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January nodded at his words, “I can accept your apology Gulliver, but I can’t be with you. There is so much hurt in me that I don’t trust you won’t lie to me again. Everything you say feels suspicious to me. While I don’t doubt you’ve told the truth right now, I can’t help but feel there is a motive, some secondary reason for your openness now.”
“You’re right. I have motive. I know the only way I get my family back, all of my family, is by proving that the man you thought I was before you found out I lied, was the real me but I also know I need to be better than that man. I need to be transparent, honest, truthful and I have to accept the punishments which are coming my way.”
“What if you never get me back? What if I can’t ever move past this?”
“Then that is my cross to bear and I don’t want you
shouldering any remorse or pain for not being able to forgive me enough to get back together.”
She nodded, “and what about the pressure I’ll get from your family.”
He sighed, “you’re talking about Thisbe and the comments she made last night?”
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“Yes.”
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“Thisbe has her own mind, and I cannot make apologies for her but perhaps I can give some insight into her words.”
“She was a bitch.”
“She was. I can’t deny it. She is hurting. Like I was, she expected if she ever saw you again, you would fall into each other’s arms and be the sisters she believes you to be. She built up a fantasy in her head of what it would be like to find you.”
“Why?”
“Because she didn’t know you knew, January. It never once occurred to her you knew she kept my secrets.”
“Kept your secrets? She fucking lied!”
“She fucking lied,” Gulliver acquiesced. “However, your anger and your refusal to accept her apology yesterday has made her defensive and my sister, has always gone on the offensive when she is defensive. It’s easier for her to strike out than it is
to reflect. However, Thisbe is also an incredibly soft–hearted person, and you know this January. This time tomorrow, once she’s had a day on her own to sober up after going back to her room and drowning her sorrows in a bottle or two of wine last night, she will think. She will, as I did, stop thinking about her 276 own hurt and begin to really contemplate things from your
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perspective. She will know what you did, in taking Kaylee and running, was the decision you made to keep our daughter safe.”
She nodded, “she owes me an apology.”
“She does. I know when she calms down, reflects and considers her actions, she will be back to beg your forgiveness. I will tell you that she hasn’t made any other friends since you January. There has never been anyone she felt reasonably close to and as a result she’s worked very hard building her brand. She’s been all work and no play for a long time. I hope you allow her the chance to make the amends she will want.”
“We’ll see,” January grunted as she finally slipped her hands away from under his. “She’s the lesser of two evils in this story.”
He chuckled and then winked at her, “fair description. I would like to know what specifically Davis has told you about me. What was it which made you so scared you packed up and
left?”
Terrance cleared his throat, “I panicked.”
“You?”
“She got in the car when I picked her up and said she heard the 3/6.
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word vovoi. I knew the word. My brother was assigned to liaise
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with the federal agents and there were so many stories he’d shared over the years. He,” he cleared his throat, “once told me a story about a man who worked for an Italian family who used his daughters as drug mules and even traded one of them off to a cartel. He told me a story where another guy found out his wife cheated and all the cops found of her was burned remains. She was identified by teeth. That guy who burned his wife was Greek and he called himself vovoi.”
“Vlachos.” Gulliver admitted with a nod. “He was an enemy of my grandfather. I believe the task force put him in prison for her murder.”
“They did.” Terrance agreed. “He was the last case my brother worked on. It was on my mind when she said vovoi and I panicked and I called Davis. Davis immediately heard the panic and when I said your name he had a plan in place. I realized yesterday,” he made a face, “that he heard my panic and saw an opportunity to take down another big name. I think he thought that January was going to be the thing which landed him another big takedown.”
“Why? What makes you think this?” Gulliver asked sarcastically with a laugh, “all the surveillance, the lack of your privacy, the idea they interrogated your granddaughter Terrance?”
“Yeah, all that but I keep going back to the first day he came to 476
12:33 help us move. He had an entire task force with him. They had
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our place packed up in minutes. I think,” he cleared his throat, “I think maybe when I called him, he already knew January was with you and I put her and you, on a platter when I called him. If he was looking for an angle to get to you, I gave it to him. He probably figured it wouldn’t take too long for you to find January.”
“He used her as bait.”
“I agree.”
“Good luck to him. He’ll never catch me on anything because I don’t shit where I eat,” Gulliver said boldly. “I don’t bring my grandfather’s business into my family home. Those things get handled far away from where they can be traced back to family.”
“He asked if he could come here this evening and I denied him. I told him I’m too fucking pissed off to see him right now.”
“As you should be.”
“I know January feels she is right in taking Kaylee, but I can’t stop thinking of the fact we stole a lot of Kaylee’s firsts from you. As a father to a daughter, I’m feeling a lot of guilt for not taking a moment and considering Davis had other motives of his own for his help.”
January looked at her father, “you couldn’t have known.
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“I should have stopped looking at it from a dad’s perspective and looked at it from my brother’s perspective. I think if I’d been more detective and less mechanic, I would have seen something wasn’t right.”
Gulliver smiled, “it’s okay, Terrance. You’re right. I did lose a lot, but I have the rest of my life to see the rest of hers. The burden is on me, not you. Whatever guilt you are feeling, let it go. You did what you needed to do to keep your daughter safe. I would do the same for Kaylee even after one day of knowing her. We’re good. You have nothing to apologize for.”
January was going to speak but then Kaylee burst into the house with a big grin.
“Mom! Guess what? I think Henry has brothers and sisters living behind the woodpile!”
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