Page 71 of Born Evil

“My mother.” I note the tears burning her eyes as she nods. “Giselle. My daughter.”

“I heard what happened, and it must have been tough for her. For all of you.”

“It was.” Her hand quivers a little and I experience a burst of compassion for the woman who has been through so much, and I smile gently. “I never knew her. What was she like?”

“Calculating.”

I wasn’t expecting that and my grandmother sighs. “She was always the same. She was brought up with my son, Benito, the heir to the empire. Giselle wanted to be equal. To be included in the family business and have her say.”

She sighs heavily. “It wasn’t to be. Her father is a shrewd man, but he is of the old ways. We both are. When Giselle was attacked–” She winces and then says sadly, “It changed her.It affected her mental capability, and she blamed everyone but herself.”

“So she should.” I’m angry on her behalf, and she smiles. “She was naïve and paid the price.”

“Naïve! She was gang raped. She probably didn’t have a choice in the matter.”

I am so angry I raise my voice and I note one of the guards shifts a little closer.

My grandmother nods. “Of course she was a victim, and it changed her. She became angry, so angry she blamed us for everything. She wanted the men dead for what they did to her, and my husband was only too happy to oblige.”

“He murdered them all.” I say with a blank expression because part of me is cheering him on.

“No, Laura.” She shakes her head and hisses, “Heexecutedthem. One by one they paid the price for their sins, and it wasn’t quick.”

I shiver and suddenly I’m not feeling good about myself right now. Who are these people and I’m one of them, for Christ’s sake?

She sighs heavily. “Giselle fell pregnant, and it affected her mentally. She tried so hard to get rid of it.”

It.

My heart sinks. I’m an ‘it’ now.

She smiles kindly, but it doesn’t really match the brutal nature of the conversation.

“We protected you as best we could and when you were born, it was a difficult birth because she was so angry and pleaded with the doctor to dispose of you.”

I wince and it’s as if I’m having an out-of-body experience because this is so cruel.

She reaches out and grasps my hand and I stare at her wizened one in mine.

“We told her you had died because it was what she wanted. We did it for both your sakes.”

I kind of understand that, but it doesn’t make me feel any better.

She carries on. “You were our main priority. Giselle was affected badly by the whole experience and wasn’t safe to be left alone. We had to get you as far away as possible from her and so we arranged your adoption and made sure you had everything you would ever need.”

Her eyes fill with more tears, and she whispers, “It broke my heart.”

I peer up and note the pain in her eyes as she gasps, “It was as if I was tearing my heart out and offering it to another. I watched them take you away in the blanket I knitted and wished more than anything things were different. I have thought about you every day since and monitored your progress. You may have been sent away, Laura, but you have always been held tenderly in my heart.”

I can’t process any of this and say coolly, “What about my mother? What happened to her?”

“She married a man who would bring her in line. Prevent her from doing anything rash and monitor her so she couldn’t end her own life.”

“She was a prisoner.”

I can’t wrap my head around that, and she nods. “Aren’t we all, to a degree? Carlos was a wicked man, but he knew this life. He was of this life, and he accepted that she would never be the kind of wife most expect. Their marriage was loveless for a reason. She was too mentally scarred to be trusted on her own and we did what we thought was best.”

“I disagree.”