Page 73 of Thrill Me (Dark Odyssey 3)

I called him last night to try and talk but he was distant. I got the vibe that if I were a little younger he would have said more to me than he didn’t approve. He would have told me straight up to stop seeing Salvatore. Realistically though what else could not approving mean?

“Oh hell girl. Never mind what your father thinks.” She laughs. “I think he’d be like that with any guy. No one is good enough for his little girl. Plus do you really want a man your dad likes? Especiallyyourfather. He’s so boring.”

I laugh again. She always knows what to say to cheer me up.

“Go on upstairs, sort out the books you need and I’ll put on some dinner. You’re going to tell me everything.”

Oh God, maybe it would have been better for me to keep quiet about Salvatore. She’ll have me here all night talking if she can.

“Okay,” I beam, best to agree. I’m hoping to get stuck in the attic and then it will be so late I’ll have to eat and run. If memory serves me right there should be a lot of stuff to go through and we didn’t exactly pack things away in order.

“Have fun,” Grandma says.

I rush up the stairs to the attic. It’s usually quite organized up here with everything as neat and tidy as an attic could be but today I see I have my work cut out for me.

There are at least fifteen large boxes set out in the center of the room. I’m definitely going to be up here for a while. It was a good thing I didn’t come by yesterday because it was a work night. Sorting through the boxes won’t resemble anything close to quick and quite likely I’ll be up here having that dinner well into the night.

I tackle the first one and find all of Mom’s pastry recipes along with her European cuisines.

One hour later sees me with a stack of books to my left. I have over a hundred handwritten recipes and it makes me feel close to her.

Mom told me that cooking and creating recipes helped her while she was studying law. She went to Georgetown University. Cooking and law is an odd combination but it worked to calm her down.

The stuff in these boxes is very old. Some things are from when she was a little girl. Other stuff is from when she was closer to my age. There are private things like actual journals, so when I take a break from recipe hunting I decide to look through a journal with some stars on the front.

I never got to see any of this stuff when she died, plus I doubted that anyone would have wanted me looking through her private files.

This journal has a lot of details about her legal studies so I put it back in the box and pick up an old leather pouch. Inside is a letter addressed toMy Love.

I pull out a photo of her kissing a man on his cheek. He’s holding her and she’s smiling. They’re standing by the beach.

At first I think he must be an old boyfriend then… a closer look at the man makes me freeze.

I’ve seen this man before.

I know him.

He was… the State’s Attorney. William Russo. Mom’s old boss.

I flick the picture over and see there’s some writing on the back :

Dear William,

Today was one of the best days I’ve spent with you.

It’s the only memory I have of us like this.

Us in love.

Please take this picture and remember me.

It breaks my heart to hurt you, especially after the plans we made today, but I can’t be with you anymore.

It’s too dangerous to keep seeing each other. You know the danger that exists. I can’t put my little girl at risk.

Adrian has files. Take them and be safe. Please.

I love you, always.

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