Chapter 13 - DADDY
Sophia refused to leave the farmhouse with me.
“I want Aunt Victoria.”
I swallowed the pain.
“Okay.”
She stared suspiciously.
“You’re not mad?”
“No.”
“You look mad.”
“I look like that a lot.”
Grace almost smiled.
Sophia studied me.
“Grandpa Vince said you hurt people.”
My chest tightened.
“He told you that?”
“Yes.”
I sat several feet away.
“Sometimes I did.”
Grace looked at me.
I continued.
“I made choices I’m not proud of.”
“Did Mommy know?”
“Yes.”
“Did she hate you?”
“No.”
I hoped that was true.
Sophia’s eyes filled.
“I don’t remember her voice.”
“I do.”
I pulled out my phone.
The recording.
I had copied Elena’s message.
I played the first few seconds.
Sophia froze.
“Mommy?”
“Yes.”
She grabbed the phone.
Elena’s voice filled the room.
I watched my daughter cry.
I wanted to hold her.
I didn’t move.
Then she looked at me.
“Did she really love you?”
“Yes.”
“Even when you were bad?”
I smiled sadly.
“She loved me enough to tell me when I was wrong.”
Sophia wiped her face.
“Were you wrong a lot?”
Grace coughed to hide a laugh.
“Yes.”
Sophia looked at Grace.
“Who are you?”
“Grace.”
“And you?”
Amara peeked around the doorway.
“I’m Amara.”
Sophia looked at her.
Amara walked closer.
“My mommy says Mister Julian is grumpy.”
Grace closed her eyes.
“Oh, Lord.”
Sophia giggled.
It was the first time I’d heard my daughter laugh in two years.
My eyes burned.
Amara continued.
“But he shares bread.”
Sophia looked at me.
“You share bread?”
“Apparently that’s my best quality.”
Another tiny smile.
Then she stood.
Walked toward me.
Stopped.
My heart pounded harder than it ever had in a gunfight.
“Are you really my daddy?”
“Yes.”
“How do I know?”
I thought.
Then remembered.
“When you were four, you hid a frog in my shoe.”
Her eyes widened.
“Nobody knows that.”
“I screamed.”
“You did.”
“And you laughed so hard you fell off the bed.”
Sophia’s mouth opened.
Memory returned across her face like sunrise.
“You called him Mr. Hops.”
I smiled.
“You made me apologize to him.”
She ran.
Straight into my arms.
“Daddy!”
I caught her.
And this time, I didn’t try to stop the tears.
Later that night, as she slept beside Amara, Marcus called.
“Crowe survived.”
“Good.”
“You sound disappointed.”
“I want him to testify.”
Marcus paused.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“Crowe says Claire wasn’t the top of the operation.”
My stomach sank.
“Who was?”
“He says the real partner is still inside your house.”
I looked down the hallway.
At the guards.
The staff.
May you like
The people I trusted.
Then the lights went out.
