Chapter 119 Bleeding Petals
❦ Rosalind ❦
I pushed away from Claudia and took a necessary step backward.
She covered her mouth with both hands, her eyes wide and shimmering with tears.
My ears roared with disbelief.
“You knew?” I gasped. My voice broke. The floor felt unstable beneath me. “All this time… you knew?”
She turned away, trembling and hiding behind her hands. But I followed her, needing to see her face to confirm it. The horrible thing she was confessing.
“And you let me believe it was an accident? That she just… was gone? And not by the hands of the man who signed me off like property? How could you?” I accused.
Claudia faced me again, her weathered face was pale and wet. “You weren’t supposed to find out…”
“Not supposed to find out?” I laughed bitterly. “She was my mother. My mother! And he… he took her. And you… you let me live years believing that lie!”
Anger and grief warred in my chest.
“Everything I did, every choice I made, was built on a lie.”
I’d put myself in danger, denied myself freedom, all for a crime and an elaborate scheme to keep me in the dark.
Claudia reached for me, but I stepped back again.
“Stop. I’m not a child. The moment I walked in, you should’ve told me. Warned me. Anything!”
“Your father loved you…” she whispered.
“Love?!” I cut her off. “His love ruined my life. It took my mother from me!”
She opened her mouth again, but I silenced her with a harsh whisper.
“I will never forgive you. Leave.”
She tried to plead, but I shook my head.
“Leave. Now. I don’t need disloyal, secretive people around me. Please leave before I call security.”
Claudia hesitated, and I clenched my jaw resolutely.
Then, slowly, she turned and left.
I sank into the nearest chair, the house heavy and pressing in on me from all sides.
Time stretched and blurred. It was hard to tell how many minutes, hours, had passed.
Then, finally, I heard the quiet roll of a luggage box across the floor.
I swallowed, sensing Claudia behind me.
“Non lasciare che il tuo passato ti definisca, Rosa.” (Don’t let your past define you, Rosa). She whispered gently.
“None of this is your fault.”
I didn’t answer as tears slid down my cheeks unchecked.
“I love you,” she murmured.
Her footsteps faded.
The click of the door closing made my chest tighten.
My anger surged, and I jumped up and locked the door.
Loneliness hit immediately after though, a hollow echo in the pit of my stomach that almost made me call her back. But I didn’t.
Instead of wallowing, I decided to enjoy existing in isolation for the first time in a while. It was just me in the house.
So I cranked the music to full volume, letting it drown the emptiness I felt. I cooked a meal, not even tasting it as I ate just for the motion of it. For the semblance of normalcy.
Then I packed my belongings, taking a few of my mother’s last precious things that Aunt Carina hadn’t claimed yet. A tiny gold locket with her faded portrait and a lock of hair inside. A red lace handkerchief my father had always adored.
I held them for a moment, pretending I could still catch a whiff of my mother’s lilac perfume even though it had long faded.
I sat by the window afterward, staring at the sun bleeding into the horizon, feeling hollow and detached.
My phone pinged.
I checked to see that it was Dante. Asking if he should come over.
I typed back: ‘No. It’s fine. I’m fine. But thank you.’
I hit send, and at that exact moment, the doorbell rang.
I froze.
Viktor?
My stomach twisted at the thought, but I shook my head. If he hadn’t chased me down since everything, then he wasn’t going to.
He had gotten what he wanted. The hotel. His memory restored. There was no more need for pretense. No need for me.
Yes, he’d fallen for me when he didn’t know who he was, but now? Who knew if he was even the same man I briefly experienced.
I didn’t want anyone here. Not even him.
But the ringing didn’t stop.
I stood up angrily, intending to answer and send whoever it was packing, politely or otherwise.
I unlocked the door, yanked it open, and the doorway was instantly filled with flowers.
Dozens of roses packed with a deep red bow, their sweet scent permeating the air.
They spilled everywhere, obscuring the person behind them.
My chest tightened as they dropped the bouquet just enough for me to see the face behind.
My fingers tightened on the edge of the door.
My heart stuttered.
Not the thrilling kind, but a cold, heavy thud, like the floor had vanished beneath me.