“It means I’ve been sleeping with the devil for a long time now. There’s so much you don’t know about me, your grandfather, and William…”
“My grandfather? He’s dead. What does this have to do with my grandfather?”
“That’s where it all began. It’s how all of this started and why I let William do the things he’s done.”
“Mom, you’re talking in circles. I don’t understand. You loved Story enough to try taking your own life when it all came out, but let William take his freedom. Now you’re telling me it’s connected to your father, my grandfather, a man I know nothing about because you won’t talk about him, like he’s some type of secret. All of these secrets are too much. Just tell me what’s going on.”
“Your grandfather died because of William. I don’t know how or the entire story, but William had a hand in it. The Prescott family is not what everyone thinks they are. William’s father is into things. A lot of things and my father…” My mother paused and tears slipped from her eyes. She used her napkin to wipe them before she continued.
“I told William things he used to help his family. I didn’t know who he was or what I was doing. I wanted that life so bad I thought I was securing my spot in their world. I didn’t know I had set my father up to take his last breath. My father was important. People respected and loved him, Story included. Well, everyone except Harold Prescott. Harold made a lot of his money in the streets and cleaned it up to make it legal. I didn’t know that until I was already in too deep. I should have known when William kept questioning me about my father, but I thought it was because he needed to know who I was so he could make sure to keep our lives, my past, detached from the new one I built with him.
“He knew I loved Story and hated that about me. So when he found out I was still seeing him, he threatened my family. I told my father and he said I should love who I loved and let him worry about it. So that’s what I did. I kept seeing Story until my father ended up gunned down in the street like a dog. It was my fault. I didn’t pull the trigger, but I allowed it to happen.”
“William kill… killed my grandfather?”
“No, Sophie, no. He didn’t actually kill him, but he went to his father and asked him to do it. His father was all too happy to oblige because Story’s operation was cutting into the one he secretly ran. William then came to me and told me Story would be next if I didn’t leave him alone. His two options were death or prison. I couldn’t let him die.”
“Oh, Mom. Why didn’t you just tell him the truth? You married a man who killed your father and stole another man’s child, me. How could you…”
“I know. Don’t you think I know that? I’ve been living with that guilt for years now, but Sophie, it was either that or lose both of you. William and his family get what they want or they make the people holding them back disappear. I had you to think about. William wasn’t the best, but he did love you. He gave you the world, Sophie, and I’m not ashamed of that, but I do regret that you don’t know your father.”
I sat there taking it all in. I was so overwhelmed, at a loss for words. Who was my mother? How was this so complicated?
“Sophie, say something, please.”
“What am I supposed to say? My entire life is a lie. Yours is a lie. My father went to prison for sins you committed. I’m not a child, and maybe it shouldn’t bother me so much, but it does. I don’t know any of you. I don’t know myself. How am I supposed to deal with all of this?”
“I know, but try to understand, it was for you. I wanted you to be taken care of. My father was the only one who could protectme. When William took that from me and threatened to take you from me, I made the best choice I could, to stay.”
I stared at my mother sympathetically. I understood, but didn’t. If Story was the man everyone said he was, he would have protected us. Both of us.
“But why didn’t you just let my father keep us safe?”
“Because they killed my father, Sophie. Do you know how powerful he was? And they got to him. I wasn’t taking that chance with your life and I didn’t want any more blood on my hands. So, if it meant that he had to spend the rest of his life behind bars to stay alive, that was the choice I would make. You don’t have to understand, I don’t expect you to, but it’s what happened.”
“I have to go.” I stood and my mother did too. She wanted to make amends, but I couldn’t do that right now.
“Go where? Where are you going?”
“Home. I need time. Just give me that, please.”
My mother nodded. I kissed her cheek and walked away. My head spun and I had no idea what was next, but right now I had to get away from her.
“Are you okay?” Maddie asked for the tenth time after I explained everything my mother had just told me. We sat sipping tea on the balcony of the apartment Carlos had basically given her while the city moved below us.
“No, I’m not, but that doesn’t really matter.”
“Sophie, it matters. Everything you told me sounds like you’re living in some sort of movie, but it matters.”
I laughed at how dramatic Maddie sounded. That was one of the things I loved about her. She took on my problems like they were her own, with a passion so intense I had to respect her loyalty and friendship.
“Don’t laugh. I’m serious.” A displeased look spread across her face as she stared me down.
“I’m laughing because you’re right. Who has this type of drama in their lives?”
“Apparently, you do, boo.” She grinned and shook her head.
“So what now?”
