Alle Kapitel von Ripples And Hills: Kapitel 141 – Kapitel 150

Hulio. Meanwhile… Anger bristles inside me as my driver takes me back home. My chest is a furnace, but my eyes betray me. Tears streak down my face before I can stop them. Alexa, alive. Breathing. Right in front of me and I couldn’t even hold her. Couldn’t even look at her without the past slamming into me like a hammer. Why didn’t I recognize her from the start? Damn it! The signs were there. Her eyes. Her soul. They’d been staring me in the face, screaming at me. But I’d looked past them. I’d seen only the scar carved into Prudence’s face. And beneath that scar, I should have seen something raw, something real. Alexa. The woman I had once secretly, desperately wanted to be mine. I remember the night I kissed her. I remember how young she was, how naïve, how easily she had trusted me. She had placed her heart in my hands and I had eventually crushed it when she married me as Prudence. I let her slip through my fingers because my own rage blinded me. Rage at Ashley. Rage at my

Alexa. Later… Dinner was delicious. We finally ate the lamb stew with garlic bread we found in Helia’s fridge made earlier by his cook. The bread, Helia’s signature lamb stew, and the wine; every bite, every sip, was perfect. Now we’re in bed. Naked. Sated. Our breaths still uneven from another round of sex, glasses of red wine in hand. My body hums, but my heart still feels restless from his countenance earlier. Sadness after he mentioned his mum and brother leaving home back then. I push back the thought, just as he speaks. “When my mum left, I missed her very much.” His words freeze me mid sip. It isn’t just the sound of his voice, it’s the emotion in it. I turn. He’s staring into his glass, swirling the dark liquid slowly, like he’s stalling. “I cried for days,” he continues. “My brother chose her. He didn’t choose me. Didn’t choose our bond. Everyone picked sides. But me? I chose the family. I stayed. I stayed to save us from the whores I knew my father was bringing in.”

Alexa.Night.I lie in bed, a cartoon flickering across the television, though I’m not really watching. The day keeps replaying in my head. Hulio, dragged away in handcuffs. Hulio, exposed on the news for hurting all those women.I’d known the moment it broke. Helia had told me to keep an eye out. Somehow, he pulled it off. Somehow, he found the women. Or he had known of them before. And once he did, their voices came pouring out, each confession echoing mine. Hulio's façade crumbled fast. All that charm, all that bravado, it had always been a mask. Behind it lived a darkness in him so vile, I still shiver remembering it pressed against my skin.Helia said he’ll be prosecuted. If the judge is merciful, maybe a short sentence. If not, too bad. Either way, he’s gone. Out of my life. Out of my baby’s life. Forever.A soft knock pulls me back to the room. Grandma steps in, a gentle smile on her lips. She carries an envelope in one hand, a box in the other.“Hello, darling. Just wanted to

Helia.Later.It’s pathetic, watching my mother cry for a fool who doesn’t deserve even a pinch of her love. Not after what he did to those women. Not after he made them cry.To think my brother stooped this low, hurting the weak, the same way he hurt Alexa, makes my stomach churn. It’s worse sitting in the same room with him.“I’m sorry I was too hurt by your father and, as a result, didn’t focus on you.” Mum clutches Hulio’s hands, sobbing. “If I had paid more attention then, I would have seen when you developed this knack for hurting women.” She cries into his palms. He doesn’t look at her. He looks at me, and I return his stare, steadily.“It’s alright, Mum. You wouldn’t know all your sons’ secrets now, would you?” He sneers. The barb lands where it’s meant to. Right in my gut. “At least this secret of mine has come out and your eldest son made a move against me at the board. Who knows what dreadful secrets your eldest son holds.” Scorn drips off his words. I don’t flinch. I just

Helia.Meanwhile…Minutes after Alexa leaves, I finally will my limbs to move. I’d stood there when she stormed out, rooted like a fucking statue. My breaths shallow, my chest tight, Hulio’s threat echoing in my skull.‘I will ruin that thread of trust she has in you…’The words won’t stop circling, each one a blade. But then a faint trace of her scent hits me, and something breaks loose inside me. She belongs to me. I don’t want this to end. I don’t want us to end, not because of Hulio. Not because of Roderick. Not because of my silence.So I drag myself outside. But she’s gone. Her car, wherever she parked it, I can’t find it. Panic claws through me, anguish ripping my chest open. I choke back sobs and dive into my own car.I dial her again. Voicemail. Again. Voicemail. Again.“Come on, Alexa… pick up.” My voice is raw as I weave through traffic, vision blurred from tears. My chest is caving, my heart a fist of pain. This can’t be happening. Not now. Not like this. How dare Hulio b