Chapter 38 Someone else's backstory
Lina’s POV
Carlino didn’t answer.
I waited. Ten seconds. Fifteen.
But nothing.
A strange sound left my throat — not quite a laugh. “Okay. Good talk.”
“Lina—” he finally decided to speak.
“Don’t.” I held up a hand, but it shook, so I curled it into a fist. “You don’t get to say my name like you didn’t just help blow up my entire life.”
The night air felt thick, hard to breathe. My chest was tight, like someone had wrapped wire around my ribs and kept twisting.
“I was trying to protect you,” he said.
“That sentence is starting to sound like a threat,” I scoffed.
His jaw flexed. He took a step forward.
I stepped back. “No. Stay there. You don’t get to be close right now.”
That stopped him.
I wiped my face with both hands, angry that I was crying at all. “For how long did you know about this, Carlino?”
“The day I brought you to the estate, the moment father saw you, he knew. That's why he called you Dwan.”
A nervous laughter escaped my lips. “All these days, weeks, you didn't think I should know?”
“I didn’t know how to tell you.”
“That’s not your decision to make!” The words came out louder than I expected it to. My voice cracked on the last word, and I hated that he heard it.
Silence fell between us again, heavy and awkward and full of things we couldn’t fix.
“I need air,” I muttered.
“You’re already outside.”
“You know what I mean.”
He hesitated. “Five minutes, don’t go far. I'll stay where I can see you.”
I didn’t answer. I just turned and walked, fast, toward the darker end of the property. The grass was damp and cold. It soaked my feet, but I didn’t care. I needed to feel something simple. Physical. Not this… internal collapse.
You’re his blood.
A stain.
I pressed my hands over my ears like that could shut the thought out.
“No,” I whispered. “No, no, no.”
My dad wasn’t perfect. He forgot birthdays. Burned toast. Sang off-key in the kitchen.
But he was mine.
And now some monster with a tailored suit was trying to rewrite my childhood like it was a clerical error.
“Hey.”
I flinched so hard I nearly slipped.
A girl stood a few feet away, half-hidden by the trees. Dark curls, black clothes, wary expression.
“Sorry,” she said quickly. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Who are you?”
“Maris. I work with Silvio’s communications team. The old Mafia king.”
“Great. Another person who probably knows my DNA chart better than I do.”
She winced. “Yeah. Tonight sucks. Not arguing that.”
I stared at her. “Why are you here?”
“Because you ran off alone after finding out your life is a lie, and that usually leads to bad decisions.”
“I’m not planning to throw myself off a cliff or anything.”
“Didn’t say you were. But shock makes people do weird stuff.”
I looked away, hugging myself. “I’m fine.”
She snorted softly. “That’s the least convincing ‘I’m fine’ I’ve heard all year.”
Despite everything, a tiny, broken laugh slipped out of me. I slapped a hand over my mouth like I’d betrayed myself.
Maris relaxed a little. “There it is. Still human.”
“Unfortunately,” My lips twitched.
We stood there, quiet, the house lights faint through the trees.
“Does it feel different?” she asked gently.
“What?”
“Your life. Knowing.”
I swallowed. “It feels… fake. Like I’ve been living in someone else’s backstory.”
“That’ll pass.”
“You sound very sure.”
“It doesn’t pass completely,” she admitted. “But it gets less loud.”
I studied her. “You’ve been through something like this?”
She gave a half-smile. “In this world? Everyone has been through something like this.”
Footsteps approached on gravel behind us.
I stiffened automatically.
Carlino stopped several feet away. No king posture. No command in his voice.
Just tired. “Five minutes… I’m not here to force you back inside.”
“Good,” I said. “Because I’d bite.”
“I believe you.”
Maris glanced between us. “I’ll… be over there.” She retreated toward the path, giving space but not leaving entirely.
Carlino kept his distance. “You have every right to be angry.”
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Be reasonable. I need you to be at least a little bit wrong right now.”
Pain flickered across his face. “I was wrong to hide it.”
“Yes. You were.”
“I thought if Kailen never said it, you’d never have to carry it.”
“You don’t get to edit my reality because it’s inconvenient!”
“It wasn’t inconvenient. It was dangerous.”
I laughed bitterly. “Everything around you is dangerous. That’s not special.”
He had no answer for that. I dragged a hand through my hair. “Did my mom know?”
He hesitated.
That was enough.
“Oh my God,” I breathed. “She knew. Of course she knew.”
“I don’t know for sure,” he said quickly. “But the timeline—”
“Stop. I don’t want guesses. I want facts. For once in my life.”
He nodded slowly. “Then we find them.”
I looked at him sharply. “We?”
“Yes.”
“Why would you think I still trust you enough for ‘we’?”
“Because you’re still here,” he said quietly. “You didn’t leave. You didn’t get in a car and disappear.”
I opened my mouth. Closed it. I hated that he had a point. “I still haven't and won’t forgive you,” I said.
“I know.”
“I don’t even like you very much right now.”
“I know that too.”
“But I need answers,” I admitted. “And you’re standing in the middle of them whether I like it or not.”
A breath left him, almost relief. “Then we start tomorrow.”
“Not tomorrow.” I shook my head. “Now.”
“It’s past midnight.”
“Congratulations. Trauma doesn’t run on office hours.”
For the first time, the corner of his mouth twitched. Not a smile. Just… recognition. “Okay,” he said. “Now.”
Maris looked up. “You want files, I can get files.”
I blinked at her. “You just carry people’s secret parentage around?”
“Digitally, yes.”
Despite everything, I let out a shaky breath that almost felt like a laugh. Carlino gestured toward the house. “Inside. We’ll use the study.”
I froze.
That room. That table. That lie-filled air.
“No,” I said. “Not in there.”
He stopped immediately. “Okay. Library, then.”
“Better.”
We started walking back together, not touching, space between us that felt bigger than the yard.
Halfway to the house, I slowed. “What if he’s lying?” I asked quietly.
“Kailen?”
I nodded. “What if this is just another way to mess with me?”
Carlino’s expression darkened. “Then we prove him wrong. With evidence. And also prove my father wrong.”
“And if he’s right?”
His gaze held mine. Steady. Unflinching.
“Then we deal with that too.”
Easy for him to say. His parents weren’t turning into strangers overnight. We reached the back steps. Light spilled across the grass.
I stopped again.
A memory tugged at me. Faint. Old. A man’s laugh. Not my dad’s. Lower.
Warmer.
Gray eyes.
A silver watch glinting when he lifted me into the air as a kid. I went still.
“Lina?” Carlino asked.
“I…” My throat felt tight. “I think I remember someone.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know. A man who used to visit when my dad was ‘at work.’ I thought he was just a friend.”
Carlino’s posture shifted. Alert now. Focused. “Do you remember his name?”
I shook my head slowly. “But I remember his eyes.”
A cold feeling spread through my chest.
“They were the same color as Kailen’s.”
Silence fell between us.
Not shocked. Not confused. Recognizing.
Suddenly I wasn’t sure if I wanted the truth anymore — because it was starting to feel less like a possibility… and more like a memory coming back to life.