Betrayal Down Memory Lane

Epilogue: II

I felt a comforting hand on my shoulder.

Leo sighed. "Are you okay?" He asked softly.

"I'm fine." I forced myself to smile.

I turned to look at him. "Are you okay?" I lightly chuckled. "She insulted you too."

Leo scoffed, playfully rolling his eyes. "Don't worry about me. Her remark hurt, but you know I'm used to insults towards our relationship by now. You can thank the 'Runaway Girl' for that."

I giggled, shaking my head at the nickname he gave Maia. "Don't remind me of her, please."

Leo chuckled, placing his hands in his pant pockets. "Alright, well I'm gonna go inside. I'll look for a place to sit and save you a spot." Leo's eyes glanced at something behind me. "It looks like someone wants to talk to you." He whispered as he stepped back from me, turning around to walk towards the church.

I slowly turned around, seeing Christian again.

"He really was her favorite huh?" I faintly smiled.

Christian softly chuckled, lightly swinging his foot in the blades of grass.

"Yeah, she loved Danny like she didn't have another son." Christian shook his head in remembrance.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that." I sorrowfully frowned. 

Christian brushed me off. "No, it's okay," he paused. "I was okay."

Christian shrugged. "That was just the way she was. I knew she wasn't going to change."

Christian took his eyes off the ground and looked at me. "Do you mind taking a walk with me?" He held out his hand.

I smiled, taking his hand. We walked in comfortable silence until I spoke up. "Why'd your mother blame me for Danny's death?" I mumbled.

Christian sighed. "She's in denial. I listened to the message Danny left her before he died. He told her he was in a lot of trouble and I told her what that trouble was."

Christian furrowed his eyebrows. "Danny was charged with first-degree kidnapping, drug possession, and um, sexual assault."

His eyes met mine. I looked away and cleared my throat. "Go on." I said softly.

"My mother didn't want to believe me or the police. My father knew I wouldn't lie about Danny like that. She thought Danny was the golden child. In her eyes, he could never do anything wrong. She asked me why Danny was charged with sexual assault and I told her it was because he harmed you."

Christian narrowed his eyes, lightly scoffing to himself. "She said you must have provoked him to make him do anything to you."

"Oh, wow." I softly chuckled in disbelief trying to deter how hurt I was. My breath staggered as I exhaled, quickly blinking to prevent myself from crying.

Christian lightly squeezed my hand in a comforting manner. "I know. I was so angry she'd even think like that."

"She's too wrapped up in the idea of Danny being perfect. When she found out he had died so suddenly after promising he'd see her again, she didn't know what to think."

"All she knew was that he went back to the United States for you. You were the only person he wanted to be with. And when Danny eventually told her you 'left' him, she thought it made Danny so emotionally distraught, he went out of his way to put himself in danger, resulting in his death."

I scoffed. "Does your father believe her story?"

Christian chuckled, shaking his head. "No, not at all. He knows what happened to Danny. We saw the surveillance video from the gas station, we saw the dash-cam from the police cars. Danny got shot, he panicked and cried out for me."