Leroy Kingston.
He is dangerous. He is ruthless and he craves revenge.
As a mafia boss, he's used to simply taking lives out without even blinking. Why didn't it work with Katrina? Was it the fear in those sky-blue eyes that made him start thinkin...
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The next morning I feel much more comfortable in my skin after a long time. I am awake while Leroy is still in a deep sleep and take advantage of the moment to go for a walk before he wakes up again.
I don't think he would have any objections after I was able to go out yesterday either, but since you can never be sure with him, I rather hurriedly go about my wish and am back before he opens his eyes.
But just as I turn to leave the room, he opens his eyes, which I can still see in the corner of my eye.
"Morning," I murmur caught and blush. Leroy yawns and stretches out his arms before he stops and looks at me - his eyes narrowed into slits.
"Where are you going?" he inquires irritably as he takes a closer look at my clothes. I bite my lower lip and shrug slightly.
"Walking again," I reply in a whisper, seeing very clearly how something changes in his gaze, but I can't explain what it is. I'm just wondering why he's looking at me like that....
"Okay. Don't stay away too long."
I stumble and tear my eyes open for a moment, but hastily get myself back under control.
Did he really just say I could leave? Again?
"Take the phone with you. You were going to call your parents, weren't you?"
Now it's getting weird.
I frown and slowly walk toward him. He has his hand outstretched, in which lies a black phone, which I now slowly take hold of.
My heart is pounding, because I'm afraid he's about to grab my wrist before he breaks my arm, only to laugh in my face about what I'm thinking, but that doesn't happen. He actually lets me take the phone.
Then he gets up and disappears into the bathroom, ignoring me.
Swallowing, I look down at the small, square device in my hand and back at the bathroom door behind which he has disappeared. Hadn't he said to me that I could only use the phone in his presence? And now? There he is just letting me go out alone with a phone?
Knowing that I could notify the police or anyone else, no. That's not Leroy Kingston. He lacks the quality of trusting someone and that is now what makes my stomach hurt the most.
He is up to something and I have no idea what it could be.
☼ ❅
"Hey Mom," I greet her as soon as I take a seat on a bench in the park and she picks up.
"Katrina?" she calls out in surprise before it stays quiet for a moment. Then I hear her sob. "Honey," she whispers and I bite my lower lip as I get goosebumps from her voice.
Slowly but surely, tears accumulate in my eyes. God, how I've missed her!
"I've missed you so much," she says in a hushed voice, just as I'm thinking the exact same thing.
"I've missed you so much too, Mom. How are you? And how's Dad? Have you seen Tara in the last few days?" I ask one question after the other and blink away the tears. At least I try, because the more she tells me, the stronger the feeling of longing becomes.
"And yes, I spoke to Tara a few days ago, I met her in the supermarket. She's fine, but she misses you a lot. Telling her more might not be such a bad idea, sweetheart. She has a lot of questions and rightly so. Think about it, Rina."
Deeply I breathe in the cool, pleasant wind and nod to myself. Mom's right. I need to talk to Tara and tell her everything or I might even lose my best and only friend.
"I'll call her soon."
"That's good. I think she needs you. She looked so incredibly tired somehow. I guess her brother Kian is still giving her a lot of trouble, isn't he?"
"I'm sure he does. He's always been responsible for the bags under her eyes," I whisper worriedly. I'm sure her brother has done something again, something not so easy to sort out. My heart tightens at the thought. Of all times, I can't be there for Tara now, when she needs me so much.
"I'll go visit her sometime in the days and give her your regards."
"That would be great, Mom. Thanks," I smile and wait patiently for her reply before taking a deep breath, after all, I want to bring up something now that she might be sensitive to. "I have something else to ask you."
"Then ask me, darling," she prompts me and her tone lets me know she is smiling. I hesitate, saying the sentence several times in my head before I say it.
"Are you my biological mother?", I ask her in a whisper, squeezing my eyes tightly shut as if I could escape the truth that way. There is silence on the other end of the line at first, but then I hear Mom draw in her air sharply.
"Yes, of course. Where did you come up with that question?" Her voice trembles as if she knows what is about to follow.
"And is Dad my biological father too?"
Again there is silence for quite a while. I continue to keep my eyes closed.
"No," she murmurs. No matter how hard I try to pull myself together, the burning at the roots of my nose makes it clear that I can't escape the tears now, and this time I don't try.
"I'm so sorry, I wanted to tell you, but..."
"But what, Mom?"
"It was so hard," she whispers hoarsely. She has started to cry again. "He loves you, like his own child, he always has. I didn't want anything to change between you two and I thought the truth was irrelevant, but then you were taken and I knew Leroy was going to tell you things you had no idea about and I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Rina! I should have told you all this from the beginning," she sobs quietly. I can hear the remorse in her words.
"Who is my biological father, Mom?" is the only thing I say. I don't want to hear excuses, it doesn't change the fact that this is the way it is now. There's no point in being angry and I don't want to be. I just want to know the truth and not be the fool next to Leroy anymore.
"Your biological father was a terrible man. The leader of a mafia. He had many enemies and after he was badly hurt once, I ran away with you. I couldn't risk you being harmed and he simply wasn't capable of protecting us, that was proven several times," she now tells me and I listen silently to her words, soaking them in and going over them several times in my head so as not to forget a single detail.
"Who is Don César?" I ask. My voice sounds dull and a little throaty. Yet there is no emotion in it. Mom immediately stutters as she tries to explain to me who this man is. "Mom," I sigh. "I know I was promised to him."
"I didn't want you to ever know. I didn't want any of this, honey," she whispers.
I shrug, but then realize she can't see it at all.
"I know."
At first, I think of Leroy's security man, but then I remember that he is much too young to be my father and besides, that would be unrealistic since he works for Leroy. So I nod slowly.
"And what was his relationship to Charles Richards?" I ask.
"I don't know who that's supposed to be, dear," my mother replies and I close my eyes in disappointment. I wish she could have given me an answer to that.
"Okay, and how was he with Leroy? Did he ever have anything to do with Leroy's father?" I ask.
Again there is silence before I hear her exhale.
"Honey, he... he murdered Leroy's mother," she replies and I freeze.
