- 1 day ago
He Faked Illness To Betray Me HD RS
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00Brooklyn. Ten degrees. Three days of snow. I shoved a flyer into a stranger's hand.
00:05Please! My husband is missing. Memory loss. My father is offering three million dollars cash
00:09to anyone who finds him. Plus unlimited medical care for life. Three million dollars. She walked
00:13past me without a word. Twenty feet away, my father leaned on his cane, coughing blood into
00:18his glove. Seventy-two years old, kneeling in the slush, begging strangers to look at Sean's photo.
00:23My mother worked the other corner. Three days. No food. No sleep. For Sean. Three years ago,
00:28Sean took shrapnel for my father at a compound attack. Saved his life. From the hospital bed
00:33onward, my father took him in as a godson. Bought him a peddick for his birthday. Put his name on
00:38the family Christmas card. So when my father suggested I marry the man who saved him, I said
00:42yes. My phone buzzed. Tiffany Cole, Sean's rehabilitation nurse. I picked up. Said nothing.
00:48Hit record. Ava, sweetie. Sean's been so confused lately. I just want to make sure he's safe.
00:53Call me the second you find him, okay? Sure. If you hear anything, let me know.
00:58I was about to hang up. Then I heard it through the line. A woman moaning.
01:02Sean, fuck me harder. I froze on the sidewalk. Sean, my husband of three years.
01:10I'll find him. Go home. I flagged a cab and slammed the door.
01:16I sewed a tracker into Sean's coat yesterday. The dot was blinking from Brooklyn Heights,
01:21the most expensive block in the borough. A penthouse owned by a shell company. And that shell company
01:29was ours. Twenty minutes later, I stepped into the private elevator. When the doors opened,
01:36I saw something I'll never forget. Sean had Tiffany bent over the marble island. His hand fisted in her
01:43hair, his shirt half open. Sean laughed into her shoulder.
01:47Did the three million hit? Yesterday. Old man didn't even blink. Tiffany laughed.
01:54Ava really thinks you can't remember her name? She thinks I'm brain damaged. I play one amnesia
01:59scene a week, and she signs whatever I put in front of her. By Christmas, the entire Moretti
02:04inheritance has my name on it. You'll always love me, won't you, honey? Even though we already have a
02:09two-year-old son together, she's still technically your wife. She's not my wife. Just a wallet with a
02:14wedding ring. If it weren't for that rich old man of hers, I wouldn't have touched a woman that boring.
02:24Don't worry, baby. I ordered your favorite Birkin. Came this afternoon. Fifty-two grand. Charged it
02:30straight to the Moretti medical card. Sean nuttered. That old man's card is a goddamn ATM.
02:36Tiffany tipped her head back, laughing. Then, she saw me in the doorway. Her smile died.
02:41I held up my phone. Recording bar pulsing. Don't stop on my account. I walked in. Tiffany called
02:48me twelve minutes ago. I never hung up. Her phone on the counter is also live. So that wallet with
02:53a wedding ring line? On tape. Twice. Tiffany scrambled for her robe. Sean was fumbling with
02:59his belt. Ava, baby, where am I? I can't remember. Save it. Brain damage doesn't remember which drawer
03:05she keeps her panties in. Ava, listen. Shut up. I walked past him. Picked up the Birkin. Unzipped it.
03:12On top. Adult intuition receipt. James Cole, age two. Forty-eight thousand. Paid in full. My father's
03:19medical fund. Paying private school for another man's son. Sean's face went still. What? I held
03:24the receipt closer to him. Save it for the DNA lab. I dropped the bag at their feet. Look
03:33at me, Sean. Tell me how long. He couldn't get his pants buttoned. Ava, please. How long
03:40have you been faking it? From the start. Tiffany said it before he could stop her. Chin up. Day
03:49one in the hospital. The amnesia. The shaking. He hired me to coach him. We've been together
03:56since before the wedding. Sean's head snapped toward her. Tiffany, shut up. What's she gonna
04:02do, Sean? She has the recording. I looked at Tiffany. Pretty. Younger than me. Wearing
04:08a hundred grand of jewelry off my father's accounts. So you were pregnant when I walked
04:14down the aisle. Yes. Whose son is he? She smiled at me, like Sean's wife would smile.
04:20Ours. Mine and Sean's. Don Enzo's only grandchild. So before you do anything stupid, think about
04:27who you're cutting out of this family. I let her have the smile. I'd come back for it later.
04:34My phone rang. My mother. I put it on speaker.
04:40Ava, your father collapsed at Sean's building. He knocked on the door for four minutes. Nobody
04:45opened. I see you now. Sean went white. Four minutes. I said.
04:54The intercom camera caught it. You watched my father fall to his knees in the snow on a screen,
05:01and then you went back to fucking your whore. Ava, I didn't see it. I swear, I- Don't.
05:09I twisted off my wedding ring, and dropped it into the open burking at my feet.
05:15Keep it. He bought it with my father's money anyway. I pulled out my phone and dialed.
05:21Lucas. Lucas Vane. The Maradi family's chief counsel.
05:27Three things. One, every account in Sean Callahan's name, frozen tonight. Including the
05:32Zurich one he thinks I don't know about. Two, this penthouse? Locks changed before
05:38sunrise, both of them on the sidewalk by 9am. Three, every dollar that left my father's
05:42accounts in the last three years, traced and clawed back. I want a full forensic accounting
05:48on my desk by Friday. Done in 10 minutes. I hung up. Sean lunged for my arm. I slapped him
05:57across the
05:57face hard enough to leave a print. Touch me again and I'll have Carlo here before sunrise.
06:05Carlo, my father's right hand. Sean knew exactly what being picked up by Carlo meant in this family
06:11and he froze. I walked to the door without turning around. That slap was from my father.
06:22The door closed behind me.
06:29In the elevator my phone was already lighting up. Lucas.
06:34Ava. Your father is awake at Presbyterian. He's asking for you by name.
06:40The surgeon walked me through it. Hyperthermia. Hairline fracture in the hip. Cardiac strain from the cold.
06:4730 more minutes in the snow and we'd be having a different conversation. My father had woken up
06:52for 10 seconds, just long enough to give the surgeon one message for me.
06:58Lucas, I want a divorce. I texted Lucas. 20 minutes later my phone rang.
07:04Ava. I've been waiting more than 10 years to hear you say that. But I'm telling you,
07:09you don't need to file for divorce. What?
07:11You were never married. The certificate is a forgery. He printed it himself. Wrong city seal,
07:17wrong filing number, wrong everything. There is no record of an Ava Marodi or Sean Callahan ever
07:22being married. Not in any city hall, in any state, on any date. What? Three years! I said. He was
07:29never
07:30my husband for one minute! Not legally. Not on paper. Not anywhere it counts. The hospital paperwork I
07:37signed two years ago. The health care directive he had me sign at three in the morning when dad was
07:42on the ventilator. He used a fake marriage to walk away with three million in reward money and another
07:471.2 in medical funds. Pin every count there is. Forgivnery, wire fraud, identity theft, grand larceny.
07:53Already drafting. A nurse stepped through the doors.
07:57Miss Moretti, your father is awake. He's asking for you. My father's eyes opened the second.
08:02I sat down beside the bed, pale tubes in his arm. Get Lucas tonight. Wake him up.
08:10Already done. He almost smiled. That's my girl.
08:15My father walked out of the ICU on Wednesday morning. Doctors said two weeks. He told them no,
08:21he had work to do, and signed himself out against medical advice. Thursday afternoon,
08:26Sean showed up at the townhouse with the boy on his hip and a bouquet of white roses in his
08:30fist.
08:31Tiffany stood behind him in morning black. I opened the door myself.
08:36Carlo stood behind my shoulder, and there were two more men by the front gate. He doesn't want to see
08:40you.
08:41He's my godfather, Ava. Whatever happened between us, he and I are.
08:46He says he has no godson. Those were his exact words this morning. He also says you have no wife.
08:51The marriage certificate is a forgery and you printed it yourself. Did your lawyer call you yet,
08:55or are you finding that out from me on the front store?
08:57The color went out of his face. Tiffany pushed forward with the boy.
09:02Ava, this is James. He's two. He's Sean's son. I crouched down to the boy's eye level. Dark hair.
09:09Light eyes. Nothing of Sean in his face at all. Beautiful boy. He doesn't change anything.
09:15My father wants $3,100,000 back. He's giving you 30 days. After that, whatever the family decides.
09:22Sean's whole face changed at the word family.
09:24Ava, wait. I need to talk to your father.
09:26My father stood in the snow for seven hours looking for you.
09:30He's not interested in talking to you. He's interested in his money.
09:34Tiffany clutched the boy tighter. Sean, say something to her.
09:36Sean said nothing. I shoved the bouquet back into his arms.
09:40Drop these on your way out. There's a homeless man on the corner who'll appreciate them more than I will.
09:46Carlo closed the door.
09:50My father was at his desk when I walked in. Glass of red gine at his elbow. Lucas in the
09:55chair across from him.
09:56My daughter.
09:58I owe you an apology, Ava. I put him in this house. I called him my godson. I walked you
10:02down the aisle to him because I thought a debt of honor was a good enough reason.
10:06I was wrong. Let me finish. You deserve better. I'm going to spend whatever time I have left making that
10:12right.
10:13He turned to Lucas.
10:15You. Start.
10:16Lucas opened his briefcase. Three things, ready to go.
10:19The penthouse courting goes to every business associate in the city by morning.
10:23Tiffany's social media wiped. Sean's old consulting firm gets the evidence package by noon and drops them before lunch.
10:29DNA lab on standby for the boy.
10:31My father nodded once.
10:32Do all of it.
10:33Across town, Sean woke up in a hotel he couldn't afford and tried to swipe his card downstairs.
10:40Declined.
10:41He showered in cold water.
10:43Drove to the townhouse with his shirt still damp.
10:46The locks had been changed.
10:48Carlo answered the door.
10:50Carlo, I need to see Enzo.
10:51Mr. Callahan. You closed the door on the Don last week.
10:54Think very carefully about how loud you knock on this one.
10:57The door shut in his face.
10:59His phone rang. Unknown number.
11:01Lucas Vane. Every account you can name was dead as of 15 minutes after midnight.
11:05That includes Zurich.
11:06You can't?
11:07Are you sure I can't, Sean?
11:09The line went dead. A photo arrived two seconds later.
11:12His Zurich balance. Zero.
11:17Lucas lit a second folder to cross my father's desk.
11:20The papers Sean told you were a healthcare directive.
11:23I opened it. My signature was at the bottom of every page.
11:26He told me it was for emergencies. In case I was unconscious.
11:30It was a blank check with your name on it. Three years of blank checks. The apartment,
11:34the Burkitt, the medical card, the Dalton tuition, the Hamptons rental,
11:37the bracelet she posted on Instagram. Every one of them under your signature.
11:40He used my own hand to put another woman's son through private school?
11:43For three years. Plus everything else.
11:45My father closed his eyes. When he opened them, the fire was banked, but still there.
11:51Stack everything. Every law he broke. I want him in front of a federal judge before the month is out.
11:57Already drafted, Don Enzo.
12:00Lucas' phone buzzed on the desk. He glanced down. His face changed in a way I didn't like.
12:09Ava. What? Sean is in the lobby of your downtown apartment right now.
12:14His right hand is in his coat pocket and the pocket is bulging. That was our wedding apartment.
12:20Lucas called his security from my father's study without taking his eyes off mine.
12:24Hold him. Don't disarm him. Don't let him leave. I'm 12 minutes out.
12:28He set the phone down. He won't fire it. He's not that stupid.
12:32Stay here. Carla will lock the gate. I picked his car keys off the desk.
12:36Ava. Lucas. He came for me. I want him to see who he came for.
12:41We made it across the bridge in 14 minutes. Lucas drove. The elevator opened onto the lobby and there
12:48he was. Sean. Standing by the security desk, his right hand still buried in the pocket. The pocket
12:54sagging with the weight of what was inside. I walked straight at him until there were three feet between
12:59us. Hi Sean. Ava. I just want to talk.
13:03You came armed to a lawyer's office to talk. Tell him to drop the case.
13:07No. Ava, please.
13:10Pull it out. If you came here to use it, use it. If you didn't, hand it to the man
13:13behind you.
13:14The security guard already had his hand on Sean's wrist. Sean didn't fight him. He let the man slide
13:18the gun out of his pocket and lay it on the desk. I didn't move. I let him stand there
13:21and watch me
13:22decide whether he walked out of the building tonight or got carried out. Lucas. Press charges.
13:26Bringing a gun to threat me, add it to the stack. I turned toward the elevator.
13:30Ava, please. The elevator doors closed on his voice.
13:35Lucas brought in his forensic accountant on Friday morning. A man named Morris, 70 years old. He set
13:40a spreadsheet on the table. Moretti family money over the last three years. Here's where every dollar
13:45went. The reward money. Three million in cash transferred to a shell company in Tiffany's name
13:52within 48 hours of the wire hitting Sean's account. From the shell, it went to property purchases
13:59and a brokerage account in the Cayman. The medical trust. $100,000 a quarter for three years. None of
14:05it touched a hospital. All of it routed through the same shell. Then out as a Birkin, a Cartier necklace.
14:10A Patek for Sean. Dalton tuition for the boy. Eleven trips Tiffany posted on Instagram. The penthouse.
14:17My father's building. Sean had written himself a $1, a year lease on Moretti letterhead and signed
14:23my father's name to it. The Hamptons house. Same trick. Morris finally looked up.
14:29Total recoverable. $4,200,000. The reward, the medical trust, the rent he didn't pay, and the interest. I have
14:36the prosecutor's package ready. A close the folder. Itemize the boy's school separately. I want my father
14:42to see exactly what number went towards another man's child. Already done. Lucas called me on
14:47Tuesday. I walked Morris to the door myself. He has 48 hours left as a free man. He'll know by
14:54Monday.
15:01The Meridian Gala was the biggest finance party of the season, Saturday night. I walked in alone in
15:07hard red, the Morelli ruby at my throat. Across the ballroom in a rented tuxedo, Sean was working a
15:12finance man whose name I knew from my father's investor list. Tiffany hung on his arm in white
15:16silk. I crossed the floor and stopped at Sean's elbow. Held my hand out to the finance man, Ava Moretti.
15:23You may know my father. I wanted to introduce myself properly. Sean Callahan has been calling
15:29himself my husband for three years, and he is not. The marriage certificate was printed on his home
15:34printer. He's also been moving money out of my father's account since the day my father took him in
15:39as a godson. Forensic countess finished pulling the receipts yesterday. 4.2 million dollars. The
15:47finance man took one full step backward. I raised my voice for the nearest tables. Sean Callahan does
15:53not represent the Moratti family. Any deal he has signed under our name is dead as of tonight. Pass it
15:59along. Then I turned to Tiffany. I lifted the hem of her dress one inch with two fingers. Versace, 12
16:05,000,
16:05charged to my father's medical card. I'd ask you to give it back, but that would mean asking you to
16:09take it off in public. I dropped the hem. Took a fliss of champagne off a passing tray. Wished
16:13the finance man a lovely evening. By the time I reached the bar, my phone was buzzing. Lucas.
16:21Frozen. All of it, including the accounts he buried his mother's name. Federal cucks on Tiffany
16:25before midnight. I turned just enough to watch. Two men in plain suits had stepped into the ballroom,
16:30walking straight at her. Tiffany saw them in the mirror behind the bar, and her champagne glass hit
16:35the marble. Tiffany's social media went dark before sunrise. The eviction notice showed up on the
16:42penthouse door at 7 in the morning. Tiffany answered in a silk robe. Two men in gray uniforms flanked a
16:48woman with a clipboard. Good morning, Miss Cole. The owner has started eviction proceedings. You have 24
16:52hours. Sean walked out of the bedroom barefoot. I'll handle this. Give us 48. 24. Owner's instructions.
17:01His phone rang on the counter. His old consulting firm, telling him to come in Monday with no laptop
17:08and a security escort waiting. Tiffany picked up the Birkin off the counter. She fetched around inside
17:13and came up with my wedding ring at the bottom. She held it up. This was hers. The whole time.
17:19Tiffany. You told me you were leaving her. You told me the building was yours. The accounts were yours.
17:23The penthouse was a wedding gift from her father to you. She threw the ring at his face. It hit
17:29his
17:29cheekbone and skittered across the marble. You don't have a penny. You don't have a Zurich account.
17:35You don't have a job as of Monday. What exactly do you have, Sean? He didn't answer her.
17:41Her phone rang, Dalton's bursar, telling her James's enrollment was suspended and she had to pick him up
17:46by three. She sat down on the cold marble floor. She picked up her phone and dialed a number she
17:51hadn't
17:52dialed in two years. Derek, it's me. I need you to come. Lucas walked around his desk and sat down
17:59beside me. He set a phone on the table between us and hit play. Tiffany's voice. Ava, you have to
18:06understand. Sean came to me first. He pursued me. A second voice, calm and male. Lucas's associate.
18:13Miss Cole, walk us through the shell company in your name. Who set it up? That was Sean's idea.
18:18And the Dalton deposit. The Paris trips. The medical card charges. I may have suggested a few of those.
18:26Lucas stopped the recording. She walked us through every amnesia scene she coached him on,
18:31every receipt she submitted under your signature, and the day they sat down together and designed
18:36the fake marriage certificate. She gave us the printer model. Charge her with all of it. Same
18:41counts as Sean. Conspiracy on top. Already filed. My phone buzzed. Unknown number. I put it on speaker.
18:46Back off. Or every dirty thing I know about your father's money goes to the press by Monday.
18:50Tiffany. You don't know anything, Tiffany. You watched Sean spend the money. You never saw where
18:54it came from. You're bluffing. I hung up. Lucas was already on his second phone. Press blackout.
18:58All major outlets by end of day. My phone rang again. Sean. Ava, you made a mistake going after
19:04Lucas. I made a mistake? He's making this federal. I can do 20 years for what's in that file. You
19:09should
19:09have thought about that before you spent my father's money on another man's son. I hung up. Lucas was
19:14watching me. He'll come at you again. I know. Let him. Lucas didn't pick up his briefcase.
19:21He just looked at me. Ava, there's something I need to tell you. Not here. Come to my apartment
19:28tonight. Nine o'clock. Alone. Why not here? Because what I'm about to tell you isn't a lawyer talking to
19:35a client. It's something else. Lucas's apartment. 32nd floor. I'd never been inside. He opened the
19:44door in a black sweater. You came. You said nine. He poured two glasses of whiskey.
19:51Set mine on the desk behind me, then closed the distance until I had to back up against the edge.
19:56His hand braced on the wood beside my hip. Not touching me. Close enough that I could feel it.
20:0210 years, Ava. Lucas. I've loved you for 10 years. Since the day you got married, I've been in hell.
20:09Every night. Every morning. I've been asking myself the same question. Why wasn't that man me?
20:15Lucas. You're standing very close. I know.
20:21Move. Make me. I didn't. He picked up his whiskey with his free hand. Took a slow sip.
20:28Watched my mouth over the rim. Drink, Ava. You're going to need it.
20:33He pulled a single page from his jacket and set it on the desk behind me. I had to turn
20:37under his arm
20:38to read it. Sean Callahan. Combat injury 2022. Shrapnel to the lower abdomen. Reproductive function
20:44permanently destroyed. Patient cannot father children. I read it twice. He's sterile.
20:48Since six months before the wedding. Then James was never his. Biologically impossible. Sean thinks
20:54the boy is his. He's been the mark from day one. I laughed. Couldn't stop. He thinks he's robbing
20:59my father. He's been raising another man's kid for two years on my father's money. Tiffany got
21:04pregnant by Derek Marsh and pinned it on a man who can't have children. Shorn walked into it like a
21:09goddamn dog into traffic. I picked up my whiskey. Drained it.
21:18I'm taking this to him myself. Tonight. Lucas caught my wrist before I could pass
21:24him. Not tonight. Tomorrow morning. He didn't let go of my wrist. He used it to pull me back
21:30against him. His other hand slid up the side of my throat, found the back of my neck, and
21:35tilted my face up to his. Ten years, Ava. I'm done waiting.
21:40He kissed me. Slow first. Testing. Then his tongue parted my lips and went deep. Not asking. Taking.
21:49Ten years of restraint unwound between us in one breath. My back hit the desk. The whiskey glass
21:56tipped over somewhere behind me. I didn't care. His hand fisted in my hair, angled my mouth exactly
22:06where he wanted it. I bit his lower lip. He growled into my mouth and kissed me harder.
22:12When he finally let me breathe, his thumb dragged across my swollen bottom lip.
22:21Stay.
22:22I stayed.
22:24I walked into Sean's hotel at nine in the morning. He was eating room service like a man who still
22:30thought he had a play. I dropped the report on his plate. Read it.
22:37Ava, what is this?
22:38Read it out loud, Sean. He read it. Stopped. Read it again.
22:44This is fake.
22:45Filed by the military hospital that pulled shrapnel out of you in 2022.
22:49Lucas had it pulled from the federal records yesterday. Your signature is on the bottom.
22:52I never saw this paper.
22:54Your hospital admin desk forwarded it to your business manager.
22:58Tiffany was your assistant the year after that. Guess who had access to your private archive?
23:04James is mine.
23:06James is biologically impossible. You haven't been able to father a child since the bomb.
23:10The kid Tiffany handed you was already six months along when you slept with her the first time.
23:13Do the math.
23:14Ava.
23:14She picked a sterile soldier with a rich godfather and put another man's baby in his arms.
23:19You weren't running her. She was running you.
23:21No, she wouldn't.
23:22She did. Derek Marsh. Federal narcotics warrant. The biological father.
23:26My father. He's been hunting her for two years to get the kid back. The kid who calls you daddy.
23:31Ava.
23:32He stood up. Knocked the coffee cup over. Didn't notice.
23:35You spent 4.2 million of my father's money raising another man's son.
23:38You faked a marriage to me to give that kid a last name.
23:42You watched my father fall in the snow on an intercon and went back to dinner.
23:46For a kid who was never yours.
23:48He swept the breakfast tray off the table. Plates shattered.
23:51He grabbed his hair with both hands and made a sound that wasn't a word.
23:55I sipped my coffee from the room service tray. Watched him.
23:59You're crying, Sean.
24:00You bitch!
24:01That's the first honest thing you've said in three years.
24:04I set the cup down on the dresser. I came here to see this. I'm done now.
24:09I walked to the door. Turned back with my hand on the knob.
24:13One more thing. Tiffany rolled on yesterday.
24:15By the time you get to court, you'll be the only person in the room who didn't know.
24:19I closed the door. Behind it, I heard him scream.
24:24Sean kicked Tiffany's hotel door open at noon.
24:26Tell me he's mine.
24:27Sean.
24:28Tell me!
24:29She backed up against the kitchen counter.
24:31The boy was watching cartoons in the corner.
24:33Sean, calm down.
24:34Is he mine?
24:35You read the paper.
24:36I'm asking you. Look at me and tell me he's mine.
24:39She looked at him. Then she laughed.
24:41Of course he's not yours.
24:43You can't even get hard without me telling you what to do.
24:46You think you could get someone pregnant?
24:47Tiffany.
24:48I picked you because you were sterile, Sean.
24:50Because nobody would ever ask why the kid had Derek's eyes.
24:52Because your godfather had $300 million and no real grandkids.
24:56You were a shell company with a dick attached.
24:58Did you really think I loved you?
24:59He crossed the room in three steps.
25:01His hand around her throat.
25:02Her back hit the cabinet.
25:04Two years. You let me love that kid for two years.
25:05You're not a father, Sean.
25:07You're a checkbook with combat scars.
25:09He squeezed harder. Her face was turning.
25:12The boys started crying in the corner.
25:14The door behind them opened.
25:15Two NYPD officers waiting in the hallway since I called them ten minutes ago.
25:20Mr. Callahan. Hands off her. Now.
25:23He didn't let go.
25:24The first officer hit him in the back of the knee.
25:26He went down. The second pulled Tiffany away.
25:29On the ground. Hands behind your head.
25:30He was face down on the carpet.
25:32Tiffany was rubbing her throat. Still laughing.
25:35Tell him, officer.
25:36Tell him he's going down for assault on top of the fraud.
25:38Tell him I'm getting a deal because I rolled first.
25:40In the corner, the boy had stopped crying.
25:45The NYPD precinct on 13th Street has two interrogation rooms with one observation booth between them.
25:51Lucas brought the coffee.
25:52Black for him. Double cream for me.
25:54He stood close enough that his shoulder pressed against mine at the glass.
25:57Left room. Sean. Right room. Tiffany.
26:00Both being interviewed by the federal task force.
26:02Both told the other one is selling them out. Both correct.
26:04How long until they ask to be face to face?
26:06Tiffany's already asked.
26:09Let her.
26:10The detectives put them in the same room.
26:12Two chairs. One table.
26:14No cuffs yet.
26:15Sean spoke first.
26:17You bitch.
26:17Sit down, Sean.
26:20Two years.
26:21You let me change his diapers?
26:24Read him bedtime stories.
26:27You picked the wrong woman to spend your wife's father's money on.
26:30Take it like a man.
26:31You knew I was sterile!
26:33From the day I read your file, why do you think I came on to you in the first place?
26:36Because of your charm?
26:37You have the personality of wet bread.
26:39I was going to leave Ava for you.
26:40And I was going to take the three million reward in the medical trust and disappear with Derek the second
26:44his sentence dropped.
26:46You were never the plan.
26:47You were the wallet.
26:48You and the old man.
26:49Lucas reached past me and refilled my coffee.
26:53His hand stayed on my hip.
26:54She's confessing on tape, thinking she's getting a deal.
26:57He said quietly.
26:58She isn't.
26:59In the room, Sean stood up.
27:01The chair fell behind him.
27:02He went over the table at her.
27:04The detective at the door had been waiting for it.
27:06He had Sean on the ground in two seconds.
27:08Sean's nose was bleeding into the cheap carpet.
27:10Tiffy hadn't moved.
27:11She was smiling.
27:12Get him out of my room.
27:13He's contaminating my plea.
27:15Lucas turned to me.
27:17His thumb traced the inside of my wrist.
27:1920 years federal.
27:21Both of them.
27:21The DA called me an hour ago.
27:2320 for him.
27:24How much for her?
27:246.
27:25With the cooperation.
27:26Make it 10.
27:26The kid.
27:27She knew Sean was sterile when she let him sign a custody form claiming paternity.
27:30That's federal child trafficking.
27:32Add it to her sheet.
27:33Lucas leaned in.
27:34His mouth was at my ear.
27:35You are terrifying when you're angry.
27:38I'm not angry.
27:41Sean called from holding.
27:43Ava.
27:44Collect.
27:45I picked up because I wanted to hear it.
27:472 minutes, Sean.
27:48Make them count.
27:49It wasn't supposed to go like this.
27:51You raised a kid who wasn't yours on my father's money.
27:54What did you think this was going to look like?
27:56I thought he was mine.
27:58That is the saddest thing you have ever said to me.
28:01And I have a recording of you calling me a wallet.
28:04Ava, please.
28:05Drop one of the counts.
28:07Anything.
28:08Federal is 20 years.
28:10You walked into my lawyer's lobby with a gun.
28:13You watched my father fall on the intercond.
28:15You let your whore tell you who's grandchild to fake.
28:19I'm not dropping anything.
28:20I have nothing left.
28:22You have 18 months to grow up before you go inside.
28:26After that, you have 20 years to figure out how Tiffany picked you out of a file packet
28:31because you were too damaged to ask the right questions.
28:34You're cruel!
28:35I'm clean.
28:37There's a difference.
28:38The recorded voice cut in.
28:40One minute remaining.
28:42Ava, the kid.
28:44Is he okay?
28:45He's being adopted by a real family.
28:47He'll forget you by Christmas.
28:49The new father picks him up from preschool.
28:52He calls him Daddy now.
28:53Don't!
28:54The next time you hear his name, it'll be the day I tell my own daughter why we don't
28:58say his last name in this house.
29:00Your daughter?
29:01Goodbye, Sean.
29:02I hung up.
29:03Your daughter?
29:04Hypothetical.
29:05Lucas was waiting in the doorway.
29:07Sleeves rolled up.
29:08Loosen tie.
29:09Whiskey in his hand.
29:10He set the whiskey down on my desk.
29:12Slid his hand under my jaw and tilted my face up.
29:15Ten years of hypothetical.
29:16I want it real.
29:17Then drive.
29:20The Federal Lockup.
29:21Wednesday morning.
29:22Two interview rooms.
29:23Two lawyers.
29:24Two deals on the table.
29:26I watched it through the glass with Lucas.
29:28He'd brought me a coffee and a folder.
29:30They're both signing today.
29:31Whichever one cooperates harder gets the lighter sentence.
29:34We told both of them that.
29:36Did you?
29:37I lied.
29:38They're both getting twenty.
29:39I just wanted to see them sell each other out for it.
29:42Lucas Vane.
29:44You wicked man.
29:45In the left room, Sean was talking fast.
29:48He was claiming Tiffany set up the shell company.
29:51Tiffany picked the printer.
29:52Tiffany picked the school.
29:54He just signed what she put in front of him.
29:56He was painting himself as the victim of a love affair gone wrong.
30:00The Federal Prosecutor stopped writing.
30:02Mr. Callahan, you signed your own sterility report in 2022.
30:06We have it.
30:07Your business manager filed it.
30:09Your assistant accessed it.
30:10Your assistant later became the mother of the child you raised.
30:13Are you really going to sit there and tell us you didn't know?
30:15Sean stared at the table.
30:17Then changed direction.
30:19I want to add something.
30:20Tiffany Cole told me last April that if Don Enzo died of a heart attack, she had a way
30:24to make it look natural.
30:25She said she had a contact at his cardiologist office.
30:28The prosecutor put down his pen.
30:30Lucas turned to me.
30:31He's lying.
30:33He's trying to bury her with him.
30:35I know.
30:37Let him build the bomb.
30:39We'll see if Tiffany has one of her own.
30:43In the right room, Tiffany was on her third cup of coffee.
30:47The prosecutor across of her had Sean's testimony in front of him.
30:51Miss Cole, your co-defendant just told us you discussed having Don Enzo Moretti killed.
30:57Care to respond?
30:58She laughed out loud.
31:00He said what?
31:01He said you have a contact at the cardiologist's office.
31:04I work in healthcare insurance, you idiots.
31:07Of course I know cardiologists.
31:09I haven't put a hit out on him.
31:11Miss Cole.
31:12Sean Callahan can't tie his own shoes without a YouTube tutorial.
31:15He couldn't plan a hit on a house plant.
31:18He's lying because he just realized I'm walking out with six years and he's looking at 20.
31:23So you deny the conversation?
31:25I deny everything that came out of his mouth.
31:27Want me to give you something real?
31:29Sean knew the kid wasn't his.
31:31He knew.
31:31I told him on our second date before I let him touch me.
31:34I said look, I'm carrying another guy's baby.
31:36I need a name.
31:37He said yes.
31:38He said the Moretti will would make him a millionaire if he had a kid and he didn't
31:42care whose biology was on it.
31:44He paid for the riding lessons because he wanted Don Enzo to see his grandson on a horse.
31:49The whole thing was his idea.
31:51The prosecutor wrote it down.
31:53Lucas turned to me.
31:55Now she's lying.
31:57Both of them are lying.
31:58Both of them are admitting to enough on tape to put themselves away for life.
32:02I sipped my coffee.
32:04Lucas' hand was on the small of my back.
32:07How does it feel, Lucas?
32:09Watching the man you married throw the woman he ruined his life for under the bus while
32:12she throws him back, it feels like ten years of waiting paid in full.
32:18They put them in the same room, one more time.
32:21Federal protocol.
32:22Sean was in cuffs now.
32:24Tiffany wasn't.
32:25You said I picked the school.
32:26You did pick the school, Sean.
32:29You said I planned to kill Enzo.
32:31That part was new for both of us.
32:33Apparently.
32:34You said the kid was mine on every birthday card for two years.
32:36I lied.
32:37You believed me.
32:38Whose problem is that exactly?
32:40He pulled against the cuffs.
32:41Tiffany.
32:42You told me you loved me.
32:43I told you a lot of things, baby.
32:45You'd believe anything if I said it with my hand in your pants.
32:47Tiffany.
32:48Derek's getting out in 18 months on cooperation.
32:50We're gonna take the kid back.
32:52We're gonna start over in Florida.
32:53I'm telling you this so you have something to think about for the next 20 years.
32:56You're getting six.
32:57I'm getting 20.
32:59That's not how this works.
33:00That's exactly how this works.
33:02I cried more on the stand than you did.
33:04I'm prettier.
33:05I have a kid in social services.
33:07The judge took one look and shaved 14 years off.
33:10You!
33:11He went for her again.
33:13The cuffs caught.
33:14The agent pinned him to the table.
33:16Get him out.
33:16We're done.
33:18They dragged him out.
33:20Tiffany sat back.
33:21Stretched her arms over her head.
33:23Lucas turned the intercom off.
33:2420 years for him.
33:25Six for her.
33:26With cooperation.
33:27Both filed.
33:28The judge signs on Friday.
33:30And the boy.
33:32Adopted.
33:32Park slope.
33:34Permanent.
33:35James calls the new father daddy already.
33:37Then we're done with both of them.
33:40We're done.
33:41He didn't move his hand from my back.
33:45The drive to Lucas' place took 8 minutes.
33:48He didn't talk.
33:49His right hand stayed on my thigh the whole ride.
33:51Fingers spread wide.
33:52Claiming.
33:54By the time he pulled into the underground garage, I was already done waiting.
33:57I unbuckled my seatbelt, climbed across the console into his lap before he killed the engine.
34:01His hands found my hips.
34:02Hard enough to bruise.
34:03Ava.
34:05Don't say my name like a question.
34:06You've been saying it like a question for 10 years.
34:09How do you want me to say it?
34:11Like an answer.
34:13He said it like an answer.
34:15His mouth was on mine before the word was out.
34:17His hand fisted in my hair dragged my head back, mouth dropping to my throat.
34:21He bit.
34:22I gasped.
34:23He smiled against my skin.
34:24For 10 years.
34:25Stop counting.
34:26Make me stop.
34:27I bit his lower lip.
34:30He growled and shoved my coat off my shoulders.
34:32The console was digging into my knee.
34:34I didn't care.
34:35His hand slid up my thigh, under the hem of my dress, possessive and unhasty.
34:40Upstairs.
34:40Now.
34:41Make me.
34:42He picked me up.
34:43Carried me out of the car.
34:45His mouth never left mine in the elevator.
34:48By the 32nd floor, I had his shirt half open.
34:50His belt undone.
34:52His tie on the elevator floor.
34:53He had me pinned to the elevator wall with one thigh between mine.
34:57The doors opened.
34:59He didn't put me down.
35:00He carried me through the apartment door and kicked it shut with his heel.
35:04He didn't take me to the bedroom.
35:06He took me to the wall just inside the door.
35:0910 years.
35:11Last time you say it.
35:12After tonight.
35:13No more counting.
35:19The next morning, Lucas' phone rang at 6.
35:22Vain.
35:23Tiffany Cole tried to attack a corrections officer last night during transfer.
35:27Shower block.
35:28Broken cheekbone.
35:29Two molars out.
35:31Won't be talking for a few weeks.
35:32Self-inflicted?
35:34Looked like another inmate had a problem with her.
35:37Imagine that.
35:38Wanted you to know.
35:39Her cooperation deal is suspended pending the medical clearance.
35:43Thank you, detective.
35:46He hung up.
35:48Pulled me back against him.
35:53You did that.
35:56I might have made a phone call.
35:58To whom?
35:59Carlo has a cousin upstate.
36:01The cousin runs a women's facility.
36:03The cousin owed my father a favor.
36:05Ava.
36:06She told Sean she was going to take the kid back to Florida with Derek.
36:09She doesn't get to take anyone anywhere.
36:11Not after what she did to my father.
36:14How long have you been planning this?
36:16Since the moment she said wallet with a wedding ring.
36:19He kissed my shoulder.
36:24Marry me.
36:28Make it count.
36:31Yes, Ava.
36:36My father's study.
36:37Sunday afternoon.
36:39He was reading the financial section.
36:41He didn't look up when we walked in.
36:43Lucas.
36:44Don Enzo.
36:44You finally asked her.
36:46I did.
36:47She said yes.
36:48He folded the paper.
36:49Looked at us both.
36:51It took you ten years.
36:52I was waiting for her to be ready.
36:54She has been ready for nine.
36:55I knew.
36:56Lucas knew.
36:57You knew.
36:58Sean was the only one who didn't.
36:59And he wasn't really in this family.
37:01So we are now a complete unit.
37:02Sit down.
37:04We sat.
37:04Tomorrow morning I am stepping down.
37:06The seat is yours, Ava.
37:07Lucas, you become general counsel of the holding company.
37:10The two of you run everything from now on.
37:11I am going to St. Lucia with your mother.
37:13And I am going to grow tomatoes.
37:15I have one condition.
37:16A grandchild.
37:17Within two years.
37:18Not because I want one.
37:19Because your mother does and I want to die in peace.
37:22Lucas didn't blink.
37:23Done.
37:23You signed a contract very fast there, Lucas.
37:25I have wanted to sign that contract since 2014, Don Enzo.
37:29My father laughed.
37:30Out loud.
37:31For the first time in a year.
37:33Then welcome to the family, son.
37:35Officially this time.
37:36He stood up.
37:37Walked around the desk.
37:38Hugged Lucas.
37:39Whispered something in his ear.
37:41Later I asked Lucas what he said.
37:43He said, if you ever lie to her the way Sean did, I have a Carlo too.
37:47What did you say back?
37:48I said, Don Enzo, you don't need a Carlo for me.
37:52Monday morning.
37:53The Moretti boardroom.
37:55Twelve men around a long table.
37:56None of them had ever been outranked by a woman.
37:59I walked in last.
38:00Lucas held the door for me.
38:02I sat at the head of the table.
38:03Three things.
38:04One.
38:05The Sean Callahan companies absorbed into the parent.
38:08Today.
38:09Anyone who had a side deal with him gets one chance to disclose it before noon.
38:14Afternoon, anything we find, we prosecute.
38:16Three men looked at their hands.
38:18Two.
38:19The shipping concession Giorgio has been holding since 1987.
38:23Reassigned.
38:24Giorgio.
38:25You are now overseeing our charitable foundation.
38:29Congratulations on your promotion.
38:31Giorgio's face did something complicated.
38:33Three.
38:34The next person at this table who tells me the family has always operated a certain way,
38:38I am personally writing them out of operating at this table at all.
38:41My father is in St. Lucia.
38:43He sends regards.
38:45He also sends Carlo's number.
38:46Use it as a reminder.
38:48Silence.
38:49Page one.
38:50Lucas, you have the floor.
38:52Lucas walked through the new structure in seven minutes.
38:56Nobody interrupted.
38:57After the meeting, Giorgio caught me at the door.
39:00Miss Moretta, I want to apologize.
39:01I underestimated.
39:02You did.
39:03It won't happen again.
39:04It won't, Giorgio.
39:05Because if it does, your foundation will be running out of a very small office in New Jersey.
39:10I walked past him.
39:12Lucas was waiting at the elevator.
39:14You enjoyed that.
39:15More than I should have.
39:17My phone rang.
39:18My phone rang.
39:19Dad.
39:22That was beautiful, sweetheart.
39:24Carlo cried.
39:26Don't bury Giorgio yet.
39:27I want to play golf with him in October.
39:30Fine.
39:30He gets until October.
39:33Three weeks later, Tuesday night, Lucas's penthouse, mine now too.
39:39I was in his shirt and nothing else.
39:41On the couch, reading the news on my phone.
39:44He came out of the shower with a towel around his hips.
39:47Look at this.
39:48I turned the phone toward him.
39:49A small headline.
39:50Page nine of the post.
39:52Federal judge sentences Sean Callahan to 22 years on wire fraud, marriage fordinary, and
39:56agravate assault.
39:57He read it.
39:58Took the phone from my hand.
40:00Set it face down on the coffee table.
40:0222.
40:03They added the choke and the perjury during cooperation.
40:06Tiffany?
40:07Eight years.
40:08Derek Marsh got transferred to a facility two miles from hers.
40:11He's already filed for a visit.
40:13You arranged that.
40:14Carlo's cousin's husband works at the Bureau of Prisons.
40:17He didn't answer.
40:19He was looking at me the way he looks at me when he's done talking.
40:23The towel dropped.
40:24He pulled me up off the couch.
40:27His hands found the hem of his shirt on me and dragged it up over my head.
40:32Threw it somewhere behind him.
40:34His mouth went straight to my throat.
40:37Lucas.
40:38Tuesday.
40:39Wednesday.
40:40Every other day this week.
40:43That's a heavy schedule, counselor.
40:45You signed a contract for one.
40:47We're behind.
40:48He backed me toward the bedroom, his thumb dragging across my bottom lip.
40:52I pulled at the back of his neck, bit his shoulder.
40:55He made a sound that wasn't a word, and lifted me clean off the floor.
40:59My legs locked around his waist.
41:00His mouth came down on mine, hot and demanding.
41:04The bedroom door slammed shut behind us.
41:07The news on the phone could wait.
41:13Sean Callahan had 22 years.
41:16We had tonight.
41:19The wedding was small.
41:21My father's house.
41:23Sixty people, no press.
41:24My mother cried twice during the vows.
41:27My father didn't cry, but he held my hand for a full minute before walking me to Lucas.
41:32At the reception, Lucas pulled me onto the terrace.
41:35I want to show you something.
41:37Now?
41:37Now.
41:38He unbuttoned his shirt.
41:40Three buttons.
41:41Pushed it open.
41:42There was a scar across the lower right side of his abdomen.
41:44A long crescent.
41:45Old.
41:46What is this?
41:472022.
41:48The compound attack.
41:49The one that put your father in the hospital?
41:50Sean took the shrapnel from my father.
41:52That's the official record.
41:53Sean ran.
41:55I was the second man in the doorway.
41:57I took the shrapnel.
41:58Your father was unconscious by the time Sean came back.
42:01Sean pulled him out.
42:03Sean told the medics he'd shield the Don.
42:04I was being airlifted to Germany.
42:06By the time I was conscious enough to correct the record, three weeks later, your father had
42:10already named Sean a godson and you were already engaged.
42:13Lucas.
42:13I let him keep it.
42:14I let him have your father's gratitude and your hand.
42:18Because I thought if I told the truth, your father would force him out.
42:21And you would resent me for the rest of your life.
42:25I touched the scar with one finger.
42:27He didn't flinch.
42:29You let me marry him?
42:30I let you marry him.
42:32You took my husband's wound?
42:34I took your father's wound.
42:36Your husband took my credit.
42:38I kissed him.
42:39Hard.
42:42Lucas.
42:43The next time you wait ten years to tell me something, I am going to be very angry.
42:46There is nothing left to wait on, Ava.
42:50Eighteen months later, Tribeca, 42nd floor, Lucas's office.
42:54Mine too now.
42:55I was eight months pregnant and pacing because the baby wouldn't stop kicking the same rib.
43:00Lucas was at his desk on a call.
43:01He hung up.
43:02Sean filed a request to attend the birth.
43:05From prison.
43:05He wants to be present at the birth of any biological Morelliere to atone for his actions.
43:09Direct quote.
43:10His new lawyer thought it might soften the parole board.
43:12Tell the lawyer no.
43:13If Shauna tries to see this baby, I will make sure his 22 years feels like 40.
43:16Already drafted.
43:17He stood.
43:18Came around the desk.
43:19Put his hand on my stomach.
43:20The intercom buzzed.
43:22My father on line one from St. Lucia.
43:24Sean Callahan was on the news last night down here.
43:26He gave a jailhouse interview.
43:28Said he was framed.
43:29Said you and Lucas planted the evidence.
43:30He's trying to start a podcast from inside.
43:32Let him talk.
43:33The more he talks, the longer he stays inside.
43:35Lucas already pulled the metrics.
43:37His podcast has eleven listeners.
43:39Three of them are us monitoring.
43:40Eleven listeners.
43:41Eleven.
43:42My father started laughing.
43:44He's broadcasting to a void.
43:46Let him.
43:46How is my granddaughter?
43:48Kicking the same rib for the third hour.
43:50She's a Moratti.
43:51Lucas.
43:51Are you taking care of my daughter?
43:54Lucas leaned toward the phone.
43:55His hand still on my stomach.
43:57Yes, Don Enzo.
43:58Good.
43:59Six weeks.
44:00We'll be there.
44:01He hung up.
44:01He's never going to retire, is he?
44:04He retired 16 months ago.
44:06He's running a quarter of the Caribbean from a hammock.
44:11Eleanor Vane Moretti was born on a Thursday at three in the morning.
44:14Seven pounds, four ounces.
44:15Black hair.
44:16Lucas's eyes.
44:17My father flew in 12 hours later.
44:19He held her for an hour without putting her down.
44:21He didn't speak the whole time.
44:23When my mother finally took her, he sat down in the hospital chair and put his face in his
44:27hands for a long minute.
44:28Then he stood up, kissed me on the forehead, and went to find the nurse to demand better lighting.
44:32Lucas watched it from the doorway.
44:34Three days of stubble.
44:35No tie.
44:36Hadn't slept.
44:37Your father just held a baby and got emotional.
44:39I have never seen him emotional.
44:40He held me when I was born.
44:42He cried for 40 minutes.
44:43He told you that?
44:44My mother told me, right after he denied it.
44:47He sat next to my bed, took my hand.
44:50We did it.
44:51We did it.
44:52Are you happy?
44:53Yes.
44:55I love you.
44:57I know.
44:58He laughed.
44:59That's all I get?
45:00You get me.
45:02For the rest of your life.
45:03You get me, you get her.
45:05You get the next one, if my father has anything to say about it.
45:08The next one?
45:09Don't look so shocked.
45:11You signed a contract.
45:12I signed a contract for one.
45:14You signed it in front of my father.
45:16Read the small print.
45:20Three months later, the penthouse.
45:22Eleanor was asleep in the next room.
45:23Lucas came home late, dropped his briefcase, took off his tie before he even saw me.
45:28Tiffany Cole was attacked in the prison yard yesterday.
45:32How bad?
45:33Bad.
45:35She's in the medical wing.
45:36The face is going to scar, both cheeks.
45:39Whoever did it had a sharpened spoon and a problem.
45:45Carlos' cousin.
45:46Carlos' cousin's wife.
45:48Technically.
45:50Tiffany ran her mouth about James in the cafeteria.
45:53Said something the wife took personal.
45:56What did she say?
45:57That James was probably better off without a real mother.
45:59The wife had recently given up a child to adoption.
46:07Did Carlo know?
46:08Carlo knew.
46:10I poured Louis a whiskey.
46:12Did you authorize it?
46:13I didn't have to.
46:14I didn't authorize it.
46:16I also didn't stop it.
46:18Good answer.
46:19He drank the whiskey and won.
46:21Set the glass down.
46:23Pulled me against him.
46:26How was your day?
46:27Eleanor said her first word.
46:29What was it?
46:30Dada.
46:31He stopped breathing for a second.
46:34Lucas Vane is officially in second place to a man who can't even hold his own head up yet.
46:39I will live with this defeat.
46:42Six months later.
46:44Sean's parole hearing.
46:45He didn't get parole.
46:46The board sat through 40 minutes of his attempts to re-litigate the case.
46:50His claims that he'd been framed.
46:52His statement that his estranged wife had stolen his child and his fortune.
46:56Then the chair of the board, a woman who'd done 30 years on the federal bench, leaned forward.
47:01Mr. Callahan, you have never been married.
47:04You have no biological child.
47:05You have no fortune of your own to be stolen.
47:07Your record indicates you spent $4 million of your godfather's money raising a child who was not yours.
47:12And you have failed to take responsibility for that in any of the documents in front of me.
47:16Parole denied.
47:17We'll see you in three years.
47:18He didn't speak.
47:19The rest of the hearing.
47:24Lucas had the transcript on my desk by lunch.
47:30I sent a copy to my father in St. Lucia.
47:34He called two minutes later.
47:36Did you know that judge?
47:38No.
47:39I want to send her a fruit basket.
47:41You can't send a federal judge a fruit basket.
47:43I can send her one from Anonymous Advire in St. Lucia.
47:46Watch me.
47:47It's already on its way, isn't it?
47:48It's already on its way, sweetheart.
47:52Two years after the wedding.
48:21My grandfather bought it in 1958.
48:24I bought it back from the Costa family in 2002.
48:26It's been in trust 30 years.
48:28It's yours now.
48:28For Eleanor.
48:29For her sister.
48:30For all of them.
48:31This is too much.
48:33I almost died because a man I called my godson watched me on a screen and went back to dinner.
48:38I will not make that mistake twice.
48:41This land is yours because you earned it.
48:48I hugged him.
48:52Three years after the wedding.
48:54The Moretti boardroom.
48:56Quarterly meeting.
48:57I was at the head of the table.
48:59Lucas at my right.
49:0112 men around us.
49:03I went through the agenda in 55 minutes.
49:06Closed the folder.
49:07One last item.
49:10Personal.
49:11Effective today.
49:13Lucas Vane is being promoted to co-CEO of the Moretti Holding Company.
49:18He has been operating in this role for 18 months.
49:23We are making it official because we are signing the Tuscany acquisition next quarter.
49:28Any questions?
49:29There were no questions.
49:31Outside in the hallway.
49:33Lucas pinned me into the alcove by the elevator.
49:36One hand on my hip.
49:38Co-CEO.
49:38I had to do something with you.
49:40You wouldn't stop coming to my meetings.
49:42They're our meetings.
49:43They are now.
49:44Officially.
49:45Eleanor wants a sister.
49:47Eleanor wants a horse.
49:48She'll settle for a sister if we put a saddle on her.
49:51He kissed me.
49:52Deep.
49:53Slow.
49:54The elevator dinged behind us.
49:56We ignored it.
49:59Five years after the blizzard.
50:01Five years almost to the day.
50:03We were at the penthouse.
50:04Eleanor was four.
50:05Her sister was one.
50:06My parents were down for the weekend.
50:09Lucas was in the kitchen.
50:10The TV was on low.
50:12A local news broadcast.
50:13Sean Callahan, formerly known for his role in the Moretti family fraud scandal, was found
50:18dead in his cell at the federal facility upstate yesterday morning.
50:22Officials are describing it as a suicide.
50:24He had been denied parole for the second time three weeks ago.
50:28He leaves behind no immediate family.
50:31My mother muted the TV without saying anything.
50:33My father didn't look up from his crossword.
50:36Lucas came in from the kitchen with two glasses of red.
50:39He handed me one.
50:41You okay?
50:43I'm fine.
50:47You don't have to be.
50:49I am.
50:51I sipped the wine, looked at the muted screen.
50:54The photo they were running was old.
50:56I felt nothing.
50:58Not anger.
50:59Not pity.
51:00Just nothing.
51:01Eleanor totted in from the bedroom in her pajamas.
51:05Climbed onto my lap.
51:08Mama, tell a story.
51:11Once upon a time, there was a girl and her father and a man who loved her very much and
51:18waited a long time.
51:20Then what?
51:21Then they all lived in this apartment with two babies and a grandfather who plays cards
51:26too loud.
51:28My father didn't look up from the crossword.
51:33I heard that.
51:34You were meant to.
51:36Lucas raised his glass to mine.
51:37I raised mine back.
51:39The news anchor moved on to the weather.
51:41The screen showed Sean's photo for one more second.
51:43Then it was gone.
51:45It stayed gone.
Comments