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Do they even care?
Will Joseph feel guilty for everything he’s done when he learns the truth about me working for Giuseppe?
Will anyone try to come save me?
Will my dad get to go free while I stay a prisoner? I gave Rossi a lot of money for Dad’s freedom.
I’m so deep in thought that I barely register the lock on the door being unlocked. Giuseppe Rossi comes into the room.
He claps his hands together. “Well, now we wait.”
“Wait for what?” I ask, with no enthusiasm in my tone.
“Wait for Arturo to meet me at the fort tonight. It’s going to be an eventful evening. I’ll make amends for my wrongdoings, and then I’ll kill him like I’ve killed many unsuspecting men before him. It will be over before he even knows what’s happening.”
“Do you really think Arturo is going to come unarmed? He’s not going to be that stupid.”
“I’m not planning on shooting him. I have a very expensive bottle of wine that just happens to be mixed with thallium.”
“Thallium?”
“It’s the best ingredient to poison someone. Many murderers used it because it is tasteless and odorless. I will start by telling him I want to make amends and then I’ll offer him a glass of wine. Within minutes, his vision will blur, and depending on how much he drinks, he will be dead.”
My heart races as I picture Arturo drinking the poisoned wine.
Changing the subject, I say, “Why isn’t my father free? I paid his debt.”
Giuseppe rubs his chin. “You did pay for his freedom, and I was going to release him, but he will just rack up more debt. There really isn’t anything we can do to help addicts. Trust me, I know.”
I scoff. “So I gave you half of a million dollars for nothing?”
He cocks his head to the side. “It was to prove my point.”
“What point?”
Why is he speaking in riddles?
“That your father isn’t really dead to you. You care about him, even though you pretend to hate him.”
“He is dead to me. You could kill him now and I wouldn’t shed a tear for him.”
Dad flinches on the other side of the room.
A smirk forms on Giuseppe’s face. “Is that so? Then why did you get the money? You could have left town with it, never to be seen again.”
I shrug. “It was either work for you to pay for his debt or you kill me. I was fired so I couldn’t keep up with my end of the deal, so I gave you the money instead.”
He seems amused by my answer, like he wasn’t expecting me to be this honest or trustworthy. To his credit, it is hard to find honest men in this industry. Giuseppe lifts his arm, points his gun straight at Dad, and pulls the trigger.
I can’t stop the scream that comes out of my mouth.
Blood splatters everywhere. It stains the mattress, floor, walls, and even my clothes.
Giuseppe pulls the trigger three more times before holstering his gun and saying, “There. Problem solved. No more addict wasting our time and energy.”
I keep my gaze off Dad, but I can hear his body slump over and fall to the ground. He might not have been the best father growing up, but he didn’t deserve this to be his last moment.
It’s kind of my fault, too, for challenging Giuseppe Rossi like I did, but I never expected him to kill Dad.