Sinners and Saints

Chapter 19

"I-I don't think I can."

Rafael slowly sat right up, rubbing his palms and trying to avoid direct eye contact with Tony.

"What? Why?"

"You know why."
Rafael looked at him.

"Tony, I can't help you gain the freedom of a murderer. There's a reason she was found guilty six years ago, she killed someone-"

"You've helped people that have or was said to have committed way worse,"

"She killed her husband, her husband," he repeated just in case Tony didn't hear him the first time, "and she was caught, I'm sure there's a lot of evidence pointing against her innocence. Why on earth does she deserve her freedom? You don't get to be free after doing something that terrible, after hurting someone you promised to love and spend the rest of your life with."
The hurt in his voice was becoming so obvious now, more than it was minutes ago.
"No matter how you or your girlfriend have refused to believe that, the truth is she killed that man, and she's in jail for it just like she is supposed to be, that's exactly where we should leave her. I honestly don't care and I don't want to get involved."

Tony nodded his head, pretending to agree with everything Rafael was saying. He understood perfectly, all he had to do was wait for him to finish.
And then he did.

There was silence in the room for a few seconds before Tony looked right back at him.

"Are we still talking about Olivia Silver here or is this about you now?"

"Oh God, give me a break." Rafael looked away

"Rafael, what happened to Constance and Kamsi wasn't your fault."

Rafael got up quickly. Obviously Tony had just touched a really sensitive subject, a subject Rafael had tried to bury somewhere in his head for the past four years.

He hurried to the large table in the middle of the room, hoping Tony would just stop and not come after him but he wished Tony was less persistent. Tony followed him right to the table

"You didn't know that crash was going to happen."
He watched Rafael sink himself into his office chair, trying so hard not to listen to anything he was saying.

"It's been four years brother. When are you going to stop hating yourself for what happened to them?"

"Can you just stop?"

Rafael said almost in a yell. He was trying so hard to keep his emotions in check. Tony was the last person he needed to lash out at at at that moment but he was testing him.

"This is not about Olivia Silver, it's about you. You're scared of helping her because if you can prove that she's innocent then you could actually believe what happened to your family was not your fault. You could learn to forgive yourself."

"Tony-"

"And you don't want that do you? You'd rather live the rest of your life, hating yourself for something you had no control of, something that wasn't your fault. That's why you're quitting all you've ever worked hard for, all you've ever dreamt of, all this." He gestured to the big room "Just so you could punish yourself for being left behind."

"Stop it."

"They are dead Rafael, they're not coming back and it wasn't your fault. Just don't let an innocent woman suffer because of your guilt when you know you're her only chance of ever getting her life back. This is not about me or the lady I'm trying to impress anymore, this is about you. This is about saving yourself and if you don't want that more than anyone else, if you won't see that woman and hear her out at least then I don't know how else I can get you to help yourself my brother."

Rafael exhaled
A lot was running through his head. A whole lot.
He wasn't sure how to react or what to choose. All he did was stare at the tall man in a pair of glasses in front of him with a tiny frown on his face.

Why was he doing this? Why was he trying to change his mind so badly?

Rafael exhaled.

"Fine then."

He got up from his seat and tugged his jacket in place.

"Let's go see this lady and hear her side of the story. Let's try to save myself."

"Really?" Tony wished he heard what he thought he did. "Wait, are you serious?"

Rafael tried to button his jacket back up.

"Do I need to sit?"

"N-no, of course not. " Tony smiled.

Rafael exhaled and turned to his secretary

"Cancel all my appointments for today and let my driver know I'd like to visit the federal prison ."

The lady bowed and walked as fast as she could outside the room, grabbing on tightly her phone.

Rafael slowly turned to Tony

"This had better be worth my time and cancelled appointments or I'd kill you."

Tony chuckled

"Trust me. It would be."