CHAPTER 48: YOUR MOTHER... SHE’S DEAD.

"What do you want?" I fired, my voice louder than I intended.

His calm expression didn’t change, but I noticed the slight annoyance in his gaze.

"Get inside the car," he ordered. And without another word, he strode passed me.

My anger escalated to the brim. I rushed towards him and stopped right in front of him, causing him to halt on his track.

"Get inside the car? Why? What are you even doing here?" I spatted, furiously. "Or wait... don’t tell me you followed me here. What are you? A stalker? Are you stalking me now?"

Alexander just raised his brow, then walked away again.

Now, the anger I felt a while ago was suddenly replaced by embarrassment. My cheeks were in flames. I clenched my fist and went after him to his car.

I didn’t know why I chose to go with him. But somehow, I have a feeling there was something up with him. There was something he wasn’t saying, and I needed to know.

Getting inside the car, the engine roared to life. And shortly, we were on our way to the mansion.

As I silently watched the night traffic ahead of us, my mind replayed back to earlier. Thinking about it, I couldn’t hold my tears anymore and started crying. This was too much for me. I have no family who see me as one of them, now my only friend was gone too. I literally have no one or have anyone to turn to. What have I done to deserve all this?

Tears flowed freely down my cheeks, soaking my dress. Alexander must have thought I was being weird, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to take the awful feeling off my chest.

"Take." I looked to my side and found Alexander stretching a handkerchief towards me. "Don’t litter my car with your tears," he finished.

I glanced at the white handkerchief, then to him, before eventually taking it from him and sobbing into it.

"There is a bottle of water in the beverage holder. You can have it if you want," he offered with a straight face.

I stopped sobbing and gazed at him, confused. Why did he suddenly care?

"Why?" I whispered.

"Why what?"

"I mean why are you doing this? Did you find something interesting about me or my family?" I glared at him. "My father has nothing anymore, all thanks to you. So you don’t have to be nice."

Alexander chuckled mirthfully, as though he found what I was saying funny or amusing.

"I thought you must have heard," he said coolly.

"Heard about what?" I asked, confused. "You still haven’t answered my question. Why did you follow me?"

"I wouldn’t be that jobless to follow you around," he casually said.

"Then how did you know I was in the Cafe?"

He took a quick look at my ring and turned his attention ahead of us.

That was suspicious. Why did he look at my ring? Was something in there? I shook my head to push those thoughts away. My head was already filled, I didn’t want to add more confusion.

"You were saying something..." I began after a short silence.

"Let’s get home first," was all he said.

Home? I scoffed inwardly. How could he call that home? Did he even have any idea what a home was? His home wasn’t mine, and never would it be.

The rest of the ride passed in silence, and not after long, we arrived at the mansion.

I stood in his room, crossing my arms against my chest, defiantly. "What do you want to say?" I asked.

"Your mother..." He slowly turned around to face me. "She is dead."

The world around me seemed to freeze for a moment as the words echoed through my skull, ’She is dead’. It sounded absurd to my ear.

I took a step back and bursted out laughing. There was no way, absolutely no way that could be true. It was either Alexander was playing some dark prank on me, or just wanted to get more reaction from me after witnessing my breakdown in his car.

"You are lying, aren’t you?" I said, once I stopped laughing.

Alexander didn’t say anything. His expression was as calm as always and there was no humor in his eyes. He was telling the truth.

"No..." I took another step back. "You are lying. She is not dead... she can’t be dead..." My voice cracked, and I could feel the hot tears filling my eyes.

"Please... tell me you are joking..." I whispered.

But Alexander’s silence said it all.

My knees felt so weak that I couldn’t stand on my own. And before I knew it, I crumpled to the floor.

"No... no." I shook my head as the tears began to pour out of my eyes, uncontrollably. I pressed my palms to my face, sobbing into them. My entire body was shaking.

My mother was gone. Truly gone.

The thought stabbed through my chest like a knife, and I couldn’t stop the flood of memories that followed. My mother’s face. Her stern tone whenever she spoke to me. And most of all, every moment I spent with her and every moment I didn’t.

I thought about the times I needed her, the times I begged her to stand by me, to protect me. And the times she didn’t. She wasn’t perfect. She wasn’t even good most of the time. But she was my mother.

And now, she was gone... forever.

Why was all this happening? Why did it have to be her? And why now?

I cried harder, gripping my hair with both hands, as though it would relieve the pain in my heart. My chest ached so much that I couldn’t breathe.

Alexander stood still, watching me silently. I didn’t know if he felt any ounce of pity for me, or he just didn’t care. Either way, his silence only made me feel more alone.

After what felt like forever, he stepped closer and placed something on the floor in front of me.

It was a small recorder.

"She left this for you," he said quietly.

I stared at the recorder, tears still streaming down my cheeks. My hands shook as I reached for it.

Alexander didn’t wait. He turned around and walked out of the room without another word.

I sat on the floor, clutching the recorder in my hands, and eventually, I played the play button.

For a moment, there was nothing but static. Then, her weak, raspy voice came through.

"Anna..."

Hearing her voice broke me all over again. I pressed the recorder closer to my chest, curling into myself as her words played.

"I am sorry," she said, her voice cracking. "I know I have never been the mother you deserved. I wasn’t there for you... I didn’t protect you. When your stepmother and Claudia treated you badly, I should have stood up for you. But I didn’t. I let it happen. I let you suffer."

I closed my eyes, my tears falling faster.

"I was a coward," her voice continued, filled with regret. "I thought... if I stayed quiet, if I didn’t fight back, things would get better. But they didn’t. I failed you, Anna. And I regret it every day. I regret it so much."

Her voice broke into a sob, and I covered my mouth, trying to hold back my own cries, but it was useless.

"You didn’t deserve any of it. I should have been better. And now... it is too late. I didn’t have much time and I wish I could see you for the last time," she said. "But before anything, there is something I want you to know. I made a mistake twenty-one years ago..."

She stopped talking and coughed violently, like it was ripping through her chest. My heart clenched at every painful wheeze.

"I wish... I wish I could have told you everything. But I was scared. Scared of what they would do to you. And now..." she trailed off, her breaths becoming shallow.

"Anna," she said again, her tone softer. "I need you to promise me something. Promise me, no matter what happens, you won’t stop looking for the truth. Even if it hurts. Even if it scares you. Do not trust them. Do you hear me? Do not trust them."

Her voice wavered, and I could almost feel her slipping further away.

"I love you," she said, the words so faint that I could hardly hear her. "I always have. Even when I didn’t show it. Even when I failed you. You were the best thing I ever had... the only thing I ever had. And I am so sorry, Anna. I am so sorry..."

The recording ended abruptly, cutting off into silence.

I stared at the recorder in my hands, blankly. My mind was spinning, trying to piece together what she could have meant. Twenty-one years ago? The Truth? Who was ’them’?

My tears had stopped, but my head was still throbbing. This wasn’t just an apology message, it was also a warning. But who was she warning me about? What was happening?

The more I thought about it, the more exhausted and angrier I got.

It started as a small spark, then grew into a fire that burned hotter with every passing second.

This was Alexander’s fault

He took everything from us... Our home, our money, our lives. He pushed my father to the edge, and now my mother was gone too.

If he hadn’t destroyed us, maybe my mother would have had the strength to fight the illness. Maybe she wouldn’t have given up.

Yes. Everything was Alexander. He did this. He tore us apart piece by piece, and now he was standing there as if none of it mattered. As if he hadn’t ruined everything.

I pushed myself to my feet, feeling as a new wave of energy washed through me. But I knew that was just any energy. It was rage, pure rage.

Storming out of the room, I went to look for Alexander. I ran down the stairs, not caring about the strange look the staff were throwing at me. I just hoped Alexander hadn’t left yet.

When I got outside, I found him sitting in the garden, talking to someone I didn’t recognize.

Furiously, I matched towards him. When he saw me approaching, his expression didn’t change, but as soon as he noticed I was angry, there was a slight frown on his forehead. I walked closer to him and without thinking I slapped him across the face. I heard the person he was conversing with gasped and stared at me with shock. But I didn’t care. I wanted to do more to him, because one slap wasn’t enough.