69- The Courage to Face the Past

POV- Eleonora Vitale.

"Fortunately, no." His voice was similar to Viktor's, but something set them apart. 

"Who are you?" I ask, my voice hanging by a thread from the nervousness I'm feeling. 

"Daniel Lennox. And coincidentally, just as Sofia is his sister, I am also Viktor's twin brother." I swallow hard for the new information, no matter how crazy it was. 

"But how? Viktor never told me about you..." I shake my head in disbelief. 

"Do you believe in coincidences? Because just as you didn't know about Sofia, he doesn't know about me either." 

"This is crazy." I hiss to myself, but I think he was able to hear well. Since he stares at me with a cold smile. 

"And it's not even half of it, dear cognata." Sighs. "You seem confused, I suppose you have to summarize a little bit of the story so you understand my origin." So he moves away for a moment and brings a chair with him, sitting very close to me. "Once upon a time there was a woman named Antonella Sorrentino, a person with a rotten soul, who gave birth to two babies. As she had a strong greed, Antonella sold one of the babies for a huge amount of money. Luckily, a very well-to-do couple adopted him. Her husband never knew about her past and so the years passed." He pauses, certainly catching his breath, but then continues: "The adopted baby finally grew up and the moment he realized that in fact his biological parents were not the ones who had always taken care of him, he decided that he had to find out who they were and why they did not want him. And as soon as he knew what had happened, he wished with all his might for revenge against the one that had once brought him into the world." 

I remain static and dumbfounded after hearing his story. "Antonella is more of a witch than I thought!" 

"But somehow, the family could know..." 

"Not when the child is sold illegally." My eyes widen. 

"I didn't know Antonella was capable of something so barbaric." I whisper to myself. "But what I don't understand is what Viktor and I have to do with his revenge." 

"You really don't, but Viktor will defend his mother as soon as he knows I'm trying to get revenge." He growls, as if he were hated by the idea. 

"No, Viktor can be stubborn. However, he would never defend a person who did this to an innocent baby, it's too grotesque." I say disgusted. "Listen: we will help you with whatever you need, you don't have to hurt us to get this." 

"I'm not going to hurt them, unlike your sister, I'm rational and I know who is and who isn't guilty in this story. Despite this..." I raise my eyebrow, hoping that he will continue: "If you really want to help, come with me to Italy." I shake my head, incredulous at his request. 

He's crazy, just like Viktor! 

"What you are asking for is almost impossible. I have a newborn daughter, I can't abandon her and go on with a man I don't even know." I say the obvious and he smiles. 

"And who said the baby will stay here?" I open my eyes and hurry to say: 

"No, please. Don't do anything to Alessa, don't put her in the middle of it." Tears cloud my vision and run down my cheek then. 

"I'm not a psychopath and I'm not going to hurt little Alessa. However, I need it to achieve my goals." 

"So you already have a plan?" He nods and thus stands up, taking his phone out of his pocket. 

"Yes and we will put it into practice right now. Pay close attention: 'Look at me.' I'll call Viktor and you'll tell him you're fine. The rest just leave it to me." He types something on his device and holds it out to me. A few seconds pass until Viktor's voice fills the room. 

"Hello?" I feel an immense desire to scream for him to come and rescue me, but my vision falls on Daniel and I swallow hard. 

"Viktor, it's me, Eleonora." I say holding back my tears. "I'm fine." Before he says anything else, Daniel retrieves his phone. 

"You heard her, she's fine and nothing will happen to her. Soon Eleonora will come back to you, but for that, we need your collaboration." He remains motionless and silent for a few seconds, listening to what Viktor is saying. "The point is that I have something to do and I need Eleonora. Tomorrow I will go to a place and take it with me, I will give it the address." It says where we will meet. Then she hands me the phone again and fearfully, I say: 

"Viktor, please... Take Alessa, don't leave her alone." Whisper. 

"This can only be a joke, is it you, isn't it Sofia?" 

"No, Viktor, it's really me." 

"Is that so? Then tell us where our first time was..." 

I can't believe I'll have to say something so intimate in front of this man, just to make Viktor believe it's me! I breathe in and out, taking courage. 

"Our first time was at your beach house." I say it at once. My gaze falls on Daniel, who controls himself not to laugh at the situation. For a moment, I also feel like laughing. 

"Eleonora, it's you..." He says sad. 

"Listen: take Alessa to the agreed place, it's not good to leave her alone. The more we collaborate, the better." I don't have time to listen to what he says, because Daniel hangs up the phone. 

THE NEXT DAY... 

I open my eyes slowly, realizing that I am no longer in the dark room. And yes, in a Victorian-style room, well structured and with a cheerful atmosphere. 

Curious to know where I am, I get up and go to the window. However, the surroundings of the property showed that it was a place far from civilization. 

I hear a few knocks on the door and say a "come in" to whoever it was. Thus, a lady enters the room and says: 

"Mademoiselle, Mr. Lennox has asked me to inform you that he is waiting for you to have coffee in half an hour. Do you need anything?" 

"Clothes..." Whisper. 

"In that armchair there is a change of clothes and some things that Mr. Lennox has busied himself in buying." I agree and she leaves, leaving me alone. 

Soon I look for the bathroom and as soon as I find it, I take a shower and then wear something, combing my hair quickly. Until finally I finish and, seeming to guess, the same woman comes back and this time I accompany her. 

We arrive in the dining room and I come across Daniel having breakfast. 

"Sit down and eat." It says in an automatic mode. 

"I'm not hungry." I speak, even though my stomach was sticking to my back. 

"It's better to try, don't forget that Alessa is breastfeeding and needs nutrients, which only her breast milk has." He's completely right, I hadn't thought about it. So I sit down and begin to serve myself unceremoniously. 

\[...\] 

The breakfast minutes were quiet and we didn't exchange a word. However, that doesn't bother me at all. 

Now we headed for the appointed place and finally arrived. I see a parked car, from inside it come out Viktor and Dad, who was holding my package, which I missed so much to have him in my arms. 

I barely wait for Daniel to park and I'm already opening the door, getting out of the car and going to meet my family. Viktor comes up to me and hugs me. 

"Are you okay?" Agree. "Heavens, Eleonora! It's really you..." He runs his fingers over my cheek and gives me a little kiss. So we move away and go to Dad and Alessa. I hug and cry, I see her wet cheeks and wipe them away. 

Then I take my daughter in my lap and smell her. 

"My love, mommy's here..." Nino the same and Viktor hugs me, smiling. But we are interrupted by Daniel's car door, which opens slowly and catches our attention. 

I remain static, the scene seemed to be in slow motion. First his hair came out the same color as Viktor's, then his face. His eyes were hidden by sunglasses. I noticed that Viktor is in a rigid posture, his reaction was the same as I had. 

Especially because it really is something unbelievable! 

Daniel walks slowly towards us and what seemed like an eternity, he was finally at a considerable distance from us. 

"Q-Who are you?" Viktor asks. Daniel removes his glasses, showing more of his completely identical appearance to his brother. Dad clears his throat behind me, also frightened by the situation. 

"My name is Daniel Lennox, I'm your brother, Viktor." She says and extends her hand to my ex-husband. How afraid, he also extends his and greets his now, brother. 

"How? I didn't know..." 

"Of course I didn't know, in fact almost no one knows. Because his dear mother kept this secret for years on end. Until now..." He smiles ironically, his expression is the same as when I met Viktor. "Good little brother, I think I'll have a lot of things to explain it. So..." In this way, he begins to tell the same things he told me. Viktor looks sad. 

And no wonder! 

"In short: your mother is a monster with no soul and no feelings." He finishes his speech and I go close to Viktor, I put my hand on his shoulder comforting him. He turns to me and hugs me carefully, because I have Alessa in my arms. 

I feel his tears fall on my shoulders and, although I have also shed many tears (especially for him), it breaks my heart to see him in this state. 

"Sorry to interrupt you, but there are more things we need to talk about. And especially about the purpose for which I have gathered them here." Daniel's voice pushes us away and we pay attention to what he has to say to us. "I will take Eleonora with me and impersonate you, until I can finally gather all the evidence and get revenge on Antonella, sending her to jail. And this is not a request, I think Eleonora has the right to go wherever she wants. So, do you agree to go?" Everyone directs their eyes to me, while I think about what I will say. 

Antonella Sorrentino deserves to pay for her crime and I am willing to do anything to send her to prison! 

"Yes, I will." Viktor clears his throat, but says nothing. 

"I will not stop you from doing something about it, but I will go along with you and there is no point in complaining. Well, I will!" Daniel sighs, but doesn't contest. 

"So we'll leave in two days." Without saying anything else, he leaves, starting his car and disappearing from our sight.