Page 73 of Mafia Scars
“She just did. We didn’t go around killing people, Amelia. Doesn’t mean we’re the good guys, but we’re not about that.”
“Yeah, I can see that,” I said with a curt nod. “I’m truly sorry for what Mom did to you. I knew how much you loved her.”
“I did. I do. You mustn’t blame her.”
“How can you say that?” I narrowed my gaze at him, unable to comprehend that remark.
“She was a good woman, and a great mother to you. Sometimes people fall out of love. That’s what happened to her. She stopped loving me. I wasn’t enough for her, and I wouldn’t let her go. I kept trying to fix things between us, but nothing worked, then, when I saw her with Tag, it killed me. It’s not the first time that I wish I could have done things differently. Especially since I lost her.”
“I wish that she could have been faithful.” I appreciated him trying to keep the vision of Mom high in my mind and not wanting to spoil the image I had of her and the person she was, but there was never an excuse to cheat.
“It’s okay, love. I don’t want us to look back with regret. There’s a lot to regret. Lord knows I have my fair share of regret. I just wanted one thing, and that was to see you again. If I can make sure you’re safe, that will be one more thing I can take with me.”
He was already talking like he knew when he was going to die.
“Dad, what did the doctors say? Is there a time when things will get really bad?”
“Pretty much.”
“I’ll… I’ll be here.” I couldn’t hate him. No part of me did, even if my moral senses of judgment pulled at me. There was only disappointment knowing that he was different than the person I’d built up in my head when I was a child. It was always disappointing to find out that someone was different than what you expected. Especially a parent. Hating wasn’t in me, particularly when the thing that fueled his actions was protecting me.
He dropped his gaze to his lap, and when he looked back to me, his eyes brimmed with tears.
“That’s a lot more than I deserve. Thank you.”
“It feels right. I feel better being here than trying to fight the past.”
“You were supposed to be a dancer. You should be dancing in some grand show by now or teaching at Julliard. I never wanted this for you, and foolish mistakes and jealousy led me here.”
“Dad, I know you didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt. But it happened, and as for me, I don’t really know what I want with my life.” I just knew two things: I couldn’t be Amelia Taylor anymore, and I knew I wanted to be with Luc. “We can start, though, by focusing on the now.”
“I agree.”
I leaned in closer, so I could whisper. “We need to get the diamonds.”
It was just Millicent who was in the house. I’d seen two of Dad’s men outside.
“I’m still in two minds about that.”
“It’s best we have them. I know it’s almost out in the open, but it would be worse, worse for me, if we found they’d managed to locate them and break into the facility to steal them.”
“We’ll have to create a diversion. The house is being watched. Everyone’s being watched. I feel paranoid just talking to you now.” He sighed.
“Don’t worry about that.” At least all my years of being a cop would count for something. I could plan a stealth mission with my eyes closed. “I got that covered.”
I didn’t like this business about the house being watched. How were they watching?
I stood up and looked up to the book case, where I knew Dad always kept a camera.
“Dad, we should cut the security system.”
“No, that thing keeps us safe. It’s impenetrable. We have state-of-the-art equipment. I swear that’s the only thing keeping me alive. That goes straight to my contact in the CIA if anything looks out of place.”
The CIA. God, why was I even surprised?
“Dad, trust me. You thought the phones were bugged. That’s why you wouldn’t speak to Luc. The security system can be bugged too. Hackers can hack the frequency and tap into whatever they want. If we want a diversion, we need to cut the system. That way we control what we can see, not what we can’t and have to worry about.”
“Ugh, Amelia, you guys are stripping me of everything I feel works.”