LOVE, AKI.

CHAPTER 13

TRUTH

[ELYSE'S POV]

I can still remember it clearly—how that single moment destroyed everything good in our lives, how our world fell apart the day we lost Mama. I was only 10 years old, just a child back then, with no idea of the misery that lay ahead. Too young, too innocent to understand, and yet, that was the day when life showed its darkest side, revealing how ruthless and cruel fate could be.

My twin, Iah, and I were there, helpless and afraid. We were just 10, and I had to watch, unable to do anything as my mother gave her life to save someone else, someone who didn’t deserve it. I watched as she sacrificed herself, as she threw herself into danger to protect a girl who would never understand the cost of that sacrifice. She gave her life to save you, and you survived, completely unscarred, while my mother lay there, lifeless, leaving us with nothing but memories.

Because of you, my mother is gone. That day, she left us, and I was handed over to my uncle. Everyone around us thought it was the best thing for me, that I was lucky to have someone who would look after me in such a difficult time. They believed he loved me, that he would protect and care for me, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth.

What people don’t see, what they could never understand, is that living with him has been a waking nightmare, a constant torment that I can’t escape. My uncle, the man everyone thought would be my protector, is the same person who destroyed what little was left of my innocence. People thought I was safe with him, but they had no idea of the horror that awaited me behind closed doors.

I was just fifteen when he first touched me, crossing lines that should never be crossed. My own flesh and blood betrayed me, breaking me in ways that can never be repaired. Iah and I wanted to report him, to tell the police everything, but fear kept us silent. He held power over us, knowing every way to manipulate and control us. We were trapped, bound by fear and helplessness, and there was no one who could rescue us.

My father, too, suffers under my uncle’s control. He’s barely able to survive, sacrificing his own well-being, starving himself just to repay the man who claims to care for us. My father is forced to grovel before him, giving up everything, even his dignity, to ensure we have food and shelter. And Iah—my dear sibling—can’t pull me out of this nightmare, because if he tries to protect me, he’ll only bring down my uncle’s wrath on himself. We’re both stuck, both suffering in silence, forced to live under the same roof as the man who has caused us so much pain.

Our lives have become a living hell since the day my mother died. Every moment since then has been filled with suffering, and I can trace it all back to one person.

All of this—all the pain, the misery, the fear—is because of you,

AKISHA SHANANI PERALTA.

I can still remember the expression on your face, that twisted, sickening happiness, as if my mother’s death was nothing more than a spectacle for you. I watched as you walked away unscathed, while my mother lay there, crushed by that truck—a truck that should have taken you instead. She died in your place, and you walked away, smiling, oblivious to the destruction you left behind.

I promise you this, Akisha—I will make you feel every ounce of the agony my sibling and I have endured. I will make sure you experience every moment of fear, of despair, of helplessness, that we’ve been forced to live with. You will know what it’s like to have your world torn apart, to be stripped of your dignity and left with nothing.

I will make sure that you suffer, that you feel every single bit of the pain that’s been inflicted on us. The pain, the torment, the utter loss of innocence and dignity—you will know it all, Akisha. This is the beginning of your reckoning. You will pay for every tear we’ve shed, for every night we spent in fear, for every piece of ourselves that was broken because of you.