Sex and the Billionaire Crime Boss - Season 3

Ch. 1: The Truth About Laura

I stare at him, uncomprehending.

"You're lying."

"You think I would lie about something like this?"

"What do you mean she begged you not to pay? That doesn't make any sense. She wanted to get better. My mother did not want to leave me."

There's this outrage building inside me that I don't know what to do with.

"She did not want to die," I tell him, the words feeling like they are wrenched right out of my soul.

"I need to sit down," he says, but instead of going back into the den, he turns around and heads for the kitchen. I have no choice but to follow him.

When we get to the kitchen he takes a tall glass out of the cupboard, and fills it with water from the dispenser on the refrigerator.

My throat is so dry I'm not sure I can speak, so I do the same.

We sit across from each other at the table where he and my grandmother and I usually have our meals. He checks the app just to confirm that Patricia is sleeping.

"I don't want her to walk in on this," he says, and I nod in agreement.

I don't want to cause my grandmother any pain. Him, I'm not so concerned about. I just want - finally - the truth.

He takes a long drink, draining half the glass, then sets it down and folds his hands on the table, looking directly at me.

"You can't tell your father this."

"I'm not agreeing to that." Is he crazy? "This family has too many secrets already. Don't ask me to hide something from the person who's been there for me my whole life." When you weren't, I want to add, but I stop myself. I don't want to pick a fight with him right now when he finally seems willing to give me some answers.

My grandfather sighs. "All right then. Hear me out, and then if you still want to share this with him, I won't get in your way. I just want you to think about it first."

I nod, but say nothing. My father has played his own role in keeping secrets from me, and it's hurt me. Why would I ever want to pay that forward?

I've always believed it's better to know the truth, even if it hurts.

An image flashes into my mind of Angelica in the doorway to Max's apartment wearing nothing but his shirt, her dark wavy hair looking slightly mussed. Max walking up behind her, telling her to go back in the bedroom. Yeah, sometimes the truth really does hurt.

But it's better for me to know now that Max has already moved on just a week after our break-up, than for me to assume he's been missing me as much as I've been missing him.

I focus my attention back on my grandfather, who's been waiting silently, seeming to be aware that I'm distracted by my thoughts.

"Tell me," I say.

"All right. I'll tell you." He sighs in a way that makes me think that maybe at least some part of him is actually relieved to finally reveal this secret after so many years.

"By the time your father found out about the new experimental treatment at a cancer center in Sweden, Laura had been through multiple rounds of radiation and chemotherapy. She said she often felt like the treatment was worse than the disease. It mattered to her to put on a positive face in front of you and your father. But sometimes she just had to let it all out."

"And she let it all out to the two of you."

"Yes. That's what parents are for, to absorb their children's pain and make things right again. But there was no way to make this right."