Total pages in book: 206
Estimated words: 192184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 961(@200wpm)___ 769(@250wpm)___ 641(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 192184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 961(@200wpm)___ 769(@250wpm)___ 641(@300wpm)
It made me wonder how on earth he’d retire to the Cayman Islands with Lisa. If he was still in the day-to-day shit of this life when me and Dare practically ran Ferrano Enterprises and the subsidiaries for him, would he really let go for retirement? Or had I gone through all these motions for nothing? It made no sense; he was practically shoving me down the aisle so he could hand me the reins, but why was he dabbling in new business, shadier-than-fuck business, at the same time? Did he have Michael’s girlfriend killed because Zack was hot on his heels?
Signs pointed to evidence that Tia’s Uncle Joe’s death wasn’t an accident. It was brake failure on his car during a snowstorm and he’d been out on this crazy winding stretch of road that was known for being a bad accident area. He was out on an errand for Pop during that storm. Pop gained a fuck of a lot from Joe’s death.
Wife number three, Stacia: she crashed into a tree and died of head injuries. Her airbag didn’t go off. They found drugs in her system and figured she fell asleep at the wheel. But she wasn’t a known drug user. What she was, was a shrew. She was always getting up in Pop’s grill about shit. She was a former model, she was gorgeous, high maintenance. Did Pop get sick of her?
He married Lisa, friends with the girls, just months after Stacia died. Lisa was just as beautiful as Stacia but without the high maintenance. And Lisa got along great with the girls. Stacia and my sisters hated one another, so Pop wasn’t getting his Sunday dinners with his family around him with Stacia. That tradition was back after he married Lisa.
Maybe I’d talk to Annette, mother to Dare and the girls. She was all right to me growing up. I wouldn’t say she treated me like a son, she always seemed a little afraid of me, she never disciplined me; wasn’t affectionate. But she was real affectionate with her own kids. Maybe I needed to get information from her to help put some of the puzzle pieces together.
I hadn’t talked to Dare yet. I didn’t know how he’d take all of this. I knew he’d believe me, I mean the evidence was right in front of us, but spilling my guts would hurt my brother. Laying out the sort of man our father might really be, the man behind the mask, it wouldn’t be a fun conversation. Did I want him to feel what I felt right now? I guess I had to; it was the only way forward.
As for Lita O’Connor: I didn’t know if she’d offed herself or if Pop had something to do with it. Had it been a car accident, I wouldn’t have had a doubt in my mind. But slit wrists in the tub? I found out her tox screen came up clear, so it wasn’t likely Pop could’ve drugged her and then slit her wrists. There was nothing on the coroner’s report that pointed to a struggle.
I’d have a discussion with O’Connor today and then I’d go from there. I didn’t know if he could tell me any more than I already knew, but I also wanted Tia to have an opportunity to put things to rest, too.
When I got downstairs that morning, Sarah was in the kitchen.
“Good morning Chiquita!”
She poured me a coffee and then I watched her put one and a half spoons of sugars in it. That was pretty bold, considering I hadn’t seen her in more than a week and had been putting my three sugars in consistently. I accepted the cup, tasted it, then leaned over and fetched the sugar. She smirked at me.
“Tell me about your trip!” I said and sat down, trying not to blush too hard about what she’d walked in on last night.
I spent the next hour listening to her tell me about her relatives, about her holiday. She asked me about our trip. I told her about the Blue Man Group, I told her I won five grand on the slot machines, and then she asked me why our wedding had been postponed.
“Tommy’s busy. We’re just going to wait until things are less crazy,” I said.
“So, you’re happy with him? You see what a good man he can be?” she asked.
“I am. And I do.” I answered.
Tommy was strolling into the kitchen at that point. He stopped and gave me a narrow-eyed look. I smiled hesitantly.
“How was the trip, Sarah?” he asked her and flashed me a dirty look.
My heart sank. She seemed oblivious to his mood and his features softened as she began to regale him with tales of the trip for the next few minutes while he stood leaning against the counter. Clearly, he knew some of the people she mentioned as she didn’t offer explanations of who they were like she’d done with me.