Chapter 713: Mother’s Breakdown 2
I shook my head, my voice firm, my grip tightening on her shoulders as if I could anchor her to reality. "She didn’t tell me about this. I found out myself... when I met her this evening..."
I paused, my eyes locked on hers, my heart pounding as I watched her face twist with confusion and pain. "She seemed happy, Mom. Genuinely happy. Not to meet me... but to see your son..."
Victoria stared at me, her eyes wide, her breath coming in short, sharp gasps as she searched my face for any sign of deception. Her fingers dug into her own arms, her knuckles white, as if she were trying to ground herself in a world that had just been flipped upside down.
"I was so confused by her behavior..." I continued, my voice steady but soft, as if I were walking on eggshells. "I thought the same as you... So I hired some people to do the digging... This organization, these people—they’re real, Mom..."
Victoria scoffed, her voice dripping with bitterness, her arms crossing over her chest like a shield. "How can that be...?" she spat, her eyes narrowing as if she were daring me to lie. "If that was true, how come nobody knows about them...? The media, the government—someone would have said something!"
"Someone would have exposed them! You expect me to believe that nobody—not a single soul—has ever whispered a word about this...?!" Her voice rose, her gestures wild, as if the very idea was too absurd to comprehend.
"Dexter, this is ridiculous! You’re telling me there’s some secret society pulling the strings of the entire world, and nobody—not the CIA, not the FBI, not anyone—has ever noticed?!"
I didn’t flinch. I took my phone back, my fingers moving swiftly as I opened the file with the list of Shadows members. I handed it to her, my expression unyielding. "Look for yourself."
Victoria snatched the phone, her eyes scanning the list, her breath hitching as she saw Kevin’s name. Her face went pale, her lips parting in shock, her fingers trembling as she scrolled further.
"Kevin...?" she whispered, her voice barely audible, as if saying his name might summon him from the shadows.
"Our President...? How is this possible...?" Her voice cracked, her hands shaking as she saw the names of world leaders, CEOs, people she had trusted, people she had laughed with, people she had built empires with.
"This... this can’t be real..." she muttered, her voice breaking, her mind reeling as the weight of the truth crushed her.
Then, her expression hardened, her voice turning icy, her eyes narrowing into slits. "Then Maya—is she my mother now...?" she scoffed, her lips curling in disgust.
"Why is she so worried about me...? Dexter, there is no free medicine in this world... Don’t you know by now...?" Her voice was laced with bitterness, the years of betrayal weighing heavily on her, twisting her words into something sharp and ugly.
"People don’t just protect others out of the goodness of their hearts! There’s always a catch! There’s always a price! So don’t you dare tell me she’s doing this out of love!"
I almost laughed. I wanted to see her reaction when she saw Maya’s diary. I opened the next folder, the photos of Maya’s diary entries, and handed the phone back to her.
Victoria took the phone, her voice sharp, her eyes skeptical, her fingers trembling as she scrolled through the images. "What is this now...? Some other story...?" she snapped, her voice rising as her frustration boiled over.
"Dexter, you can’t change my mind with some fake diary entries! Do you think I’m stupid? Do you think I’ll just believe whatever you show me without proof?!"
Then she started reading.
The first entry—Maya’s excitement at meeting her.
"Today was my first day as Teacher’s assistant. She is wonderful. So smart, so intelligent... I am not even a fraction of her. But still, she is patient with me. Teaching me. Guiding me. I feel... lucky. Like I’ve been given a gift I don’t deserve."
Victoria’s breath hitched, her fingers tightening on the phone, her knuckles turning white. Her eyes widened, her lips parting as if she were seeing a ghost.
Then, the confession—her love, her longing, her desperation.
"I think... I’m in love with her. I never thought I was like this. I’ve never felt this way about anyone—man or woman. But with her... It’s different. It’s everything. But she’s married. She has a family. I can’t destroy that. I can’t hurt her. So I’ll bury this. I’ll hide it. Forever."
Victoria’s tears started dripping onto the phone screen, her hands shaking violently, her breath coming in ragged gasps. "Dexter..." she whispered, her voice breaking, her eyes wide with disbelief, her mind refusing to accept what she was reading.
"You are playing tricks on me, right...? Tell me this is not true..." Her voice was choked, her fingers clawing at her own chest as if she could tear the pain out of her heart. "And where did this come from...? Did she give you these...? Did she plant these lies to manipulate me...?!"
I took a deep breath, my voice steady. "After getting the evidence about the Shadows organization... I broke into Ms. Maya’s villa... and found those diaries..."
Victoria slumped on the sofa, her tears falling freely now, her body shaking with sobbing, her fingers digging into her own skin as if she could punish herself for her years of hatred.
She clutched her chest, her breath coming in short, sharp bursts, her eyes squeezed shut as if she could block out the truth.
"So... all these years..." she murmured, her voice choked, her words barely audible between sobbing gasps.
"She has been protecting me... us... our family..." She clutched my arm, her fingers digging into my skin, her eyes wild with horror.
"And I... I have been hating her... calling her a bitch... a traitor..." Her voice broke, and she couldn’t finish. She collapsed against me, her face buried in my shoulder, her body wracked with sobbing, her fingers clutching at my shirt as if I were her only lifeline in a world that had just been shattered.
"She... she loved me..." she whimpered, her voice muffled against my shirt, her words barely coherent. "All this time... she loved me... and I never knew... I hated her... I cursed her..."