Chapter 592: Open This Door
When she finally drifted, not fully asleep but close enough, Marco stood and walked out. Then he locked her in.
Carol’s eyes opened almost immediately. "Marco!" Her voice hit the door as he stepped back.
Pain drove straight through him.
"I’m sorry, Ma," he said.
"Open this door."
He pressed his forehead briefly against the wood. On the other side, he could hear her moving fast, running back to the door.
"Marco!"
Just in case this would be the last time he would see her, he forced the words out.
"I love you."
"Marco!" Carol screamed.
Every scream and plea from behind the door stabbed at Marco’s heart as he made his way down the stairs.
Marco called a cab once he got outside. He could still hear his mother’s sobs and wailing.When the cab arrived, he gave the driver the address of the woman who came around to clean the house. She opened the door in confusion, it was still quite early. He told her to wait for an hour and go to the house. He thanked her, returned to the cab, and closed the door.
Only then did he let himself breathe. Then he headed to the airport.
*****
Everything had gone wrong.
Everything.
Valentina sat on the park bench with swollen eyes, and a heart that felt as if someone had dragged it across gravel. She had sent the text to Luca. She had sent it to Luca.
So why had Vee gone there? Why would her sister go to the old house? What had she gone there to do? Valentina pressed both hands against her face and tried to breathe through the panic clawing at her throat.
Maybe Luca had sent her. Did Luca ask Vee to take the money herself so he would remain protected?
Valentina’s stomach twisted. She did not know anymore. Luca had become every answer and every accusation in her mind. If something went wrong, she saw his hand in it. If someone suffered, she saw his shadow behind it. The man was a cockroach. He just would not leave them alone. No matter what she did, no matter how hard she tried to cut him out, he survived, crawled through the cracks, and somehow ended up standing over the ruin looking bored.
She had tried to take him down. She had tried to save her family. Now her father was dead, her sister had been arrested, her husband had left the country, Carol hated her, Voss was disappointed, and Matteo was alone in a house without either parent. She let out a broken breath.
Her phone was off. She had turned it off because the silence was easier when she could pretend no one was trying to reach her. Or worse, that no one was. She wanted to turn it on again. She wanted to see if there was anyone she could call, anyone at all. Someone to talk to. Someone to tell her what to do. Someone to say her name without hatred.
But who?
All Valentina had were her family. That was all she had. Family. Her sister. Her son. Her husband. The people she had tried to protect so desperately that she had managed to hurt every single one of them.
Her eyes couldn’t take any more tears. She wiped at her face again, but it was useless. Even though there were no tears left, her eyes were still crying. She could feel it. That awful hot pressure. The ache beneath her lashes. The swelling around her lids. Her body was still grieving even after the water had run out.
Her sister was accused of murder. Valentina bent forward, elbows on her knees, both hands pressed to her mouth. Her son was all alone without his father and mother to take care of him. All alone with a nanny since last night. Her baby. Her beautiful boy. He deserved better than this. Better than a mother hiding on a park bench. Better than a father trapped between love and mafia law.
Where exactly had she gone wrong? What step of the way had she made a mistake? Was it the first call to Voss? The first lie to Marco? Bringing Vito in had surely been a mistake. She could admit that now. Desperation had led her there, desperation and fear and the stupid hope that the worst in her past might still be useful in destroying the worst man in her present.
His body going limp still lived behind her eyes. She worried about her sister. Vee was pregnant, a delicate pregnancy no less. She could not go to jail.
Neither could Valentina leave her all alone with Luca. That was the part no one would understand. Even now, even after everything, Valentina still feared him.
She knew what she had to do. She would give herself up. Vee would take care of Matteo. Valentina was sure of that. No matter how much Vee hated her after this, no matter how deeply the betrayal cut, her sister would never punish Matteo for his mother’s sins. Vee would protect him.
Her life, as she knew it, was already gone. But Vee could not go to jail for something she did not do.
Valentina wiped her face one last time and looked down at her shaking hands. If she was going to go down for one murder, then might as well go down for two.
*****
Voss hated Dorian Heathcliffe. He hated him with passion. In fact, he hated him so much, with such clean and committed devotion, that he had begun to think throwing knives at the man’s picture might help him destress.
Dorian was barely in the room before he started tearing the case apart. "Yes, Detective," he said, standing in front of Voss’s desk with one hand in his coat pocket. "Please explain to me again how my client, who is pregnant, recently recovered from surgery, physically compromised, and under documented medical supervision, ended up in an interrogation room all night without being formally charged."
Voss rubbed two fingers against his brow. "She was found at the scene."
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