Chapter 36

“My parents treated me poorly, Melissa,” she sobbed. “They wished to have a son instead. They mistreated me my whole life and saw me only as a means to jump the ladder of society by marrying me off to someone influential. And I… I fell in love with my chauffeur.”

Sounds familiar.

“When they found out about that, they told me that I was useless trash that would disgrace our family. So, I married the man they had chosen for me who treated me like trash my whole life, too.” She burst out in tears. “I stayed by his side because I let them all make me believe that I was worthless.”

I felt that. Too hard. “I’m sorry.” I let out a heavy breath.

“I left your father, Melissa.” She wiped the tears from under her eyes. Suddenly, she seemed empowered.

I couldn’t hide my surprise. I scanned her face carefully, searching for confirmation that it wasn’t a joke.

“I left him months ago and have been searching for you. I have hired a detective. I wanted to find you. All this time…”

“What happened that you finally made that step?”

“I…” She hesitated as if the words were too heavy to speak. “I found out the truth about what happened in the past.” Her gaze became dark.

“What do you mean?” My brows furrowed.

“Cedric…” She was trembling. “He raped Rose.”

She fell to her knees, desperately crying, covering her face with her hands. I rushed to her, pulling her in an embrace. I didn’t know what to say. I was shocked. My father was a monster. The worst kind. I was disgusted that his blood ran through my veins.

“But it wasn’t the worst part,” my mother choked the words out of her.

“What do you mean?” The hair stood on my skin. Was there anything worse than abusing a woman like that? A woman who was happily married, a woman who had a son. A wife and a mother.

“Rose didn’t overdose.” My mother sobbed so hard I could hardly understand her.

“What do you mean she didn’t? Then what happened?” I cupped my mother’s face in my hands and looked into her eyes. They seemed so numb and deadly.

“Cedric, he couldn’t stand her rejection, the fact she was expecting Chuck’s second baby, that she was happy with him.”

“And?” I insisted, my hands shaking and cold chills sweeping through my body.

“He couldn’t stand she wasn’t his. He didn’t want any other man to have her, especially not Chuck, his rival.”

“So? What did he do? What happened, Mom?”

“He forced her to take the pills. He killed her.”

A cold chill ran down my spine.

“That’s one more reason for me to kill that piece of shit,” Chuck’s deadly hiss rumbled from behind.

I turned to face the door where he was standing, dressed all in black, exactly in the same manner as Anderson who stood beside his side, arming himself with a weapon.

I stood up, staring at Chuck. His eyes blazed with lethal darkness.

“Why didn’t you kill him all these years ago?”

Chuck’s brow twitched slightly as if with surprise. I couldn’t blame him. I couldn’t believe I actually asked this question out loud myself.

“Rose left me a letter,” his voice trembled. “Explaining she had an affair with Cedric and carrying his child.”

My eyes narrowed.

“Deep down, I’ve always known it couldn’t be the truth. We loved each other.” His eyes filled with so much pain. “I knew Rose wouldn’t have done that, but I suppose, I wanted to know for sure. To know the truth.” He secured the gun in his belt underneath the black jacket. “A son of an old friend of mine, Sergio Suarez, contacted me and thanks to his help, my soldiers were able to track Sebastian.”

“What?” I ran towards Chuck, my heart racing. “Where is he?”

“In one of Moretti’s hideouts in Miami. With Charles, the leader of the Moretti family, and your father.”

My heart dropped to my stomach. I felt dazed. “What does my father have to do with it?”

Chuck’s eyes flickered between mine. “We have old scores to settle. We’re leaving. We’ll bring my son back, even if it’s the last thing I’ll do in my life.”

I didn’t understand why, but it sounded like a goodbye to me. I had an unpleasant chill sweep down my spine and an unsettling coldness enveloped me.

“I’m coming with you,” my mother’s voice reached me.

I turned to face her, a shock and confusion painting my face, as so did Chuck’s and Anderson’.

“I have to face Cedric. I have to face him for the last time.” She spoke with so much anger and hatred it made me shiver.

“Celine, it’s too dangerous. We might all die there,” Chuck stated calmly as if death meant nothing to him.

“I don’t care. I have to, Chuck. I have to.” She pleaded through her pain and rage.

Chuck didn’t reply. He reached out for one of the guns from the back of his belt and handed it to my mother. Goosebumps raised on my skin and my breathing quickened.

“I’m coming too,” I said without thinking. My gaze wandered toward Chuck who looked at me with some sort of approval in his eyes.

“Sebastian would never forgive me if something happened to you, Melissa. You must stay here.”

“But—”

“For Angel.” He placed his hand on my elbow, squeezing it gently. “You must protect your daughter.”

I nodded in agreement. I didn’t want to allow this thought even to cross my mind, but the darkest scenario that Sebastian might die kept coming back somewhere in the back of my mind. I would die for him. I would give my life so he could live. I also knew that his life was Angel, and I had to stay to protect her. So that our daughter wouldn’t grow up without both parents.

Chuck signaled his waiting men, and with one last, “Tell Elle that I love her.” He left, Anderson, and the men followed.

My mother approached me hesitantly, putting her shaking hand on my cheek and caressing it with caution. Her eyes were still watery and her voice a breaking whisper, “I’m so sorry, my daughter. I’m sorry I realized my mistakes too late. Will you ever forgive me, Melissa?”

I wanted to tell her so many things. I wanted her to know all the pain she caused me. I wanted to scream and cry. Tell her how badly I missed having a mother. A shoulder to lean on when I needed to. Her love. Mother’s love that can be compared to nothing. I wanted to tell her how she screwed me up, how she screwed up as a mother. How, now, when I was a mother myself, I despised her even more, because now I knew, I’d do anything for my daughter. At the same time, I wanted to hug her and hold her close. Tell her that from now on, everything will be okay and that we can still repair the damage done. That I missed her, and I want her to be a grandmother to my child. I did neither. I couldn’t bring myself to speak. I just stared numbly at her while a tear dripped down my face, she wiped it with her trembling finger as she nodded and left.

The same coldness as when Chuck left enveloped my body. A shiver swept down my back the same way. Again, that felt like a goodbye.