“She admitted she wanted me gone. She thought you'd be so grief stricken you'd want her here. Then she could have this house, you and the money that came with it.”
His jaw tightens. “Why didn’t you tell me? You didn’t need to do this alone.”
I nod slowly. “I didn’t. Milly helped me.”
“Oh my god, Amara. You asked Milly, of all people. You will have left evidence.”
“We didn’t. But Mayor Anderson did.”
Dom smiles. “Are you sure about that?”
I smile at Dom, feeling a strange sense of calm wash over me. “I am. Milly and I concocted quite the plan.”
Dom’s eyes narrow slightly. “Tell me everything.”
“Milly tracked Mayor Anderson’s movements. She found out he and his wife were having dinner at Palazzo Versace. Milly went there alone, sat at the bar and waited. After they ate, the mayor left the table to take a call while his wife was speaking to another lady. Milly strode pastthe table and stole his cutlery.” I can’t help but feel a little proud of my sister’s boldness.
“Then what?” Dom asks.
“Milly made a beautiful meal for two at Mom’s apartment. She borrowed a gun—she thought it was Enzo’s, but it turned out to be Con’s.”
Dom’s jaw drops. “Con’s gun? Jesus Christ, Amara.”
I shrug, trying to appear more nonchalant than I feel. “We didn’t know.”
“And your mother? She just let you both in?”
“She was surprised to see us, but not suspicious. I asked her why she did it—why she was prepared to let me die.” My voice cracks slightly. “She looked me right in the eyes and said I was ‘surplus to requirements.’ That I failed to get her more money, but once you had paid her off, she didn’t need me anymore. She wanted me gone. She was scared I’d work it out sooner than I did.”
Dom’s face darkens with rage. “That bitch.”
“Milly set the table with the meal she’d prepared. Mom asked what she was doing, and Milly just said, ‘We made your dinner.’ So simple.”
“You would’ve been on camera. They’ll find out that you and Milly were there,” Dom says, running a hand through his hair.
I shake my head. “Lia dealt with that before we went there.”
“Lia knew too?” Dom says, incredulous.
“Lia organized it once I told her everything Mom did. She was so angry that both Mom and the mayor used me that she was the one who decided he could be the fall guy.”
Dom stares at me. “So you poisoned her?”
Nobody knows yet how she died.
“No, I thought I shot her with the same gun I thought was used to kill a detective who the mayor sent to threaten me. A detective that Mateo killed.”
“Fuck, you set up Con.” Dom’s eyes are wide with disbelief.
“No, Enzo told Milly that Con sliced the detective's throat. But we set up the mayor. We left his hotel cutlery at the apartment. We made it look like he killed her before she got to eat. Made it look like he was a cold-blooded killer. That he ate afterward.”
“But the gun?”
“It’s gone. That’s the beauty of Australia. It’s so big that people, guns, can disappear and are never seen again. You know that.”
39
Dom
