Chapter 17
CHAPTER 17
MEREDITH
S ofia found me on the kitchen floor, phone clutched in my trembling hands, tears streaming down my face.
The memories swirled in my mind, and all I could see was Leo and my brother, and my dead father. How they'd become ruthless in protecting me.
How they'd killed for me.
"Mer? What happened?" She dropped to her knees beside me, still in her robe, hair dripping from her shower. "Talk to me." Her hand touched my arm, and I flinched, causing her to frown.
Wordlessly, I showed her the photos, unlocking my screen to where they were still open. Her sharp intake of breath told me she understood exactly what she was seeing.
"Mer… I'm sorry. Those pictures…" Her voice gave it away. She knew more than she was telling me, and my brow furrowed as I looked hard at her.
"You know what these are, don't you?" My voice was so soft, but she still heard me. She sighed, deliberating for a moment before nodding, her face saddened.
"Of course you do. Everyone knows everything all around me," I muttered as the tears pricked my eyes again. But right now, I needed to speak to someone, and despite how I knew Sofia had hidden things from me, she was all I had right now.
"I remember," I whispered, my voice raw. "I remember everything."
The memories crashed over me in waves yet again – my father's fists, the crack of bone meeting bone, Leo and Gray's synchronized violence as they saved me. Leo in the backyard, flames reflecting in his eyes as he burned their bloody clothes and looked up at me in the window. An older man examining my injuries with gentle hands, saying he was a doctor. Leo's voice, thick with emotion: "We'll take care of you both. I promise."
"The funeral..." My voice cracked. "It was closed casket. Everyone said what a tragedy it was, the supposed car accident, but I didn't cry. I couldn't cry. Leo's father was there, telling us we could always come to him if we needed anything."
Sofia pulled me close as fresh tears fell, and despite my desire to pull away, I couldn't. Not right now.
"Mer…"
"The nightmares were so bad. I couldn't even go into our kitchen. Gray moved us away – said it was because I was starting college soon, but really..." I swallowed hard, and she squeezed my arm comfortingly. "I must have blocked it all out. When Gray wanted us to move here after I graduated, he said it was because his companies were here, but he'd been making that commute while finishing his own degree..."
"Honey..." Sofia rested her head against mine, her arm tightening around me.
My mind had finally revealed what I'd blocked out for so long, the pieces falling into place like a bloody puzzle.
"They're monsters," I choked out. "Both of them. They're both killers."
"No." Sofia's voice was firm as she pulled back to look at me. "Your father was the monster, Mer. They did what they had to do to save you. They're still the same people – Gray is still your brother who'd die to protect you, and Leo is still the man who's watched over you all these years."
I stared at her through blurry eyes, struggling to make sense of it all as my mind opened up to me.
But as the memories continued to surface, each one sharper than the last, I wondered if I'd ever really known either of them. The brother who tucked me in at night was the same one who'd helped drag my father's body to the garage and cover up his death. The man who'd held me through nightmares was the same one who'd watched the life drain from my father's eyes. He'd stood over him, as indicated in the picture, without a hint of remorse or regret.
And somehow, the most terrifying part wasn't that they were capable of such violence.
It was that a part of me understood why they'd done it.
"They must do bad things now," I whispered, picturing my brother's steady hands on a gun, his eerie calm during the shooting. The way he'd discussed security measures in a new place like they were as normal as choosing wallpaper. "That's why people shot at us. Why someone wants money to keep quiet."
I shook my head, not wanting it to be true, but knowing I'd be kidding myself. Gray and Leo were involved in bad things, things that had come for us all.
Sofia shifted to sit facing me, crossing her legs as she kept one hand on my arm. I moved back, leaning against her kitchen island. The wood was cool through my clothes, grounding me in reality as my world tilted and lurched.
"Who is Leo, Sof? Who is his family?" I murmured, blinking through my tears to look at her. "Please, I need answers and the truth. No more lies and half-truths," I whispered. She sighed heavily as she took my hand and gave it a squeeze.
"Okay, Mer. No more lies, only the truth," she promised softly, giving me a small reassuring smile.
I squeezed her hand as she looked down at our joined hands. "Leo's family... they're not just CEOs and businessmen. His father, Canzio Donati, he heads one of the most powerful crime families in the city. They're just excellent at staying hidden." She chewed her cheek for a second before continuing. "From what I know, through my family's... connections, Gray isn't someone who gets his hands dirty. He's the face man, all charm and legitimate business. But yes, being involved with the Donati family means he's learned to handle ugly situations."
"And Leo?" The question made my heart flutter, a part of me scared of what the answer would be. But I needed to know. "What do you know about him?"
Sofia's expression grew serious, her brows furrowing. "I know who he really is. It's why I was never his biggest fan. In our world – the world beneath the city's surface, the one I turned my back on – Leo Donati is not someone you want to cross. He's earned his reputation."
"Is he..." I swallowed hard, remembering his split knuckles, the way he moved with lethal grace when we were shot at, and the way he'd gone after Logan."Is he really a killer? Was my father just a one off?"
She met my eyes steadily, giving me a sad, knowing smile. "I think you already know the answer to that."
The worst part was, I did. I'd known it that night when he'd touched me so gently with hands that had dealt death. Known it when he'd promised to protect me, no matter the cost. When he'd said he'd handled it.
Known it since I was seventeen, watching him help Gray beat my father to an early grave.
I closed my eyes, leaning my head back against the island. I gripped her hand tight, using it as an anchor as my world continued to shift and reshape itself around these revelations.
"Why didn't you ever tell me?" I finally asked. "You clearly know so much."
Sofia's laugh was soft, almost sad as she shook her head. "Our friendship was pure chance at first. Just two college freshmen assigned to the same dorm room." She smiled at the memory. "I met you that day, when you asked me if I knew anything about plants as soon as I stepped into our shared room, since your brother had gotten you one and challenged you to keep it alive while you finished your schooling." She chuckled, and I softened as I remembered how we'd met. I'd been so panicked over that wretched plant he'd given me. "And then I told you it was likely going to die, since it was an orchid, and a difficult one at that."
"Yeah, Gray was being a dick with that one. We tried so hard too," I said, managing a weak, dry laugh. We'd struggled for a good year with that plant. Knocked it out the second story window once, and managed to keep it alive. Then it had the audacity to die on us when we gave it a touch too much water apparently.
"He was, but it gave us good memories," Sofia said with a smile as she shook her head. Her expression turned serious before she continued. "It wasn't until I ran into Leo at that christmas dinner with you and Gray that everything connected. Both he and Gray cornered me afterward, because Leo had realized who I was."
"What do you mean, who you were?" I frowned at her, and she chewed her lip for a moment.
She sighed, drawing her knees up to her chest. "They told me to keep quiet about what I knew, and they wouldn't care about my family name or origins. It was a fair deal."
"Your family?" The question came out harder than I'd intended it.
"The Savocas," she said quietly, resignation evident in her face. "We were... are... a crime family too. I left that life behind when a rival family killed my father. Mama went back to Italy to start fresh, and my cousin Marco took over, moved operations to another city." Her lips twisted in a bitter smile. "It's actually what allowed the Donati family to expand their territory here."
The perfectly put-together woman I'd known for years suddenly appeared in a new light – the designer clothes, the massive house, the easy way she'd handled the police and everything else. It all made sense now.
Sofia, my best friend, was not at all who I thought she was.
"Mer, I'm still me. I didn't want you to know about my family, I didn't want you to…" She swallowed, her eyes hardening. "I didn't want you to look at me the way you're looking at me right now."
"It's a big thing to hide," I hissed, still reeling from everything else. Of course Sofia was part of it all.
"I turned my back on that part of who I am, made my own life," Sofia tried to defend herself. "But it doesn't mean I didn't still know things. I didn't turn my back on our friendship when I learned who your brother was tangled with. We'd been such good friends for too long."
"But our friendship was not worthy of the truth?" I snapped.
"The truth? Look at how you're reacting to me telling you the truth, Mer," Sofia said softly.
"Because it's only coming out now, after I've begged, after I've been shot at, after I've…" I glanced down at my phone, my throat tightening. "After someone else pulled the wool from my eyes."
"I'm sorry it had to be this way, we all just wanted to keep you safe. You have to understand that."
The betrayal hit hard and deep, making my chest tight. "All of you? So you've all just been... what? Conspiring around me? Keeping me in this perfect little bubble of ignorance? My whole life is built on lies!"
"It's not like that?—"
"Then what is it like?" My voice cracked. "My best friend is from a crime family. My brother's involved in God knows what and murdered my father. And Leo..." I choked on his name, remembering how safe I'd felt in his arms, how close we'd been. "And you all know things, things you keep from me. That envelope this morning, what was it? Why did it seem like you recognized that photo I got sent?" I demanded.
"Same photos you got, Mer. They know who I am as well. That I'm your best friend, a family friend in their eyes, someone with money as well," she said quietly, and my chest fluttered with hurt.
"Did you know they killed him?" I whispered, my heart skipping a few terrifying beats as she frowned at me.
"No, Mer. You have to believe me on that. I had my suspicions, but I never knew the truth. Not until that envelope, so I messaged Gray before my shower."
"So you told him and not me? Hid it from me?" The sob broke free as I balled my hands up, gripping my phone tight in one. "I can't..." I pushed myself up from the floor, suddenly needing space, air, anything. "This is too much."
"We were trying to protect you!"
"By lying to me? By all playing your parts in this ridiculous charade?" I headed for the door, shaking with a myriad of emotions. "I need to get out of here."
"Meredith, please?—"
The cold air hit my face as I stormed out, tears freezing on my cheeks. I spied Roman's car at the end of the drive, but I didn't care as I began walking quickly from Sofia's place.
I sniffled as Roman got out of his car, concern etched across his features as Sofia called after me.
"Ms. Cassaro?—"
"Unless you plan to physically restrain me, I'm leaving," I snapped, and Roman's face tightened as he nodded and clasped his hands.
His face remained impassive as he gave me an almost apologetic nod. "Then I'll have to follow you."
"Do whatever the hell you have to do," I muttered. "But tell my brother and Leo they can go fuck themselves. For everything."
I marched past him, ignoring the vibrating of my phone as Sofia tried to call. I half-expected her to follow me as well, but perhaps she'd realized I needed some space, and she wasn't exactly dressed to run after me in her robe.
I turned the corner in the street, needing to keep moving as my mind swam. My phone vibrated with a text from Sofia, telling me to at least be safe, and she was here when I was ready to talk.
I scoffed and shoved it into my pocket. She obviously didn't think I needed two people following me. Good.
Behind me, I could hear Roman's quiet footsteps following at a distance.
But all I could think about was how my entire world had been carefully constructed lies, and I'd been too blind to see it.