Page 62 of A Sinner's Truth

“What do you need to do?” Santo asks.

“I need to get some things from his office,” I reply. “Are they going to let me in?”

“I’d like to see them try to stop us,” Santo grunts out, storming towards one of the men with a badge around his neck.

Santo says something to him in Italian and they shake hands. The man nods and steps aside, letting us into the house. I show Santo into my father’s office. There are three men and two women in here, going through my father’s things.

“Everyone get the fuck out.” Santo’s voice booms through the room.

“Mr De Bellis, condolences for your loss,” one of the men says and nods at the other four before they all exit the room.

“Does everyone always do what you tell them?” I ask Santo as I walk over to the wall. I push the picture of my mother to the side and reveal the safe door.

“If they want to keep breathing, they do,” he says.

I punch in the code. It’s my mother’s birthday. I remember my father telling me when I was younger that if anything happened to him, I needed to come and empty this safe before I did anything else.

The door opens to three shelves. Two are stacked with papers, but on the top one, there’s a blue velvet box. I pick up the papers and hand them to Santo. “We need to take these,” I tell him.

“What are they?” he asks, looking down at the manilla folders.

“No idea.” I shrug as I reach inside, grab the blue box, open the lid, and gasp.

“What is it?” Santo is right behind me.

“My mother’s jewellery.” My fingers trace over her wedding band and engagement ring, and then I see the locket. The necklace I’ve been waiting so many years to get my hands on. I pick it up, pass the box to Santo, and open the locket. My mother’s beautiful face smiles back at me. The picture opposite it is my baby photo. “It’s her necklace. The one my father kept holding over my head. He told me her jewellery was in the bank’s vault,” I say. “It’s been in here all this time.”

I unclasp the ends of the necklace and place it around my neck. The heart sits just above my cleavage. This is all I wanted from my father, and it took him dying for me to get it. He used this necklace as a means to control what I did my whole life, threatening to take away my trust that included my mother’s jewellery if I didn’t do whatever he wanted.

When I turn around, Santo is staring at me with a contemplative look on his face. “What’s wrong?” I ask him.

“Nothing. Is there anything else you need to grab?”

I glance around the office. I’ve always hated being in here. “No,” I say.

“Let’s go home.”

“I need to make arrangements,” I tell him. “For the funeral.” For the first time in my life, I actually wish my father was married to someone, anyone, because then it wouldn’t be up tome to make his funeral arrangements. “I need to speak with his attorney.”

“You don’t have to do all that today, Aria. It can wait,” Santo says.

“No, I’d rather do it now.” I need to do it now. How do you plan a funeral? I’ve never had to do this before…

The moment we step outside, I spot Drew waiting by his car. I don’t think as I run right into his arms. He closes me into a hug. “I’m so sorry, Aria.”

I want to cry. I want to let the tears out, but I’m not going to. There is too much to do. I pull away and Santo’s hand lands on my lower back.

“Thank you. Why are you here?” I ask Drew.

“Your father just died, Aria. Where else would I be?” he tells me.

“He didn’t die. He was murdered. I have to go talk to his attorney and then figure out how to plan a funeral.”

Drew looks behind me to Santo. Neither says a word but then Drew looks back at me. “You know that can wait until tomorrow. And you can hire someone to do all that for you. You don’t need to do it yourself.”

“Why wouldn’t I do it? I’m his only child. I should plan his funeral. Do you think I need to tell all the ex-wives?” I ask Drew. “I should call them, right?”

“Why? To let them know their gravy train has ended?” he balks.

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