His Greatest Redemption [REUPLOADED]

44

I appreciated Nico staying, because I wasn't really comfortable being confined in a room with the woman who, essentially, gave me up to Salvatore.

"I'm really sorry you had to meet me this way...under these circumstances." She paused, running her hands down her dress. "And I know you have a lot of questions, ones I do intend to answer honestly. That's the least I can do." Her eyes went over her shoulder, to Nico who was watching her with his arms crossed over his chest.

She looked back at me, exhaling deeply. "When I had Nico, I created a plan. I was going to take my son and run, go far away and never look back. I wasn't yet familiar with how our world spun and I thought I had a chance. The thing with Nico's father started out as an innocent one night stand. I got pregnant and Sebastian suggested marriage. My parents thought it was the right thing to do at the time." Her voice got quieter before she cleared her throat and took a deep breath. "They thought he would protect me."

Moving her hair behind her ear, she continued. "I love my children, but marrying that monster was the biggest mistake of my life. Sebastian was a liar, a cheat, and a manipulative bastard. Everything was okay in the beginning, because I had yet to see the ugliness of what being married to a Made Man was like. But when I finally got a glimpse, I was horrified. Sebastian paraded me around like I was his whore instead of the mother to his child."

She wiped her hands together in a nervous gesture, as if trying to decipher her next words. "The night I met your father, Salvatore, I was..." Madison swallowed thickly, her eyes glossing over. "I wasn't in a good state. It was the night of the Capo's birthday party, and Sebastian had ditched and told me to stay in the living room like I was his dog. I was almost always obedient, I did what I was told without any questions, just not when I was high."

"I was going through so much that I was desperate for something to numb me and I ended up wandering the house in search for the bathroom so that I could finish the rest of the...cocaine I had, when your father cornered me. I think he was drunk and assumed I was a hooker. I really don't know. But he raped me that night."

The strings attached to my heart felt like it they were tugging and squeezing until I couldn't take it anymore. From the doorway, I could see Nico tensing up, but I didn't dare look at him.

Madison continued before I could form any words, "I found out I was pregnant with you a few weeks later. At first, I kept quiet about it. I didn't know what to do. When I thought about having another kid, I was reminded that I'd have to share something with the man who raped me, and the idea made me sick." She shook her head.

"But the more time I spent thinking over my options, the more time I had to fall in love with you. I realized just how innocent you were in all of it, and I wanted to protect you with every bit of my life. You and him." She pointed to Nico, who's jaw was clenched so tightly that I thought the muscle would pop.

"I knew I couldn't share with anyone that I was pregnant because the risk was too high. I was going to doctor's appointments on my own while Sebastian was out doing god knows what, but I didn't care at that point. And then when I found out you were a girl, I was ecstatic. My little girl would have a big brother to protect her..." She smiled sadly.

"But Sebastian found out soon enough, and he took all that away from me. He knew you weren't his. I had refused to let him touch me months before I had got pregnant, and at that point, he wasn't below raping me yet." She fidgeted with her clutch.

"I told him what happened with Salvatore. He didn't believe me, and if he did, he pretended like he didn't. Since I was too far into my pregnancy to have an abortion, he told me I had to give you up and when I refused, he threatened Nicolas. You have to understand I didn't have a choice. I was heartbroken, but I knew Sebastian. He didn't bluff. Nico was innocent, too."

I leaned back against the headboard of the bed and exhaled, trying to get my frantic heart to slow.

"When I gave birth to you, I held you for less than ten seconds before you were taken from me and given to who I assumed was Salvatore's wife. I lost a fraction of my soul that day. And while I went on to have Eli and Ronan, I never once didn't think about you." A tear slid down her face and she wiped it away with the back of her hand.

"I know I don't deserve even a nick of your time, but I just wanted you to know the truth. And it breaks my heart to know you suffered so much...that I couldn't protect you. I know you have a lot of love around you, and it makes me happy to know that all my children are together again." She smiled sadly.

Tears stung the corners of my eyes but I didn't dare let them drop. Too many people had gotten my tears. Hearing what she had to go through broke my heart, but most of all, knowing that she'd been raped...and not just by Salvatore, it made me feel so low. I was the production of a rape.

I felt sick to my stomach.

"That man that was in here earlier...is he your husband?" I asked lowly, keeping my eyes trained on her whiskey colored ones.
Madison smiled, her gaze softening. "He is. Jonathan was a blessing I didn't deserve. I failed all of my children as a mother and because of that, you suffered greatly as a child and even now as a young adult. I'll never be over that guilt, but Jonathan makes me...better. I don't feel like the worst human on the planet when I'm with him."

I nodded, as if I understood, but I wasn't really hearing her. How could Madison even look at me after knowing how I came to be?

"Will you be at the funeral?" I asked, not looking at her.

"Yes. If you don't want-"

"That's ridiculous. I don't have a say on who doesn't get to come to Amo's funeral. That's...I wouldn't dare." I cut her off, shaking my head. "I'd like to get to know you." There was a pause. Eventually." I added.

"I'll take whatever you give me, Sam." She said my name slowly, a small frown pulling at her lips. "I wish he would've kept the name I chose."

"What name?" Nico finally spoke up, his voice cold and stoic.

"Lilith." She glanced over her shoulder at him, then back to me. "It was the name I gave to you before Salvatore took that away from me, too. Your name was Lilith Samantha Haynes. I found out that he changed it to Samantha Lilith Cavallaro."
Dread overwhelmed me yet again.

I wasn't always a Cavallaro.

I was a Haynes once upon a time.

Madison turned to Nico and then swallowed hard. "Well I'll see you guys at the funeral." And then she exited the room, leaving so much of a load behind her that I could barely think straight.

"Are you okay?" Nico asked, his voice void of any human emotions.

"I'm going to have to be or it'll consume me." I shrugged, running my hands over the hem of Spade's shirt that was practically drowning me. "What's a Lost Girl, Nico?"

He sighed. "A woman in the Cosa Nostra who isn't married or promised to anyone. It's fucking stupid, but until they get a place in our world as someone's wife or...in Madison's case, someone's mom, they're considered Lost."

"You're right, that is fucking stupid." I murmured.

It was silent for a beat before Nico spoke up again.

"I don't know why, but for some reason I've got the idea that you think you aren't strong, or that somehow all this shit is your fault. It isn't. You've lived through darkness and you did it on your own. You did it without having anyone there to save you. You're stronger than you give yourself credit for." He paused. "But you won't be going through shit else on your own."

"You and my brothers are my blood, but Spade and the rest of those fuckers are chosen family. We're a unit, we're your family, and we protect family." His voice was hard and stoic, but I knew he meant every word.

I felt my eyes sting with tears.

Nico looked away and stepped out ot of the room, shutting the door behind him.