Page 221 of Legacy

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Doesn’t need to be.

And that makes something primal in me bristle.

“You know she’s mine now,” I say.

The words are clipped. Sharper than I mean them to be.

He doesn’t flinch.

Just shrugs. Calm. Like I told him the weather.

“Yeah,” he says. “Figured that out when Luciano said you’d be handling it instead of her.”

He means it as acknowledgment.

I hear it as dismissal.

And that unsettles me more than it should.

He doesn’t look angry.

Doesn’t look like he gives a fuck either way.

Was she forgettable?

My wife is not forgettable.

But I prefer he doesn’t remember her.

And I don’t know what pisses me off more.

He closes the folder once I finish signing.

“Thanks for coming down. Appreciate it.”

Then, as if sensing something in my silence, he adds, quiet, with no edge:

“It was a long time ago. She and I… it wasn’t serious. Whatever it was, it ended clean.”

A pause.

Then he continues

“She didn’t want me and she’s not someone you cling to if she doesn’t want you.”

I don’t respond.

Because I don’t know whether to respect him for that...

Or hate him for ever getting close in the first place.

I nod once.

Then turn on my heel and walk out, pulse thundering in my ears.

I promised her I’d be collected.

Chapter 38

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