Page 125 of Unholy Union
I know it with certainty as I look at my father and it sinks in everything I’ve ever believed about him and our family has been fake.
“What…” I croak, throat aching. “What else have you lied about?”
Mario cuts in before he can answer. “We’re down to twenty minutes. Valente’s son is gonna be here soon. We gotta get a move on and stage everything.”
“Shut up,” my father says without even looking Mario’s way. He waves a dismissive hand like he’s swatting away a gnat. “I’m speaking to my daughter.”
He scratches at his bald scalp, dragging his fingers slowly over his head as if trying to sort out how he wants to broach the subject. A slow smile comes to his face as he finally seems to figure it out.
“What else have I lied about, princess?” he repeats, clicking his tongue. “You know what question you should really be asking? Why was I made to do the things I did? That’s the question. Because if it were up to me, our happy little family would still be intact. You, me, Leo.Your mother. So if you’re going around pointing fingers, you better start by pointing that fucking finger at her!”
The shout rings through the cavernous warehouse like a gunshot, bouncing off metal beams and rusted machines.
I flinch hard in my chair, jerking back as far as the ropes will allow. I can’t remember the last time I heard him yell.
Papi’s always been measured. He’s never been the type to raise his voice, except for the rare occasion one of his soldiers screwed up badly. But now? It’s like he’s unraveling before my eyes.
He rips off his glasses and scrubs a trembling hand over his face, muttering to himself like he can’t contain whatever storm’s brewing inside him.
“I’ve told you,” he says, his teeth gritted. “I’ve always told you how much I loved your mother. I loved her since we were kids, growing up right here in Brooklyn. In this very neighborhood. But your mother…ha! She was just like you. Always drawing attention. Always turning heads. A magnet for men. But I foughtfor her. I outplayed all her suitors. Iwon. Or I thought I did. She said she loved me and wanted to be my wife and build a life together. We were supposed to grow old, Sabrina. But it was all a lie. A fucking lie!”
His voice fractures as he screams the last words. My ears ring from the sheer force of it.
“She threw it all away,” he spits. “Threw away our marriage, our family, for that bastard—AdrianofuckingValente!”
I gasp despite myself, the name drop filling in so many blanks I hadn’t considered before. I’d always known that my family, my father, was behind the death of Adriano Valente, but I had never known the specifics.
No one had ever told me the story.
“Oh my god,” I whisper. “You murdered Don Valente’s brother… because he was having an affair with Mami?”
“What the fuck was I supposed to do, huh? You think I was going to stand there and take that kind of disrespect? Let that piece of shit fuck my wife and turn me into a laughing stock among everybody?My wife! The mother of my children! The woman I bled and built for?
“When she picked me, she said she didn’t love him anymore! Then guess what? She admitted that was a lie! That she wanted him over me! And Adriano… he never stopped loving her! They carried out a whole affair under my nose! They got what they deserved. Both of them did.”
I start shaking my head. “No… no... Mami… you said she was sick…” A sob takes over for a second as I fight through it and then scream out, “Did you kill her? You murdered her? That’s why you said she got so sick so fast? That’s why she died in your bed like that? You wouldn’t let me or Leo see her. You kept us away from her!”
The memories float to the front of my mind, somewhat vague after so many years. I was only six, so small and confused.
I remember the hush around the house, the way the staff spoke in clipped voices and avoided my eyes. I remember creeping toward my parents’ room, my heart pounding like it already knew. The door was half-open and I peeked in and saw her lying there so still and pale. Her skin was grayish and her eyes closed. Then one of his guards appeared and slammed the door shut, rushing me down the hall. I was told Mami needed rest. I was told she was too sick to have visitors.
But she wasn’t resting.
She wasalready dead.
The realization guts me, the sob ripping through me all over again in an ugly, guttural sound. My body quakes in the chair, the ropes biting into my wrists as I shake from the inside out.
Papi stands there like a statue, showing no remorse and no shame.
Just calm, quiet certainty.
“I made it quick,” he says simply. “Painless. I couldn’t bring myself to hurt her. Even after everything. I still loved her, Sabrina. God help me, I did. I told you she was sick because I wasprotectingyou. You and Leo were too young. I didn’t want to tarnish your memory of her. I didn’t want you growing up hating your mother. I wanted you to remember her as she was before the betrayal.”
He pauses long enough to heave a sigh even as I sob.
“But then the years went by. And Leo… Leo was older than you. A part of him was always suspicious of the circumstances. He started putting things together. He found out.”
“No,” I whisper hoarsely. “Please don’t. I don’t want to hear any more.”
