Page 37 of Mercy (The Sins Trilogy 3)
“It was a mistake!” I hiss at her, horrified she’s determined to see her own son in the worst light possible.
“You said the same thing to defend him to me back then. But you don’t understand because you’ve never had a child of your own, Ivy. I’m telling you he isn’t innocent like you think. Do you know how I was able to figure out it wasn’t an accident?”
There’s proof? Or is this another bit of her deranged logic? My heart thunders in my chest, and I feel like I’m suffocating. But it doesn’t matter what kind of evidence Margot throws at me. I can’t believe he deliberately chose to shoot his sister. Not my Tony.
Finally, when I can speak without shaking, I ask, “How?”
“He never cried. Not a single tear. He just sat there with his hands covered in her blood, and couldn’t even pretend to cry.” She shifts in her seat, reaching for her water. “She isn’t the only one he didn’t cry for. He didn’t cry when he found out you ‘died,’ either. He’s just that kind of person. There’s no way I can forgive him or welcome him back to my family. I’m going to protect what’s left of my children.”
At that precise moment, our server shows with our lunch. I look at the succulent shrimps and clams on the pasta smothered in house tomato sauce. Suddenly the redness of the pasta makes me think of blood. I feel sick to my stomach, my skin clammy and cold. Maybe sitting here and eating the pasta like I’m not at all bothered by what she said is exactly the thing to do. But I can’t manage it. Or act like I’m impervious to her poison.
“I’m sorry. I forgot a lunch meeting I have with my boss.” I stand up.
“Enjoy your meeting,” Margot says coolly, as she digs into her salad.
My head full of jumbled thoughts I can’t even begin to sort through, I turn around and start walking away. It takes all my focus. My legs are shaking, my knees weak.
Bobbi quickly comes over and put a hand at my elbow.
“You okay?” she asks. “You look pale.”
“I’m fine,” I say, my voice cracking a bit. “Just a little dizzy.” And shocked. And feeling dirty, as if covered in cobwebs after being in Margot’s presence.
“Want me to get you anything?”
I start to shake my head, but the motion makes everything around me spin. “How about some chocolate?”
She nods grimly and walks with me to the foundation’s office.
After sitting me at my desk, she grabs me a couple bags of M&M’s from the vending machine. “Here.”
I shove a handful into my mouth and chew. The crunchy outside coating mixes with the chocolate inside.
He never cried.
My throat tightens as fury rears its head again. I force myself to swallow. If I pass out after seeing Margot, Elizabeth’s going to send me home and Tony will be beyond upset.
There are certain things I promised myself—to be strong and to be by his side.
Margot’s words were taut with genuine pain and anger, but something was off, like music played in the wrong key. How can someone convict a person of murdering his sister because he didn’t cry? He was covered in her blood. Probably in shock. He was just a child himself, who needed his mother and support and help. Instead, he was given nothing but condemnation.
Maybe she needed someone to blame for such an unimaginable loss. But I don’t understand the logic there, either. Instead of losing one child, she lost two.
However, she’s right that I’ll never know the true depth of her grief because I’m not a mother.
And I’m not her.
My instinct says Katherine’s death is driving Margot, and I don’t want her to continue to try to drive a wedge between me and Tony. I want to be ready next time she comes at me.
But I don’t know if I can ask Tony, picking at his wound, which just might be what Margot wants. Even though it happened a long time ago, the memory must still be incredibly painful. Just look at how I went almost crazy with guilt when I thought I was the reason the girl in the blue dress was dead.
He didn’t cry when he found out you “died,” either.
It doesn’t matter if he shed tears or not. I know what’s in his heart. And that’s enough.
I’m going to look into Katherine’s death myself.
