Page 76 of The Senator: Raphael

“If you do anything like that, if you hurt Silver in any way, I will tear your empire down one crime at a time.” My tone is equally menacing.

The door behind me opens and Marianne steps in looking serious. “Help your son,” is all she says in the puzzled silence that follows her appearance.

“This is none of your business. Stay out of it,” my father barks at her.

She takes another step inside, and I don’t know whether to tackle her and push her out before my father takes out his fury on her, or step aside and let her chew him out for a bit. She doesn’t look like a defenseless woman who needs my help.

“For God’s sake! You both want the same thing, ultimately, but you’re such stubborn asses you don’t know how to help each other.”

“Marianne,” I start, but she silences me with a raise of her hand.

Looking at my father, she says, “The girl isn’t going away, and you can’t do anything about it without making it worse. So, just help him and get over it. He didn’t listen to you, so what? He’s a grown man who makes his own decisions, and if that hurts your ego, then you’re not man enough to be his father. A real man would deal with the problem and get it over with.” She rolls her words out without missing a beat.

I always thought of her as a meek woman who followed her father’s directions first and then her husband’s. But I think I greatly underestimated her. She’s quiet but not meek, and from the way my father looks at her, he has huge respect for her opinion.

“It may take a while,” he finally says.

I can’t believe the way she made him change his mind, but I’m not going to belabor the point.

“I don’t care, I just want it to be final. I don’t want to have to deal with this in the future.”

Marianne’s eyes widen at the implication of my words. I know I’m crossing a line I’ve never crossed in the past, and I’ll deal with my conscience when the time comes, but this is Silver’s safety and I don’t want any chance that this thing could haunt us in the future.

My father just nods, and I read understanding in his eyes.

I walk out of the office with Marianne, and when I close the door us, I breathe out a low sigh. She looks at me as we walk to the front door, and puts a hand on my arm before I leave.

“You found the right one, huh?” She smiles sweetly at me.

I lower my gaze a bit, embarrassed. “I don’t know if she’s the right one, but I know I would do anything to keep her safe.”

A knowing smile curves her lips. “Isn’t that love?”

“I don’t know, it didn’t start in the most conventional way,” I admit.

“So what? Sometimes you give up too quickly on someone when things don’t go as planned. But when you’re forced together, you have to stick it out, and sometimes that’s what it takes for a deep connection to form.” She winks at me and I realize that my father and I have a lot more in common than I thought.

***

When I walk through the front door, I’m exhausted. After the conversation with my father and a night without sleep, I’m so drained I just want to crawl under the sheets and sleep until this shitstorm is over. But one look at Matthew and Sebastian’s faces over their computer screens tells me we’re just getting started.

“What happened?” My voice comes out barely more than a whisper.

“She’s gone. Silver is gone!” Matthew blurts out, his face strained by worry and fear.

“What do you mean ‘gone’?”

“She took off when you were out. She left everything, her phone, credit cards, everything. She just ran away,” Sebastian explains.

I put my hands on the entrance table because I’m not sure my legs will bear my weight. I open my mouth to ask a million questions that cross my mind, but nothing comes out. Only one thought remains:she’s gone.

And just like that, another woman I love disappears from my life.

The sun filtering through the stained-glass windows gives this place an almost fairy-tale quality, welcoming me into an otherwise empty space with its warm light. The white walls and flooring match the pews, and a light breeze carries a faint rosemary scent inside. I didn’t notice rosemary shrubs when I walked in, but maybe I was just crying too much to take in my surroundings.

It’s been hours since I sat down in this little church. The tears have dried on my cheeks and my hiccups faded a long time ago. All that’s left for me to do now is watch the rays of sunlight dancing across the floor of this place. Because when I left the house this morning with every intention to disappear, I had no idea what my next step would be.

I walked out and kept on walking until I found the hiking trail that leads here. I kept going for what seemed like hours, avoiding the main streets, and it wasn’t the best decision. Under the late June sun, with no water or head covering, I risked fainting or worse. Possibly even dying of heat stroke, if it took too long to wake up or be rescued. But in that moment, I wasn’t thinking about the consequences.

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