Page 119 of All for her Forgiveness

Two days later

"Why are you two looking at me like that?" I ask Ernest and Hades at the same time.

We finished dinner, but instead of going upstairs like he usually does, the man I consider my real father told me he wanted to talk in the library at our house. When Hades didn't ask what it was about, I was sure that the two of them knew something I didn't know.

"We need to talk, Kennedy," Ernest says, and his tone sends me a clear message that I'm not going to like what I'm going to hear.

"What’s wrong?" The only thing that crosses my mind is that he is much sicker than he told me at first, even though I know that Ernest refuses to seek medical help or even undergo tests.

I tried everything to convince him that Athanasios, the Greek who is Brooklyn's husband, is not called the “god in white” for nothing. He is considered the best neurosurgeon in the world, and perhaps he could save him.

Hades apparently understands my agony, because he pulls me onto his lap and kisses my cheek, while Ernest continues to stare at me, sitting in an armchair in front of us.

"Do you know that I love you as if you were my daughter?" Ernest says.

"I do."

He nods in agreement. "What you don't suspect is that my dream is that you really are."

"What?"

"It's a long story, Kennedy. I hope you will be patient in listening to it and that, in the end, you'll be able to forgive me."

For the next hour, I listen to him explain about the lives of my parents, or at least, the man I thought was my father and how his marriage to my mother happened.

Ernest finally clarifies who was, for a time, my secret protector—in fact, the man who was forced into it.

A senator. I'm the daughter of a senator.

While I was starving as a child, sleeping on the floor for years, I had a rich father who knew about my existence but refused to take on his responsibilities.

I don't feel anger; I feel a deep contempt for him as my family's past is unraveled.

He knew my mother was pregnant and discarded her like trash on the street, and if it weren't for the support of Beny, the man who accepted me as his daughter, what would have become of her? I remember little about her, frankly, but from what Ernest is telling me, she was fragile and without much initiative.

"What would she have done if Beny hadn't accepted me?" I ask.

"I would have thrown prudence to the wind and married her."

"What?"

"I haven't gotten to that part yet. I was going to confess to you that I was madly in love with your mother."

"Then why didn't you marry her?"

"I was a contract killer, Kennedy. I was paid to clean up after your father, Balantine."

"He's not my father. I don't care what you did for a living, Ernest. I have met few people in my life more honorable than you. Ryan was born with a silver spoon, he had everything going for him to become a good man, and yet he is a monster."

"I'm a monster too, Kennedy. Or at least, I once was."

"Not for me. Not for King. For both of us, you were our protector and family. Father and grandfather. Did you say you didn't marry her because you didn't think you were good enough?"

"Yes, and because it would have put her in danger. I had many enemies. At that time, I hadn't had the plastic surgery that completely changed my face."

This time, I notice that even Hades, who seemed to know everything up until now, seems surprised.

"You did that?" he asks.

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