Chapter 35

Aron Curry narrating:

"It's right here Aron, highlighted in the document your father handed me before he was killed. The mafia belongs to Jason as much as it does to you, all the property you inherited also belongs to Jason, there's a clause right here, he ordered you to do it together." Tommaso said, handing me the document my father had signed before he was killed.

"Are you kidding me? Are you saying that I'm going to have to live with Jason under the same roof as me? Under the same roof as Laura, after he went to Warsaw to hand her over to the head of the German mafia, after he went after Samantha to get her to help him destroy me? Jason wanted me dead, and I'm going to have to look at his face as he parades with his arrogance down the same corridor as me, wondering what his next plan is, Lara, to get me out of his way." Rudely, I shouted as I punched the table so that I wouldn't hit Jason in the neck with the fury that was coursing through me.

"Well, it was Daddy's request, little brother, maybe you were wrong or didn't play your part so well when you tried to make him hate me enough to favor only you."

"I'm going to kill you." I shouted in Jason's direction, but Tommaso grabbed my arm.

"It's no use killing him, or trying to run away from the legacy your father left you, if Jason loses the mafia you lose too, everything you achieve belongs to Jason too, that's how it will be. Even a media file that your father recorded." Tommaso.

"What if I don't want to?"

"Following the legacy is an order, if you lose the mafia, you'll also lose your life." Tommaso said to me in a cold way. "There's no point in looking at me with these eyes of refusal, I don't know who your father left with the mission of making this legacy prevail, but someone is responsible so that you don't allow his wishes not to be obeyed. "

Laura Brando narrating:

Walking from one side of the room to the other, I could feel the atmosphere outside by listening to the screams. Standing there wondering what to do made me feel like my life was a movie, I was outside the screen, watching without being able to do anything, I was tired of Aron always deciding where I should go, what I should do. My suitcases are packed, today was supposed to be the day I would leave once and for all, knowing who I am, but instead I find myself realizing that there's nothing left out there for me, there's no one left and I no longer have the desire to start again.

I went downstairs and stood behind the living room door, I just wanted to hear something that would make me understand what was going on.

"You almost killed her, Jason, do you realize what you were about to do?" I heard Aron shouting in rage, punching the wall.

"No, don't come for a blame that's not mine. Laura is in this situation now because you put her up to it, does she know that you were following her day and night? That you were always lurking under her bedroom window like a dog without a master, seeing what else you could manipulate so that her paths would meet yours? But when they didn't, you kidnapped her..." Jason's shouts made me sink further against the wall, as if the impact of his words were pushing me against it.

"Don't say what you don't know, you fucking hypocrite..." The noise coming from the bottles smashing against the floor startled me, showing the fury Jason was facing

"Am I the fucking hypocrite here? Or are you the hypocrite who made her mother become an addict?"

I was so shocked by the words I heard coming out of Jason's mouth that I couldn't just stand behind the wall and listen to it all, it's my life they were shouting about, it's about me. I stepped out from behind that wall and simply stood frozen until Aron's eyes met mine, until Aron saw that I was there and was overcome with the despair of knowing that I had discovered something terrible in the worst possible way.

"Is that why you had such a romantic dinner? To tell me you were my mother's dealer?" I asked Aron.

"Laura... please Laura, let's talk, let me explain things to you." Aron came towards me holding my arms and speaking in a desperate way as if he couldn't even find the words.

"Don't touch me... that's why I didn't want her to see you, why you let me travel alone. I didn't want her to remember the guy who sold her drugs. What were you planning to do, Aron? Were you watching me? What kind of madman are you, following me around while you make my mother an addict? I can't deal with this..." I desperately hoped that saying everything out loud would make me understand.

"You heard everything. You know that I was ready to tell you Laura, that I was going to tell you everything today. You know how hard it was for me to have to admit all the shit I've done..."

"All the shit you've done, and you still talk as if it wasn't your fault, you want to blame Aron? You made my life a living hell when you paid Edgar to love me, when you made me spend all these years unable to forgive my mother because she cheated on my father and became an addict, leaving me alone. The man I loved was a lie because of you... My mother is an addict because of you..." He slapped Aron's chest as he screamed.

"Have you known about Edgar all this time?" Aron's tone of voice changed, as if I'd been lying to him all this time. Which infuriated me.

"I know... I know because I met him, I looked into his eyes and he told me. I didn't tell you anything, because I decided to help Jason destroy you, while I fell more and more in love with him and opened the pit that I'm now ready to throw you into, Aron." The words that came out of my mouth sought to anger Aron, to hurt him. "You destroyed my life. Now can you tear the drugs off the paper and give me the car keys so I can get out of here once and for all, and try to pick up the pieces you broke?" I said to Aron while Jason looked at me as if he wanted to run and hold my world together once again.

I couldn't stay locked in that war of discovery about Aron while Jason's eyes kept on me. Turning my back, I ran up the stairs, hearing Aron's footsteps right behind me as my tears flowed.

"Laura let's talk please, I wanted to tell you everything, you know that..."

"I don't want to know anymore, I don't want to know what you would do, you had all this time to tell me, but it's over Aron, I can't take it anymore, I can't take it anymore. Regardless of whether it was you who told me the truth, nothing would change, nothing would change for the simple fact that I'm just sure how sick you are, standing under my bedroom window, manipulating my ways just so that I'll love you? What more can I expect from you?"

"No, Laura, it's not that..."

"What did you intend to do after my mother was hospitalized? Go and save the orphan girl? Did you want me to see you as my hero and fall in love? Just let me go."

"I'm sorry Laura... but I can't."

Aron told me, and as if I had a black cloud over my eyes I couldn't see anything else, only feel my body crashing to the ground.