She was fucking brilliant. She meant none of the words coming out of her mouth and yet said them so passionately you had to believe…and he did.
“Liling always wanted to be the head of the family.” He sang like a canary in a coal mine. “Father kept denying her. Half of the triad supports her, the other doesn’t. She’s trying to prove herself. I don’t know where she met Emilio, or anything else other than he was the son of some powerful man. He’s smart and invented this ne
w drug, Blphine, and it spread all over China so Father welcomed him. However, he didn’t tell us that those who take Blphine will be dead in a year. Father asked him to lower the dose, but it wouldn’t be as effective, so he took it and brought it here, and Liling followed. I know nothing else about him, other than…”
“Other than?”
He coughed and she held on to him. “Are you okay? Sorry, dumb question.”
Oh God, Melody. Don’t you think you are taking the kindness rise just a bit far?
“No…no…it’s just…he’s obsessed with you.”
What?
“What?” She had read my mind.
“Emilio,” he repeated, “he’s obsessed. Liling complained once that he had a whole room filled with photos of you. She’s jealous. She wasn’t supposed to shoot to kill you. He almost killed her when he found out. That’s all I know, I swear. Whatever it is, he wants you.”
Melody glanced over at the mirror, and before he or I could even blink, she pulled out a gun, held it to his head, and pulled the trigger.
EIGHTEEN
“Never chase people down and beg for their loyalty and respect. It's either they're with you or they're not.”
~ Unknown
CORA
“Thank you, Father, your sermon was beautiful.” I reached out and shook his hand.
He placed his hand on top of mine. “Of course, my dear. I’m quite sorry for your loss. May your cousin rest in peace.”
Nodding, he let go as other members of the congregation approached, leaving me standing at the church doors. Turning back, I walked toward the altar, a photo of Imani surrounded by her favorite anemone flowers.
“Rest in peace?”
I didn’t even need to turn back to know who it was. She reeked of Chanel Number 5 and an inflated sense of self-importance. When I did turn around, I saw she was dressed in a huge, horrible black church hat, suit, gloves, and even a black handkerchief.
“How can my daughter rest knowing her murderer is walking around free?” my aunt asked coolly. “When the murderer dares to even show up at her funeral.”
“I’m sorry, Aunty, I don’t know who you are talking about. Imani died of an air embolism. I’m sure it must be very tragic for you; after all, you visited her about a dozen times in the last decade.” Turning to her, I saw her brown eyes glaring back at me. “Please accept my condolences—”
SLAP.
For a woman in her sixties, I had to hand to her—she could smack the hell out of a person. My cheek burned so badly I hand to flex my jaw and rub the side of my face.
“Do you think I’m a fool?” she snapped, stepping into my face. “One moment my daughter is fine, then the next your sister-in-law needs a heart and my daughter is dead. She trusted you and you served her up on a platter. Do you have no shame, Coraline? Do you have no heart or soul or anything in you anymore that makes you a human being? She was family! Our family! My family! You weren’t always like this; how corrupt, how low, have you become?”
I smiled at that. “Our family? We were never family. I was your ATM, your emotional punching bag, and when I finally punch back, now I’m the corrupt one? The heartless one? Where was your speech after your daughter murdered a man and tried to blame me? Where was your heart when she found out she was sick or when she was in the hospital? Where were you? What were you doing? Oh right, you were jumping from one rich man—” I saw her lift her hand to slap me again and I prepared for it, but before she could, Declan grabbed her wrist.
“Ma’am, I understand you are grieving, but no one hits my wife for any reason, at least not without a fight from me. Whatever it is, I’m sure we can talk it out,” he said calmly. In all honesty, I didn’t want him there right then.
“One day Coraline, one day all of this will come back to you and you will suffer for it. But don’t worry, I’ll still come to your funeral and offer my condolences.” She turned around to leave.
Declan moved to take my hand but I weaved around him, saying nothing as we stepped back outside, the sun so bright I had to put my sunglasses on again. I didn’t have the energy to talk to anyone and luckily I didn’t have to as the car pulled right up in front of the church at that moment. Declan held the door open for me to slide in first and when I did, the noise of the outside world muffled. I closed my eyes, breathing in calmly.
“You were going to let her hit you,” he said, and I didn’t reply or bother to look at him. “You were going to let her slap you because you think you deserve to be slapped. You want to be punished for it.”