Consent (The Loan Shark Duet 2)

For five full seconds she stares at me. Just when I think she’s not going to answer, she says, “Your father thought he killed her. He said no one needed to know, so he told Barney to destroy the tape. Only, Barney never did. He held onto it, as a bargaining chip, maybe to blackmail your father with later, who knows? Valentina survived. We learned about it when she was already well on her way to recovery, because Marvin and Julietta kept it quiet. Your father––”

“Stop calling him my father.” I can’t stand to be related to him.

“Owen was sure Val knew their names. He arranged a hit to take out the whole family.”

Ugly words sit on the tip of my tongue, but I will them away so she can finish this nightmare of a story.

“Before the hit could take place,” she continues, “Barney ended up dead. Shot down in his own front yard. Then Marvin paid Owen a visit and said he had the tape. Got it from Barney. He gave us a printout that clearly showed your––” She catches herself. “That showed Owen’s face as proof. He said the tape was hidden, and if we touched his family, it would go to the police. At the time, when Owen was running the company, we didn’t have many connections in the force. The police were waiting for a reason to arrest Owen. Even a speeding fine would’ve done. We didn’t have a choice but to call off the hit.”

Now I understand why Magda worked so diligently to buy her way through the police force. There was method in her madness of having as many of them in her pocket.

“What was the payback?” Marvin would’ve wanted revenge and compensation for what had been done to his daughter.

She gives me a long, sad look. “You.”

I stumble a step, the full weight of my body pressing on my half-lame leg. “What?”

“The deal was that you’d marry the ruined Valentina, and Owen would give half of the business to Marvin.”

I battle to take in the information, but it makes sense. Marvin would not only get an upgrade in terms of a suitor for his daughter, but also a hell of a payback, not that any money could make up for what they did.

I force the question from my dry lips. “What happened?”

“Owen wasn’t going to let himself be blackmailed. Charles was fifteen and a dangerous factor to be reckoned with. He was protective of his sister. I told Owen Charles would never let this go. He would bide his time and take revenge. Not having a choice, Owen agreed to Marvin’s demands, but the minute Marvin was gone, Owen called in his guys and told them to find the tape and kill the Haynes’. Instead of a hit, it was supposed to look like an accident.”

“The car that went off the bridge…”

“Our men cut the brake cables.”

“Julietta?”

“The bank robbery was staged. She was the real target.”

“Why did Owen let the children live?”

“Owen spoke to Val at Marvin’s funeral. It was clear she didn’t recognize him. She didn’t put two and two together. You’ve seen from the tape…” She looks away again, unable to meet my eyes. “You’ve seen from the tape she never opened her eyes, and Charles wasn’t himself any longer.”

“Why take the risk?”

“Owen wanted that tape, and Lambert Roos told us Marvin had given it to Charlie to hide. Charlie was the only one who knew where it was. We tried talking to him after the accident, but Charlie couldn’t remember. He didn’t know what we were talking about. He was totally incoherent. A complete vegetable.”

“The mafia cast the Haynes kids out, and Lambert rejected Valentina. Owen ordered them to do it, didn’t he? Was it because Valentina was betrothed to me?”

“I had no intention of ever bringing that woman under our roof. Do you think I wanted a constant reminder by looking into her face, every day?”

“Then why tell Lambert to break off the engagement?”

“Owen didn’t want them to have the Portuguese mafia’s protection. If the truth came out, it would be a war between us and them.” Her eyes turn flat and shiny like silver coins. “No one was allowed to take her in, but no one was allowed to touch her or her brother, either. He said it was just until he’d found the tape, but I knew it was for a different reason.”

“What reason?”

“He became obsessed with her.”

“Why would you say that?”

She opens the top drawer of her desk. Taking out a scrapbook, she throws it in my direction. I stride to the edge with more doom than curiosity in my heart, but we’ve come too far not to break the lid wide open and let all the maggots out. Flipping open the pages, I reel in shock as I stare at photo after photo of Valentina, all taken from afar. I only get to the third page before my gut turns on itself and bile pushes up in my throat. That explains how Valentina survived—relatively––unharmed in Berea.