the ...” He touches his fingers to his mouth. “What the hell happened in here?”
Eva sits in a chair in the middle of the room, the havoc she wreaked all around her like the aftermath of an earthquake.
Montalbano steps into the room, his eyes jumping from broken thing to broken thing, not yet realizing that his daughter is the most broken thing of all.
“Evangeline,” he says, edging closer to her. “Who did this? What happened?”
She raises her chin and though her eyes are on him, they look hollow. Empty. Like a girl who has nothing left. “I did this.”
“Why? Do you have any idea how much this will cost to repair?”
That was the wrong thing to say.
A maniacal laugh rips from Eva’s throat. “There’s the father I know and love. Always worried about the cost.”
His eyebrows pinch together. “Evangeline, what’s going on? Explain yourself now.”
“Explain this.” She tosses Eric’s letters at him and they flutter to the floor.
Montalbano’s face pales. “I ... you ... how did you get those?”
Eva pushes out of the chair and stands toe to toe with her father. “That’s your concern? How I got them? You lied to me! All this time, I’ve wondered what happened to push Eric over the edge. I’ve wondered if there was something more I could’ve done to help him. And there was something. I could’ve helped—you could’ve helped. But you chose to be selfish and push your son right into his own grave!”
“You don’t understand,” he says, eyes wide. “That wasn’t the first time your brother came to me asking for money. I tried to use tough love. I wanted him to suffer the consequences of his actions so he’d learn. If I bailed him out, he’d keep getting into trouble.”
“Well, congrats, Dad. What a wonderful lesson Eric learned. I’m sure it’s working fucking wonders for him now.”
Before either of us sees it coming, Montalbano’s hand slaps across Eva’s cheek.
“Hey!” I shout, charging toward him and shoving him backward.
Eva clutches her cheek, fire blazing in her eyes. “You hid this from me because you knew you were wrong. You knew how I’d react.” She freezes, realization setting in her eyes. “That’s why Mom left,” she murmurs. “Oh, my God. Mom couldn’t bear with the fact that you wouldn’t help him. She probably wanted to. She would’ve done anything for him!”
Montalbano says nothing. He looks defeated, as he should. There isn’t anything he can say to make this better and he knows it.
Eva brushes past him and stops in front of me. “You’re just as bad as my father. I was nothing more than a job to you. You lied to me. You conned me.” Her voice drops and a tear tumbles down her cheek. “You made me fall in love with you.”
I dip my head down and cradle her face. “I’m in love with you, Eva. That was not a lie. What we feel for each other is not a lie. I don’t work for my father anymore. It’s over now.”
She yanks herself out of my reach, hugging her midsection like she’s in physical pain. “You’re right. It is over.” She eyes her father. “You can both rot in hell.”
Montalbano moves to rush after her, but I place my hand on his chest. “Let her go. She needs time.”
“What was she talking about? Lying and conning?”
I square my stance and prepare for what’s to come. “You know my father.”
His head tilts to the side. “Who’s your father?”
“Elliot Moore.”
I watch as the range of emotions on his face varies from stunned, to confused, to concerned.
“I didn’t realize ...” His voice trails off.
“I took my mother’s last name when she passed. I despise my father. Didn’t want the connection to him.”
“I can understand why.”
“I’m the one who found the letters in your safe. My father hired me to pose as Eva’s body guard. His plan was to have me search your office for evidence that he could use to blackmail you with.”
“You broke into my safe?” he asks, his voice an octave louder than before, nostrils flaring.
I nod. “I didn’t expect to find those letters.”
He fists my shirt and I let him push me backward several steps. “You did this. None of this would’ve happened if it weren’t for you and your piece of shit father!”
“You’re right. But Eva deserves to know the truth.”
His hands fall to his sides and he shakes his head. “She’ll never forgive me for this.”
“Maybe not. But she still needed to read the letter Eric left for