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I can’t watch any longer. The feelings inside me are conflicting. I don’t know when Hades chose Pam over me, but I know that if I gave myself to him, it was because I loved him. The opposite, clearly, wasn't true.

I won’t make the mistake of letting myself fall for him again.

I’m almost entering my room, overwhelmed by what happened and how easily I gave in to Hades, when, out of the corner of my eye, I see him leave King's room.

"Don't go yet," he says.

"We have nothing to talk about."

"You're wrong. We have a lot to talk about, but first"—he extends his phone to me—"take this."

"Your phone?"

"Yes."

"Why do I need it?"

"There are several videos on it. Of us. Of Pam. They will help you prove your innocence. I don’t know who your mysterious protector is, but I’ve hired a team of lawyers and would like your authorization to lead your defense."

"Lead my defense? Are you crazy? Why should I trust you?"

"As I said before, there is some evidence on these recordings, and I will get more. I won't let you go back to prison. Your place is out here, raising our son, by my side."

"Never."

He doesn't respond, which makes me even more nervous. It's as if his words are a prophecy, even though I don’t think I will ever forgive him for hating me so much.

"Watch the videos, Kennedy, and then accept my help with your defense. I am a man who carries a world of sins on his back, but above all, I keep my word. I will protect you until the day I die."

Kennedy

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

I watchthe first video and initially focus on the house. I think my mind appreciates escape. Isn't that what specialists say amnesia is? An escape generated by trauma so great that the brain becomes unable to process the event?

In the prison hospital, after I came out of the coma and was still unaware that the most interested party in confirming whether I really had amnesia was Hades, I let them turn me inside out because I also wanted to remember.

No neurologist who evaluated me saw any damage to my brain, which led psychiatrists to conclude that my condition was a step beyond: unconsciously, I didn't want to remember.

Not even spending two years in a coma and coming out of it made me regain my memory. It took a reunion with Hades for me to finally start unraveling my story.

I'm standing in the hallway watching the videos, and Hades has gone to the living room, probably to give me privacy.

On the phone screen, I see Pam walking down the hallway of the main house carrying a thermal bag, but I don't focus on her because it's still painful, despite everything, to see her healthy and remember how her life ended. The day I found her dead, I had no memory of who she was in my life, and still, I was horrified, so much so that I fled that house. However, now that I understand who Pam was to me, and especially since the memories of our time together have returned, I deeply regret her tragic death.

I look at the Persian rugs covering the hallway floor of Hades' grandfather's house, the artwork on the wall, and also one or two sculptures as she walks.

When Pam reaches the library, I watch in horror as she pours the contents of an item that was in her bag into each one of the whiskey bottles.

Now, my memory rushes back, mingling with the footage.

As I watch her leave and the first video ends, I know what will come next. Even so, I press play.

As the video plays, I watch Hades in the library and then my argument with him, but mainly I focus on his hand holding a whiskey glass.

The whiskey in which Pam put something.

A shiver of disgust spreads through me because it takes me no time to understand what she did.

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