Ruins of Autumn

33• I Am Lying To You.

    "Hello, Leonora."
 
    She furrowed her eyebrows at the stranger's exaggerated polite smile and slowly approached her husband, who gave her a very tense look.
 
    "I just told Blerimi that I am Anila Idrizaj's friend, and he forthwith understood who I was talking about."
 
    "What's going on?" Leonora didn't appreciate Diana's irony at all. She was only getting negative energy from her. "Who are you?"
 
    "Honey, you should ask who Anila Idrizaj is if you still don't know the truth, of course," Diana added suspiciously, doubting that maybe she was right in that guess. The calmness and stoic features of Leonora's face couldn't be explained otherwise. 
 
    "You have mistaken the address," Leonora said flatly. "We don't know what you're talking about."
 
    "No, you know very well, but you pretend like you don't know. But if it's true that you don't, then I will tell you."
 
    "I don't care. I don't want to know anything from you," Leonora replied in a rough voice, not wanting to risk that the stranger would tell her a lie and she could fall prey to her game. Blerimi would tell her, when they were alone, what the matter was. He wouldn't lie to her. "Get out of here, or I'll call the police."
 
    "Now I'm getting confused," said Diana. "I can't understand if you are aware or not. Well, it's easy to find out. Anila Idrizaj is the woman your husband raped over three years ago." She looked for Leonora's reaction and was surprised by the static on her face. Had she realised who she was and what hidden purpose she had for them? "Anila has tried all those times to kill herself because of you!" Diana returned to Blerimi to add more fuel to the fire. "And this is what you have always wanted, haven't you? To ruin her life and get rid of her afterward. Why did you kill her brother, Amarildo? Was it because she threatened you that she would go to the police?"
 
    "That's not true." Blerimi looked at his wife, who only glanced at him, and Diana realised that Leonora had fallen into the trap of complete trust in her husband. 
 
    "You have known," she looked at Leonora in disbelief and disappointment at her reaction. "Despite all the evidence that has been shown to you, you keep staying by his side? Shame on you! You are a woman, yourself!" She threw all the bile of disgust at her. "I am certain that you have told him to film that night when he raped her..."
 
    "Enough!" Leonora interrupted harshly in a loud voice. The hysterical drama of that negative woman was getting on her nerves too much. How come she couldn't get rid of such people in life? "You're only lying to separate us. If you don't get out of here within three seconds, I will make you recognise that Anila Idrizaj, who doesn't exist at all, but you have invented this name yourself. Get out of our sight!" she warned Diana with a darkly threatening look, that the brunette had very little time available before Leonora lost control of herself and hurt her. 
 
    "You two need an asylum." Diana shook her head, shocked, raised her hands as a sign of surrender, and left.
 
    Leonora followed her with her gaze as she got into the taxi, and only after the vehicle faded from her view did she enter the yard, close the gate, and return.
 
    Blerimi took her in a tight hug and tried to calm down with silent breathing. He had been so close to losing her forever, and it still seemed unbelievable that he had survived. He hadn't expected that reaction from Leonora. 
 
    Diana had shaken them both to their foundations. Had she really been Anila's friend? Blerimi was regretting that he had left the latter alive. He should have taken the risk and gotten rid of her right after he had gotten out of prison last year, but maybe Diana would have discovered the incident three years ago in another way, and that confrontation between the three of them would have happened anyway.
 
    How had she found out? Had Anila told her, or had she heard it from someone else? He guessed that she knew a lot when she mentioned the videos. Anila had told her for sure.
 
    He broke away from his wife and took her still-shocked face in his hands.
 
    "Nora, I'm so sorry for what happened."
 
    "It's not your fault." Leonora couldn't get rid of the stiffness, which was stuck in her chest and wouldn't let her breathe freely, to come to her senses. "Let's enter the house," she asked tiredly, to stand up.
 
    Blerimi took her in his arms, and they went inside. She rested her head on his shoulder and sat deep in thought on the chair at the dining table. She felt no appetite at all to eat the desserts on it.
 
    She had managed to see under the mask put on by Diana to understand that she had been pretending and really had the intention of creating a rift between them. The denial and the attempt to make Leonora doubt her position had convinced her that her suspicions about the stranger had been correct. But still, there were all those questions in her head, which they wanted to be presented for discussion with Blerimi. 
 
    Had someone sent her, or had she planned everything by herself? If someone was hiding behind her, who were they? Only Marinela Huba came to her mind. Had she found out about her marriage to Blerimi, suspected that they had both killed Albioni and Agustini to be together, and now she wanted revenge?
 
    But her ex-husband and his brother had accidentally passed away in an accident. It had never occurred to Leonora that Blerimi might have had something to do with their deaths. He wasn't a murderer. She didn't think longer than that, because she knew she would doubt, that she was wrong, and, having no evidence for the suspicions born, she would go crazy from overthinking. 
 
    "Eat some dessert." Blerimi moved the plate closer to her and sat next to Leonora on the left. "Maybe it will calm you faster," he touched her hands, afraid that she would remove hers and ask him questions about Anila.
 
    "I can't eat," Leonora sighed, holding her hands touched by his. "I am still shocked, and I can't get over myself right away. I understood that she was someone who wanted to harm us, and that's why she told all those lies," she referred to Diana. "But I'm worried when I think that she might try again to ruin our peace. Maybe someone has paid her to mess with us."
 
    "If you want, I can hire security guards for the house, and we won't move without bodyguards for some time."
 
    "I don't know," she vented, stressing. "I will feel as if I'm in prison. I don't want to live all the time in fear of being attacked at any moment."
 
    Blerimi stroked her hair and thought of a solution. 
 
    "I'm going to rest a little," she said. "I really need a break."
 
    "OK, I'm cooking lunch. We'll talk after we get some rest."
 
    Leonora stood up, accepted the kiss from him, and headed for the bedroom.
 
••••
    Marinela got out of her car when she saw the taxi approaching her.
 
    Diana got out of the vehicle, looked around, and headed towards her.
 
    "How did it go?"
 
    "Like you said it would, they started fighting. He said it wasn't true, but Leonora didn't believe him. Now they will get a divorce, for sure."
 
    If not in front of her, they would have fought later. Marinela didn't need to know that detail. Why would Diana risk it for nothing and not get the rest of the money?
 
    "Very well," Leonora's former sister-in-law took out a white envelope from the inner pocket of her black jacket. "The rest of the money."
 
    Diana took the envelope and turned to leave.
 
    "Can I ask another question, apart from the one I'm asking now?" Curiosity managed to tempt her into taking a risk.
 
    "Go on," Marinela gave her permission. 
 
    "You told me the truth—that it was Anila Idrizaj who broke up with Blerimi, and she is now married to someone else, right? That Blerimi raped and killed her brother is a lie."
 
    "Yes," Marinela looked straight into her eyes, and Diana found no reason to doubt her. "A lie."
 
    "OK," Diana left more calmly than before, and Marinela got into the car to continue with the rest of the plan.
 
    "I'm going to need a gun," she said in a low voice.