All Chapters of The Revenge of One Humiliated: Chapter 181 - Chapter 190

ÉlianorI leave the visiting room, I walk through the corridors, I pass through the doors, the security locks, the checkpoints, everything necessary to leave a prison, to leave behind me Sabrina, her tears, her confessions, her love, her way of loving, a way that was not love, that was never love, that was something else, something I can't name, something that resembles fear, hatred, jealousy, possession, everything except what a mother should feel for her daughter, even a daughter who is not hers, even a daughter she raised out of obligation, out of duty, out of interest, out of fear, and I leave all of that behind me, I leave the lies, the secrets, the crimes, I leave twenty-four years of my life, twenty-four years when I called Sabrina "Mom," twenty-four years when I believed Viviane was dead, twenty-four years when I was the daughter of someone who was not my mother, who never loved me the way a mother should love her daughter, who loved me in her own way, a way that was not love,

Marcus The house is calm, soothed, as if the storm of the last few days had finally ceased, as if the raging sea had become gentle again, peaceful, almost asleep, after having devastated everything in its path, the lies, the secrets, the crimes, everything that had been hidden, buried, entombed, for twenty-four years, for a whole life, for a whole existence, and that had finally been revealed, spoken, confessed, forgiven perhaps, one day, if one wants, if one can, if one still can, after all these years, after all these lies, after all these fears, after all these flights. I am in the kitchen, I am making coffee, I watch Élianor who is sitting at the table, who is looking out the window, who is looking at the garden, the snow melting, spring arriving, life going on, going on without Sabrina, without Marc, without all those lies, those secrets, those crimes, going on with us, with her, with the children, with Matha, with Liora, with Viviane soon, with this family we are building, sto

Élianor The phone rings in the late afternoon, I am in my office, I am looking out the window at the city stretching out before my eyes, my city, my empire, my kingdom of glass and steel, ninety-one percent of its businesses, thousands of jobs, millions of euros, all of this to get here, for my mother, my real mother, Viviane, to call me, for me to hear her, for me to speak to her, for me to tell her I am here, that I am waiting for her, that I hope for her, that I want her, that I desire her, that I love her perhaps, without knowing her, without ever having seen her, without ever having touched her, without ever having loved her, but that I love her, because she is my mother, because I am her daughter, because that is what it is, a mother, a daughter, something that cannot be erased, that cannot be forgotten, that cannot be betrayed, that cannot be lied to, that cannot be hidden, that cannot be fled, that is there, that is always there, no matter what

Élianor We are settled in the living room, face to face, like two actors before going on stage, like two lovers before saying I love you, like a mother and her daughter before finding each other again after twenty-four years of separation, of silence, of lies, of secrets, of crimes, everything that separated us, everything that distanced us, everything that lost us, and that today, today brings us closer, reunites us, loves us, forgives us, saves us, everything that allows us to be here, together, in this living room, in this house, in this life, in this love, forever, for eternity, until the end of time, for everything we have, everything we don't have, everything we will have, if we want, if we dare, if we believe, if we hope, if we love. Marcus looks at me, he looks at me with his eyes that are mine, that are those of our children, that are those of Viviane, that are those of this family we are building, stone by stone, day after day, hope after hop

ÉlianorThe café is small, intimate, almost discreet, as if it had been chosen for this meeting, for this moment, for this life, for this love, everything we have, everything we don't have, everything we will have, if we want, if we dare, if we believe, if we hope, if we love. I am sitting at a table near the window, I look at the street, I look at the people passing by, the cars, the trees, everything that is there, everything that lives, everything that exists, without knowing, without understanding, without imagining, that I am here, that I am waiting, that I am hoping, that I am believing, that I am loving, that I am afraid, that I am in pain, that I tremble, that I cry, that I live, for the first time, for the first time in my life, for the first time in twenty-four years, since I was born, since I opened my eyes into this world where Sabrina was waiting for me, where Sabrina took me in her arms, where Sabrina looked at me with those eyes that were not a mother's eyes, that were