“So you broke into my office to what, find proof of?—”
“I found proof of everything!” I slam my hand on the desk. He jumps. “I know what you did. All of it!”
“What are you talking about?” he blusters. My father’s gaze skitters to the safe. “What proof?”
“The proof”—I hold up the sheet of paper with the contents of the deal he made to kill Sofia—“that you tried to have herkilled! Three times!”
“What? I did no such?—”
“You did!” I roar. “You paid those men to attack her on the street. Theybeather! And when that didn’t work, you sent someone to the hospital to try again!”
“She would have ruined everything,” he blurts. “Ihadto!”
“Ruined what? The deals you made to help people steal? The deals to cover up dozens of crimes? For fuckingdecades?” My hands fist with rage. “I found all of it. All the proof I need to make sure you never hurt anyoneagain.”
“What?” My father takes a few unsteady steps towards me. “You can’t.”
“I can.” My voice goes cold. “But I want to know something. How did you know Sofia was on to you?”
He eyes me with a calculating gaze. “I’ll tell you. But then you need to drop it. Convince her to leave things well enough alone. Shit, marry her. Then she can’t turn on us.”
“Not us.You. Now, tell me.”
After a long pause, he says, “I have all the landlines tapped in the buildings where I do installs. The clients prefer it. But one of them was going through the recordings and heard the phone call she made. They got concerned about her questions and called me. So I looked into it. She was onto something. It would have only been a matter of time?—”
“So you decided to shut her up before she could.”
“I had to,” he retorts. “I talked to a contact at the hospital. They said her memory could come back any time. I couldn’t take the risk.”
I stare at my father, so filled with rage it’s all I can do not to launch myself across the desk at him.
“Come on, Nico. Let’s just let things go. I’ll stop, how about that?” He gives me a pleading look. “I’ll stick with the legal jobs from now on. And you convince your little high school girlfriend to leave things alone.”
“What’s going on?” My mother appears in the doorway; polished as always in a black evening gown and clutching a bag that probably cost more than Sofia’s yearly rent. Her expression is creased with confusion. “Why are you two yelling?”
“It’s nothing,” my father starts. “Just?—”
A loud pounding at the front of the house stops him. Then a crisp, authoritative voice calls, “This is the police. Open the door.Now.”
My father turns a stricken gaze to me. “You called thecopson me?”
I look at the man I once called my father. But he’s a stranger now. One who needs to be punished for what he’s done. “Yes. I did.” Moving around the desk, I keep my hands low and away from my pockets, so the police will be able to see I’m unarmed. “It’s finally over.”
By the time I get back to the condo, it’s close to one in the morning.
As I trudge inside, feeling as though I’m moving through quicksand, Wraith and Knight look over from their seats on the couch.
Knight examines my face for a second. His expression goes solemn. “Is it done?” he asks quietly.
Wraith stares at me. “Are you okay?”
All at once, speaking feels like too much effort. But I force myself to respond. “It’s over. He’s in police custody. They have all the evidence.”
Knight lifts his chin. “And you?”
I shrug. “I don’t know.”
My chest feels carved out. Empty. Aching.
