Chapter: "The Curtain Is Down"
Elena is here, her voice, her sob, she is millimeters from me, she tries to contain herself when she sees her son. She doesn't cry for me, she's for Aleksander. The truth that those tear-filled lanterns keep trying to connect with me.
Maybe lying wasn't an option for her, she had to do it to survive. She is not a bad person, she always behaved well, she gave me love, she considered me as a daughter. She put pride aside and ran into her arms.
"Mom, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," I say, hugging her tightly.
I apologize for nothing, I am not to blame for what is happening. But I must pretend that I am sorry I ran away to be with Aleksander. Everything seems like a labyrinth, I don't know if she is aware that I know that Konstantinov is her son.
"Sweetheart, it's okay, sometimes we make wrong decisions and we do it out of love, don't apologize for it, Luna." Knowing you're alive is enough for me, "she whispers, caressing my cheeks.
I stare into her brown eyes, the black hair of hers that he now carries on her shoulders, is her. She is mom.
I walk around her again.
"I love you, I love you so much Mom," I express from my heart.
"And I love you, you don't know how happy I am to see you safe and sound," she says, kissing my forehead.
Her eyes search those of the wolf, who has remained a few steps from us.
"Aleksander, thanks for taking care of her," she tells him.
"Mrs. Miller, you don't have to thank me, I love her daughter." She was never intended to cause a stir or scare them away. true love?
"That's right." I turn away from her.
Back I warn dad arriving.
My heart cannot with such agitation. A lump tightens in my throat. It's not my imagination, it's dad.
Regarding my alleged relationship with Aleksander, the curtain has already risen and it is time to act. I don't know if I start off right or wrong, but I throw myself into my father's arms that catch me in an effusive hug. I cry, I cry like a little girl from whom seconds, hours, days and months of that paternal warmth have been taken away.
—Lunita, my child, I don't know how you thought we would disagree with this relationship. I'm so glad to see you, Luna, "she whispers in my crying ear as well.
I hate to lie to him, I hate to continue this charade. Dad doesn't deserve this, but it's for my good, I'm doing it for my freedom.
"I know, I'm really sorry, Dad."
"Look at me." He gently holds my chin. You love him?
I stay cold. What if I love Aleksander? I've been trying to convince myself that I don't care about him at all, but even in the spotlight and out of it, I have feelings for that damn mobster.
"I love him, dad, look" I show him my hand, his greenish eyes anchor on my ring, something catches my heart, overturns it -. I have married the love of my life, I did not do things correctly, so I apologize.
"Luna, what were you worried about?" Aleksander is a good guy, if it's because of Elena ...
"W-what do you mean?" I ask, I feel a little confused. There's something Aleksander hasn't told me yet.
I feel it ...
—You don't have to worry, I know Aleksander is Elena's son, but that doesn't make them related, you're not sinning. If you love him and want to spend the rest of his life with him, go for it.
I look at Konstantinov, why didn't he tell me that Daddy knew?
"Mr. Miller, let's all go into the dining room, please."
"Just Gregg, Aleksander," she asks him.
I stay behind next to Elena. She hugs me on her shoulders.
"Your father doesn't know, Luna," he says softly to me. He doesn't know the kind of man my husband was, what Aleksander is now. It's fine if you want to be with him, but I fled from that world because nothing good brings, I don't want anything to happen to you because of my son.
—I don't get involved in his things, I know what he does, but I also know the other side of him, that part that I fell in love with.
My performance, which even I believe in, leaves me impressed with what I can do by pretending.
"I just want you to be safe." I'm sorry I didn't tell you anything, I couldn't, Dimitri was an evil man, maybe Aleksander isn't even his shadow, but he's on the same path, Luna.
Since he refers to Konstantinov's father in the past tense, I suppose he knows about his death.
Thick drink.
Seat.
"I know, Mom." So what does my father know?
"That Dimitri who I married was a hitter, out of fear I never told Gregg about his relationship with the mob." I didn't think Aleksander would cross your path… "she emits thoughtfully.
"Don't worry, I won't tell him anything." Have you seen him before? -I want to know.
"A few years ago, I tried to pass, he refused," she sighs. I never wanted to leave him with his father, I just had no choice, I wish he had the opportunity to have him with me, maybe he would have chosen another path. But I can't change the past, only make things right in this present. I've missed so much of his life, I want to get back at least a third of what I couldn't enjoy with him.
His words move me. We have already reached the dining room, so we stopped talking. I don't want Aleksander or Dad to find out all of a sudden.
She - she is beautiful and This house, I am truly impressed with your good taste in these things, Aleksander.
"Thanks, Gregg."
Dinner is served, but there are so many nerves and emotions that run through me that I no longer die of hunger but of craving. The meal passes with a tension that does not finish breaking. Dad watches me, Mom too, and I try to act calm, that way I won't arouse any suspicions. So I smile at them every so often pretending that I have a happy life next to the most liar man on earth. He eats like nothing, the tension that exists between his mother and him is not undone either.
Elena just wanted a better life, she wasn't selfish, she didn't want to abandon him, she just left without being able to take him with her. I think Aleksander should forgive her, it is unreasonable that she does not do it, being in reality he, the only evil one of her.
—I don't know if it's time, but now that you've returned, don't you think you should resume your university studies? "He looks at me."
I am a nervous wreck. Dad is right, I have thrown away my studies for months, not because I wanted to, it was not my choice, but a macabre destiny playing cards his way. I stare at my plate of half spaghetti, an answer is debated in my head, but I don't know which answer to choose.
"That's what I said," Aleksander assures me next to me, placing one of his palms on my knee under the table. He gives me a light squeeze that makes me tingle. Luna, you must continue. Our relationship is not sneaky or hidden anymore, I love you and I want you to fulfill your dreams. You are also very good with calculations, you are not going to waste your talent, okay?
Damn idiot, how I want to stand in front and slap him. It is so cynical and fallacious. I never told you about how well my calculations are, did my father tell you?
"Yes," I put on my best smile. I will return to take them again, but I want to take some time for myself, maybe a year. I need it, I have pushed myself so much when I was young that if I didn't stop at any moment I was going to collapse.
There is a truth in my words, but in other circumstances I would never have thrown in the towel.
—It's understandable, but don't stop reviewing, reading, you have a lot to give.
"Gregg," my husband intercedes. Did you speak to the press?
"I did, and all kinds of rumors about the alleged kidnapping will end, as he finds out that they are married there will be a happy ending for the scandal that has been set up," he says with a smile, relieved to see me there saved and married to a man he sees with the wrong eyes.
I think about the letter I wrote, if I had brought it with me then I would manage to give it to Mom, somehow having it here, it was a temptation that would invite me to betray Aleksander, and I don't have the role. Nor the audacity to tell Dad that everything is a lie. My lips do not dare to spit that I am kidnapped, that my captor is a bloody mobster.
I look at Aleksander, he does not hesitate, he does not hesitate, it is admirable how he plays the role so well.
Elena and Dad each have a version, but not the real story, my nightmare.
And I just want to wake them up from the pink dream you are in now, but I stop, I don't want something bad to happen to them, I wouldn't forgive myself.
"How is Grace?" —Formulate.
That she didn't come with them she just makes me wonder, is she alone herself? Is my sister protected?
"At home, she studies a lot, she still doesn't know anything," Mom admits, who looks at her son so much, but he is not the least bit reciprocal.