He Laughed While I Was Hit novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: Forty Million

Aurelio Venturi did not come inside until Brennan told him he could.

He stood in the kitchen of the lake house with his coat still on and his cane across his knees, and he looked at my face for a long time.

Then he looked away.

"My son was wrong," he said.

I had expected anger, or an excuse.

I had not expected him to say it first.

"He was wrong to let it be seen," Aurelio went on. "A family settles these things at home. A photograph is a vulgar thing."

Brennan, at the counter, stopped pouring coffee.

"Mr. Venturi," I said. "My face is not the vulgar part."

"Britta." He lifted one hand. "Fiorella has not been herself since my elder son died. Rocco carries her. He has carried her for two years, and sometimes the weight shows."

"He laughed," I said.

"Rocco laughs when he is nervous. Since a boy."

"He laughed," I said. "The boardroom has a camera in the corner. Pull the tape before Friday."

Aurelio's mouth tightened.

He had the same square chin as his son.

"What do you want?" he said.

"I want my name off his company's machines."

"Done, then. After you restore the license."

I almost admired it.

He opened the leather folder on his knee and slid one sheet across the table.

It was a cashier's check made out to me.

It had more zeroes than I had ever seen with my own name on a line.

"Forty million," Aurelio said. "For restoring the license on its old terms and signing a statement that the incident was a family disagreement. You leave the city, Britta. You work anywhere you like. You never see my son again."

Brennan set down the pot very gently.

I looked at the check.

I thought of my father, who had been an engineer on a loading dock for thirty years and had never once owned a house.

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