Page 63 of Diamonds

“Bill Lassard.The head coroner.You’ve met him.”

“Bill’s a good guy, Mom.He was a close ally to Dad.One of the few people who stuck with him to the bitter end.”I rub at my forehead.“Literally.”

“I don’t know.Something just isn’t sitting right with me about this.”

I rake my fingers through my hair.I have to ask the obvious.“Have you been drinking?”

She scoffs.“What does that have to do with anything?”

And I have my answer.

These are the ramblings of a bitter and drunk ex-wife.A woman who hasn’t been in the right mind since the day her husband screwed her over.

She should be celebrating his death, not questioning it.

* * *

If the papersI hold in my hands are correct, my mother was fucking right.

Daddidn’tdie of a heart attack.

Dad.Henry fucking Hathaway.

My heart clenches.

Once I tell Alissa about my father, I won’t be able to take the words back.

She will forever know that I’m the son of the disgraced former mayor of Chicago.

I just hope she’ll be able to look past that and still want to be with me.

She won’t care.It’s Alissa.We’ve been through so much already, and she hasn’t left my side yet.

“I’ve already mentioned that my family was into politics.”

She nods.“You did.”

“What I didn’t mention—and I’ll admit, I buried the lead pretty fucking deep here—is that my father was a man named Henry Hathaway.And he was the mayor of Chicago.”

She drops her jaw.“Themayor?”

“Yeah.The top dog.My family has a bunch of city councilmembers, state senators, even a few members of Congress in Washington.But my dad was the only one who ever got the mayorship.The mayorship of a big city like Chicago is powerful.More powerful than a lot of elected positions in Washington.Sometimes more powerful than the governor.”

“That’s crazy.”Alissa furrows her brow.“Why didn’t you mention it until now?”

“Because”—I rub at the back of my neck—“he didn’t exactly leave office at the top of his game.”

“Meaning?”

I sigh.“He passed this bill.The HOUSE bill, it was called, even though it had very little to do with housing.I’ll spare you the details—you can google them if you want—but it led to crazy unemployment and homelessness numbers.He lost reelection in the biggest landslide in a century.”

“My God.”She scratches the side of her head.“But why would I care about what yourfatherdid, Maddox?I’m not dating him.I’m dating you.”

“Because… Now you know what I left behind.For a fucking clothing store.Most women who’ve dated me in the past have either been after my looks?—”

“Which is valid.”She elbows me in the ribs.

“Or for my family name.And they went running for the hills the moment they learned I was worth next to nothing.”