Chapter 11

The butler came to tell me a man in a hospital gown was asking to see me, calling himself Raphael Sterling.I was in my studio, painting.Beyond the window stretched a deep blue sea, scattering light under the sun.It was so beautiful it lifted everything in me, beautiful enough to make you forget every wound.I would not let Raphael come and foul a view like that.“Tell him no. He can leave the signed papers and go.”The butler nodded. “Of course. But forgive me, miss. He also says he has brought you the Star of Florence.”My brush paused.I didn't care about Raphael, but I cared about my mother's keepsake.While I hesitated, my father's voice came from behind me.“Scarlett, if you don't want to see him, I'll handle him.”I turned. My father stood in the doorway, watching me.He gestured at my canvas. “It's beautiful. I think you should stay and finish it.”I nodded.“Leave him waiting half an hour. Then send him to find me in the back garden.”My father said his piece and turned to g

Chapter 12

That was our first child.We had spent six whole years trying.It happened while he had me locked in the basement.It happened while I beat on the iron door and begged him through my tears.Gone.If he had believed me then, opened the door, and taken me to a hospital, the child might have lived.But there were no ifs.Raphael held the report, and inch by inch he sank to the floor.“Victor. Dolores.”He cried until he couldn't breathe, two names on his lips over and over.It was something he and I had agreed on once.A boy would be Victor. A girl would be Dolores.And now he had killed his own child with his own hands.My father said, “Don't cry. Look at the back.”Raphael turned the report over and cried harder, broken.On the back was the note I had left him.A single line.“Sign it, Raphael.”It was the first thing I had asked of him in the ten years I had known him.It was also the last.A long time passed. Raphael folded the report, tucked it into his pocket, left the Star of Flore

All Chapters of The Don Who Never Meant What He Said: Chapter 11 - Chapter 12

Chapter 11

Chapter 12