I sit down, feeling a lump rising in my throat. My stomach twists and fills with butterflies as I glance down at the large file. Then, I open it and begin reading. What I see makes my head spin and my heart race. Over and over I read it, confused and a little shocked. When I’m done, I look up at him and whisper, “Is this real?”
“It’s fuckin’ real alright. There are people that want what you’ve got, Aviana. People that your father had beef with, and they’re willin’ to do whatever it takes to get hold of you so they can get what you’re sittin’ on.”
Sitting on.
That’s one way of putting it.
What I’m sitting on is a hell of a lot.
Houses, bank accounts, real estate, and even my father’s business which has now been taken over by another man, someone I don’t know, but as far as I know he stepped up when my family was killed and I went missing.
All of it is in my name.
The entirety of what he owned ... belongs to me.
“I don’t understand why he’d do this,” I say, shaking my head.
“He’s smart. You were barely known by most; some people didn’t even know he had a daughter. He left everything of his to you because you were the safest option. You were a secret option. If someone took him, if someone took your brothers, they’d fail because everything was smartly put into your name.”
It makes sense, but it also doesn’t. My mind spins with confusion. If my father put everything in my name, he would have done more to protect me. He didn’t do that. He treated me as if I didn’t matter. Is that why he did that? So the world wouldn’t know I mattered. Who would suspect his daughter owned everything when he acted like he couldn’t stand her?
I search my mind for memories, for things that would indicate the time he chose to put everything in my name. I can’t remember anything, not about that side of things, he simply never included me. He always kept me at arm’s length.
“Those two men, I’ve seen them before,” I say to Cohen, rubbing my arms as if that’ll make anything feel better.
“I have, too. Didn’t know who they were when they were shootin’ at us yesterday but now I’ve seen them up close, I know exactly who they are. Those two men were the exact people I was keepin’ you away from. They will take you, they will take everything you own, then they’ll kill you. You’re not safe while those two are livin’, Aviana.”
I swallow and try to remember a time when I interacted with those two men. I don’t remember exactly, but I know their faces. I know that I’ve seen them before. I know my father had something to do with them. If I recall, they have been to our house before, but I just can’t remember anything else. Maybe because back then, I didn’t know I had anything to be scared of.
“Why did you kill my whole family, Cohen?” I ask him, staring at his face, wanting to know the answers for a final time.
“Because that day, the day I came into your house, your father had organized someone to come and collect you. He was going to sell you, to make sure there was never a way you’d be able to access what he’d left to you. Not only that, but if you weren’t around, there was never any leverage. He had it all figured out, he was going to make you disappear and with everything in your name, he had all the power he needed.”
I shake my head, not believing what’s coming out of his mouth.
My father would never have sold me.
He might not have wanted me around, but selling me ...
Not to mention, if everything was in my name, then why would he get rid of me? If I was the only one who could access it, why would he make me disappear?
“If I was the only person who had control of all this, why would he want me gone? Then he wouldn’t be able to access any of it.”
“Aviana,” Cohen growls, his voice low. “He was going to declare you dead after five years and had it set up so it would all transfer back to him. He only needed you to have it for a small period of time. I don’t know why, but it was part of his plan. Sell you, after five years of nobody being able to find you, then you’re able to be legally declared dead. Once that happened, he would get it all back, and continue with whatever plan he had in place.”
No.
This can’t be real.
It can’t.
“How do you know all of this?” I whisper, shaking my head. “How, Cohen?”
“I got wind of it, and so I started diggin’. That one time I was at your place with you, when you were havin’ all those boy troubles, I bugged the place. I found out enough and from there I was able to figure out his plan. I got hold of your brother and threatened the rest out of him. Once I knew for sure what they were plannin’, I knew I had to stop them. The only fuckin’ way to do that, was to take them out.”
“So you used me, and then killed them?”
“No,” he barks. “No, I did not fuckin’ use you. I didn’t know what was happenin’ until long after we were friends. I was protectin’ you, if they had stayed alive, any one of them, you’d be dead right now, or worse ...”
“You mean I’d be someone’s slave, just like you sent me to be?”
“I never fuckin’ intended for you to get hurt, I thought they’d give you a new identification and you could live your life in another place. I never, fuckin’ ever, wanted you in the
