Chapter 72

**Lily**

“No one will ever know.”, he said, smiling his evil smile. I never doubted my mom’s death being a natural death. Not once did I consider that it could have been anything else. Until I stood in front of this man just now.

That’s when I lost it. That’s when I start screaming and punching into the man, until Matteo dragged me off of the guy, and brought me to the hallway.

“Lily? I think it’s best if you go back to the main house. Ennio, Luciano, and I will finish up over here. I will go through the questions you wrote down.”, he said kindly. Matteo was searching for something in my eyes that I’m sure he couldn’t find. I wasn’t calm.

I also knew that he wasn’t giving me a choice. I was to go back to the main house, and do what I was always doing, while he would torture and murder my biological dad.

I felt strangely normal about the last bit. That he would be torturing and murdering my biological dad. He hadn’t been much of a dad to begin with, which made it a lot easier. The fact that I was being dismissed by Matteo hurt me a lot more.

“Lily? Are you okay?”, Matteo asked me caringly. I nodded absentmindedly and shrugged off his hands. I started to walk back to the exit.

“Lily? Don’t do this. Don’t be mad.”, Matteo told me, as he walked after me and grabbed my arm again.

I turned around and snapped. “I get to behave how I want to. That man is my biological dad. He knew my mom better than anyone I know. This is my only opportunity to get some answers to questions about her, so don’t tell me how to behave!”, I yelled at him.

“You’re right. I’m sorry, Lily.”, Matteo said, understanding the error he made when he said that. It seemed like he was cursing himself for saying it in the first place. Matteo sighed.

“Do you want to go back in there?”, he asked me. I nodded, and together we entered the room again. Ennio raised his eyebrow at Matteo when he saw me entering again. Matteo guided me towards a chair, and I sat down.

“Let’s continue.”, Matteo said, no emotion present in his eyes or his voice. “Did you kill Mary Brown?”, Matteo asked again.

Mario just laughed. Matteo nodded to Ennio, and he punched him again.

I think Matteo must have asked Mario at least ten times, but he never gave an answer. At a certain point, Ennio hit Mario on his hand with a hammer. And on his knees, but there was no answer.

I guess, I will never know if he killed my mom.

“Are you okay?”, Valeria asked me. I was sitting down in a lawn chair overlooking the estate when she sat down next to me. I shrugged.

“I guess that’s fair.”, she replied.

“Fair when my boyfriend just killed my dad?”, I asked her. Valeria winced at my words.

“Yeah, I suppose.”, she replied. “It sounds bad though.”

I chuckled. “I suppose it does. But at least, I can finally leave my mom rest in peace now.”, I responded.

“Are you able to do so?”, she asked, reaching out to grab my hand. “It’s hard to let go of the death sometimes.”

I nodded. “I’m trying, it’s time to do so. It’s just hard to let her go.”, I said. Valeria nodded in agreement.

“Take your time. You will see that in time, it will get easier.”, Valeria said, as she patted my hand. “And another piece of advice that you didn’t ask for. Talk to Matteo. This is the only life he knows, the only way he knows.”, Valeria added as she got up and walked away.

I had been pondering over Valeria’s words for the past hour. Not the ones about my mom, but what she said about Matteo. I never thought about it, but what she said about Matteo made sense. It was true, but I never looked at it from his side. I guess it is time to talk to him about everything that happened between us.

Hesitantly, I walked up to his office. I took a deep breath before I knocked on the door and waited for Matteo to respond. When he finally did, I wasn’t too sure I wanted to go in anymore. I must have waited too long because the door opened on its own. Matteo came out to check what was happening.

“Lily.”, he said, surprised that it was me standing there.

“I came to see you.”, I said softly. In case that wasn’t obvious yet, because I was literally standing in front of his office door. Matteo opened his office door for me to come in. I did and he closed the door behind me.

“Valeria said something to me, earlier today. Something that I never thought about before she said it.”, I said to him. “I never thought about how this is the only way you know how.”, she explained.

“This world is so different from all I’ve ever known, and yet it turns out that I come from it.”, I said. It is blows my mind that I come from multiple generations of mafia families. “You need to tell me more to help me.”, I asked him.

“I want us to get through this, Lily. I don’t know what happened, or when it happened, but I fell in love with you somewhere along the line.”, Matteo said, his voice sounded like he was being completely honest. Maybe even a bit desperate.

“I would like that too.”, I said, with a little smile on my face.

He walked over to me and took my hands. “I love you, Lily. And I am truly sorry for the pain I caused you. You didn’t deserve what Tommaso did to you.”

“It’s okay, Matteo. I understand why you did it.”, I told him. I really did understand. It didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt, though.

“No, it’s not okay. I am ashamed of myself for doing it. Yet it is all I was trained to do in situations like that. Nothing trumps the business, not even love. I’m not proud of it, Lily.”, he said calmly.

“This is what Valeria meant, isn’t it?”, I asked him. Matteo shrugged, but it made sense. I didn’t want to say Matteo was brainwashed because that sounds so negative, but in a way, it was like that. Or maybe it is the other way around? I guess that Matteo might think like that.

Life is not fair, nor easy. Neither is love. Mom always said that love is a verb and that it takes a lot of work. Matteo and I have our work cut out for us, but I guess we were both committed to make it work.