Pull The Trigger; Trouble with Lies. (PTT Book 2)

Chapter Nineteen

Time had been kind to Snake. Love had cost her everything. Pain had taken everything she loved.

She stared out the kitchen window, her hands resting either side of her on the edge of the kitchen sink.

She stared out at the gloomy afternoon.

Her life had been planned for her since she was a little girl, it wasn't until her divorce from Mr Tonio that things had changed.

The love she once held was crushed to pieces beyond repairing.

The kindness she once had, struggled to show on the surface of her personality.

She had taken her pain and twisted it into cruelty.

It had cost her almost everything she ever loved.

A man she had been with since she was sixteen, a son who grew up without ever uttering the word mother or even hearing son, I love you.

A man, her parents allowed her to marry freely.

Until the curse of her childhood came back to bite her when she was in the tail end of her twenties.

Her parents thought they were doing the right thing when she had married her first husband, they thought they were doing the right thing when they met their first grandchild.

That was until the Ariovaldo's came back into her family's life. Dating back to the establishment of Australian society, her family and the Ariovaldo's had been on the same side.

Greed and Wealth together. Side by Side.

She had meet Antonio II when they were only young teens, she had no interest in a bad boy. She had no interest in a young man who took as he pleased, calling himself the King of the Playground.

Her parents loved that fate had taken Antonio II away from their lives, as he spent time behind bars.

The first thing Antonio II did when he was finally released was storm the Taylor's house, fighting for Lorraine's attention.

He had threatened to kill her first husband, he had threatened to kill her first born.

She had no choice but to be his.

She forced her ex-husband to take care of their son, telling them both to stay safe for as long as they lived.

Snake would've given anything to stay with her loving family.

That was until she had found out she was pregnant with Antonio III, the three of them played happy family. Acting as if they had always been meant for each other as lies hid beneath the surface of them both.

Than the happiness turned into bitterness, losing her second born son to the cruelness of Mr Tonio.

Snake had tried to return to her first ex-husband, but he had changed. He was still the same kind man she once knew but now, he showed signs of protectiveness. He showed signs of a man who wanted to fight.

Their attempt at reigniting their love wasn't the same, they couldn't be the once happy husband and wife they had been in their younger years. The damage had already been done.

Instead they had both agreed to care for each other in their odd little way. Together they kept a close eye on their son, together they agreed to keep their son away from this life but as their son started to grow, they knew it'd be impossible.

Instead they had forced their son to take secrets. He wasn't a messenger instead a young man who'd know everything. They taught him to never lose his poker face, they taught him to carefully spill what was needed, only when needed.

Their son had friends of his own age but only at their request.

Snake and her first ex-husband with their son bonded with the Melana's, letting Dexter Melana assist Snake with trying to keep her true identity secret while building her own empire against her second ex-husband.

Snake owed her life to the Melana's, even after the death of the Melana parents, Snake had still kept her promise by trying to protect Vera Melana.

She had forced her first ex-husband and their son to do the same.

Vera knew of the son but not of the mother, Vera had grown eerily close to the son. He even knew that Vera wasn't interested in marrying a man, he had protected Vera's secret unfortunately the young man did slip up and tell his mother the reason why Vera needed to keep herself protected.

Snake lowered her head as she felt her eyes water. She couldn't stop the tears as they rolled down her cheeks.

Even now at sixty, Snake lived with regrets. Too many regrets. Regrets that had changed the course of her life.

Greed and Wealth. Side by Side. Forever.