Page 109 of Souls and Sorrows

The thought pierces the fog collecting around my brain, reminding me of that day I had the panic attack in the BMW. We never made it to Mamma’s apartment, and I never told him that was where we were heading.

Plus, by then, the company had already ceased to exist on paper.

But…

I narrow my eyes at Cash. “How did you know my mother was running things?”

His mouth opens to answer, but another deeper voice calls out instead.

“Because I told him.”

34

When Papà stepsout from the shadows of the room, hands clasped behind his back, to say I’m shocked is an understatement.

I blink rapidly, trying to dispel the image in front of me because there’snoway he’s here right now.

Living, breathing. Glaring at his old friend, who has a gun aimed at his daughter.

Backing up against the wall, I try to swallow over the confusion and anxiety coagulating inside of my throat. “This… this isn’t possible.”

Ermes makes a strange sound. “I’m starting to think anything might be.”

Papà sighs, and I notice how different he looks—his cheeks are still thin, though less shallow than before. The bags under his eyes are slightly less puffy and purple, as if he’s been sleeping better wherever he’s been, and he’s back in one of the expensive suits he used to wear all the time before his arrest, his gold rings adorning his thumbs.

Even though it’s not actually been that long since I last saw him, it still feels like I’m seeing a ghost. My body doesn’t know how to react, caught somewhere between betrayal and confusion, and so I just stare, paralyzed by conflicting thoughts.

“Surprised?” he asks me, his tone light while his face betrays no emotion.

I wish I could evaporate into thin air. “Well, a little, considering I was told you were dead.”

“Did you get visual confirmation?”

“No, I—”

“Thought the poison you smuggled in to give to my cellmate would do the trick?”

My face heats, embarrassment singeing my skin, and Papà just chuckles.

“Bambina,do you realize how many times I’ve ingested arsenic? The warning signs are always the same—muscle weakness, shortness of breath, vomiting. My cellmate mustn’t have gotten the dose right because the symptoms were all very mild in me, but it was enough that I realized what you must have done, considering you’ve been doing it to your mother all these years.”

My stomach flips.What the fuck?

How does he know that?

“She used to write me anonymous letters when I was first arrested. When she initially started getting sick, I put two and two together and figured someone was poisoning her. My first suspicion was Kal, but then I realized he didn’t know where she was, and you were visiting often.”

“You never mentioned it to her?”

He shrugs. “I was kind of hoping it’d take. But when I realized what you’d done, I figured what better opportunity to fake my death and grant you a little bit of that freedom you’ve been yearning for your whole life.”

Ermes turns, pointing his gun at my father now, seemingly having run out of patience. “Well, this has been a great little reunion and all, but I have shit to do, and I don’t really want to stick around here and watch you all reconnect before I do it.”

Papà follows his movements, walking a bit closer to me and Cash, who inches in my direction with his hand outstretched, as if planning to make a run for it. I’m still trying to process through my shock, wondering how Papà knew we were here and at what point he started working with my husband without me knowing.

AndwhyCash didn’t tell me any of this, instead choosing to sit back and watch while I mourned a man who wasn’t really dead.

When I look up at Cash, regret runs through the lines on his face, and his eyes are turned down at the corners. I want to ask what the hell he was thinking and why, if I was supposed to be his partner all this time, he didn’t include me on important matters like this.

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