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When I woke up in the hospital, they told me some tourists in the park had seen me and pulled me out of the water. At the time, I couldn’t remember what had happened, so they had to tell me. They said I’d been attacked, and I had only survived because the knife missed my artery. It took months for me to recover. They sent me to a facility. I did the treatments, and slowly the pieces came back to me. At first, I was too terrified to tell them. But there was one doctor I trusted. She was kind to me. She knew I wasn’t imagining things. I needed her to help me, so I told her the truth. I begged her to help me get my son back, and she promised she would. She tried talking to the police simply to see if they had ever heard of this man. She didn’t mention me, but her asking was enough. The next week, she was murdered in her bed.
I released myself from the treatment center and went to stay with a friend and her husband. He worked in tech, and he was able to dig up some information for me. That’s when I found out the man who took my baby was involved in some type of criminal network. His reach was far more powerful than mine. It seemed hopeless, and I was scared, but I couldn’t give up. My friends kept telling me it would be okay. They were trying to dig up anything they could, and then one day, they just didn’t come home. They’d been tortured and mutilated because they were trying to investigate him. He didn’t even know what they were looking for. I guess it didn’t matter to him. All I can think is they must not have told him about me. Even as he brutalized them. They died to protect me.
You wanted to know why I came here. This is why. I didn’t have any other choice. He took everything from me. He stole my innocence, took my son, and killed people I cared about. I had to do it on my own. I had to come back for him, Alessio. I just didn’t expect you to change everything. I didn’t want to care about you, but I do. I’m not telling you this because I think it will save my life because I know it won’t. I’m telling you this because if you’re going to kill me tonight, I want you to know that it was real. It was all real for me. And all I can ask is that you continue to love Nino the way I know you do. Because as crazy as it sounds, I am so grateful that it was you he ended up with. You saved him, and I know you always will. I can be at peace now, as long as he’s with you. As long as you have each other.
The story ends there, and I stare at the paper for a long time, pain radiating through my chest. The imagery of her words is scarred in my mind, and I can’t unsee it, no matter how much I want to. I can’t deny that Natalia was tortured. I knew it the moment I saw her scars. She carries the burden of that pain with her, and it enrages me that anyone could do that to her. So much of what she says makes sense. The details wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility if she were dealing with some type of underworld network. Corruption is rife, and in The Society, our reach is all-powerful. Judges, police, NSA, CIA, FBI. We have a foothold in every sector, and not just nationally. All of that isn’t difficult to believe. But there’s one glaring problem with her story. Nino is not her son. He never was, and he never could be. I know his mother. I grew up with her. The only logical conclusion I can draw is that she is mistaken. Either the trauma altered her memory of what happened to her, or her story is real, but she has the wrong child.
When I look at her, I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore, except the one thing I can’t forget. She murdered Gwen. She beat her, drowned her, and poisoned her. The agony of that reality settles over me like a dark cloud, and I can’t pardon her from the consequences of her actions. I can’t allow myself to sympathize with her when she set out to destroy me. The last words I spoke to Gwen were in anger. I had dismissed her so I could fuck Natalia. It was all I cared about at the moment, and I realize now that Gwen was right. I am just like my father.
