Page 54 of All for her Forgiveness

"Because he was a suspicious bastard like us, and as he died suddenly, he didn’t ask to have the service turned off. But that’s not the important thing right now, Hades. What is important is that with a touch of your finger on the screen of this phone, you'll have answers to two important questions: who Pam, your ward, really was, and how King was conceived."

Kennedy

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

"You should try to sleep.You look like you’re on the brink of exhaustion. You're not forcing yourself to remember, Kennedy, are you?" Ernest knows every detail of my story with Hades now. From the beginning, when we met, to as far back as I can recall. I've recounted everything to him.

"I'm not forcing anything, just trying to piece things together. It will help in my defense. Every memory that comes back might be another brick in the wall I'm building to protect myself and my son."

"What else have you remembered?"

"About when I arrived in New York. No, even before that, actually. I was scared of everything, from flying—and we flew first class—to entering a house that, until then, I had only seen in movies."

"Where they lived."

"Yes, the caretaker's house looked like a mansion. They must have really liked Mrs. Vina to let her stay there even though no one else occupied the main residence."

"Or maybe the house was just a small slice of their money. A grain of sand without any significance."

"Perhaps you're right, but even so, they didn't need to keep it. They let Mrs. Vina live there."

He nods in agreement. "Continue."

"I remember that in the first few days, I was happy, but not even a week passed before I started noticing mood swings in Pam. I mean, it's normal to be happy one day and sad the next, but in her case, they were sudden changes, you know? We were watching TV, and she would say something. If I disagreed, she would throw the popcorn bowl on the floor, along with the soda."

"Did she make you clean it up?"

"No, Mrs. Vina never allowed it. She raised her strictly and was always fair. I think that made Pam resentful, because only a few weeks had passed before she was acting different with me. I’d lived with Riny almost my whole life, endured a toxic relationship, so I knew that arrangement at her grandmother's house wouldn't last long."

"You’ve finally stopped calling her Aunt Riny."

"She was never an aunt to me, more like a prison guard. The fact is, my hope was deflating like a helium balloon that doesn't burst, slowly losing its strength. I was the spare wheel, and I knew that the moment Pam said she didn't want me there anymore, her grandmother would have no choice but to send me away."

"Did Hades visit them?"

I furrow my brow, trying to remember. "No. He would call Mrs. Vina to see if we needed anything. I went the first month and a half without seeing him. It only happened when he came on Pam's birthday." When the memory returns, I feel my face heat up with embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, I interrupted your narrative. You were telling me about Pam's change in temperament."

"Yes, she was strange. It's horrible to say that about someone who's dead, but it's the plain truth."

"Spoiled?"

"Yes, but mainly weird. That's what I'm talking about. I mean, the girl had everything: a house, nice clothes, she went to elite schools, and she still complained about life. Soon after her birthday, when she asked Hades to take her to a nightclub, she started complaining incessantly because the other Kostanidou didn't go, that they didn't like her, that nobody loved her."

"My God, I've never even met the girl, and I already can't stand her. No wonder Hades' brothers didn't like her."

"He didn't have much patience with her either," I say when a memory hits me hard.

"What? I thought he adored her."

"Yes, maybe he did, but I think—” My eyes widen.

"Kennedy, what happened?"

"Pam wanted more. It wasn't Hades' protection she desired; she desired him as a man."

"Did she tell you that directly?"

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