Page 143 of To Tango, with Desire

“I don’t believe you.”

“I have it. Kept it. Amaaaazing how much money bribery will get you. Bastard’s been paying me off for years to keep my mouth shut.”

I shook my head. “No. You’re lying. He—” I couldn’t breathe. “Omar would never have done that to my mother.” I gritted my teeth, not daring to believe it.

Kade shook his head then tottered. “It’s aaaaall in the video. Sorry, didn’t mean to be an old cunt, Kade. Didn’t mean for your mother to jump off the fucking roof coz I’m a womanizer. All my fault. Sorry I f-fucked up. Sorry,” Kade snickered. “What a bullshit word.”

“The video?” My throat was dry. My head felt heavy, like I’d woken up with a hangover. There was too much going on. Too much information to process.

“He fucked those women over and booted them when he was done. He let your mom die and you worshiped him. Bit ironic, no?” Kade’s cackling laughter pierced through the fog.

“Kade, baby!” one of the girls called to him. “I’m getting bored.”

Kade grinned. “You heard the lady. Either join the party, Zane, or get the fuck out,” he ordered. “I’m busy, bro.”

I turned, stomach heaving. There was so much I wanted to say. So much I needed to process. My lungs seized and I tried to catch my breath, but I couldn’t seem to figure out how.

On stiff legs, I backtracked through the house, only stopping when I reached my car. I braced my hands on the window, blinking away the black stars obscuring my vision.

“I’ll drive.” Amira’s voice sounded muffled, distant.

“Not home,” I gasped. “My office.”

I needed to find out the truth.

ZANE

With shaking hands, I opened the drawer, taking out the small parcel. It had arrived not long after Omar’s death and at the time, I hadn’t the heart to open it. Then for months, I’d told myself I didn’t need to know. That it wasn’t important.

Omar’s death had left a hole in my heart and I’d chosen to brush it aside, to distract myself at the time with work and tango to forget the pain. I could now see the error in my actions. I’d allowed grief to guide me, to keep me from taking this one final step in the process. Because looking at whatever was on this USB meant accepting, finally, that he was gone. And I hadn’t been ready to let go.

Until now.

I needed to know if what Kade had said was the truth. I didn’t want to believe it. The very thought that Omar had been unfaithful to my mom, that his infidelity had been the cause of her death, was too painful to bear. But if I kept running away from problems, I’d be no better than Kade.

Taking my laptop, I sat beside Amira at the conference table.

“Are you okay?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you want me to leave?”

“No.” I grabbed her hand, squeezing it. I needed her support. I wanted her by my side.

I waited until it loaded, then clicked on the only video file in the folder. It had my name on it, and I hovered over the thumbnail for a few seconds, steeling myself against what was going to come up.

Taking a deep breath, I pressed play.

Omar’s face filled the screen. He was sitting at his desk, looking like his old self. The sight of him brought with it both comfort and sorrow. He must have recorded this not long after his diagnosis, before the ravages of his disease had robbed him of his ability to do anything.

“Zane, my boy.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat.

How many times had I gone to him in his office with some problem? How many times had I asked his advice in business or relationships?

“By the time you see this, I’ll be dead and buried. The doctors haven’t given me very long, and I think it’s best to get my affairs in order. So instead of a letter, I wanted to send you this video. First, I want to say how proud I am of everything you’ve achieved. You might tell me to stick my pride after what I have to say, but there it is.