Chapter 23 Weakness
I’m losing it. I can’t stay here any longer. I need to get out of this place. I need to find a way to leave as soon as possible.
Those words kept circling in my head, each one tightening the grip of panic around my chest.
I looked over at Carlos. He was eating like everything was normal, like nothing in the world existed beyond the plate in front of him.
I let out a long sigh and stared at him, the disgust rising in my throat. He looked harmless, almost peaceful. But I knew better. I can see through that look on his face.
He’s not innocent. He’s something else entirely. Something I can’t figure out. And what scares me the most is how much he knows about me. The way he made Fiona and Richard leave… it felt deliberate. Like he wants me isolated. Like he wants me to be invisible and wants no one to ever see me. There’s a difference between being in danger and being convinced your own family is the threat.
Fiona and Richard are not a threat and he knows that, yet he made them leave but why exactly? What is going on with him? Why is he doing this? What does he know about me that he’s hiding me from everyone?
My mind was spiraling with so many thoughts, I was going crazy, thinking and trying to make sense of it all.
After a moment, I snapped. "So what do you know?"
He didn’t even glance at me. "What are you talking about?"
"What do you know about me, Carlos?"
He let out a tired breath like I was the burden. "I know that you’re annoying and I’m beyond done with you."
I laughed, bitter and sharp. "If you’re so done with me, then let me go. What’s stopping you? Let me walk away."
"Not going to happen. You’re staying here with me."
"Because you know something I don’t, right?"
He didn’t answer.
I leaned closer. "What do you know about me, Carlos?"
Still, he didn’t answer.
My voice rose, louder, sharper. "Carlos, talk to me. What do you know about me? What makes me so special that you’re hiding me from everything?"
Still, he said nothing. It was like I was invisible. Like I wasn’t even sitting in front of him.
Then he finally spoke. "What makes you think you’re special?"
"You’ve already made it clear that I do. The pictures. The secrecy. The way you keep me locked away. I can see it and you said it yourself, I’m valuable to you."
He scoffed "I was just bluffing."
"I don’t believe you. Honestly, I think this was all a setup from the very beginning. The day we met, you said you knew I came to see Jose. That means you already knew Fiona and Richard aren’t my real parents. Then came the pictures, which only prove you’ve been watching me for years. And now you won’t even let me see them. Put it all together, and it’s clear there’s something about me that I don’t know, but you do."
I stayed seated, leaned in slightly, and asked, "So tell me, what is it about me that makes you think I’m in danger?"
Carlos leaned back in his chair, his expression unreadable as he watched me. He didn’t speak right away. Then, with a look that bordered on suspicion, he finally said, "Sounds like you’ve been doing a bit of digging."
"Something like that," I replied. "I just want the truth. How do you know so much about me? And why did you bring me here?"
He lifted his glass and took a sip of wine. "You’re a smart woman, Nala. You can figure it out."
I pushed back my chair and stood up. "I’ve tried. I really have. But I’m done guessing. I’m losing my mind trying to piece everything together. Just tell me. What do you know about me?"
He said nothing.
I stepped closer to him. "Why did you bring me here, Carlos?"
"Figure it out. I’m a mafia king. Why would I take an ordinary woman and keep her hidden from the world?" He wiped his mouth with a napkin and rose to his feet.
As he turned and began walking away, his words echoed in my head. They lingered, sharp and heavy. And then it hit me.
I whispered to myself, "I’m not an ordinary woman."
I looked up at him. "Am I part of the mafia?"
He stopped, turned to face me, and answered, "No. But you’re in danger. And I’m going to protect you from every threat that comes your way." With that, he turned and walked out of the room.
Watching him leave only deepened the anger inside me. I knew he was hiding something. I just didn’t know what.
Later that day, I wandered through the garden, trying to clear my thoughts. Carlos sat a short distance away, silently watching me. The only reason I was even allowed outside was because he was outside and that way, he could keep an eye on me.
It’s really weird how he wants me under his gaze all of the time but gets mad at me over the littlest things as if he’s obsessed with me or something like that.
I don’t know what was wrong with him, but I know one thing for sure. I couldn’t wait to break free from whatever this is.
I walked slowly, letting my fingers graze the petals of the flowers. Normally, being in a garden gave me peace. But today, everything feels different. My mind is restless. I can’t stop thinking. Who am I, really? Why did he bring me here? What truth is he keeping from me?
Thoughts tangled and twisted in my head until they became too much. Heat rushed through my body, and my heart began to race uncontrollably. Before I could make sense of what was happening, the ground beneath me shifted. My knees gave out.
The last thing I saw was Carlos jumping to his feet, eyes wide with panic, running toward me before everything went dark.