GENESIS
It was very obvious that Dante was beginning to suspect her relationship with Sara. The way he looked at her and asked those questions about their days in college proved that. She really wished she did not have to continue lying to him, but she still did not think it was the right time to tell him about her past.
Alright, that was just an excuse. It was the perfect time to tell him. But she was scared as to how his reaction to it would be? Would he still see her for who she was or would his perception of her change? She really hoped it would be the former whenever she manages to build up the courage to tell him.
“You look like you are about to pass out.” Sara's voice coming from her phone's speaker reminded her that they were on a video call.
She sighed and adjusted her pillow. “I'm just thinking of ways to tell him.”
“Tell him what?”
“Everything!” She exhaled heavily. “I just don't know how to put it out to him.”
“Simply meet him in private and spill it.” Sara shrugged like she was asking Genesis to do the easiest thing in the world.
Genesis was frustrated already. This was not the time for Sara's nonchalance. “Remember how you reacted when I told you?” Genesis asked and Sara nodded. “Imagine what his own reaction would be, especially now that he has become vulnerable with me.”
“Look, Jenny.” Sara cleared her throat. “I understand that it's going to be hard for you to sit him down and tell him everything, but keeping it from him longer will not help matters either. Plus, you do not want him to somehow find out by himself.”
“I know, I know.” Genesis sighed. “I'll tell him soon enough.”
“You better do that.” Sara looked at her pointedly before she said. “They're about to come in for round checks, I have to go now. Bye!”
She sighed and dropped her phone beside her on the bed. Her eyes roamed the ceiling as she thought of the possible ways that she could present the truth to Dante. She was also busy guessing what the various outcomes may be.
She was still in deep thoughts when she fell asleep and the only thing that woke her up was her phone buzzing with a message. She checked and it was actually not a text but an email from a Lorenzo Casillas.
Immediately she saw that name, she went stiff and her body went cold. She swallowed hard as she clicked on it to open the email’s content. She was hoping with all her heart that this Lorenzo would not turn out to be who she was thinking he was.
But all that hope fell to dust when she started reading the message and it confirmed her suspicion.
It read: Do you really think you have won? You really think that's over? No, dear sister, that was only a preamble of what is to come. You will cry and regret not coming with me, I will make sure of that. Hats off to your little husband for that stunt he pulled off; but, by now, you should know that I am always two steps ahead. If you think that I will let you live in peace, think again. You will only have peace once I am six feet under, I swear. This, Sister, is the beginning of your end.
She felt so weak, so much so that she did not realize when her phone slipped from her hand and landed on the floor. Her brother was going to be back, that was if he was not back already, making his plans codedly.
Should she not have known? Why was she stupid enough to think that Rodriguez would leave her alone so easily? If anyone was aware of how hard it was to get him to back out of something, it was supposed to be her?
Too many questions clouded her mind at that moment. How did he get her email address? How was he going to show himself this time?
She wished she could pick up her phone, call Sara, and tell her everything as usual. But her best friend was still just r covering from that first stunt they had pulled. And who was to say that Sara was not now on his list of targets?
Now, she felt like a magnet for bad luck as she had put the lives of everyone around her in danger. And she felt like she was reliving that dreadful moment that she had first seen him in this city.
If only all this could turn out to be a very bad dream. But it was sure as hell her reality now. Only thing was that this time, she had nobody to run to. There was no way she could put that kind of burden on Sara again, and telling Dante meant that she had to spill everything about her past to him. She was not to do that yet.
She was trapped and she had no idea what to do about that. Her brain was jumbled and not one single idea popped in her head.
As she thought and thought and was still not able to think of anything ever out of this, she was beginning to see that this might truly be the end of the life that she was trying so hard to build for herself. Rodriguez was most likely going to succeed in taking her home and she would have to live the life that she had been running away from all these years.
Her shoulders sagged and her eyes were burning, but she was unable to cry. One thing she knew was that she would resist her brother's plans for as long as she could. Following her initial plan, she was going to have to face her brother alone and not involve anyone else.
She decided that she would fight this any way that she could, even though she thought that she had already lost.