28. Tony

Lottie squirmed in my arms as we stood around my father’s memorial plaque, and Rudy took her. Flapping his purple scarf at his granddaughter calmed her, and she tried to grab it. It wouldn’t last long once our little girl got her hands on it.

My father. While Antonio was how my dad knew him, I now thought of him as Anthony, his real name. Those who worked with and cared about him had given him a backstory, instead of being shrouded in mystery. Anthony was fiercely loyal to his pack, La Luna Noir, and to Flint’s grandfather, Florian, the pack Alpha.

We’d designated the ground under the flame amur maple tree where the photo was taken that Rudy showed me. It had convinced me they were telling the truth about my father. In the fall, the tree’s leaves were a stunning flaming red.

My family gathered around me: mate, in-laws, daughter, and Arnie who was still wearing his cheap suit, though there was no sign of the thumb drive. Dear Uncle Arnie adored Lottie. He and Rudy were always arguing as to who got to hold her.

I studied my father’s epitaph, the one I’d chosen:

Here lies Anthony, a beloved father, who carried a secret to the grave.

The secret referred to his double life. It saddened me he’d had to hide part of himself. He must have loved Dad to have sacrificed so much.

Arnie cleared his throat and glanced at Rudy who nodded. Arnie was holding a document, and he credited me with him finding it.

“Me? You must be mistaken, Uncle.”

“You should have looked behind the picture, Tony.” He waved the yellowing envelope.

I scrutinized first Flint and then around the circle at the family, but no one offered an answer.

“You’ll have to explain.” I loved Arnie and hoped his memory wasn’t failing.

“The night you snuck into my office.”

Oh gods, why did he have to bring that up? My cheeks burned at the memory, and I elbowed Flint when he sniggered. While I hated being reminded of my little escapade, I had to clear up the uncertainty.

“I did look behind it, but there was nothing there.”

“On the back of the picture,” Arnie clarified. He held the envelope up high. “It was stuck on the back, and I suspect it’s about your father.”

“Damn! I was so close.” I tried to make light of the moment and nudged my mate. “Just think. If I’d found it, I might have marched out of there and never met you. Could have saved myself a lot of trouble—and a split lip!”

He gave me a withering look. “I would have scented you when I came downstairs, and from then on, I would have made it my life’s mission to find and convince you that you were my one and only!”

My eyes flooded with tears. That man and his ability to make me cry happy tears. I leaned against him, the warmth from his body reassuring me he spoke nothing but the truth.

All Flint had been told was that the pack didn’t kill Anthony and he’d died an accidental death in a workplace accident, as Dad had said. I’d let it go, thinking I was at the end of my quest.

Hunter took Lottie from his dad and jiggled her, humming a song, and she quietened. I was ready to hold her tight but needed to find out what was in the aging envelope. It was dotted with brown splotches, reminding me of the freckles on my nose as a kid.

“When Emilio told me what you’d done, I searched the office and took the picture off the wall. That was when I found this.” Arnie explained my name was written on it in his brother’s handwriting. “Thank gods I didn’t tell him.”

Everyone was quiet at the mention of Emilio.

“But the club has been renovated twice since Grandpa died,” Ranger chimed in.

“But not Uncle’s office.” Flint shook his head. “It’s the same as it was when our grandfather was Alpha.”

“Florian gave me that picture and told me to always hang it in my office.” Arnie ran his fingers over the envelope, and I wondered if he was remembering his brother.

“I’m sorry I didn’t give it to you before now.” Arnie’s lip trembled. “I put it in a drawer, fearful of what it contained.”

He cast a glance at Rudy who added, “We both agreed to wait until you were certain about Flint. But you got pregnant, and it never seemed like the right time. Sorry, my darling.” Rudy embraced me, and I returned his hug.

“You did what you thought was right.” My fingers trembled as I held the envelope with my name written in cursive letters. I pulled out the papers, crinkled with age, the corners curling up. Flint put his arm around me.

“Did you know about this?” I wasn’t accusing him. Lottie and I were on his mind 24/7, and he protected us always. If he had, he’d have weighed up whether to give it to me.

Flint put a finger under my chin and tipped my head so I was looking into his eyes. “No. I’m guessing my grandfather expected or hoped you’d come looking for the truth one day.”

There was a sharp intake of breath—from me. Our paths to finding one another had begun when I was a baby a little older than Lottie and not the night Emilio caught me.

I caught Flint’s eye. “You said the pack didn’t kill him.”

“Yes, I’m certain of that.” But he glanced at his dad as if to confirm he was right.

“That’s what we were told by your grandfather and father.”

I convinced myself the past was another world, and I couldn’t second-guess why anyone had done what they did, but I begged the universe not to force me to do any more soul-searching. I’d had enough for one lifetime.

Now that I was about to find out, I hesitated. Maybe it would be best to burn the letter and not let its contents come between Flint and me.

“Read it, Tony. If you don’t, you’ll regret it.” Flint rested his head on mine. “Knowledge is power.”

That sounded more like something I’d say. Taking a deep breath and after checking on Lottie who was gnawing on Hunter’s fingers, I read the full-page letter from my mate’s grandfather.

I skimmed the spidery handwriting about him offering to pay my dad a lump sum for my schooling and for our living expenses. Dad had refused, so Florian had put the money into an account for me.

But that wasn’t what stood out. It was the bit mentioning Dad. Flint read over my shoulder as I scanned the paragraph.

My office overlooked the waste management plant, and I saw your omega father confronting Anthony, shouting he knew it was owned by the mafia. He was furious and scared for himself and you. When Anthony turned his back, your dad threw a metal bar at him and hit Anthony over the head. I’m guessing he wasn’t able to shift because that would have saved him. When I reached your omega father, he’d tossed Anthony’s body into the industrial shredder.

The page fell from my hands, and Flint grabbed me as I sobbed against his chest. “How could Dad do that?”

“Passion combined with rage and fear can be a deadly weapon.” My mate held me tight.

“He goes on to say he refused to put a hit out on your dad. He was thinking of you.” I turned my head, my eyes blurred with tears as Ranger read from the letter. “‘I believe this came about because I allowed Anthony to break the rules and be with a human. I blamed myself.’”

Oh gods. My father falling in love set off a chain of events that was still playing out today.

“Now what?” I couldn’t pretend I’d ever look at Dad the same way. “Is that why he and Derek left after they met you?” I dabbed my eyes with a tissue and took Lottie from Hunter. I kissed her chubby arms and inhaled her aroma, pushing away the scent of deceit and death brought about by the letter’s contents.

“I suspect so. I’m so sorry, my love.” Flint brushed tears off my cheeks.

“This is why he was so skittish that day. How could I have been so stupid all these years?”

My mate took me by the shoulders. “This is not on you. Your dad has lived with this knowledge for years. While he has not received vengeance from La Luna Noir or been behind bars, he’s been in a prison of his own making.”

“You should read this bit, Tony.” Ranger held out the page.

I sniffed and studied the line Ranger pointed at while Lottie pulled my hair.

If you ever come looking for your La Luna Noir family, know that you will be welcomed with open arms.

Flint enveloped Lottie and me in a hug, and the others slipped away. The family I’d grown up in was nothing but a facade. “I thought I was loved, but I was a reminder of my alpha father.”

“The pain at your loss might never go away, but Lottie and I will always love you.”

The irony was my so-called law-abiding dad killed the mafia father who’d taken a huge chance by marrying outside the pack. And the mafia family kept his secret and now were the ones surrounding me with love.

“Did you want to destroy the letter, Tony? It might give you some closure.”

“I could.”

He nuzzled my throat. “You don’t sound certain.”

The letter was my last link to Anthony. He had been the absent parent, but now that I knew the truth, I felt closer to him and was so horrified at what Dad had done, I was glad he and Derek had run off.

“I’m not.”

“Did you want me to?—?”

“No!” I was adamant there would be no more killing. “As you said, the guilt and fear has been festering inside him since he did it.” I was happy to let it continue. He’d always be looking over his shoulder, peeking between the curtains, maybe checking under the car, seeing shapes in the shadows. That was punishment enough.

Besides, I might change my mind, and I needed the evidence. That I was considering that option would have sent chills down my spine before I met Flint.

Maybe I’d inherited more from Anthony than I thought.