Page 95 of About Love and Revenge

“Yeah.”

She gives me a soft kiss. “I'm sorry about your parents, but I'm glad you survived.”

I'm too uncomfortable after having opened up, and I need to take back some control. “Your turn.”

“What?”

"Why did you say you lived a lie?"

I know she wants to run away, but I won't give up knowing about her past either.

“You’re the one who wanted us to share secrets. You can't take it back now.”

“It's all right.”Even though she’s agreed, she leaves my lap and goes to the other side of the tub. “Life in my house wasn’t what people thought it was.”

“What people?”

“Everyone. High society. Maybe some employees knew the truth but were too afraid to report it.”

“Report?”

“He beat us. All of us, but especially my mother.”

I begin to move towards her, but with a gesture she stops me. “No, please. You asked me to tell you and I will, but I don't want you to touch me while I do. I don’t want to contaminate what we have with those memories.”

It is with great effort that I lean back. “Ok. Go on.”

Odin

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

She doesn't showany emotion while she tells me about her childhood.

Some of the beatings she narrates are worthy of a horror movie, especially those against Theodoro. The entire time I'm listening, my hands are interlocked under the water.

It’s no longer difficult to understand what he ordered his men to do to Orien. If not even his own children were sacred, it wouldn't be a big deal to have someone else's child raped and killed.

Despite this, there was an escalation of cruelty towards my family.

On that day, I had gone out to play and lost track of time. I was sure I would be grounded, knowing how strict my mother was, so I decided to go in through the basement. Sometimes the door that gave access to the kitchen was open, sometimes not, but to escape the scolding, I decided to take my chances.

I was already upstairs when I heard Leandros’s words. If I had delayed any longer, I would, like the rest of the locals, have thought of it as an accidental fire.

I investigated it years later. I don't know if the police knew who was responsible, but the islanders really believed it was all an accident. Only I knew the truth, because I heard our tormentor and his men.

“You will regret choosing your family over me, woman. Pour gasoline on everything. The fire has to spread quickly.”

"Mister Argyros, are you sure? Can't we at least save the little girl?”

"Do you want to die along with them?”

“No, sir.”

It took me little more than a few seconds to understand what was going on. I ran to the top of the stairs, but there were no more voices, only groans of pain.

The door was locked, and then I noticed the flames.

No matter how much I threw myself at it, I couldn't open it. The heat became unbearable, and the door finally collapsed from the fire.

---