Page 213 of Corrupted By You

“You will always be my sister and nothing can change that.Nothing.”

Rigid silence hung over us like a swinging sword.

“Did you know…about my parentage?”

“Mother never said anything, and I am so sorry you had to find out the way you did.”

“Zeno told me their names were Apollo and Désirée,” I mumbled. “Yet they still seem like fictional beings in my mind.”

Perhaps it was because I had no idea what they looked like.

Was my biological mother short and my father tall?

Was she fair-haired like Diane or dark-haired like me?

Did I take after Désirée in looks and have Apollo’s personality, or vice-versa?

“I get it now. Why Diane was so much stricter with me than you. I was not her real daughter. I was the product of her sister and her brother-in-law’s marriage, the latter whom she was apparently in love with.”

“I don’t think that’s true, Darla. Mother loves us in her own warped way. She doesn’t say it and she has a shit way of showing it, but that woman would fight tooth and nail before anything was to hurt us.”

I recalled Zeno’s words from eons ago.For what it’s worth, she didput up a fight when I asked for your handin marriage.

“I’ll admit she can be petty and annoying. To her credit, I will say that I’ve seen her change over the last few months. When you left, it’s like she slowly started to decay. And when we received the call that you were shot, it was the first time I saw her wailing and sobbing loudly. As though she was the one dying.” Dacia scrunched her nose. “Honestly, it sounded like a whale’s cry and probably the most disturbing thing I’ve ever heard.”

Grave situation aside, my sister managed to incite my laughter. “Stop. You’re making me laugh and my stitches hurt.”

“Sorry.” She inched a rare grin and tucked her blond hair behind her ear.

Another pensive silence before Dacia added, “Obviously, Rome wasn’t built in a day. It’s your choice whether you still want to give Mother a chance to be in your life, but I do think you deserve to hear her out for your own peace of mind. You deserve to finally have all your questions answered.”

“Yeah, I think I will give her a chance.” I turned my face to stare at her. “We still have to figure out who your father is.”

Mayor Hill was notorious for hiding her secrets, in particular the ones that pertained to our biological fathers.

A bizarre expression swept over Dacia and she cleared her throat. “I don’t care to know.”

“I used to think Alberto was our father.”

Dacia’s eyes twinkled. “I did too.”

My earliest childhood memory was dancing in the courtyard sprinklers with a younger, robust Alberto chasing after me in his signature cackle. He played many roles in our lives, but the most important one for him was the role of the adoptive father. He never failed to remind us every year on Father’s day that his life began when Dacia and I were born because we were—in his own words—‘the lights of his world.’

“I was so fucking scared of losing you, Darla.”

I appreciated Dacia showing her vulnerability; she rarely did so. “I’m right here, Dai, and I’m not leaving you,” I said reassuringly with a gentle smile.

It was crazy how the universe worked. To think I almost died without saying goodbye to my friends and family was flummoxing.

Life was so precious and I promised myself, moving forward, I would live every minute to the fullest.

As soon as I recovered from this wound.

“I need to ask you something, Dai.” She was usually private regarding these matters and I hoped she’d indulge my curiosity.

“Ask away.”

“What happened between you and Romero?”