Cut Too Deep (54 page)

Barbara Duwatski leaned against the side wall of the courthouse. Her husband secured her future far from New York with his guilty plea. She reached out her hand and accepted the thick envelope Quinn Lorino offered her. His golden eyes shined in the sunlight, but Barbara knew inside he was dark.

“You did a good job,” Quinn said quietly and kept walking.

Barbara shivered, remembering when he came to see her. Her not doing a ‘good job’ was never an option. The Lorino family held her equally as responsible as her husband for what happened to Hadley Walker. Barbara had been in hysterics before Quinn finally believed she didn’t know anything. When Quinn offered a way out, she took it. The task was easy. Her life had already been destroyed, she wouldn’t need to lie. Her husband fooled her for years and she put on quite a dramatic show to trick him in return. Barbara didn’t care what happened to Harold, and now she had enough money for a new start.

Thanksgiving Day, Hadley glanced around the Genetti’s dining room surrounded by family. She lifted her head to the sky as a silent thank you to her mother, believing the woman who brought her into this world had something to do with her new life. That her mother guided her to make the choices she had recently, helped heal her soul, provided her with a loving family and a man she deserved. The thought her mother was with her in spirit warmed her heart.  Hadley had a great deal to be thankful for.

Sentencing day had arrived and Harold Duwatski approached the podium to ask for leniency. Hadley, Sophia, Miller, Mac, Ayida, Laura, her grandmothers, and the entire Lorino family surrounded her. They were a force, shrouding her with the support she needed. Her former guardian speaking up had come as a shock to everyone in the courtroom. Hadley glanced to his wife. Her heart broke for this woman who dedicated her life to a man she never really knew.

Harold stood, knowing he needed to put on a good show for the court and sound remorseful. His attorney advised him sincerity would go a long way in negotiating his future and would also please his wife. It was hard for him. He felt he knew what was best, for him, his wife, and for Hadley. If he ever wanted to live outside of prison walls, Harold needed to comply, do what he was told and ignore his protesting mind. He took in a deep breath.

“I want to apologize for my actions and request leniency from the court,” Harold began. Hadley shook her head, his words rehearsed and anything but remorseful, but then he continued with words that forever changed her life. “I would like permission to speak directly to the victim, Your Honor?”

Miller squeezed Hadley’s hand protectively and glared furiously at her former guardian.

“That will be up to the victim.”

“This is ridiculous,” Don McAllister rose to his feet and shouted. “He’s being allowed to assault her all over again.”

For some reason, Hadley had a strong desire to hear what he could possibly say to her that would make the court go easy on him.

“It’s okay, Your Honor. I’ll hear what he has to say.”

She couldn’t look at him.

“Hadley, what I did to you was inexcusable, but I’d like to offer you a small token of my regret, something that may help you to heal.” His sincerity stunned and worried her, like he was going to drop one final irrevocable bomb shell.  “Your father and I gambled together, we became friends and he showed me your pictures. I developed an unhealthy obsession with you.”

Her resolve to listen dwindled.

Miller jumped up and yelled, “Stop this immediately!”

The judge pounded his gavel to quiet Miller.

“Ms. Walker, do you want him to stop?”

Hadley shook her head.

“No, let him continue.”

She was in it now. Harold Duwatski was going down and this was his last attempt to drag her with him. Hadley would prove she was unbreakable.

“Mr. Genetti, please remain seated and quiet.” The judge warned, and Miller sat. He pulled Hadley’s hand on his lap and held it. More to comfort himself than her.

The judge narrowed his eyes at Harold Duwatski.

“Mr. Duwatski, you may continue, but tread carefully.”

Harold nodded and looked directly at Hadley. She held his gaze, challengingly.

“You father was not involved in any way with the transaction to acquire you. I worked a side deal and lied to your father about it. I told him the money I gave him was a loan and paid an acquaintance five-thousand dollars to kidnap you.” A collective gasp rang out in the courtroom. Tears filled Hadley’s eyes, spilling over uncontrollably. “When we met, he learned of what I did for a living and asked me for help. In addition to loaning him the money to pay his gambling debts, I recommended a family services counselor. He wanted to change and to provide a better life for you and your mother, be a better husband and father, but he never made it to the appointment. I know it isn’t much, but I wanted you to know. I took advantage of his situation, but he loved you.”

Harold turned his head to look at his grieving wife. Barbara smiled, but not because she believed that under the cruel and vile man he had become was a trace of the man she married. There wasn’t. Her smile was for the girl whose life Harold ruined and because Hadley finally knew the truth about her father.

His attention moved to the judge’s bench. “I don’t deserve leniency, Your Honor. I’m a very sick man, and, while I am remorseful, I don’t think I can ever change. I’m confident if the opportunity arose, I would do it again.”

Harold wasn’t asking for mercy at all. Instead he spoke to the judge with brutal honesty, basically requesting to spend the remainder of his years in prison. Something didn’t feel right about it, his changing his plea, or his sudden need to clear his conscience, but Hadley shook away the doubt.

As he continued to speak to the judge, Hadley thought about her father. He’d been a violent man, abusive to her and her mother. Looking back, there were fleeting moments of sobriety, when she saw glimpses of the man he wanted to be, but never had the courage to follow through with. Alcohol his escape, leading him to become a product of his environment and repeat the behavior of his own father. Knowing he loved her and hadn’t planned to turn her over to Harold Duwatski would help her understand and slowly forgive him.

Her eyes closed and she remembered one of those rare times her father tried.

Snow had fallen all night. Vitale gathered a few items from the kitchen and placed them in a plastic bag. He then went to his daughter’s room.

“Had,” he whispered, “wake up, cutie-pie. It’s snowing.”

Hadley sat up and stretched. Groggily, she asked, “What time is it?”

“It’s early. Come on, get your boots and coat. We’re going outside.”

Her father zipped up Hadley’s coat and pulled her knitted cap down low.

“What are we doing, Daddy?”

Vitale smiled.

“It’s a surprise.”

The look of excitement in his daughter’s eyes enchanted him.

Father and daughter tromped through the snow to the open lot behind their building. Vitale dumped the contents of the bag in the snow. Hadley looked over the pile curiously.

“What’s this stuff for?”

Vitale scooped snow in his hands and made a ball.

“We are going to build a snowman.”

Her eyes sparkled. Hadley helped her father roll large snowballs and stack them on top of each other.

Before long, Vitale shoved two sticks in the sides for arms and lifted his daughter to stuff a carrot nose in the head between the charcoal eyes and mouth.

They stood back to admire their masterpiece.

“What should we name him, Had?”

Hadley looked up at the Yankee’s cap on the snowman’s head and remembered her Daddy’s favorite Yankee’s player.

“How about Donnie Baseball?”

Vitale hoisted his little girl high in the air and spun her around.

“That’s my girl.”

Hadley opened her eyes when Miller squeezed her knee. She thought about the rest of the memory when her father went ballistic because she tracked snow through the living room. She released the thought quickly, choosing only to focus on the moments in her childhood that made her smile.

Duwatski would be remanded to Attica, a maximum security prison Upstate. The judge threw the book at him and announced he would serve a term of seventy-five years.  It was the hell Hadley always wanted to send him to. The nightmare was finally over and now she could live her dreams, surrounded by family and friends.

Otto sat at table waiting to speak with an old friend of the family, a man due to be released from Attica in a couple of months. Sergio also owed a debt to his family. Today, he would be asked to repay it. Vito’s instructions were clear. Sergio’s wife and children would be protected and a good life would be provided for them.

When Sergio saw his visitor and sat down at the table, he knew his leaving Attica was out of the question. He pinched the bridge of his nose, remembering the men he double crossed and Vito Lorino saving not only his life, but his family's. Sergio always assumed the day would come for repayment. Today was that day.

A tiny piece of paper with instructions exchanged hands. He would read it after returning to his cell.

“Vito wants you to know, Antoinette and the kids will be safe and cared for. He sends his love and thanks.” Sergio nodded. “He also wants me to remind you why your heart still beats.”

It was a fate Sergio had earned. He loved his family enough not to question Vito Lorino.