I am walked down a long brick corridor to a door right in front of us.
“You do not fit in,” he says. “You belong here.” And he opens the door. I step inside, and my mouth drops open.
“I—I don’t understand,” I say while my eyes dart from the photos of me on one wall to the massive art piece on the other sideof the corridor, showing me in a dress as I pick an orange from a tree.
“Your father was supposed to take over,” he says. “And therefore made you and your children his heir.”
“But—“ I say as I process what he said. “You have a daughter, an heir.”
He laughs a rich, derogatory laugh.
“Adria?” he asks. “A donkey has more sense than she,” he says. “That girl cannot lead an empire; the only thing she can do is open her legs and murder decently.”
I blow my cheeks and suck in my lips to keep myself from exploding. But I finally understand why Adria was so aggressive toward me. I also understand why she wants to murder her father.
“You want me to take over your—“ I begin, hesitate, and add, “business?”
“That depends on whether you turned out to be the woman we prepared you to become. We planned a long time ago for you to become everything I need you to be.”
I snort out, because this is the most absurd thing I have ever heard. Me, the woman with the panic attacks and all her fears.
“Is that so funny?” he asks.
“It’s hard to believe any of this is true. You don’t know me—didn’t see me for what, sixteen, or what years? And have this strange room with my pictures?—“
“Do you believe I didn’t watch you? It was my protection that made you vanish, so my sister couldn't locate you. My protection, which brought Lusia and her family into your life, it was?—“
“You what?” I shout as my life crumbles into pieces. This can’t be. Luisa—her parents, they have been so kind?—
“You needed a friend, a close one. One with parents that would be able to protect you, because your mother is useless.”
Useless.
How dare he speak?—
My head twitches.
Luisa.
“Does Luisa know?” I bring my lips over.
“Of course she knows,” he says, and with it, my entire life falls apart.
All of it was a lie.
Faked.
I roll back my shoulders.
The world zooms out.
I squint my eyes as my heart races.
That heavy rock appears in my stomach.
“I—“ I stutter out. “I need—bathroom,” I bring over my lips.
“Down the corridor, he says, second to the left,” he says, far away.
