing the life from him. I’d do it now if I could, and gladly let them lock me up for it. But then it occurs to me that I have more than one reason not to do that now. The thought of the woman and child waiting at home for me settles the rage within. My father may have accumulated wealth in his life, but it will never amount to what I have in my world.
“I didn’t mean to kill her,” he says brokenly. “I’d been…” He swallows hard. “I’d been drinking. There were drugs… When I went to her that night, I was gentle. I tried to be gentle. And she laughed at me. Said I’d never be man enough for her.” His bearing has grown rigid. “Do you have any idea what that’s like? To be told that you’re not a real man?”
I shake my head. “No. Because I’ve never tried to keep a woman who didn’t want me,” I say. The words are intended to cut, and I see that they do. His shoulders slump.
“I slapped her,” he says. “Maybe more than once. But that night…something was different that night. She fought back. And then she said she was leaving. She was taking you and leaving. My own fucking son!” he yells now. Suddenly bristling with rage. In the brief exchange of words, I’ve seen him blow from hot to cold and back again. Unstable. It occurs to me that he’s probably always been this way. “I couldn’t make her love me, but there was no way I was letting her take my son from me,” he says. “But she wouldn’t back down. And I had to stop her.” He rubs his face with both hands. “So, I did. I stopped her for good.”
“You’re a fucking animal, do you know that?” I say softly. He shakes his head.
“I’m a father who was protecting his child from a woman who couldn’t see what was best for him,” he says. I don’t know who he’s trying to convince, but I’m not buying it. The life he gave me was so fucked up I’m surprised I’m not the one on the wrong side of the glass right now. “You’re all that’s left of her,” he says brokenly. “Can’t you see that I loved you for her?”
Love? He calls that love?
I don’t let myself dwell on it now. “You’re wrong,” I sneer. “Because you see…she had another son.” My father’s eyes shoot wide. I can see he never had a clue. “It’s true. And it’s half the reason she could never love you. Because you tore her from her child. But he’s stayed close all these years. Waiting…waiting for a chance to end the man who stole his mother. And now that I know what you did, I’m going to help him. Father,” I spit the word out.
“But…but I… Who…?” he stutters.
“Mateo,” I say softly. “Mateo Ricci is the brother you denied me.” He shakes his head. “And we are never going to forgive you for what you did. We’re going to end you…Father.”
Chapter 10
Dario Caraldi
