Chapter 218 JUST LIKE CHILDHOOD SWEETHEARTS
AURORA’S POINT OF VIEW.
My ears began to ring; my heart beat resounding like a wildly beating drum connected to megawatt speakers. I stared at mom, my eyes like saucers; the words of the journalist echoed in my mind. “No,” I whispered. I can't believe dad would……
“Armando.” Mom did not appear fazed or scared. Rather, she chuckled like someone ten steps ahead. “You son of a bitch.”
“Mom….why are you so calm right now? If Dad manages to get the court or public opinion on his side, he won't get punished. We won't get justice.” I said, my voice frantic. Mom turned to me, her hands warm on mine.
“Do you trust me, Aurora?” Her voice was soft, gentle, tender. She stared at me, those eyes that calmed me for years with only a stare. Eyes I longed to see again, even if it meant I had to give myself. “What does that have to do with anything, Mom?”
“Do you. Trust. Me, Aurora?” She repeated, this time, each word had emphasis behind it. I stared at my mom, replying without ehsistation/.
“Of course, I do. I’ll always trust you.”
“Then that is all I need.” She maintained that smile as she pulled one hand from mine. Reaching for her phone, she dialed a number. About a minute later, she said, “Silas….have you heard?... Good. We knew this was a possibility. I believe you have the necessary evidence to make this stick?.... Good; great job, Silas. I’ll talk to you later. Have them push the hearing forward. I want this over and done with yesterday.”
She fired a couple more words, her grip on her phone tight. I stared at my mother; the Everleigh Evermore….she was no longer the calm, soft woman who raised me. For years, I knew the soft, calm, gentle woman who let Armando walk all over her.
For some reason, maybe it was the betrayal of the one man she loved, she was no longer so soft or gentle. Rather, she had this hardened elegance about her. I stared at her six-inch stiletto heels, her perfectly straightened hair, the white blazer… she seemed so…powerful.
And she was.
In less than a week, she straightened things out at Vista Line Air. From what I heard, so many people were fired, suspended, or laid off. No one was spared, and anyone with so much as an affiliation with Armando? She got rid of it.
“It’s handled, Aurora.” She turned to me with a smile, bringing me out of my thoughts. I smiled, a real, genuine one, both hands on hers. “Now, let’s discuss that hypnosis thing.”
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PRESENT TIME.
“See….I told you not to worry.” Kai chuckled, his voice a low, seductive drawl in my hair. he brereathed the scent of my shampoo in, hands caressing the skin of my exposed belly softly. I had a crop top and a skirt that reached mid-thigh, my hair in a low bun.
“I can't help it. If Armando manages to get everyone on his side…” I shuddered at the thought. “I can't even believe he’s claiming insanity and that you did something to him. The video of him strangling Denise to death is all over the internet.
If anything, he should be asking for anything to get his term lessened.”
“A man like Armando…” Kai shook his head, not with pity, but with disgust. “He reminds me of Eldric, and Phillip…..Lucien and Theo’s father. Don’t worry; he’ll get what’s coming to him. He can claim insanity until he actually goes bat shit crazy. But there is a truckload of evidence piled against him by my dad, your mom, and me.
And you know what, two of us are the greatest pieces of evidence in this puzzle.”
“Because of our memories in the shed?” He nodded with a smile.
“I hate for you to remember this.”
“No, I want to. I want to remember everything that happened; I want to go back there and recognize the light I saw in you from that very first moment and breathe it in.
This isn’t about Armando….it’s about you; and me….us…..and our great love.”