Page 52 of The Prices We Pay
Enzo plants a wet kiss on my cheek before Luca asks his friend, “How you feeling?”
“I’m fine, guys. Really.”
It’s clear to see that Dante doesn’t want the attention on him any longer. “Why are you guys done so early?” I look at my watch. “It’s not even one.”
Luca pinches his brows as if the answer is obvious. “I think it’s safe to say all of us wanted to be elsewhere.”
Sebastian hands me a plastic bag. I grab it from him before he sweeps my hair over my shoulder, silently inspecting my neck. “We stopped and grabbed you some arnica cream for the bruising. Use this, and it should go away in a couple of days.”
I’m not looking at him, but I know Dante’s entire body shrinks in horror at the statement. And as much as I wish everyone would just ignore it for his sake, I am grateful they thought of me. “Thank you.” I notice Luca holding an envelope in his hand with my name on it. “What’s that?”
“Oh. I meant to give it to you this morning, but we got a little distracted.”
“What is it?” I ask as I take it from his hand.
“No idea. It was taped to your door yesterday when we got there. I put it in my pocket but, once again… distracted.”
I flip it over, and the moment I take a closer look at my name on the front of the envelope, I freeze.
The four of them are instantly on high alert. “Sweetheart. What is it?” The paper shakes in my hand as I grasp the severity of the fact that not only was this letter left at my building, it was taped to my door. Never once, in the entire time I’ve lived there, has building management ever taped anything to our door. It’s always been left in our mailboxes. Which means someone brought this for him. Someone found out where I lived, came intomy building, and taped this to my door. “Josephine. Tell me what’s going on.” Enzo’s voice comes out stern and full of panic.
“It’s a letter. From him.”
“From who?” Luca snarls.
My eyes dart to Sebastian, and it takes him only a moment to understand my unspoken words. Holding out his hand, he demands, “Give it to me.”
Following his instructions, I shakily set the unopened letter in his hand. Dante gently wraps his hand around my forearm, pulling me close to him. “Amore Mia, who ishim? Who gave that to you?”
“You need to tell them now,” says Sebastian.
“Tell us what?” Enzo and Luca ask in unison.
Sebastian gives me one last nod. “It’s from my father. He sends me letters from prison.”
“Why is he in prison?” asks Enzo.
Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes and admit the one thing I never want to talk about to anyone: “He murdered my mother.”
24
Sebastian
The events of this morning are instantly forgotten as I watch Dante, Luca, and Enzo’s faces morph from shock to worry to anger in rapid succession. The last emotion seems to be predominantly directed at me. Not that I can fault them for it. When I made the decision not to tell them of Josephine’s past, I knew the day they eventually found out, they were going to be upset with me, especially Luca.
But it was evident that Joe went to great lengths to keep her past in the past. And while I haven’t experienced or had a traumatic or tumultuous past, I know the power of the information that I hold andthe damage that releasing it could have had on her psyche. While this is the first time I have withheld information from my team, I don’t regret it. The look on her face that morning in her office when she realized I knew everything about her seemed completely and utterly defeated. Just her knowing that I knew what I did seemed enough to almost break her. So, I made the split-second decision to keep it all to myself. Josephine’s father didn’t pose a threat, nor did he impact the capacity with which she could do her job.
That being said, it’s clear that receiving a letter from him, especially one that was hand-delivered to her apartment, is both unwanted and terrifying, and just like the issue with the Bratva, the four of us won’t hesitate to do something about it.
Luca narrows his eyes in my direction, the anger rolling off his body in waves. “You knew about this?”
I cross my arms over my chest and answer, “Yes. I found out about it when I did the background check.”
Dante clenches his fists at his side, but they all know I’m not so easily intimidated by any of them. I may sit behind a computer, but that doesn’t mean I’m afraid. My quiet demeanor around others is often used as a front simply to keep their attention off of me. Others won’t perceive me as a threat if I don’t pose as one. “You didn’t think you should have told us?” he snarls.
Just as I open my mouth, Joe shakes herself out of her terrified stupor. Standing up to her full five-foot-eight height, she says, “First of all, I asked him not to.” She pins each of them with a glare. “Second of all, it’s my decision what I do and do not tell complete strangers. When he found out, I barely knew anything about any of you. It wasn’t any of your damn business.” Enzo opens his mouth to interject, and she holds up her finger. “Third of all, if and when I needed help, I would have asked for it. I’m not some damsel in distress. I’ve made it this far in my life, all on my own. But…” She runs a hand through her black curls as she takes a deep breath. “It’s clear that no matter what I do or how far I go, he always seems to find me. He’s repeatedly figured out my phone numbers or addresses. Always attempting to call me or send letters from prison. He’s never gotten this close…”
“Until now,” Luca says for her.
