Chapter Forty-Four - The Note
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
The Note
My Dearest Dominic,
I’m afraid you may never forgive me for the things I’ve done—the things I’m about to do—but you have to know that it was all to protect you.
If you’re reading this, it means I didn’t come home tonight, and if that is the case, I feel you deserve to hear the truth from me.
My name is not Meredith Ashford—it’s Mary Anderson—and your rightful name is Dominic Consoli. You are the only son of Mason Consoli, of the Consoli Mafia family.
I wished to hide you away, protect you, and give you a life ignorant of this fact, but I’m not sure that was ever truly an option.
I promise you were the product of love, but when I told your father we were pregnant, he wanted to tell your grandfather, and I knew your only chance at a normal life was if I took you away.
Your father was power-hungry, and his father was even more so.
They would’ve used you as a pawn to secure their lineage, and I was terrified of what you’d become under their influence.
So, I left a note for Mason, took enough belongings to fit into a backpack, and moved across the country.
For months, I went from women’s shelter to women’s shelter, looking for jobs and any sort of stability—all while pregnant and fearful of Mason following. By the time you were eighteen months old, I’d made a modest life for us with the job I got at a local daycare.
Meeting Rachel Lance was one of the best and worst things to ever happen to us.
I don’t know what twisted luck streak brought her into the daycare I worked at over every other one in Sacramento, but I recognized Ryder’s name as soon as I saw it on the paperwork.
As a form of protection, I’d learned to keep tabs on the Consoli family, and since I’d moved to California, I kept tabs on the Marsollo and Moreno families, too. I knew Ryder worked closely with Moreno and that Rachel and Lyla were extensions of that family.
Later, I’d come to learn that Mason believed his father killed us, so he betrayed his family and worked undercover for Moreno for years. Not so long ago, he attempted a coup of both families that cost him his life.
Of course, all I knew when I met Rachel was that I was far closer to being discovered than I ever wanted to be, so I made a plan for us to start over somewhere new.
This time, I had money, so the first thing I did was go to the most highly recommended man for false identification. That was how I found the true bane of my existence and the reason I am in the situation I am today.
Clayton Vance.
Vance was previously employed by the Consoli family and ran off when they started to suspect his embezzling. When I came to him for passports, he did what no one else had and figured out who we were.
He showed up at our home in the middle of the night, held me at gunpoint, and told me we’d be his ticket back to the Consoli family.
I did the only thing I could think to do.
I told him I had a connection to the Morenos and that we could use it to make more money than the Consolis would ever pay him for turning us over.
Vance agreed, and that’s how I’ve supported us these last two years.
I thought it was temporary—that I had things under control—but Vance got greedy. He kept increasing the amount I needed to take and threatening our safety if I didn’t comply.
I understand if you can’t forgive me for this last part, but when I saw a way out, I had to take it.
When Ryder moved to Sacramento, I proposed to Vance that we sell Moreno’s former right hand to another rival family, the Diazes. Vance would get the full payout, and we’d be free of him.
By this point, Rachel and Lyla were more than simple pawns. The four of us had a family of sorts, and hurting them was never something I wanted to do, but I had no choice.
Vance didn’t trust I wouldn’t spill everything to Rachel, so he took it upon himself to keep tabs on her to keep me compliant, as if threatening our lives wasn’t enough.
I’ve spent weeks planning this trade-off, so this plan goes off without a hitch—and I hope it does.
I hope I burn this letter before you ever get the chance to read it. I hope we live the rest of our lives free of the criminals who want to separate us, but I can’t promise that future.
What I can promise is that I love you more than anything in the entire world, and if this plan works and we’re free, it’ll all be worth it.
I know I’m not a perfect—or even good—person, but I did it all for you.
You bring meaning to my life and light to my world.
Mom.