Chapter 10 - Tombstone

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

His lips were very, very close to mine. I saw that his eyes were closed. Not knowing how to react, I sat there stiffly. Suddenly, there was a loud honk and the car behind us frantically urged us to drive. Ravi opened his eyes and saw the bright green light. He sighed and stepped on the accelerator.

Our car pulled up to a private cemetery on the outskirts of Philadelphia.

“Why are we here?” I shrugged and turned to look at Ravi.

Ravi glanced at me and let out a long breath. His hand was on the steering wheel, and his fingers kept tapping.

“Listen, Irina. What I’m about to say might shock you” Ravi looked at me with an extremely serious expression. “But believe me, I can help you.”

I nodded while sensing that something bad was about to be said.

“I got the news yesterday that your mother passed away.” Ravi lowered his voice and spoke to me as gently as he could. “I wanted to tell you yesterday, but I didn’t want you to know too soon.”

I stared at Ravi blankly. I hoped he was joking, but his expression told me that was true.

“No way. She’s always been healthy.” I kept shaking my head. My vision was fading, and tears fell down my cheeks as my breathing became labored.

“The exact cause of death is unclear.” He wiped the tears off my face with his thumb.

“You should have told me sooner.” I sobbed so hard tears kept falling from my eyes.

Ravi said nothing, but kept wiping my tears away.

He looked at his phone and said, “Get out of the car. Remember, you have to stay by my side.”

Ravi opened the car door for me, and I saw him pull a bouquet of flowers out of the trunk and hand it to me. I took the flowers and followed him into this private cemetery.

He walked over to a tombstone filled with flowers and stopped. I saw the name engraved on the tombstone: Sara Diaz. Tears instantly welled up in my eyes. I covered my mouth with my hand and couldn’t believe the reality of what I was seeing. I squatted down and placed the flowers in front of the tombstone. I touched the name on the tombstone and tears streamed down my face uncontrollably.

Mom had been waiting and enduring all her life. When I was young, Mom and I lived together, and Dad would occasionally come over to see us. It was only when I was six years old that my mom and I moved into the big house where my father lived. All these years, I had been punished, scolded, and imprisoned by Raul for random reasons. My father had ignored it. It was my mom who protected me time and time again by using her body to block the vines in Raul’s hands, and she even secretly sent food to me when I was imprisoned. My mom’s years of forbearance were exchanged for such an ending. I felt so hateful.

I stood in front of the tombstone with my fists clenched for a long time. Ravi was by my side. He didn’t say anything and just stayed with me.

“Long time no see, Cecilia,” I heard a familiar voice. I turned around and saw Raul standing there. His thugs were coming at us from different directions with guns in their hands.

“I knew you would come and see this b*tch!”

“Long time no see. You’re still as full of sh*t as ever!” I gritted my teeth and glared at him fiercely.

“My sister has grown up. She knows how to run away from marriage and talk back to me!” He turned to look at Ravi and sized him up. Then, he shook his head and said to me, “You ran away from the marriage for this brat? Tsk, tsk, like mother like daughter. You’re both sl*ts.”

“You coward! You only know how to bully defenseless women and children! You killed my mother! It was you!!” I clenched my fists and was almost hysterical.

“She died a worthy death since this news lured you out. Come with me!” His thug walked towards me and tried to take me away.

“Wait a minute,” Ravi shouted, then pointed at Raul’s head and body.

I looked in the direction of Ravi’s finger, and saw that several red laser points had appeared at Raul’s temples and heart. His thugs stopped.

Raul looked down at the bright red laser on his black suit with anger in his eyes.

“You better believe in these snipers’ marksmanship. Tell your men to put down their guns and retreat!” Ravi ordered.

Raul waved his hand. His thugs carefully placed their guns on the ground and slowly stepped back.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of them attempt to pick up his gun. There was a gunshot and the man fell to the ground. There was a small red wound on his forehead. I didn’t dare to look at him and turned my head away.

Raul looked at the man’s body, and the anger in his eyes gradually turned to fear. The others, afraid that they would be treated as the next target, did not dare to move rashly.

“You saw it.” Ravi shrugged. “I wasn’t joking with you.”

“What do you want?” Raul looked at Ravi nervously with beads of sweat on his forehead.

Ravi turned to me and gave me a look.

“Did you kill my mother?” I asked Raul through gritted teeth.

“I didn’t kill her..”