AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Sabrina
The shock of what I’d heard was quickly replaced by a better understanding of why my mother had been so secretive for so many years. She’d been terrified of being found.
Everyone else had been ushered from the room, allowing Diego and me some privacy with Emmanuel Santiago. Given I was a fairly good judge of character, although I was starting to even question that, I could tell the man wasn’t lying, his surprise over seeing me similar to my own reaction.
The South American dictator walked toward the window, shoving both hands in his pockets. “That was your mother’s favorite song, something she played endlessly until she got it right. It was for a recital that she was to give when she was barely sixteen. She was so excited, happy that she’d memorized every note. Sadly, it was the last time I heard her play.” His words were full of sadness.
“Why?”
“Because the event turned into tragedy. Masked gunmen entered the facility, attempting to assassinate me and my entire family, including her. She never fully recovered from the mental and emotional trauma of having my son protect her, dying in the process. I should say one of my three sons.”
“I’m sorry. She never told me anything about her family.”
“I don’t doubt it. After that, I lost the little girl who’d grown up as my daughter, only it took three more years until she walked out of my life completely.”
“Who was she?” Diego asked.
Emmanuel turned away from the window to face him. “The daughter of a good friend of mine, someone that asked me to keep her safe, someone who lost their life in a bloody battle that I was the cause of.”
“You bastard,” I said quietly, gritting my teeth.
The powerful man studied me intently but there was no anger in his expression, not that I would have given a shit. He was to blame for the events that had occurred. Diego touched my arm, but I purposely took a step away. I couldn’t be comforted now. I just needed the full truth, a story that no one had felt I needed to hear. Had he really not known how we’d lived in poverty, hungry and cold most of the time? Had he not known I existed?
“I’m very much like my son, Sabrina. I’m a cold-hearted bastard with one thing in mind. The requirement of power. I’ll do anything to get it, including sacrificing those around me if necessary, enjoying the torture of anyone who betrays me.”
“Diego is nothing like you. He’s a good man.”
When a smile crossed Emmanuel’s face from hearing my words, I shook my head, pointing my finger at him.
“You really are a bastard,” I snapped.
“That’s enough,” Diego growled from behind me. “This isn’t about pointing fingers. You deserve the truth. We all do. Which is why we’re returning to LA tomorrow to finish this charade.”
“I deserved the truth a long time ago but oh well,” I shot back.
Emmanuel threw up his hand. “She’s right, Diego. She deserved much more than finding out this way. The man who died was my friend, the only one who I could count on. We’d grown up together. Your grandfather was a good man, a decent man, completely unlike me. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time when another attack on me occurred. He died trying to protect me as my son died to protect your mother. I would do anything to bring him back and I made him a promise that I failed him with, one of two significant regrets of my life.” He lifted his gaze toward Diego, giving his son a respectful nod.
The man was haunted for real, an emotion that had plagued him for years. Well, good. He deserved it.
“I did my best raising her, providing her with everything she could ever want and need. She was my daughter. But it wasn’t enough. The life was too brutal for such an innocent soul. When she found a way out, she took it, running away with someone she didn’t really know and who in the end betrayed her as well.”
“She left with a boy.” I realized what he was saying.
He nodded several times. “She left with a young man from America, one who showered her with adoration. Gifts. Flowers. She started sneaking away from our home at night, away from the protection my compound allowed her. They fell in love and one night, she was gone. I searched for her, ready to burn down the entire country but it was too late. She chose a night I was away on business.”
“Who was he?” Diego demanded.
“It doesn’t matter at this point. The man is dead.”
The news wasn’t something I’d expected to hear. I turned away, trying to process what I’d learned. “My father left my mother, brother, and me when I was a child. I barely remember him other than his laugh.” I wasn’t certain why I was repeating what I’d heard other than that by issuing the words, I could begin to accept the truth.
“From what little I found out, he left because staying wasn’t an option. You were in danger and he tried to do the right thing, especially after the pressure he’d received from his powerful family. He was killed later.”
“By you,” Diego half whispered.
Emmanuel took a deep breath. “I’m sorry but yes, Sabrina. I gave him every opportunity to do the right thing including telling me where my goddaughter was, but he didn’t care by then. He had a new life. A new wife and child. So, he refused to tell me where to find Margarite. I was angry, furious with him. I had no other choice. The bastard stole her from me, from her privileged life, taking her into poverty because he was running like the coward he was. I didn’t know of your existence at that point, or that of your brother’s. I simply wanted to protect the little girl I’d raised.”
Swallowing hard, I walked closer, cracking my hand across his face. “How dare you. Both of you think you’re judge and jury for everyone’s life. That’s not acceptable. My mother suffered because she believed he didn’t love her any longer. She was murdered because we lived in a shithole and my brother was involved with the wrong people. She deserved better. My brother and I deserved better. Maybe if my father would have lived, he would have eventually done the right thing. Then I would have a family.” I turned toward the man I’d fallen in love with and the one I wanted nothing to do with. “I won’t live this lie, Diego. Not for you. Not for anyone. I will be returning to Alaska. And there is nothing you can do to stop me.” I walked out of the room, racing up the stairs.
