Every Man Who Loved Me Left Hating Me, Only My Father Knows Why novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: Pastries

My father stood on the cellar stairs in his pajamas, with one hand on the rail and the other on his cane.

He looked older than he had at dinner.

"Put the can back," he said.

"You knew," I said. "You had Jake's film cut before I ever met him."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because eight months ago, I learned whose man he was."

My hands were still on the notebook. "Whose?"

"Silvio's. He pays rent for a boy to sit near you and listen." He came down one step. "Jake was never in love with you. He was sent to find where I keep the old ledger."

I sat down in the nearest velvet seat.

"He proposed to me."

"He proposed to you because a man was paying him to get inside my house."

"You don't know that he didn't love me too."

"Lucia, I know exactly what he was paid."

I looked at the screen and the green dress hung there in my head.

"And the other four?" I asked. "Were they Silvio's?"

He didn't answer.

"Papa. Were they?"

"I couldn't be sure."

"You couldn't be sure." My voice cracked. "So you broke Theo's knee."

"I did not give that order."

"But it was your men."

"It was a mistake. I had it corrected."

"Corrected."

He leaned on the cane.

"Who is the woman in the green dress?"

"A woman from Boston, hired for an afternoon. She is gone."

"Who cut the film?"

For the first time that night he looked away.

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