Page 123 of Reaper’s Wrath

“You mentioned you and Kairos are sort of partners in your business. Would you be able to help run the business from here?” It’s a question I’ve been anxious to ask but need to know.

“No.” His stoic answer is not what I’d hoped to hear.

“Oh.”

“I told him I’m out.”

“Oh!” The word sounds totally different this time, full of hope instead of dread. “He’s okay with that?”

“Yeah. I think he wanted out, too. I’m not sure what he has in mind for himself, but I think it’s time we both had a chance to figure that out for ourselves rather than being forced into life choices.”

I grin, my happiness fluttering in my chest. “I agree, and I can’t wait to see where you end up.”

CHAPTER 62

ELIO

My stomach hasn’t been this upset since I woke up on the Greek’s ship twenty years ago. I told myself I’d never come back here. Why go back to a place where I wasn’t wanted? But now I know all that was wrong, yet I’m equally as reluctant because now I feel like my naivete was to blame.

But I’m man enough to confront my past.

I talked to DiAngelo again. I told him what I learned, and now that I’ve had a few days to relax on the boat with Isa, I’m ready to talk it over with my parents as well. Which brings me here, standing in front of my childhood home about to visit as a guest for the first time in two decades.

The neighborhood still looks decent and active, with an infusion of young families. It reminds me of an old patchwork quilt that kids might fight over because while it’s a little tattered, it’s also comfortable and warm and everyone’s favorite. I had a lot of good memories growing up here.

I try to focus on those to calm my stomach as I walk to the blue front door. Mom always did love blue. I raise my hand twice before I get the courage to finally knock.

Jesus, this shouldn’t be so hard.

I’m a grown-ass adult, yet I don’t feel any different from the teen who went to work for his brother that fateful day twenty years ago. I’m still him, and I’m not. It’s confusing as hell. I’m trying to get my head on straight when the door swings open, and I’m suddenly face-to-face with my mom.

It’s an emotional gut-punch.

Twenty years wash away like sidewalk chalk in a summer storm.

The silver streaks in her light brown hair and crow’s feet framing her eyes don’t even register. All my heart sees is Mom. The woman who tucked me in at night and made homemade waffles for us on the weekends. She took us to countless baseball practices and tournaments without a single complaint.

I was blessed with a mom who had more good qualities than I could name, and seeing her aqua eyes brim with tears rips my heart wide open.

I hate how much my absence hurt her. My loss.

Had I not been so blind—so naive and wounded—I could have tried to reach out and at least let them know I was alive.

“Oh, Elio,” she cries, wrapping her arms around my middle in a tender hug. The simple gesture takes a mountain of self-loathing and sweeps it under the rug.

My arms encircle her, and though tears fill my eyes, my ravaged heart begins to stitch itself back together. “Hey, Mom. I’m … I’m so sorry⁠—”

“No.” She pulls back to flash a smile so powerful it could resurrect the dead. “No apologies. Not from you. This is the absolute best day of our lives, aside from the day you two were born. No explanations needed. I just wish I could give you the hug you deserve, but I had a little procedure a month ago, and I’m still pretty sore.”

“A procedure?” I look her over, realizing her shoulders are a little rounded like she’s struggling to stand all the way up.

“Nothing to worry about. We were extra cautious and decided to do a double mastectomy, so I should be fine.”

“Breast cancer?” My strangled words echo in my head.

I’ve been so damn fixated on my own misfortunes that it never occurred to me that something bad could have happened to them. Now that I know, I can see that her chest is flat under her oversized shirt. If they hadn’t caught it, would she have died before I had a chance to see her?

My stomach takes a harrowing nose-dive for my feet.