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As we stand there, broken and battered, the chasm between us seems to widen. Still, however slim, there’s a chance that this revelation might be a bridge to something else. This truth could dismantle the bitterness and hatred that has consumed us both.
My heart flutters erratically as I absorb the revelation. “So you called the boss,” I whisper, the words heavy with both accusation and trepidation.
She nods slowly, a sardonic smile playing at the corners of her lips. “Guess who planned to help us.”
A sense of foreboding grips me. “Who?” I inquire, my voice trembling slightly.
“Cameron Casso,” she whispers with glee, her eyes gleaming with sinister delight. “So imagine my surprise when, years later, you move in next door. You can’t believe that was a coincidence.”
My mind races to connect the dots. How did she know? The answer dawns on me, stark and obvious. If my biological father orchestrated their salvation and welcomed them into the Bonanno family, Jani would undoubtedly have been privy to the details.
She snorts derisively, her amusement evident. “Your father is quite the chatty drunk,” she remarks. “My Joey never came home. I had to endure life in that horrible small town, fated to wed the man who took away the one I loved.”
Despite the hostility between us, my heart can’t help but ache for her. Life dealt her a cruel hand, and somehow, I find a glimmer of understanding in her choices, but then a chilling realization seizes me.
“Why Milo?” I whisper, the weight of the question almost suffocating.
Her gaze narrows, her expression unapologetic. “Do you think convincing child protective services to relinquish him was easy?” Her words add an unbearable burden to the heaviness in my chest. “Cameron had his eyes on him since the day of the accident. Milo is my payment for a new life.”
A child.
I can only stare at her in abject horror, my jaw hanging open as the depth of her betrayal and cruelty unfurls before me.
The weight of Jani’s revelation hangs over us like a suffocating anchor, dragging me deeper into the abyss of darkness. Her vendetta, born from a desperate yearning for a life unjustly taken from her, has now ensnared Milo, an innocent and pure soul, in its vengeful whirlwind.
“How could you involve an innocent child in this vendetta?” I rasp out, my voice trembling as anger and sorrow collide within me.
“Desperation makes people do unthinkable things,” she retorts coldly, showing no remorse for her reckless endangerment of an innocent life.
My gaze drifts toward the window, where the relentless rain continues to pour. It feels as if the heavens weep for the pain and tragedy unfolding beneath their watchful gaze.
“Tell me where he is. Let him go,” I plead, my voice reduced to a mere whisper, shattered by the unbearable weight of the truth.
Jani shakes her head, her eyes devoid of any trace of remorse. “Not until I’m certain my freedom is secured.”
My blood boils, and an overpowering desire to protect Milo fuels my rage, but I can’t let anger guide me. I must find a way to resolve this without causing further harm.
“Let me help you find a way out, a path to break free from this life,” I implore, desperately trying to appeal to whatever remnants of friendship may still reside within her.
“No,” she mutters, her voice wavering as if she’s battling inner demons. “No. Stop trying to save me.” She shakes her head, a mix of defiance and resignation in her eyes. “It took me years to find you. You had to go and disappear, traveling nonstop. It took forever to track you down, and when I finally did, it didn’t take much to get you fired and slip a little brochure into your purse.” Her words drip with a perverse sense of pride, as though she relishes having outsmarted me. “You drove straight to Lenora, thinking it was your own idea. The power of the mind is astonishing. One glimpse of paradise, and you stumbled right into it.”
A bitter taste rises in the back of my throat. All this time, I believed I ended up in Lenora by chance. Now I realize it was orchestrated from the very beginning.
“I tried to help you, you know,” she continues, moving closer to me. “I got you papers and a new ID. You never bothered to look through the folder, did you?”
I gently shake my head in denial.
“You should have,” she taunts, a cruel smile twisting her lips. “Only you had new papers. Only you had a one-way ticket out of here. Just you. He didn’t want you anyway.” Her words sting like a viper’s bite as she mocks me, reveling in her calculated manipulation.
I never needed my biological father anyway. Sam was the only father figure I ever needed.
“Don’t brandish a gun if you lack the guts to pull the damn trigger,” a venomous voice hisses from behind, and cold metal digs into my neck. As the words slither through the air, Jani smirks, glancing over my shoulder at the person behind me.
My grip on the gun tightens, my finger itching against the trigger, as I contemplate the boundaries of morality and vengeance.
I don’t require her to identify the person standing behind me. Deep down, I already know.
“I never thought I’d find love again,” Jani sneers at the man behind me, her face contorting into an expression of malicious delight. “Yet here we are.”
