Page 108 of Mafiosa
You are the best thing that’s ever happened to her, Millie. Please take care of my girl for me.
Be well,
Michael
‘Did he do it?’ she asked, after I had read through the letter twice, the paper shaking in my hands. ‘Did he kill Jack?’
‘Yes,’ I said, trying not to fixate on the image in my head, still staring at his words. ‘I saw it.’
‘Then you can trust him.’ She tapped the piece of paper – the address of M Flores scrawled messily at the bottom. ‘You can trustthis.’
I took it from her, a frown twisting on my lips. ‘And what? I’m just supposed to go?’
Millie nodded. ‘Yes, that’s exactly what you’re supposed to do.’
‘With what money?’
‘Luca will sort it out.’
Bitterness swelled inside me. ‘Wow, he must really want to get rid of me.’
‘You know why he’s doing it,’ Millie said. ‘Come on, Soph.’
I wiped a tear away before it could trace another line on my cheek. ‘I have to go,’ I whispered to myself. ‘I have to go.’
‘Yes,’ said Millie softly. ‘But I’ll go with you. I’ll take you as far as you want.’
‘No,’ I said firmly. ‘You can’t come with me. Not while there’s so much heat on me.’
She grabbed my hand. ‘I’ll take you to the airport. I’ll wait until you get on the plane. You’ll call me when you get off. I’ll be with you every step of the way. And then, in a month or so, when this has all died down, we’ll sort something else out. You just have to lie low for a while.’
‘By myself,’ I said. ‘With a complete stranger.’
‘Better there than here,’ Millie said. ‘There will be no survivors from this, Sophie. You know that. Luca knows that.’
I heaved a shaky breath, the paper still clutched in my fist. Was I really going to pin all my hopes on my father’s word? On someone I had never met before? Was I going to walk away from everyone I knew and loved?
Yes.
My mother’s voice inside my head.
Yes.
My father’s voice.
‘OK,’ I told Millie. ‘OK.’
She reeled backwards. ‘Thank God,’ she said, passing a hand across her forehead. ‘I’m so relieved, Soph.’
There were tears in her eyes now, too. She smiled – it was small and watery. She was pulling me out, and I could tell itwas the only way. If I wanted to live – if I wanted to claw my way out of the darkness – I had to go with her. I had to crawl towards my light.
And Millie was my light.
‘I want to say goodbye to him,’ I said. ‘I need to.’
‘Of course you do,’ she said gently. ‘Of course you can say goodbye.’
I turned back towards the house. It felt bigger, colder, more remote. Inside, the assassins were swarming, ready to move again. I started walking towards it, towards the boy I loved. The boy who was locked up in the heart of this place. The boy who would go to his death with his family.
