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I frowned, noticing the rapid rise and fall of her chest.
She was having a panic attack.
“Althaia.” I reached out for her, but she flinched away from my touch.
“Don’t touch me!” She stumbled back, hitting the door before turning around and running away.
one hundred twenty
Damiano
“No. Stay here.” I stopped Jacinta when she tried to go after Althaia.
I gritted my teeth, walking as fast as I could in the direction she ran off. This fucking gunshot wound was limiting me too much.
I stepped outside to the garden, watching her leaning against a tree to catch her breath.
“Althaia.” I frowned, taking in her distressed state.
“Stop! Just... please stop. Don’t come any closer.” She closed her eyes, trying to control her breathing.
I clenched my fists in frustration, angered at myself for causing this. Remaining still, I watched her cry and struggle for air. I would prefer getting shot a hundred times more than seeing her like this.
“How… how could you do this to me?!” Althaia screamed at me with eyes filled with a storm of rage and betrayal.
“I did what I believed was best at the time.” I spoke to her calmly, even though my heart was about to race out of my chest, realizing this could be what drove her away from me.
Althaia laughed, but not her usual sweet, joyful laughter that I loved so much; the one that always made me feel like the luckiest man alive.
No.
This laughter was empty, while her eyes showed me just how torn apart she was.
“Do you realize how fucked up that is? How fucking sick that is?” She spat out with a venomous force. “I was completely shattered! I grieved her death to the point where isolation was my only refuge. Even from you, I had to hide away! You witnessed my misery... how could you stand by and watch me drown in such pain? How could you make me believe that my mother was gone from my life forever?”
Althaia’s sobs tore through the air, and my heart broke at the sounds of her pain.
“It was killing me inside to see you like that, but it was the only way to protect your mother. She had been in a coma for weeks, and it was uncertain if she was going to make it. If Gaetano knew she was alive, it would have made it easier for him to finish what he started.” I spoke to her gently, my eyes observing her reaction to not push her over the edge into another panic attack.
Althaia’s eyebrows drew together in a tight frown.
“You knew about Gaetano?!” She shouted.
“I had my suspicions.” I admitted. “I wanted a DNA test to confirm it.”
“Oh my God...” Althaia whispered in shock.
I came clean with everything, finally telling her the truth.
Althaia clutched her head as I told her every detail of how my investigation had deepened, ever since she first showed me the old photo of her mother with Alexei Vasiliev.
Telling her how I was almost a hundred percent sure that Alexei Vasiliev was her biological father.
Telling her about the fake heirloom and the microphone planted in it.
Telling her how I connected everything back to Gaetano, from the first attack to the last.
Telling her the original plan of taking down Gaetano before she became part of my life.
