Chapter 35 She's dead
Isabella POV
Christmas was beautiful, like always. We had great food, wine, and so many presents. I grabbed my wrapped-up painting and then gave it to my mom. “This is for both of you.”
She smiled at my father before she ripped it open. Uncle Rhylen and his wife sat next to the fire, his arm wrapped around her while they both held glasses of wine. Sapphire wore the new diamond necklace Varos gave her for Christmas. My cousin was sitting with his maternal grandparents and his sister. Gabriel was sitting in his favorite armchair by the fire, still strong despite his age and full of life.
Everyone was quiet as they watched my parents open it. My mom ripped off the wrapping then stared at the painting. Several
heartbeats passed, and all she did was look. My father stared at it with the same focus, looking at the group photo we took at the dining table last year.
Gabriel was the one taking the picture, but I painted him in anyway Mom’s eyes started to water. “Sweetheart…it’s…” “Beautiful,” my father finished. “Perfect.”
“Amazing,” my mother added. “So much detail.” Mom looked at me next, her eyes filled with a thin film of moisture. “My baby girl…so talented.” She handed the picture to my father then extended her arms, beckoning me to her.
I left the couch then moved into her lap, letting her circle her arms around me. She kissed me on the forehead twice and squeezed me. “Thank you so much, sweetheart.”
My father wrapped his arms around both of us. “That was very nice, Tesoro.” “You’re welcome,” I whispered, surrounded by my family’s love. “You’re so talented,” my mother said. “We’re both very proud.” Maybe Dante was right. Maybe I really did have a special talent. Maybe I could create paintings that made people feel something.
My parents were moved by that painting, just as much as he’d been moved. Silence passed for several minutes before my mother finally released me. Varos sighed. “I give them a grandchild, but Isabella is still their favorite…”
“Leave her alone,” Sapphire said. “That was really sweet.” “I got my dad that nice gun holster,” Varos argued. “Well, a gun holster isn’t as touching as a painting,” Uncle Rhylen said.
“isabella gift kicks our asses.”
My aunt swatted him on the knee. “Don’t talk like that.” “What?” Uncle Rhylen asked. “Everyone here is an adult except the little one
inside Sapphire.”
My mother picked up the painting and carried it to the wall. There was already a picture there, something that had been hanging there since I was young. It was a painting of water lilies in a pond. She quickly removed it because it was the same size and replaced it with mine. “There…that’s perfect.”
“What are you going to do with the old one?” my cousin asked. Mom shrugged. “Throw it away. It’s trash compared to this.” “Uh,” Varos said. “That’s a Monet…”
“Whatever,” Mom said. “Doesn’t compare to an original Conti.”
Dante POV
I sat at my desk in front of the roaring fire enjoying a large decanter of scotch while the snow fell outside. It was Christmas Day, and I
spent all afternoon pretending it was just another day but no amount of pretending could change reality.
This was how I spent all my holidays alone.
Isabella was with her family, drinking and having a merry time. I might be doing the same thing if my parents were alive. If I had a chance to have siblings. Their happiness should be my happiness. I shouldn’t be
nursing my regret with booze. Sometimes it made me so spiteful I wanted to go over there and kill them all. Including Isabella but I kept my distance and tried not to think about their joy.
Isabella kept asking what my real name was, but I didn’t see why it mattered. I was Dante, plain and simple. No one called me by any other name. My passports didn’t even have my real name either because I traveled under
different aliases. It was easy to remain above the law when you weren’t really a person.
The sun set, and the night deepened, but I stayed in my office. Thinking about my last Christmas with my mother. She went to work on Christmas Eve, picking up a client from the street. Money was tight that month, and we were being evicted. She had to find the
money somewhere and she wanted to get me a toy for Christmas. So she met a client that ended up killing her and leaving her in a dumpster.
My mother never came home. It wasn’t until three days later that the landlord came for his money. He discovered me, called the cops, and that’s when they found her body in the dumpster. I was sent to the orphanage. No one could judge me for hating this stupid holiday.
No one could judge me for hating Isabella. I should just fucking kill her. Slit her throat and be done with it. I should put her body in a dumpster just the way my mother was tossed aside. But I knew I never would, no matter how angry I was. I was far too obsessed with her, far too infatuated with her. When she wasn’t with me, I thought about her. Now I counted down the days until she returned. When I will be with her, I didn’t think about the horrible shit in my life. I just felt good.
She was like drugs and booze but with a better high. My phone rang, and I immediately looked at it in the hope it was her. But it was Rex. “Yeah?”
“Caught you at a bad time?”
“It’s Christmas so yes.”
His past was just as dark as mine, so he didn’t question it. “I think I might have a lead on the guy who killed your mom.” I sat forward, my elbows moving to the desk. “Yeah?”
“I think it may have been Nikolai Falcone. My sources say he has a thing for prostitutes and he kills a lot of them. He was in the area the night your mother died. I can’t confirm it with complete certainty, but there’s a good chance it was him. I’ll look into it more.”
“That name sounds familiar.” “Yes…because he’s the leader of the Camo group. They do business with the Russians, transferring weapons and drugs back and forth across Europe. I hate to say it, Dante, but he’s pretty untouchable.”
“No one is untouchable not for me.” “He’s got at least a hundred men working for him all heavily trained. He’s got lots of money. He has a relationship with the cops just like you do. He’s not as big as the Italian mob or the Skull Kings, but he’s not a guy you should piss off.”
“I don’t give a shit. If he killed her, he’ll pay for it.” “Let me confirm it before you do anything stupid, alright?
And even if he did do it, you still shouldn’t do anything stupid. You’re only putting yourself at
risk and the other guys on the line. Your mother is dead.