Lahat ng Kabanata ng His Father's Obsession, I fell in love with his son. : Kabanata 171 - Kabanata 180

I broke down sobbing even more at the look on Elena’s face, because for her to be angry with me meant that I had truly messed up but I still couldn’t help it. I love Luca, I mean my heart has clipped to him fondly.Elena drew closer to where I sat and rubbed small circles across my back, trying to calm me, though her words were sharp. She leaned closer, her voice low but it was all that I needed to hear.“Tell me, Carol… Be honest with me, how does it feel to commit something as twisted as incest?” She asked, and I wouldn’t know if she asked out of sheer curiosity or sarcastically but I didn’t like the sound of that question at all.“Come on, Elena!”“What?” She frowned, sounding like she didn't know what she had just done.The word alone cut through me, and I flinched as if she had slapped me. My throat burned, but I lifted my head to face her, my eyes wet and stinging.“Don’t judge me, Elena,” I whispered, my voice breaking. “You don’t know everything. You don’t know what I’ve been

I shot my head up quickly, fixing my gaze on Elena whose eyes were already fixated on me. Her hand was still holding mine as if she was trying to stop me from slipping further into more panic. “Carol,” She called out my name firmly, “you’re not the kind of woman who cowers in the face of threats.....That’s just not who you are.”I looked away immediately, pretending to focus on the curtains swaying slightly from the fan’s breeze. The hum of the blades filled the room, blowing strands of my hair across my face which I pushed back half-heartedly, unwilling to meet her gaze anymore.“You remember where we came from, don’t you? You weren’t always Antonio’s wife, living in mansions with maids and drivers. You and I...we started at the bottom.” She gestured to buttress her point.I stayed quiet and listened to the weight of her words as memories I often tried to bury started scratching their way back to my mind again.“You were fire, Carol. Back in the strip club, when everyone else was t

“I know I have seen it every other day on you back in the days but now, I do have a hunch about that tattoo on your skin especially as the pamphlet has the same symbol on it,” Elena said, chewing slightly on her lower lips.I broke her grip on me and waved my hand dismissively, shaking my head like she was unbelievable. “Elena, come on! A tattoo is a tattoo, anyone could have drawn the same thing and it doesn’t mean anything.” I protested but she didn’t look convinced. She kept flipping through the pamphlet, running her finger over the strange symbol printed on one of the pages. “Carol, you don’t get it…. This wasn’t just a random design. There was a gang, back in the day, people said they used this mark and it stood for something between them,” She explained.I sighed and leaned back, adjusting my blouse as if I was trying to wave the whole conversation off. “And I’m telling you I don’t belong to a gang, I never did and you know it, so, don’t make this a big deal because it isn’t,

If what she said was true, that someone had been killed and that I was being watched, then it is worthy of being taken into consideration.I felt a sudden urge to leave the store, to run out into the open air but I forced myself to stay calm, moving slowly and stylishly scanning the faces around me one last time but nothing looked out of place, yet everything felt wrong. I tightened my grip on my bag and walked to the exit, my steps steady but my mind buzzing. Outside, the parking lot stretched ahead, bright under the evening sky. People moved in and out of cars, pushing trolleys, talking on their phones and it all looked normal.I reached my car and unlocked it quickly, slipping inside and locking the doors without turning the engine on. I sat there gripping the steering wheel and staring at the folded paper in my bag. I was getting very curious to know what it was she wanted to relay to me, especially how the death of whomever she had mentioned earlier had a thing to do with me.

“Pursued,” I chuckled and almost burst into a loud laugh but I held it in and shot him a look with a straight face.As I was still talking to Antonio, I heard footsteps outside the compound. They were heavy and uneven, like boots grinding against gravel. I paused and headed towards the window again as the noise grew louder.Suddenly the gate creaked, followed by muffled voices that had deep and commanding tones that didn’t belong to any of the regular guards. At once, a strange chill ran down my spine.I walked quickly to the curtain, my hands trembling as I pulled it back and there they were, the same men I had seen earlier when I was coming home, I noticed their broad shoulders, hard faces and tattoos peeking through rolled-up sleeves. They moved in a way that made it obvious they weren’t just security but were soldiers of some sort, trained to be hard and cold.I felt my throat tighten. “It’s them,” I whispered first, then pointed toward the window. “Antonio, it’s them! Who are