Page 111 of Deadly Wrath

“Only the best hacker in all of Chicago—Elliana Morelli,” I answer.

“Seb’s mom?” Alessio questions.

I nod. “She died a year later from cancer and took this to the grave with her.”

Olivia exhales shakily, piecing it all together. “So, the three of you are the only ones who knew?”

Phil shakes his head. “Tito knows, too. That’s why I pulled a few strings and made sure even if you ever tried to write to him, the letters were intercepted.”

“That’s why he never answered my letters and why I was never allowed to visit,” Liv says, more to herself than to Phil. “I tried so many times.”

“Why did Mom have Dad come get us if she knew all this?” Olivia asks.

“We recovered some of their correspondence while you two were in witness protection,” Phil tells her. “Your dad lied to her, Livy. He told her it was safe, that Tito had moved past it. At one point, he even said he’d leave with her if she didn’t want to stay in town.” Phil exhales. “She believed him and had him come get both of you. I could have kept her safe, kept you both safe.”

She swallows hard. “What happened to her?”

Phil sighs. “You don’t want to know the details, Livy.”

“I need to know,” she says, fighting the tears welling in her eyes. “I spent too long looking for this, not to know what happened to her.”

I exhale, debating how much to tell her. “Tito had his men make sure she never spoke again. Drowned her in battery acid to erase her completely.” I leave out the part where they tortured her for hours before killing her. Olivia doesn’t need to know that part.

Olivia’s breath stumbles, and her voice cracks. “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

Because we wanted you safe—me, Phil, and your mom. Because I wasn’t supposed to be in your life. Because knowing the truth would’ve pulled you back into the world your mother died trying to keep you out of. But I don’t say any of that either. Instead, I hold her gaze and tell her the only thing that matters.

“Because your mother gave her life to keep you safe. And I wasn’t going to be the one to take that from you.”

Her throat bobs as she swallows. “And what happened to Dad?”

“I killed him,” I tell her. And it’s the truth. “Put a bullet between his fucking eyes.” Another thing I don’t regret.

“I didn’t hear that,” Phil mutters, covering his ears like a child.

“Don’t be a puss, you know why I did what I did,” I tell him.

“Whydidyou?” Alessio asks.

I don’t hesitate to tell them the truth. “Tito meant what he said about Olivia. That if Leah went to the cops, he’d take Olivia as payback and sell her in his ring. And Richie was going to let him do it.” I shake my head but catch Alessio pulling Olivia closer to him. “As a father myself, he didn’t deserve to live.”

Olivia’s lips part like she wants to say something, but no words come out.

For the first time since she walked in, she looks small and helpless, like the little girl I carried away that night.

She chokes on a sob when she finally speaks.

“Mom was brave, wasn’t she?”

I swallow hard. “Yeah, kid, she was.”

A single tear slips down her cheek, but she doesn’t wipe it away.

50

Liv

I’ve never been more emotionally drained in my life. By the time I learn everything about Mom and Dad, then fill Clover in on Ezra, the parts Alessandro didn’t already tell him. I feel like I’ve just run a marathon. I’m not hungry anymore, so Alessio and I ask for a rain check on dinner.

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