Chapter 134 Chapter 134: Love Lives Forever

Chapter 134 Chapter 134: Love Lives Forever
“And why would that matter?” Click asked her.
“He killed her, remember?” Desi whispered.
“Do you know why he killed her?” Leon was near enough to have heard their conversation. I know what happened before that but do you know the reason he came looking for her?”
Desi stared at the wall then she spoke quietly, “When she escaped Chicago, she alerted the police and his partners in crime what he’d been planning back then. You see, he was going to betray his partners and leave town after he robbed them of several million dollars they had in the bank. The police were waiting the night he was going to rob their bank accounts and once he took the money they were waiting for him when he left the bank. Not only were the police there but his business partners were there too. When the truth came out they had been running a Ponzi scheme and they all went to jail, not only Barrett but the whole bunch of them served time. Barrett got six years but the partners also blacklisted him. So when he got out, he couldn’t find another job in Chicago and he had to move somewhere else. But the word about him was out and no one really trusted him again. He turned that anger into real hate toward my mother. When he found out that she had been the one that gave everyone a heads up, he vowed to track her down and kill her.”
“And when did he learn about you?” Delaney asked. “When did he find out you were his child?”
Desi raised her head and stared at her. “I don’t know that he ever did. I wasn’t there when he got there and he was long gone when I arrived home. My mom never put any pictures up on her walls. Yet, I know there was evidence in the house that I existed but I’m not sure he ever looked. That’s the same reason I think your brothers didn’t come after me when they killed my grandfather. They didn’t know I existed. They still don’t.”
“And the reason for him shooting at you today?” Leon wanted to know.
“I think it was because he thought I was my mom,” Desi stated though she looked confused by this too. “He blamed her for getting caught, remember? Then for being blacklisted when he got out of prison.” Shrugging she said, “He must think she survived somehow, although I don’t see how. He was just so cruel to her. I am surprised she hung on so long.” Shaking her head she added, “She told me she wouldn’t let death take her until I got there, so she could tell me what happened to her. She died in my arms.”
Click wrapped his arms around her and hugged her close to him.
Turning her face to his chest, she sobbed, “I couldn’t protect her. I couldn’t stop him from killing her.”
“Aww sweetness, that was never your job,” Click whispered in her ear. “You said you and your mom had a plan and you followed that plan. That’s what your job was. To follow the plan. You did that. You went to your grandfather’s place just like she wanted. He taught you to protect yourself. And she knew he would do just that.”
She raised her head to stare at him for a moment before she said, “Then why did I have to lose both of them?”
“Because my son and grandsons are black hearted sciocchi.” Alfredo growled. “They just take what they want whether they’ve earned it or not. They are selfish ungrateful monsters and they need to learn the lessons I tried to teach them as children, all over again. They sure as hell never learned them the first time. I did try to teach them but they just never listened.”
“They will listen and learn very soon, my old friend.” Leon growled. “Because this time they will learn that for their actions, there are consequences. Conseguenze terribili…Dire consequences.”
“I know and while it saddens me. It needs to finally happen.” Alfredo nodded then he looked over at Desi. “I just wish I would have known about you all this time, maybe your life would have been better.”
Desi shook her head. “No senor, my life would have been the same. Who knows what Barrett would have done to you or your granddaughter if he had known about me and I was with you? He is not a man that would change his spots and as Delaney said before she was of no interest to him just because she was a girl and not another son. We all have our own lives to live, my story is not a good one, but it had good moments in it.” She looked around at their faces and swiped her tears away. “Don’t you dare feel sorry for me. I was raised by two very incredible people who loved me just because I am me. My mother taught me lessons I would need in my life before she was gone. My grandfather also showed me what I would need to survive. Those lessons were needed and I learned what I know from both of them. They gave me something I will use the rest of my life and they did it to be sure I would survive. Life sometimes is not very forgiving and the lessons I learned will serve me well.”
“Si, they did,” Leon admitted. “They did that because they loved you, l'amore vive per sempre.”
Staring at him, she repeated what he’d said in a soft voice, “Love lives forever. And it has for me. I’ve had to live on memories after they were gone. They did love me but there is someone out there that hates me as well. We can’t pick our parents but I will never apologize for being born. At least I had one parent that loved me. And believe me when I say that was enough. I never wanted to know the man who killed her, I never wanted to claim him as part of me and I still don’t. He is nothing to me and never will be. I don’t want anything from him, not even his name. I just want him to leave me alone. I want to be able to stop looking over my shoulder to find him standing there with a gun in his hand, or one of his sons standing there with a sneer on their face, screaming at me that I shouldn’t have even been born. I just want my nightmares to stop. I want my mom and grandpa back.”
Click took her hand and held it.
With a sigh, she looked up at him. “There are some of us who don’t get what we want while others just seem to take what they want. And when they do, they just turn their backs on you, leaving you laying there in the dirt, broken and bloody. You watch them until they fade away from sight. And with every step they take, you are lying there screaming for them to take notice of you.”