The foyer of Liam's mansion is a blur of emotions as I rush into my mother's arms. All the fear and pain I was holding inside for so many days finally has a release.
Her familiar scent, a blend of lavender and honey, envelops me like a warm embrace, my sobs echoing through the vast mansion space.
"You're safe. I'm so glad you're safe, Mom." The tears stream down my face, mixing with hers.
"Are you hurt? Did they hurt you?"
I shake my head no.
We embrace each other tightly, trembling with relief and pent up emotion.
Liam walks inside, his steps silent as a panther's, and my Mom's body stiffens in reaction. He simply watches us, a mix of concern and compassion on his face.
I can tell he senses this is a moment of mother-daughter reunion, and I nod at him in a silent thank you.
"Kieran will be arriving soon," he says, a tone of warning in his voice. "I'll be right outside."
He steps back, offering us privacy, but not before giving me yet another once-over-look to make sure I'm safe.
I look up at Liam too, my eyes still filled with tears, and there's a depth of understanding in his emerald green eyes I've never seen before.
"Alexandra." Mom's hardened voice interrupts my thoughts. "We don't have much time. Let us sit."
My heart slams against the ribcage as my mother's expression becomes an unreadable mold.
I am relieved she is free. But not looking forward to what comes next.
The talk.
Her once vibrant skin is now pale and drawn, her dark eyes hollowed with exhaustion. Yet a spark of defiance flickers in her gaze as she leans into the deep cushions of the plush emerald green settee.
This is not going to be a pleasant conversation.
I dig my feet into a thick lush rug, whose rich colors and intricate patterns complement the marble flooring.
The grandfather's clock continues its deafening march toward the half hour.
"We don't have much time so I'll go first, and be done with it, nene." I use the cold, formal way to say 'mother' in Albanian. "I know everything. Liam showed me your marriage certificate." I dig my nails deep into my palms, leaving half-moon-shaped scars. Akin to the scars on his back, those ugly painful cuts and horrifying burns. "I have only one question. Why?"
"If you know everything, then why bother asking?" Her lips are pressed into a thin line, her posture erect despite her weakness.
An ember of anger sparks to life inside me.
"Because I want you to confirm it! What you did, Mom, was morally wrong.
How could you do that?" I force air past my tight chest. "Did you consider me so weak you had to hide who my father is from me?"
"Don't be dramatic, Alexandra," she snaps. "Every mother would have done the same. Your father isn't just anyone. He is a lead Irish mafia mobster. Do you know what being Kieran's daughter means? It means inheriting his entire business. It means being targeted by others who want the same coveted position, even if they pretend to respect you. You would have been living a lie."
"I am not interested in inheriting his business. You hid my father's name because of a few whispers behind my back?" I ask disbelievingly. "Have you never stopped to think I had the right to know?"
"I wanted to start a new life. Far away from him. Far away from that... reputation." Zerina sucks the air in.
My mother had always been conscious of her appearance and reputation. Even if we were not very rich, she would stretch our budget and insist on paying for the table during get-togethers with his friends so she didn't lose face.
But I never could've guessed her need for social validation ran this deep.
"The opportunity to flee the prospect of arranged marriage arose, and I took it," she says coolly. "Kieran was foolish and reckless. Dangerous."
From what I've seen of my father, that assessment seems accurate.
"What were the chances I'd get pregnant after being intimate with him just once?" She shrugs. "Fate put you in my path, and I took advantage of it and left, for our us. I won't apologize for removing you out of harm's way."
My mother straightens and leans back again. Her gaze bears into me.
"You only have the luxury of caring about morals because of me. I did what I had to do to make sure our family was protected. You grew up sheltered, Alexandra. You have no idea what it took for me to get to where I am today because I shielded you from the ugly truth. You think the world is rose-colored when it's gray at best. There are worse things than not knowing who your father is."
"Well, you're wrong," I say flatly. "Not knowing who my father is and then finding out from a complete stranger was one of the worst things that's ever happened to me."
I take a deep breath to steady my racing heart. A sigh escapes my lips, my mind a whirlwind of thoughts. I try to focus, to piece together the fragments of my shattered world, and think of Tirana.
"I want us to go back home. Kieran can't find out I'm his child. But once we're there... It's over, Mother. I am moving out of the family house. And..." I glance out the window onto the blades of grass on the manicured mansion lawn. "I need time and space away from you."
Because you betrayed me.
The words sit unspoken between us.
My mother's jaw tightens.
"You might just get that. It looks like I'll be staying in Kieran's custody. But we will be fine again, Alexandra. We're merely experiencing a hiccup."
"It sounds like more than a hiccup."
She stares at me, her ire melting into something more calculating. "We could use Liam's help. He is the same young man from the funeral, isn't he? I believe he has a soft spot for you. Convince him to... assist."
Cold sinks into my bones. I never knew she had this manipulative side. "I only entered an arrangement with him because he promised he could get you out of that warehouse in exchange for..."
My mother tilts her head like a giant mountain lioness stalking her prey, hungering for the next words that are about to come out of my mouth.
"Never mind." I decide against betraying where Liam's loyalty lies. "The deal is done. Besides, he's one of them. A mobster. And he doesn't have a soft spot for me."
"I saw the way he looked at you when I came out of that warehouse. You could make him see reason if you tried hard enough."
I stare at my mother, taking in her perfectly practiced smile, stern lines around her mouth and that predatory gleam in her eye.
She looks the same, but I barely recognize her.
"I won't." My voice wavers, but my words are firm. "This is your mess, mother. I can't help you."
"Is this how I raised you? To be so disrespectful and disobedient?"
"Disobedient? I've done everything you've asked of me! I went to the 'right' college, broke up with any boy you disliked, and played the role of a perfect society daughter. I even agreed to become a nurse mostly because it would make you happy. But I'm done living my life for you."
This time, she does not have a ready-made answer. The silence is so heavy it presses down on me like a lead blanket.
"I want you to know this, Alexandra," my mother finally says, her voice terrifyingly calm. If you walk out on me today, and do things your way...The next time we see each other we might not be on the same side."
I rise, my blood electric with fear and adrenaline as my mother's composure slips the tiniest fraction.
She'd expected me to back down.
I'm sorry. The apology almost falls off my tongue through force of habit before I remember I don't have anything to apologize for.
A black Mercedes screeching to a halt on the gravel driveway sends plumes of dust into the air and sends my thoughts scattering.
The broad-shouldered man with an air of menace clinging to him like a shroud emerges from the vehicle.
The white suit and unmistakable salt-and-pepper beard give his identity away immediately.
My father. The words sound strange even shaped in that order in my head, and I imagine they would sound even stranger spoken out loud.
Kieran Murphy does not enter the mansion immediately: his eyes, cold and hard as flint dart across the facade, as if he's taking every detail of its grandeur.
With a heavy thread, the man strides towards the entrance, his footsteps echoing ominously in the eerie silence that hangs over the grounds.
We hear him push open the double doors with a force that belies his calm demeanor and watch him step into the same grand foyer mother and I are now.
Kieran's cold and calculating gaze darts towards me, lingering on me for a mere second before sliding away as if I were nothing more than another statue in his mansion.
Kieran's voice, a smooth baritone laced with an undercurrent of menace, echoes through the opulent room.
"Zerina, my love," he says, his eyes gleaming with a predatory intensity that chills me to the bone. "Now that I have finally found you..."
"You mean, now that you have finally abducted me," she utters, her voice barely a whisper. Her gaze is unwavering, and meets his with a poker face. No matter how furious with her I am right now, I can't help but admire her gutsiness. "What do you want?"
"Tut, tut." His smile widens, revealing a set of perfect, pearly white teeth, yet it's a kind of artificial perfection that makes me nauseous. "Not even a thank you for saving you from that filthy Albanian compound? No?" Kieran glances at my mother, and after failing to receive any kind of reaction, he adds, "I want you. I've always wanted you." He reaches out to take my mother's hand in his, and she pulls away as if he had just burnt her.
"Ah." A cold, calculating smile of disappointment to her reaction replaces Kieran's earlier pleasantries. He accommodates himself on the verdant divan by my side, without acknowledging my presence, and then he turns to look at the doorway.
"You don't mind if Liam, my right hand, and Nico, his loyal associate, join us for our conversation?"
I whip towards the door and sure enough, Liam's standing there again, his eyes lingering on me with a strange mixture of worry and apprehension. Nico is right by his side, like an always-faithful shadow.
Neither of them dare to speak and it irritates me. Liam's quiet intensity, magnetism and sharp intellect are dull and muted whenever Kieran is around.
He is reduced to a mere henchman.
Nana O'Grady emerges behind the duo, swinging back and forth on her stubby legs, wiping her wrinkly hands on a black Guinness apron. She speaks up in a shaky voice, addressing my father directly. "I apologize for the interruption, Captain Kieran, but Sandra is needed in the kitchens."
Liam's imperceptible nod tells me everything I need to know. He arranged my extraction from the scene before Kieran could suspect anything.
A wave of relief washes over me. I leap from the seat, curtsy in a quick and clumsy fashion, and mutter something along the lines of a half-baked apology.
Nana O'Grady's appearance is more than timely: it has created a sudden welcoming sense of security, a buffer between me and my father.
"Come, child." The old woman takes my hand. "Let's get you downstairs and..."
I halt in the hallway and shake my head, occupying a position behind a lush emerald curtain. Its delicate tassels, crafted from shimmering strands of silk, are a perfect hideout.
"But Master Liam..." Nana O'Grady starts with a whining voice, wringing her fingers.
"Please, Nana," I say, and somehow those two words are enough.
She hasn't known me for that long but the kind old housemaid realizes that this is something I have to do, and then leaves me to it.
From where I'm standing, I can't see Kieran all that well, but his voice slices through the tense silence like the sharpest razor blade.
"Zerina, let us cut to the chase. You are not the only one I want. I know there was a child born from our union. You were pregnant when you ran off to Albania over twenty years ago. I have a son."
I risk a peek behind the green cloth. The room has all but become a battlefield for their unresolved past.
My mother's eyes are darting left and right, avoiding Kieran's piercing gaze. "Yes. Alexander. I did it for him." Her voice is trembling with emotion. "I wanted a better life for my baby, a life away from the violence and danger of your world."
Kieran scoffs. "My world? If I remember well, my dear, this was, and still is your world too. He is well into his twenties now. You think you can protect him forever? You think you can hide Alexander from me?"
My mother's eyes flash with defiance. "Yes. I'll do whatever it takes to keep him safe."
Kieran's voice hardens and I can sense an anger in him reaching a boiling point. "You're my wife, Zerina, whether you like it or not," he growls. "You belong to me. And Alexander is my heir to my fortune, to my legacy. Until you tell me where our son is, you'll remain my prisoner."
I bite into my palm. She can't tell him who I am. Where I am. But if she doesn't, what will he do to her?
"I'll never tell you," I hear my mother's voice say with defiance. "You can do whatever you want with me, but you'll never find Alexander, Kieran. Never."
Kieran's anger seemingly subsides, morphing into cold, calculating fury. "We'll just have to see, won't we?"
He turns towards Liam and Nico. "Nico. Take Zerina Martinaj to the Angels. I shall be there shortly."
Before I can move out of the way, he heads straight for the curtain I'm standing behind and I have to act quickly.
I step out and collide with him, pretending I'm coming from the kitchens.
"I apologize, Captain," I start.
Kieran raises his hand to silence me. "I see you've developed a fondness for eavesdropping, Sandra."
My heart is pounding in my chest like a trapped bird. How does he know I've been standing there all along?
"A beauty both delicate and alluring," Kieran continues, his lips curling into a faint smile. "I understand why Liam is so taken with you."
Coming from Kieran Murphy, the supposed compliment can easily carry an undertone of a threat.
The less I say, the less target on my back I paint is the way I see it. So I don't speak up or react at all.
Kieran's gaze lingers on me for a moment before he utters: "I have a feeling I'll be seeing you around, Sandra."
With that, he turns and strides outside the mansion, towards his car, leaving me alone in the shadows, my mind racing with the implications of his words.
I have to be careful. One wrong move could put me in grave danger.
But how can I just sit back and watch as he threatens me? My mother? I have to find a way to protect myself, to protect us both, no matter what she did in the past.
As I hurry back to my room, I know the chess game is seemingly still on, but I can't help but feel like Kieran's just delivered us a bow-tie-wrapped checkmate.
I burst into my room, the door slamming shut behind me, muffling the sounds of the outside.
Shutting out the world's worries and troubles.
I stumble towards my pillow, my arms outstretched, just wanting to be enveloped in its comfort and lay my weary head. But as I reach out, I freeze.
Liam is sitting right there, on the edge of the bed, his strong silhouette framed against the bedside lamp, his arms folded across his chest, his green eyes fixed on me.