Did he actually believe that? Did he think I’d be okay without my last parent standing? Without the man who sang me lullabies when I’d cried as a kid and had still tucked me in most nights before the pain in his body became too much?
Now, I put him to bed, sang him a lullaby just the way he’d done to me. The nights he fell asleep quickly were days I cried myself to sleep with joy that I’d given him some comfort. Most days, though, I took the pained expressions of my father and knew I wasn’t much help.
The weight of the lonely world pulled my heart down into what felt like the bottom of the ocean. Without my daddy, I was nothing. Without the only person that got me, I could never, ever find a way to get myself.
His uncle’s voice traveled up the stairs, reiterating what we already knew. “Dougie, you’ve got no one else. You and the little girl are alone. There aren’t any plans to make.”
“So be it,” my father rasped out.
I moved to rush down the steps, but Rome grabbed my arm. “Don’t.”
I took a shaky breath, trying to let the conversation between the men down below come to a natural end.
Mario continued, “It’s not a good life. Let me help. If her mother were around—”
I gripped the necklace, the only thing my father said she’d left behind.
“The answer is no.”
I winced at the finality in my father’s words. The men downstairs were right. We had no one else, and I was about to have no one at all, not even my father. Still, I trusted my father’s judgment over theirs.
Bastian and Cade watched me awkwardly, like they didn’t know what to say, while Rome looked me up and down.
I didn’t realize a tear had escaped until Rome brushed it away. “You’ll live. Because if you don’t, you’ll die.”
My throat almost closed in fear at his callous words, but I gulped away the temptation to give into my emotion. I wouldn’t show any one of them more of my weakness.
I heard footsteps coming toward the stairs.
“Boys, let’s go,” we heard from around the corner. They filed down the stairs.
Bastian pulled me close. “Nice to meet you, Katie. Probably best we don’t meet again, even though I admit that’s sort of tragic.”
Cade shoved him, and he chuckled as he let me go. “Like he said, nice to meet you,” Cade repeated, but I was sure he didn’t care one way or the other. Both of them would forget me tomorrow. They held themselves with enough confidence, I knew that wherever they lived, they had enough attention from those around them.
Rome idled behind him for an extra second. The way he stood a whole head taller than me should have made me shrink away from him.
Instead, I shrugged and held my hands out. “What?”
He dragged one finger down my gold chain as he studied me. “Yeah, you’ll live. Remember that the best of us go through the worst.”
With that, he glided down the steps, and I heard the door open and close. The click of the lock was as final as a coffin lid dropping shut.
My father didn’t acknowledge the conversation he’d just had when I met him at the bottom of the steps. “Go to bed, Katie. I’m on my way there, too.”
“Dad, do you think we should talk—”
“Nothing to discuss that can’t wait until morning.” He reached over to flick off the downstairs lights and then hobbled past me to his bedroom. Normally, I’d bring him a drink or snack, but he shut his door on me and on the world.
Sighing, I made my way back to my room.
On top of one of my stacks of research was a crumpled paper with messy handwriting that wasn’t mine.
Cleopatra wasn’t as pretty as she is on your necklace. It was her intelligence that allowed her to rule. She knew over a dozen languages and communicated effectively in all of them. When your dad is gone, remember that.
PO Box 108
Chicago, IL