'I haven't read it,' Bella said softly. 'But I have a feeling that whatever it contains was used by my husband five years ago to get you out of Raphael's life,' she lamented.
Sophia gave her a wide-eyed stare. 'You haven't read it, have you...?'
Bella exhaled a sigh. 'I was very familiar with my husband. To him, family was everything, and he was adamant that you would never marry into it. I had to sort through his personal papers after he died, and this file was among them. It's from a detective agency, bears your name, and is dated around the time he claimed you accepted money to leave Raphael's life. 'Which, by the way, I was never convinced of,' she added softly.
'I did accept the money,' she stated flatly to the other woman.
'After my husband showed you this,' Bella said with a nod.
'How can you be so certain?'
'Isn't that true?'
'Well—yes. But how can you believe that when Raphael thought your husband's version was so much better?'
'When it came to you, Raphael was always very vulnerable; I'm sure he had more than a little encouragement to believe my husband's version of events?'
Sophia blushed with embarrassment. 'Why didn't you just give this file to Raphael?' she inquired sarcastically.
'Because whatever it contains, and I'm sure it can't be anything so damning that my son couldn't accept and understand it,' she rebuked, 'you obviously considered it serious enough to lose Raphael rather than have him know.' I disagree with what you did, but I respect the fact that you sacrificed your happiness with him as a result of it. It would have been very wrong and cruel of me to have betrayed you by giving him this when you had already lost so much. And I'm hoping that's not the case. It will have to be you who informs him about this file.'
'And I'm not going to.' Sophia gratefully clasped the file in her hands.
'Don't make hasty judgments about Raphael,' she was warned. 'He used to love you enough to forgive you for anything.'
'But it was a forgiveness that would only lead to bitterness,' she lamented. 'Because of it, my fiancé cancelled our wedding only a week before the big day, and Raphael would feel the same way after a while.'
'But are you content with the way the two of you are now?'
'Are you happy?' she asked dully. 'Does any of us ever feel truly happy?'
Bella appeared depressed. 'I don't like seeing such unhappiness in someone so young.'
Her lips twisted. 'I can assure you that it is not a newly acquired emotion.'
'Raphael isn't thrilled either.' His mother made a shaky motion with her head. 'I've tried to convince him that he needs to be a full-time father to Hugh and Sarah, but he refuses to listen.'
'Well, he certainly isn't going to listen to me,' Sophia said dryly.
'No,' his mother said, sighing. 'I can see that whatever your current relationship with him is not a happy, sharing one. I'm truly sorry; you were the one who transformed Raphael into a warm and loving human being.'
'Lora...?'
'She was a lovely and loving woman, but she never really connected with Raphael.' Only you could have done that.'
'Please accept my apologies.'
'So am I,' his mother said, grimacing. 'Are you certain you're telling him the truth, no matter how painful it is?' 'I'm sure,' she said emphatically.
And she was certain, certain that having the file made no difference to their relationship. She hadn't thought about the file in years, and if she had, she assumed Darius Mcklerin would have destroyed it, the evidence of his pmarking being too damning against him. But, knowing him as she did, she realized he was not taking any chances, and that he had kept the file in case she was foolish enough to try to re-enter Raphael's life.
Raphael was at the apartment when she arrived, glaring at her as he spoke on the phone. He grumbled, 'Yes, Mother.' 'I'll be there right away.' He rang off, furious, to confront Sophia.
'Why the hell didn't you leave a message or a note telling me where you and Hugh had gone?' he raged, and found neither of you here!' He fixed his gaze on her.
'I'm sorry, I didn't think,' she said with genuine regret, imagining the agony he had endured in the previous hours. 'Your mother requested to see Hugh—' 'And you think I don't?' His eyes twinkled ominously, portending bad news for his son.
'Raphael, he's just a kid,' she pleaded. 'He needs your compassion, not your rage.'
'And I need you to stay out of that part of my life,' he sneered dismissively.
'Hugh came here—' 'And you should have damn well kept him here,' he grumbled.
'Why?' She was now enraged as well. 'So you can punish him, treat him with the same cruelty you do me?' she asked proudly, her head back.
His face became dangerously dark. 'Perhaps not physically,' she admitted, knowing that she was the only one who brought out that particular devil in him. 'But emotionally, that boy is pleading for your attention.' 'I'll thank you if you keep your opinions about my relationship with my children to yourself,' he snapped. 'I'm going to talk to my son now.' He looked at her with contempt. 'I'll be expecting you to be there when I return!' On his way out, he slammed the door. 'I have never in my life hurt Hugh—'
'Perhaps not physically,' she admitted, knowing that she was the only one who brought out that particular devil in him. 'But emotionally, that boy is pleading for your attention.' 'I'll thank you if you keep your opinions about my relationship with my children to yourself,' he snapped. 'I'm going to talk to my son now.' He looked at her with contempt. 'I'll be expecting you to be there when I return!' On his way out, he slammed the door.