As her footsteps recede with the soft click of her heels, I sink down into a nearby chaise, looking out to the city skyline and wishing more than anything I could call Bria right now to hear her voice and ask her advice.
But her family is the one who killed my father, and as much as I love her, I don’t know how to feel about that.
My thoughts as usual drift to Sin, he would want to protect me from hearing this. Would advise against pressing play.
Which is why, as I look down to the phone and click the side button to turn it on, I push thoughts of him aside.
The background photo is a little boy holding a baby.
It’s me and Cameron.
Sitting on a comfy couch with his hands around me, he’s giggling and I’m asleep.
I steady myself and navigate to the only voicemail available, then I press play.
“Maria, Darling.”
I pause it, inhaling sharply. Wanting to first hear his voice and then remember that and nothing else I’m about to hear. I know I can’t escape it, but any sliver of my life is important. Even the night that shattered our family.
“I don’t.” I pained gasp escapes him. I hear the purr of an engine, “I don’t have much time. I love you, my girl. Please, protect them.” A shot rings out, and tears drip down my face in a storm. So low it’s barely audible he whispers into the phone his last words. “Take Magnolia… somewhere safe. Away.” He’s fading, coughing, sputtering. “Away from us.”
A death rattle.
Then… silence.
I don’t know how long I sit there, staring out into nothing and seeing violence and loss.
I come out of myself as she returns, a sorrowful expression marring her pretty face. “Are you okay?”
I shake my head, not knowing what to say. “I’m so sorry.”
She dips down beside me on the chaise, wrapping her slender arms around me. “I’m sorry too.”
That’s when I lose it. Crying into her chest, breathing in her perfume for the first time. She pats my hair, trying to soothe me. She hasn’t done this in over eighteen years. The last time she held me, she was letting me go. Putting me somewhere safe, away from the dangers of this world.
Just like I tried to do with Sin.
I can’t fault her for that, I can’t blame her for going through with my father’s last wishes either.
I lean back to look into her blue eyes, and I cup my hands on the face that’s so similar to mine. “I forgive you.”
A low, guttural sound escapes her and once again we embrace, crying into each other’s arms.
My pulse pounds in my ears as we wipe our tears.“But why did Cameron get to stay? Why was I the one who had to go?” My tone isn’t accusatory anymore, no more sense of fight left in me. She did what she had to do.
“I wanted to take you both and run away from this world, this life.” She dabs her face with the sleeve of her gown. “None of it mattered without you.”
“Why didn’t you?”
A pained look crosses her face.“Because Cameron is the heir. People knew of him, you were so new to the family, birthed right here in our home…” she wipes a tear, looking back to the amber glow of the house. “No one was supposed to know of you yet… but they did.” She throws her hands up in defense, and I know she’s referring to the Donati family.
“A son in this world is seen as an investment,”she says, voice laced with bitterness.“A daughter is a liability. Cameron was meant to grow up and lead the family one day. Killing him would have been a direct challenge to the Rusco’s. A declaration of war.”
I shake my head, trying to piece it together.“But I was just a baby. What threat was I?”
She turns toward me fully now, gripping my arms like she needs me to understand.“You weren’t a threat, Magnolia. You were a weakness. They could have taken you, used you against us, tortured you to control me or Cameron. You would have been a pawn in a game you weren’t even old enough to play.”
“Would they really?” I let the words linger in the air, yet another thing I don’t understand about these families. “Hurt a child?”
