Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 92071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
“Instead of defending you, he should have been with me,” Zola muttered inconsolably.
“I’m sorry for your loss, but you have to understand, your father held his work in high regard. He would always go to great lengths to defend those who had been accused but didn’t have anyone to fight for them. Do you know why his dedication was so immense?”
She shook her head slowly, her eyes full of curiosity.
“He was so focused and driven because early on in his career, before he opened his own firm, he had been part of a defense team to represent a murderer, but they had not prepared well and they lost the case. The result was the mother of three was taken from her kids and sent to prison. The woman died in prison and your father was devastated. It haunted him for years. And then …”
I hesitated briefly but decided to continue.
“And then he lost your mother. In the depths of his broken heart, he considered it retribution for taking that mother from her three kids.
“I’m not trying to gain your understanding or compassion, but you shouldn’t refuse my protection because you ultimately judge your father’s murder to be my fault. Whether I liked it or not, the moment your father heard of my case he was going to take it because he saw me as his own. And now that he’s no more I have to be a source of strength and protection for you, but I need your cooperation even in the smallest way to make that happen. You cannot be out and about right now because it’s still too dangerous. Ugo, my boss before the time I met your father, is behind this, and believe me when I tell you, he is an evil psychopath. He could cut your throat with a song in his heart. And he could do it for no other reason than he felt like it.”
I had said much more than I wanted to, but I was sure this could be the last chance I was going to get. I needed her to at least hear and consider my words.
For a second neither of us said anything, then she turned around and fled from my office. I picked up my phone and called Luca.
“She’s leaving the building. Double your team and keep your eyes on her at all times. Ensure that nothing happens to her. And for fuck’s sake, find me that informant.”
“I believe we’ll have word on him today, Boss,” Luca said. “Rocco and his team found the motel he had booked into a few days ago. We suspect he’s severely injured from trying to escape Ugo’s men. We’ll find him.”
My fingers drummed the desk surface. “So, he truly is an informant and not part of Ugo’s men?”
“Looks like it, Boss.”
“Alright,” I said. “Update me as soon as you have him.”
Chapter 11
Zola
What I hadn’t expected to be, after my meeting with him, was visibly shaken.
I leaned against the headrest of my car and thought of the way Dante had spoken of my father. About the motivations behind his work, the work I had despised so immensely, and suddenly, I was filled with a terrible regret. I couldn’t control the tears that flowed out of my eyes.
If only I’d known this while he was alive.
Why couldn’t he have told me about his earlier experience and the way my mother’s death had haunted him? If only he had told me. All those years I spent bickering with him and holding a grudge for his absence wouldn't have happened.
It wasn’t long before I realized I had never asked. I had whined and complained about him not spending time with me over and over again, but I had taken him for granted. He was always there. Papa. I thought he would always be there.
Dante showed me that my father had not wasted his life. Instead, he’d poured himself into something that soothed and fulfilled him and changed other people’s lives for the better.
“I’m sorry, Papa,” I whispered.
Lowering my head I tried to picture him the way he was before that night. Ever since that night, I tried not to think of him, because all I could see in my mind’s eyes was the horrendous image of him dead. I wanted to remember my father fondly and without fear so I took deep breaths and tried over and over again.
I remained there until I could see him laughing.
When I arrived home and saw the cop car outside the apartment waiting for me, I almost didn’t want to get out, but Dante’s words on how exposed I was to an attack popped into my head. I jumped out of the car and ran all the way up to my apartment. I could breathe a little bit then but just as I arrived at the elevator, I heard my name being called.