Page 208 of This Life of Mine
Beside me, Lina remains perfectly still.
“I dismissed it at first,” my father continues. “Every city has its legends. Men invent monsters when they need something to fear.”
His gaze never leaves mine.
“But the stories kept appearing. Different countries. Different organizations. Different victims.”
He leans back slightly.
“The methods changed. Thetargetsdid not.”
A chill crawls down my spine.
“Traffickers. Predators. Men who profited from suffering.”
His mouth tightens. “The kind of men you always hated.”
I remain silent.
“Then, my people began noticing something else.”
His expression darkens. “WheneverThe Wraithsurfaced, certain operations disappeared and information found its way to authorities.”
His eyes sharpen. “It wasn’t random.”
No. It never was.
“You weren’t hunting.”
His voice is calm now. “You weren’t expanding territory. You weren’t building and taking power.”
The words seem to find him one at a time. “You were punishing who you thought were bad people.”
The words hang heavily between us.
“And I knew only one person stubborn enough to wage that kind of war.”
I can’t help the faint scoff that escapes me.
My father’s mouth twitches. “There are many dangerous men in this world, Alessandro.”
His gaze hardens. “But very few who believe they are doing the right thing by silencing the wicked.”
The silence expands until it fills every corner of the room.
For the first time since he arrived, I see something unexpected in his expression. Pride.
Because I became something he couldn’t control, something he couldn’t shape in his image. I becameThe Wraith.
“You never became me,” he says softly.
“No,” I agree.
A faint smile touches his lips. “No. You only became something far more troublesome.”
His voice softens as a hint of a smile forms.
“You never wanted any part of my operations. I knew that. So I gave you the choice you wanted.”
