He Ransomed His Secret Son and Left Our Daughter novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: The Same Hand

I put my hand over my mouth so I wouldn't make a sound.

I sat on the edge of the bed with the envelope in my lap, and I was still sitting there when Dario opened his eyes.

He saw my face, and his went still.

"What is it?"

"What's this?"

He looked at what I was holding.

Every bit of sleep left him at once.

"It's nothing."

"It has your name on it."

"It's from my mother." He pushed himself up against the headboard. "It came to the house a week after she died. Mrs. Orsini kept it until I was sixteen. She said I could read it when I was ready."

"You never opened it."

"No."

"Why not?"

He took a long time.

"Because I thought it would be an apology," he said. "I thought it would say she was sorry she took you. And I couldn't stand to hear her say it."

I held the envelope out so he could see the front.

"Look at the D," I said.

He looked.

"Look at the way the little a leans back."

"Marlena, what are you..."

"Wait here."

I put on his white shirt, which came down to my knees.

I ran barefoot across the dark lawn, up the back stairs of the main house and down the hall to my room, where my bag lay open on the chair.

I dug into it with shaking hands.

My second foster mother had given me the tin the day I aged out of the system.

It was an old cookie tin with a faded Christmas scene on the lid.

Inside were four things.

A hospital bracelet, a library card, a Saint Christopher medal.

And a square of yellowed paper, folded once, with a rusty pinhole in one corner.

I carried it back across the lawn with my heart slamming.

Dario was sitting on the edge of the bed with his elbows on his knees.

← Chapter 11 · All chapters · Chapter 13 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend