time, I ignore the hoots and hollers sounding around us. Fuck them all. They can watch if they want. Take detailed notes.
When it comes to Adeline and me, the rest of the world is just useless noise.
Everything about her life is mine.
Which is the way it always should have been.
Adeline
“I’m surprised you’re donating all this furniture. It looks brand new. Has this ever been used?”
Standing at the large bay window in my father’s office, I turn to Mitchell Jones, an older gentleman who manages an abused women’s shelter in the city.
He stares back at me with astonishment behind a set of kind blue eyes that I’m sure have been an indirect witness to the wives, girlfriends, daughters and the children who suffered beneath the hands of men like Grant Cabot.
“The furniture in this room has never been used, no. I hope someone will be able to enjoy it.”
He runs a hand through his white hair, his blue bow tie crooked at the collar of his white dress shirt.
“I know a young woman who just bought a new home she’ll share with her two children. They’re moving out of the shelter next week. Both her kids are starting school, so this can be a place for them to do homework.”
Smiling at that, I watch as he jots down notes on his clipboard.
“I think this is the last of it. Are you moving out of the city and that’s why you’re letting all of this go?”
I glance around the room, the image of my father pacing the floors clear in my mind. It doesn’t hurt as much as it used to, but then, forgiving ghosts is just as important as forgiving the living.
It’s when you hold on too tight that you become haunted, and I’ve been trapping my parents in this house as much as their deaths trapped me.
“No. I’m just letting go of the past. Moving forward. Fresh start and all that.”
A proud grin. “That’s what I tell the people I help. There’s wisdom and strength in that. Good for you.”
“It took some work,” I admit. “For a while there, it felt like I was losing my mind.”
His expression softens.
“It’s a process, Ms. Kane. None of us have a perfect scorecard. And many of us can fall victim to all the unfortunate circumstances life has to throw at us. You’re standing tall now. That’s what’s important. Hopefully you had some good people around who helped.”
Chuckling at that, I think about who had helped.
Two contract killers, both who worked for my father, one who killed him, both who stalked me, and one that made my life a living hell because he knew me better than I knew myself.
I needed to fight a battle to find my footing. Needed to pick up my own pieces and fit them together again.
Ari, for all his fucked up ways of doing things, had given me the kick in the ass I’d needed to fight that battle.
In doing so, I found the true Adeline. Not the prim and proper version my parents wanted. Not the beaten dog version Grant wanted. Not Poor Little Adeline like the rest of the world saw.
Just me.
With all my idiosyncrasies.
With everything unusual that makes me unique.
A flourish of a pen stroke before, “Well, I think that covers everything. I’ll have a team of movers here tomorrow to pick up the items you’ve donated. Thank you again, Ms. Kane. I’ll show myself out.”
I smile as he leaves the room and then turn back to the window.
It would have been through here that Ari first saw me when I came running after hearing the gunshot. I was supposed to be at a friend’s house that night but hadn’t felt well. Dad didn’t know I was in the house. I was in my room when he’d come home.
How would my life be different if one of them had seen me before the trigger was pulled?
I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. For as chaotic as my life became following that night, it all worked out.
A knock at the door draws my attention, and I turn to see Lincoln stepping into the room.
“Hey, kid. I just finished ripping out all of Ari’s cameras, so I’m taking off.”
“Where is Ari?” I ask, annoyed that, again, he’s disappeared.
Lincoln grins and shrugs. “Probably installing cameras in his place. He’s Ari.”
As if that is all the explanation that’s needed.
Sadly, it is.
Cocking his usual brow in question, Lincoln eyes me.
“What are you thinking about, kid? You have that sad puppy look.”