Riley
I've been sitting here in a dase this entire time as I slowly piece together all of the information that Julia is giving us and whereas before I had my suspicions about being Nina's dad now I do not doubt that I am. There are too many things that add up, too many things that ring true. There's no way all of this can be coincidental, even if the timeline falls a little out of place.
I'm dragged from my thoughts by raised voices and the moment Mario looks like he is about to touch Julia I'm out of my chair and in front of her. Mario is my brother-in-law and I've never had a reason not to have trust him in that way but my reaction says something else, the fact that Josh also does the same also has me a little on edge.
Then I feel my blood drain when Julia accuses Mario of killing Nina. "He what?" the words fly out of Josh's mouth before I've even finished thinking. Mario looks livid at her words but still, I can't shake this feeling that it's not all as it seems. " I never touched her in that way ever! I fucking loved her! He lets out a growl while pulling at his hair before taking deep breaths as if trying to calm himself before he sits back down.
"Julia, you don't know me but I swear that I loved her." It is clear to see that Julia doesn't believe him... not yet anyway but I think I do, I've known him for over a year now and despite what he does, despite his lifestyle, I've come to know him as an honest man but still, despite all that things still don't completely make sense here.
Mario seems to be remaining seated so I give Josh a nod and he goes back to his seat but instead of me doing the same I sit down in Julia's chair and then pull her down onto my lap. I wait for her to protest but she doesn't if anything, she shocks me when she slips her small hand into mine seeming to look for comfort and fuck if it doesn't feel good.
"You did threaten her, didn't you?" Josh's anger supprises me for a moment and I can't help but wonder if this is about Nina or my sister. He's known my sister all her life, held her as a baby and I know that he's always been protective of her but still, I can't help but feel like there could be more going on here. or maybe it is about Nina after all, no one in my family takes kindly to women getting hurt but Josh more than anyone for his own personal reasons. Either way now is not the time to think anything about this so instead, I turn my attention back to Julia.
Mario nods his head silently answering Josh before turning his attention back to Julia. "I swear I loved her." She takes a deep breath and then I feel her body relax a little more. "If that's true then why did you threaten her? You had her so scared. That's not something you do to someone you love." her voice is broken as she speaks and it kills me to hear but I'm also glad that she asked him this as it is something I want the answer to.
"The truth is I don't know, I guess that's just who I am. In my line of work, in my world, it's what I do. When something isn't going my way, when someone isn't doing what they should I threaten and yes, in my world I follow through with my threats but I never intended on doing that with Nina, I never touched her."
"Julia, did you see him kill Nina?" She turns to look at me as I speak and the haunted look in her eyes is heartbreaking. "no, he didn't personally kill her but he sent one of his men to do it for him so he's just as guilty!" Now this is a story that I can believe but still, the look on Mario's face makes me doubt it. I'm not saying I don't believe Julia but maybe there's more to this.
"One of my men... I never sent any of my men to hurt Nina." I feel Julia tense up so I gently rub her back with my free hand as I take over.. "Mario, tell us what you know... everything?"
"Fuck... Ok... So what Julia said is right. I met Nina at my strip club. Unless I'm needed, I only go there once a week to check on things, it's not my scene, never has been but it brings in the bucks. Anyway, I just so happened to go in on her first shift and fuck if her beauty didn't blow me away.
It was just meant to be a bit of fun between us but I think that we both knew pretty early on that it was more and over the next 3 months we spent as much time together as possible. Of course, that was before she found out who I was. You see at first she just thought that I owned the club but then one night... Well, she came to my office to see me unplanned and she saw shit she shouldn't have and I had to tell her exactly who I am and she didn't like that. She dumped me there and then, quit her job and left before I could get to her.
"I remember that night, she was devastated," Julia speaks quietly but we all hear her. Mario nods and looks defeated, it's not a look I've ever seen on his before and it's strange. "I was too, the moment she dumped my ass and left was the moment I realised that I loved her. I thought she would go home cool off and come back to work the next day and I made sure that I was there but she didn't turn up. For 5 days I was there every fucking night but she didn't come back so I looked at her records for an address but quickly found out that it was a fake."
"What happened then?" Josh asks while looking seriously pissed. "I did another thing that I'm good at... I sent out my men to look for her. They were only to locate her, not touch her or speak to her, just locate her then let me know. After 2 days one of my guys located her in the town centre and quickly suspected that she was homeless and living in an alleyway with you Julia, and a few other people and I headed straight down there."
"Anyway, for the next few days, I watched her until I couldn't take it anymore and confronted her. I practically begged her for another chance, to let me explain but she was so goddam stubborn and wouldn't listen to a word that I said. She said that if I meant anything to her that I would leave her alone."
"But you didn't?" Julia says sounding like she knows this as a fact rather than asking it as a question. Mario shakes his head a hunted look clouding his face. "I couldn't... I wanted to respect her wish but I couldn't."
"So what did you do?" My mum's voice shocks me for a moment. She's been so quiet that I had forgotten that she was even in the room. he gives her a small smile and it surprises me. I'm not dull, I've heard the stories, I know what he does and I've seen a softer side to him when he's with my sister but seeing him like this shocks me.
"I followed her and if I couldn't then one of my men did then suddenly she disappeared. We looked for her for weeks then finally one of my men found her only she was getting out of some guy's SUV. I was furious and cursed her to hell telling myself that I was going to walk away, that if she could move on so quickly then fuck her but of course, that didn't last and I was back to watching her within 24 hours."
"A couple of days after I'd found her I figured out the new place that she was living and also got the biggest shock of my life when I saw her coming out of a women's clinic with a paternity file in her hands. After I saw that there was just no way that I could let her be."
"She saw you that day mind? That day outside the clinic. She came back and told me." Julia speaks quietly and I can only imagine that listening to all of this is hard for her. "I suspected that but never had it confirmed."
"So what happened next?" Josh asks. "A few days later when I saw her in the town centre I confronted her and asked if she was pregnant. I was an ass there was no hello or how are you just are you pregnant. I instantly regretted the way I approached her but I couldn't take it back. She instantly started talking about how she was seeing some hot rich guy who treated her like a queen and that she was going to tell him that she was pregnant with his baby the following day when he returned from a work trip. I know my approach and attitude was properly what stirred hers but I couldn't see reason and I lost it."
"I told her that I didn't believe her and that I believed that the baby was mine and that she was to return to me and well, you know the rest. Her response was in the form of a slap to my face before she stormed off. I decided to give her a little space and that I would go to her the next day once we had both calmed down but again she disappeared and I never saw her again, didn't know she had died until 2 years ago."
"You say you didn't see her but you kept giving her messages through one of your men!" I can feel Julia's anger resurfacing and I can understand why. "What are you talking about? I've already told you that I didn't see her for months before her death!" Mario jumps up angry as hell but Julia doesn't back down.
"That's bullshit, Mario. Your guy came to see her at least once a week right up until he killed her!" She goes to stand up but I grip her hips and hold her in place. "Julia, I swear on my honour that I didn't do that. Wait... you're saying that one of my men came to see her for several months before her death and that he killed her? She nods but stays quiet as her body slowly calms down. "I didn't make that order nor has any of my men mentioned anything. Are you sure that it was one of my men?"
"Yes! Yes, I'm sure! I've seen him before when Nina was with you." This information seems to throw him and for a moment he remains quiet while staring at her and then he walks closer to us and leans down until he's at eye level with Julia.
"I believe you, Julia. So tell me, which one of my men killed Nina?"