Heartbreak Hotel: This Place Hotel

Chapter 39: The Worst

Leena's POV

I felt like the wind had been knocked right out of me. Like all the air had vanished from the air and I was left suffocating. My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach and it caused it to ache. Just like every single muscle in my body. 

"W-what?" I managed to choke out. 

Emilio looked back at the police officer who was staring back at us in suspicion. "I tell you the truth," he answered quickly. "She is alive. I promise you."

I shook my head in disbelief. "No, I went to the funeral. I watched my aunt sign her death certificate. She is not alive." This man had to be crazy. He must've been. His obsessive love for her must be driving him insane or something. 

"Listen," he whispered. " I don't have much time to explain anything. Alright? So, I need you to be open-minded about this."

"Open-minded?" I scoffed. "You just told me that my momma--who I was told is dead--is actually still breathing. You can't expect me to just...accept that." 

"I know, I know, but I am telling you the truth." 

My head fell to the side, as I pursed my lips nervously. "Prove it."

He broke eye contact with me then. Falling into deep thought. "Well, the last time I saw Dani was in 1982," He began. "She was...rambling on and on about how she needed to get away from Melvin and that I probably never going to see her again. She told me about my daughter that day and she told me that my family had been raising her. Up until that point, I didn't even know Alana existed." It was then that he made eye contact with me. "That was in the middle of '82. Later on that year I had met Melvin to discuss trade changes and he told me that Dani had died of aids. Aleena, I swear to you, your mother was healthier than I had ever seen her. And she was clean. She hadn't used heroin since she was thrown in jail. There was no way she could have died from that." 

"How do you know she just wasn't...killed. That Melvin had killed her?" 

"Because" he sighed. "In '83 I received a letter from Canada with no return addresses. It was given to me by one of Melvin's Employees--Tj is his name. It was from her--Dani." 

I still wasn't believing him. "How do you know it was from her?" 

"Dani used to write letters to me all the time while she was locked up." He explained. "I know her handwriting. It was from her." 

I pulled the phone away from my ear and let out a long piercing sigh. Rubbing my sweaty palm on my jeans while I chewed my bottom lip. I looked at him, wondering if I could even trust this guy. I mean, I did come all this way out here to get answers so that had to mean something. It was just that, I was told my momma had died. I went to a funeral and I cried over her coffin. I grieved her death for months at a time, and now this guy who was supposedly in love with her was telling me that it was all a lie. That all that grieving and all that heartache was for nothing? 

That was a tough pill to swallow. 

Reluctantly, I pulled the phone back up to my ear. "What did it say?" was the only thing I could think to ask. 

Once again, he looked back at the officer and in a whisper, he said, "That she was okay. That I shouldn't worry about her." 

"And it didn't have any kind of return address?" 

He shook his head, "All I know is that it was from Canada. That is it." 

My face crumbled. I was confused. Why would it be from Canada? Was that where she was? If she was alive.