Eighteen
Melanie
Iwas trembling. I didn’t know what to do. I watched the man I loved with all my heart leave the room with a gun pressed to his chest.
What does one do in a situation like this one?
I burst into tears.
Certainly, not that.
But I couldn’t help my fear. The thought that it could’ve been the last time I saw him, the man I was just picturing my future with. The man without whom, I could not breathe. It was devastating.
I took a few deep breaths and wiped the tears away. Shaking uncontrollably, I ran to Hope’s room. She was sleeping. Safe and sound. Thank God. Yet my heart wouldn’t stop racing. I caressed her gently, but my hand was trembling so much I couldn’t keep it in place. I didn’t know what to expect. These men could come back and shoot us both. I felt so shattered. I just got Shane back, I couldn’t lose him once again. If I could, I would do anything to get Shane back. Anything.
I grabbed my phone from my purse and hardly managed to dial the only number that came to my mind.
“Well, well. To what do I owe this call?” Anders’ voice rambled through the speaker.
“Shane got kidnapped,” I blurted, trying to catch my breath. The fear was suffocating.
“What?” Anders’ tone changed; it was more serious now. “Are you joking?”
I shook my head, struggling to speak. “Please help me, Anders. You’re the only person who can do something. Please.”
“I’ll send our men from Miami to get you. They’ll take you to a safe place,” he stated with a solemn tone. “Lock the door and don’t open it to anyone else.”
I nodded, though he couldn’t see it, and ran to the door with the phone still to my ear.
“They’ll tell you our secret code, blue sky. Only open the door after they say it, you hear me?”
“Yes.” My voice cracked.
“I’ll be with you soon, Melanie,” he said and hung up the call.
What an irony that the only person who could help Shane was his enemy number one, his brother.
The men working for the Vergoossens arrived, all in black and armed to the teeth. Their presence felt ominous. With no time to spare, they escorted us away, each of their moves swift and calculated. We hurried towards the waiting car, and I felt a sense of dread washing over me. The black coat and velvet scarf they told me to cover myself with made me feel like a fugitive on the run. Holding Hope tightly in my arms, my heart raced in my chest faster and faster. Just as we drove away, the column of police cars arrived, and the loud sound of the sirens woke Hope up.
“Mommy?” she mumbled, still half-asleep.
“It’s okay, sweetie. I’m here.” I tried to sound as reassuring and calm as possible, but my voice was cracking. My hands were still shaking.
“Where are we going? Where’s Daddy?” She rubbed her eyes.
“He had to go to work for a while, and we’re going to meet Uncle Andy now.” I smiled through my pain.
Hope looked at me, and I kept smiling, but tears were involuntarily dripping down my cheeks. She adjusted herself in my arms, wiping away my tears. “Are you sad because Daddy left?”
I nodded, trying to hold back the tears so badly.
“Don’t cry, Mommy. He’ll come back.” Hope caressed my hair. “Daddy promised he’ll be with us forever.”
Once again, she’d proven she was just like her father. A three-year-old girl was trying to cheer me up in a moment like this when it should be the other way around. “You’re right, baby.” I took a quick breath. “He promised, and Daddy keeps his promises.”
Hours passed in tense silence as we drove through the night. The only sound was the steady hum of the engine and the soft breathing of Hope in my arms as she fell asleep again. With each passing mile, the weight in my chest felt heavier and heavier. I recalled a conversation I had with Elena in the past. Her warning echoed in my mind. Now I knew what she meant when she said that marrying the heir to this family held some responsibilities. Now I knew the perilous reality. But would I back out? Never. I loved Shane more than I feared this kind of life. I was ready to lead the dangerous life as a Mafia wife because I knew it couldn’t have been the end of our story.
We arrived at a secluded house hidden deep within the woods. One of the men helped me get out of the car, still holding Hope in my arms. I looked around the isolated surroundings, heading toward a familiar face. A face that if someone had told me just yesterday I’d be happy to see, I’d laugh in their face. “Anders,” I said, my voice full of pain, assessing his outfit.
He looked different than usual. I’d never seen him before like this, in a black turtleneck, thick pants embellished with hanging chains, and a black leather jacket. He looked like he was ready to go to war.
Anders didn’t say anything. He just enveloped his arms around me and pulled me closer for a hug. Reassuring, comforting hug I had not expected from him, and I had not realized how much I needed it.
“Melanie, darling.” Elena’s concerned voice grabbed my attention. I moved away from Anders’ embrace and glanced at her. “Elena? I didn’t expect you to be here too,” I said, barely able to stand on my feet. I was drained, going on full adrenaline for hours.
“We all came,” she said as she hugged me, patting my back before she reached her hands to take Hope from me. “Here, let me take her.”
I was scared to let Hope go of my sight even for a moment, but I knew I needed help now, and I knew she would be safe here, surrounded by an army of mafia members.
“How are you holding up?” Karl asked as Elena headed with Hope in her arms inside.
I took a heavy breath, my fingers running through my hair. “I’m trying not to lose hope. It’s the only thing that keeps me sane.”
“We’ll bring him back,” Karl stated, though his gaze dropped momentarily. “And Charles Moretti will pay for this betrayal with his life.”
“Will you give us a moment?” Anders said as he turned to his father. Karl gave him a single nod, and after a fleeting glance at me, he headed back inside.
My gaze landed on Anders again. He seemed conflicted. As if he was battling his inner war between what he knew was right and what he truly wanted.
“Shane proposed to me,” the words blurted out of my mouth. “And I said yes.” I felt like I needed clarity. Like he deserved it.
Anders’ sand-brown eyes widened, and his pupils grew so big his eyes seemed black. His gaze flickered between mine, his temples pulsed, and his jaw clenched. He let out a heavy sigh, wiping his mouth with his fingers. “You chose him before you even gave me a chance, Melanie.”
“For me, there was never a choice to make. It’s been always him.”
Anders expression darkened, his eyes filled with genuine pain. He wanted to reach for my hand but hesitated. “Melanie, I know that if it wasn’t for my brother, we could’ve had something special. If only… you gave me a chance.” His eyes bore into mine, his brows furrowed. “I promise I will bring Shane back to you, and I promise that if you still choose him, I will step back. But please, consider it again. Consider us.”
I didn’t know what to say. I knew the answer already. I didn’t have to make any choices, didn’t have to think it through. For me, it was Shane. Only him. Always. Invariably. Inevitably. Invincibly. But seeing the genuine pain and affection in Anders’ eyes… I didn’t know how to tell him that, reject him once again. I didn’t know how to break his heart.
I simply nodded softly, switching the topic, “For a moment, I was scared you wouldn’t want to help me save Shane. I was scared that you’d be happy he’s gone.”
“For a moment, I was,” Anders admitted. “I would lie if I said it didn’t cross my mind. For a moment, I saw his kidnapping as a blessing. As a chance for me.” He took a step closer to me, sliding his hand at the back of my neck. “But I didn’t want to win you like this. I wanted you to choose me because you want me. Not because he’s gone and I’m a backup option. A substitution.”
I looked into Anders’ eyes and, yet again, had no idea what I should’ve said. Perhaps, in another life where Shane Vergoossen would never exist, I could see my future with Anders. Perhaps, in a different universe, I could fall in love with him. But not in this lifetime. Or any other where his brother existed. Now, all I felt was sympathy and guilt that I had to break his heart because my heart belonged to his brother. Irreversibly and irrevocably.
“I’ll bring my brother back to you, Melanie,” he added, caressing my cheek with his thumb. “I’ll bring Hope her father back.”
“I thought you were a villain, but now you are my hero, Anders.” I barely held back the tears welling up my eyes again.
“If we go separate ways, I’m glad that at least you’ll remember me as a hero, and not merely a twisted villain.” His tone was low. “Besides, he’s my brother. No matter what, he’s still my blood. I may hate him, but I will not let anyone else kill him. That is a pleasure reserved only for me,” he joked, and I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“You are a tad bit twisted, though,” I said, and he shook his head while fighting back a smile.
For a brief moment, I forgot about the vile reality. I forgot that Shane was missing, that his life was in danger. For a moment. Because soon enough the reality hit me, and I felt the darkness engulfing me once more. I felt as if I was falling down that black abyss once again and the only thing I could hold onto was hope.
I cleared my throat, stepping back and Anders inhaled deeply.
“You should head inside now.” His gaze darting between mine with a weird trace of concern.
“Why? What happened?” I got alerted.
“You’ll see. Know, I was against it,” he said and walked inside, and I rushed right after him.
I followed Anders through the long hallway of the house with an odd hunch in my chest. Anxiety. I had no idea what he meant but I knew it couldn’t have been anything good. Then I saw her.
“Melanie…” my mother whispered with tears in her eyes.
My heart sank, eyes grew wide. She was the last person I expected to see. The last person I wanted to see. “Where’s Hope?” I asked, agitated. I didn’t want her to meet my daughter. Especially not without me being around. I started panicking, looking around the spacious living room.
“She’s upstairs, sleeping. Karl’s with her,” Elena reassured me. She gave me an apologetic smile as she walked past me, patting my back gently before she signaled Anders to follow her, leaving me alone with my mother.
“What are you doing here?” I focused my attention on my mother.
I still couldn’t believe she was there. It was so strange seeing her after all these years. She had aged. Her eyes were surrounded by deep wrinkles, and her hair with a silverish tone, was shortened.
“I don’t even know where to begin.” Her voice caught in her throat. She wanted to approach me, but I stepped back, keeping a distance, and she hesitated.
My teeth clenched involuntarily, and my gaze dropped to the side. I was breathing heavily. Angrily. “How did you convince Karl to bring you here?” I hissed harshly.
She let out a heavy sigh, her body quivering as if she was scared of me. Or perhaps, she was scared to have this conversation and face the consequences of her choices. “I’m so sorry I haven’t been a good mother to you. I know my words will never compensate you for all these years of suffering you had to endure because of your father and… me, but I’m so deeply sorry.”
“You’re right. Your words will do nothing. It’s too late for an apology now. I’ve grown to the thought that I have no mother. So thank you for coming, it was fun seeing you. Now you may leave.”
Despite sarcasm dripping from my voice, I couldn’t hide the pain pouring out of me. I headed toward the stairs with the intent to go to my daughter, but Celine ran to me and grabbed my elbow. “Melanie, please. Just hear me out. Give me five minutes. That’s all I ask,” she pleaded. “Then you will decide what you want. If you tell me to leave, I will.”
I exhaled heavily. I wanted to leave so badly now. To show her how much it hurt. But I couldn’t. “Okay. Five minutes.”
Our gazes locked.
“I was forced to marry your father. It was an arranged marriage of convenience with no mutual love.” Her voice grew somber. “I knew Dedrick didn’t love me from the very beginning, but I couldn’t refuse. You know that in this world we live in, the world where money and position take precedence, we have nothing to say. And my parents were always thinking only about the money. The societal position.” She took a deep breath, her brows knitted. “I was in love with someone else, but it didn’t matter. My father left me no choice.”
A wave of sympathy rushed through me. I had never talked about my parents’ past with them. We had never had normal conversations like other families would. I knew some bits and parts, but vaguely. Nothing specific. And though I could sympathize with my mother, it still wasn’t a reason enough for me to neglect her child like she did to me.
“So?” I said sternly. “What does it have to do with me?”
Her eyes darted between mine with anguish. “I’ve always known your father has been in love with Rose. Shane’s mother.” Her gaze dropped as she mentioned her name. I guess it was harrowing for her. “He made me believe she was in love with him too and that she was forced to marry Karl. I thought they were having an affair.” She paused, her face was painted with regret. “When I found out that Rose was pregnant, I asked Dedrick if it was his child, and he said it was.”
“Wh- what?” My eyes widened.
“I felt humiliated. I demanded a divorce,” her voice was barely a whisper now. “I thought my parents would support this decision, but once my father found out that Dedrick cheated on me, he blamed me. He said I wasn’t even able to make a man fall for me and that I was worthless,” she barely managed to speak, tears streaming down her face.
I felt so sorry for her. I felt her pain. On one hand, I wanted to hug and comfort her so badly, but on the other… I still couldn’t get over the hate that had grown in me throughout all these years. The walls of indifference that I had built around myself, brick by brick.
“And Dedrick…” She sniffed back tears. “He had always spoken so highly of Rose and badly of me. He would always compare me to her, except, in his eyes, I’d never had a chance with her. His obsession,” she confessed with resentment. “I started hating Rose. I kept asking myself, ‘What does she have that I don’t?’ I thought having a child with Dedrick would make him love me, or at least respect me, but it didn’t.” Her voice cracked. “Instead, he treated me even worse. And then, after Rose overdosed, it became even worse. A hell.”
“Why didn’t you just leave him?” I questioned. I felt detached. Numb. I couldn’t stop blaming my mother that despite all she went through herself, she made me go through hell myself.
“My parents treated me poorly, Melanie,” she sobbed. “They wished to have a son instead. They mistreated me my whole life and saw me only as a means to jump the ladder of society by marrying me off to someone influential. And I… I fell in love with my chauffeur.”
Sounds familiar.
“When they found out about that, they told me that I was useless trash that would disgrace our family. So, I married the man they had chosen for me who treated me like trash my whole life, too.” She burst out in tears. “I stayed by his side because I let them all make me believe that I was worthless.”
I felt that. Too hard. “I’m sorry.” I let out a heavy breath.
“I left your father, Melanie.” She wiped the tears from under her eyes. Suddenly, she seemed empowered.
I couldn’t hide my surprise. I scanned her face carefully, searching for confirmation that it wasn’t a joke.
“I left him months ago and have been searching for you. I have hired a detective. I wanted to find you. All this time…”
“What happened that you finally made that step?”
“I…” She hesitated as if the words were too heavy to speak. “I found out the truth about what happened in the past.” Her gaze became dark.
“What do you mean?” My brows furrowed.
“Dedrick…” She was trembling. “He raped Rose.”
She fell to her knees, desperately crying, covering her face with her hands. I rushed to her, pulling her in an embrace. I didn’t know what to say. I was shocked. My father was a monster. The worst kind. I was disgusted that his blood ran through my veins.
“But it wasn’t the worst part,” my mother choked the words out of her.
“What do you mean?” The hair stood on my skin. Was there anything worse than abusing a woman like that? A woman who was happily married, a woman who had a son. A wife and a mother.
“Rose didn’t overdose.” My mother sobbed so hard I could hardly understand her.
“What do you mean she didn’t? Then what happened?” I cupped my mother’s face in my hands and looked into her eyes. They seemed so numb and deadly.
“Dedrick, he couldn’t stand her rejection, the fact she was expecting Karl’s second baby, that she was happy with him.”
“And?” I insisted, my hands shaking and cold chills sweeping through my body.
“He couldn’t stand she wasn’t his. He didn’t want any other man to have her, especially not Karl, his rival.”
“So? What did he do? What happened, Mom?”
“He forced her to take the pills. He killed her.”
A cold chill ran down my spine.
“That’s one more reason for me to kill that piece of shit,” Karl’s deadly hiss rumbled from behind.
I turned to face the door where he was standing, dressed all in black, exactly in the same manner as Anders who stood beside his side, arming himself with a weapon.
I stood up, staring at Karl. His eyes blazed with lethal darkness.
“Why didn’t you kill him all these years ago?”
Karl’s brow twitched slightly as if with surprise. I couldn’t blame him. I couldn’t believe I actually asked this question out loud myself.
“Rose left me a letter,” his voice trembled. “Explaining she had an affair with Dedrick and carrying his child.”
My eyes narrowed.
“Deep down, I’ve always known it couldn’t be the truth. We loved each other.” His eyes filled with so much pain. “I knew Rose wouldn’t have done that, but I suppose, I wanted to know for sure. To know the truth.” He secured the gun in his belt underneath the black jacket. “A son of an old friend of mine, Sergio Suarez, contacted me and thanks to his help, my soldiers were able to track Shane.”
“What?” I ran towards Karl, my heart racing. “Where is he?”
“In one of Moretti’s hideouts in Miami. With Charles, the leader of the Moretti family, and your father.”
My heart dropped to my stomach. I felt dazed. “What does my father have to do with it?”
Karl’s eyes flickered between mine. “We have old scores to settle. We’re leaving. We’ll bring my son back, even if it’s the last thing I’ll do in my life.”
I didn’t understand why, but it sounded like a goodbye to me. I had an unpleasant chill sweep down my spine and an unsettling coldness enveloped me.
“I’m coming with you,” my mother’s voice reached me.
I turned to face her, a shock and confusion painting my face, as so did Karl’s and Anders’.
“I have to face Dedrick. I have to face him for the last time.” She spoke with so much anger and hatred it made me shiver.
“Celine, it’s too dangerous. We might all die there,” Karl stated calmly as if death meant nothing to him.
“I don’t care. I have to, Karl. I have to.” She pleaded through her pain and rage.
Karl didn’t reply. He reached out for one of the guns from the back of his belt and handed it to my mother. Goosebumps raised on my skin and my breathing quickened.
“I’m coming too,” I said without thinking. My gaze wandered toward Karl who looked at me with some sort of approval in his eyes.
“Shane would never forgive me if something happened to you, Melanie. You must stay here.”
“But—”
“For Hope.” He placed his hand on my elbow, squeezing it gently. “You must protect your daughter.”
I nodded in agreement. I didn’t want to allow this thought even to cross my mind, but the darkest scenario that Shane might die kept coming back somewhere in the back of my mind. I would die for him. I would give my life so he could live. I also knew that his life was Hope, and I had to stay to protect her. So that our daughter wouldn’t grow up without both parents.
Karl signaled his waiting men, and with one last, “Tell Elena that I love her.” He left, Anders, and the men followed.
My mother approached me hesitantly, putting her shaking hand on my cheek and caressing it with caution. Her eyes were still watery and her voice a breaking whisper, “I’m so sorry, my daughter. I’m sorry I realized my mistakes too late. Will you ever forgive me, Melanie?”
I wanted to tell her so many things. I wanted her to know all the pain she caused me. I wanted to scream and cry. Tell her how badly I missed having a mother. A shoulder to lean on when I needed to. Her love. Mother’s love that can be compared to nothing. I wanted to tell her how she screwed me up, how she screwed up as a mother. How, now, when I was a mother myself, I despised her even more, because now I knew, I’d do anything for my daughter. At the same time, I wanted to hug her and hold her close. Tell her that from now on, everything will be okay and that we can still repair the damage done. That I missed her, and I want her to be a grandmother to my child. I did neither. I couldn’t bring myself to speak. I just stared numbly at her while a tear dripped down my face, she wiped it with her trembling finger as she nodded and left.
The same coldness as when Karl left enveloped my body. A shiver swept down my back the same way. Again, that felt like a goodbye.