Her father’s eyes pleaded for understanding. “I did want to see him—like he was when we were young. Then when we grew up, before he turned . . . bad. Selfish. Dangerous. He’s the one who got me in trouble with the law. And I got in deeper and deeper, until I knew I had to escape.”
She glanced helplessly at Zane, then turned back to her father as she covered the old man’s hand with her own. “I guess he got himself into bad trouble. There’s no easy way to say it. I’m afraid I have to tell you—he’s dead.”
“Oh my God. It was the mob, wasn’t it?”
Francesca glanced at Zane again, then back at her father.
“I was at his house. We were talking and . . . rough-sounding men broke in. They killed him. And they went after me. I would have gotten killed if Zane hadn’t saved me.”
He had been standing a few feet away. When she ushered him forward, he approached the bed. Was she going to tell her father their relationship? Apparently she’d decided that was too much for now.
“Dad, Angelo’s dead now. And the men who killed him went after me. You have to explain why. What was still wrong between you twenty years later?”
“I swore I’d never talk about it.”
“But I’m still in danger. You have to give me more information.”
His lips pressed into a grim line.
“Dad, I’m wanted by the police.”
“Please, don’t tell me that.”
“But it’s why you have to explain what happened between you and your brother. We need to figure out what’s going on.”
Francesca had been focused on them. Suddenly she was aware of someone standing in the doorway. It was a short, slender man dressed in an expensive knit shirt and khaki pants. He had a medical mask over the lower half of his face, like he was afraid of getting an infection. His eyes were sharp and intense.
As Francesca watched, he pulled the mask down revealing thin lips curved into a grim smile. “She doesn’t have to,” he said to the man in the bed. “I will,”
Francesca’s eyes bugged out when she saw his face and the gun he held in his hand.
“Uncle Angelo,” she wheezed as she stared at the dead man. “But I heard those men kill you.”