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After I Faked My Death, He Suffered Agony Chapter 36
Noah was in the garden when I arrived.He ran toward me with the puppy racing at his heels. I knelt and caught him before he could fall. He smelled of grass and the soap Ruth used after his afternoon bath.“Did you fix the violin?” he asked.“I did.”“Can I hear it?”“When we go inside.”He took my hand and led me toward the house, stopping twice to point out things I had missed while I was away: a new bud on the rosebush and a stone he thought looked like a sleeping dog.At the door, I looked back toward the mountains.I had once imagined freedom as the moment the jet exploded behind me. That moment had given me a way out, but it had not built the life that followed. That took quieter choices: staying with Noah when I could have kept running, learning work that was mine, telling Antonio and his wife no, and refusing to let Damian’s regret become my obligation.There were still questions ahead. Noah would grow older. I would tell him the truth about his father when he was ready to hear
After I Faked My Death, He Suffered Agony Chapter 35
In the spring, the Sicilian house was ready for a longer stay.The roof no longer leaked. Noah’s room had shelves for his books and a low bed beneath the window. In the garden, Ruth had helped me plant white roses beside a path rather than inside glass walls.Antonio and his wife came for a weekend. Noah was away with Ruth in Switzerland. I had not yet decided whether to introduce them, and they did not know he existed.That secrecy could not last forever. I knew it. For now, I wanted to choose a time when I could tell them without fear that the news would immediately reach Damian.Antonio walked with me to the terrace at dusk.“Your father would have liked what you’ve done,” he said.“Did he ever think he’d leave this place?”“He hoped he wouldn’t have to.”We watched the water turn dark beneath the last light.I used to think returning here would give me back something I had lost at seven. It did not. My parents were still gone. I had grown into someone they never had the chance to k
After I Faked My Death, He Suffered Agony Chapter 34
Just before Christmas, Antonio sent a message.**Valen, Damian is awake. He needs oxygen, and the damage to his voice is permanent. He keeps asking to see you. Would you speak to him on a video call?**I was at the Swiss estate. Outside the window, Noah chased his golden retriever puppy across the garden while Ruth walked close behind them.I set the phone down and watched him.I had gone to the hospital when Damian was injured. I had seen him alive. I had stayed with his parents. There was nothing I needed to say to him, and no answer he could give that would change my life.I picked up the phone.**No, Dad.**Antonio replied a few minutes later.**I understand. Merry Christmas, my girl.**I sat with the message for a while. Then I took the last encrypted SIM card from my old phone and dropped it into the fire.The cleaner’s emergency number was written in other places if I ever needed it. Ruth knew how to reach me. Burning the card was not a way to erase what had happened.It was a s
After I Faked My Death, He Suffered Agony Chapter 33
That winter, I went back to the pages I had written for Noah.He was growing fast. He asked where my parents were, and I told him what I knew about his grandparents. Soon he would begin asking other questions.I wanted to prepare an honest answer about Damian without making it the first fact Noah learned about himself.I wrote:*Your father and I knew each other for many years. There were times I trusted him more than anyone. Later, he did things that made it unsafe for us to stay with him. I left because I needed to protect you and myself.*I read the paragraph aloud. It was true. It was not the whole truth, but it could be a beginning for a child.Ruth read it when I asked her to.“He’ll ask more when he’s older,” she said.“I know. I’ll answer then.”I put the letter with the account of Noah’s birth and copies of photographs from his first years. I did not seal it. Our lives were still happening; there would be more to add.In Chicago, Damian had been transferred from intensive care
After I Faked My Death, He Suffered Agony Chapter 32
Antonio and his wife arrived in October.We spent the first afternoon walking along the shore. His wife asked about my work, and Antonio wanted to see the violin I had restored from the shop in Galway.They did not ask me to come back to Chicago.At dinner, his wife told me she still thought of me when she saw white roses. I told her about the garden at the Sicilian house and invited them to visit there instead.Antonio looked surprised.“It’s yours,” I said. “I want you to see what I’m doing with it.”“We’d like that.”For a moment, I considered telling them about Noah. I could picture his small hand in Antonio’s, the delight on his wife’s face.Then I thought of Damian asking for a video call from his hospital bed, if he learned there was a living child. I was not ready to put Noah at the center of that struggle.After dinner, Antonio asked to speak with me alone.“I want you to know,” he said, “that I’ve changed the family’s succession arrangements. Damian will not return to the pos
After I Faked My Death, He Suffered Agony Chapter 31
I reopened the Irish workshop at the end of summer.The tourist’s video had made the town curious for a while. Eventually curiosity gave way to ordinary life. People brought me damaged instruments and asked when I could have them ready.I hired an apprentice named Maeve. She was patient with customers and less patient with instruments that refused to cooperate.“You could do the public-facing part,” she told me one afternoon. “People know who you are now.”“I’d rather repair the violin.”She laughed and took the next customer.I no longer used Erin as an absolute disguise. Some people still called me that; others knew me as Valentina Cole. I answered to both in the workshop. I had chosen when to explain and when not to.Ruth brought Noah to Ireland for a short visit. He inspected every drawer I let him open and declared the old cases more interesting than the instruments.Maeve met him only as my son. She did not ask about his father.After they returned to Switzerland, I found a small
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