Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 91847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
When I get home, two soldiers I don’t know stand outside of their SUV at my front door. I need to gate off the property. I hand the keys off to one of my men and head inside, straight to my office. I greet Val, excusing him as Bea Avery turns her head to watch me approach. She doesn’t get up.
Val closes the door, and I cross the room to take my seat behind the desk. Tables have turned. I wonder what she wants.
I think about what my mother told me, too. What Bea did to her. That and the fact that she knows Caius is the Commander’s son.
“What an unpleasant surprise,” I say to open the conversation.
“You’ve been in contact with him.”
“Excuse me?”
She reaches into her purse, takes out a sheet of paper that looks like it’s been crumpled in her bag for days and slams it onto my desk. “You and my son have been in contact.”
I glance at the sheet of paper, making out a part of my text conversation with Thiago—although conversation is a big word here.
“What game are you two playing?” she asks.
“No game. And I wouldn’t say we’ve been in contact. I got an address. That’s it. If Thiago wants to disappear, that’s his prerogative.” I have to keep in mind that she doesn’t know about Thiago’s presence at the lighthouse.
She gets to her feet, sets her hands on the edge of the desk, and leans toward me. She’s a small woman. I never really noticed that. I know not to underestimate her, though. Bea Avery is dangerous.
“Thiago took something that doesn’t belong to him.”
“And what’s that?”
She glares. “That’s none of your business.”
“Now I’m confused. If it’s not my business, why are you here?” My question, asked casually, irritates her. That fact makes me smile.
“He’s been in touch with you. I know that from his phone records. Where is he?”
“I have no idea, and as far as I’m concerned, I hope he stays gone because it seems like that’s what he wants.”
“Well, we all want things, don’t we, Santos? But we all have a duty.” She sits back down, studies me. “Obligations to our family. Thiago owes me.”
“What does he owe you, exactly?” That seems to surprise her.
“He’s my son. He owes me his loyalty.”
“And his life?”
She grins.
“I think he’s more than paid, don’t you? You let the Commander make an enforcer out of him. You know what he’s done. You know what that cost him.”
“Enlighten me.”
“His soul.”
“That’s dramatic, isn’t it?”
“It fits.”
“Have you lost your soul too, then?”
I grit my teeth, force myself to file her words away for another time. But she sees the impact they have on me, and her grin widens.
“You’ll both burn in hell for what you did all those years.”
“And you think your prayers will save you? We’ll all burn together, Bea.” I stand and lean toward her over my desk. “I know what you did,” I say in a low voice.
“What I did?”
“My mother came to you for help. I know what you did to her.”
Her eyes grow wide, eyebrows disappearing into her hairline. Then she surprises me by laughing out loud.
“What I did to her? What did she tell you exactly? Let me guess, a lie.” I am caught off guard, and she sees it and continues. “You think she came to me for help? Is that what she told you? Let me tell you how it really went, Santos.” She sits back in her seat, cocks her head to the side. “She came to me for money. Money to keep her mouth shut about who fathered her bastard. She didn’t come to me for help. She came to blackmail me. She thought if Alistair found out, he’d set me aside and marry her. She was a stupid girl then, a stupid woman now. What I did was explain reality to her.”
“And what was your version of reality?”
“He’d take the bastard and get rid of her, and you know it.” I do. It’s how the Commander operated. He’d feel he owned Caius. “And what do you think he’d have done with your brother? Do you want me to spell it out?”
“Get out, Bea.”
“He’d make another Thiago out of him. So, I did help her, just not in the way she wanted. I helped her go. But not without leaving my mark on her. So every time she looked in the mirror, which the vain woman does often, I am sure, she’d remember me. Your mother is nothing. She was always nothing. A whore. A liar who would sell her own son to save her neck. Who did sell her own son.”
“She did what she did to save her son.”
She opens her mouth, closes it and grins wide, her eyes gleaming. “Ask her to tell you the whole story sometime, Santos. Because she does have two sons.”