Chapter 60

PRESENT

I stopped because Johanna was looking at me with a very particular little smile. She didn’t turn off the recorder, but it didn’t take her long to say what she was thinking:

“What you do is like a small mafia. You know, ‘the business,’ ‘the organization,’ ‘the pack.’” She said, and the smile on her lips grew wider. “I’m sorry, family. I know you don’t like the word ‘pack’ being used. I’m not surprised you thought your father was some kind of dictator; being the leader of something that big must be hard.”

Well, she hadn’t asked anything about my awkward conversation with Sebastian, something I certainly hoped she’d notice. I didn’t know how to take it. I decided to let it be and went along with it:

“Was?” I mumbled, raising an eyebrow at the irony.

“Illya has always been quite kind to me despite everything. He is an exemplary grandfather with children, he adores them.” She looked at me for a moment, evaluating me from her peculiar human per