Chapter 96

Lysandra

A sister.

Him having a daughter.

A woman before my mother, someone who was in his life before Mother ever appeared, before she chose to disappear too.

The words wouldn’t stop echoing in my mind.

I paced my bedroom like a caged animal, arms wrapped tightly around myself as if doing so would keep me from unraveling. A sister. A blood relative raised in silence, in secrecy, nurtured by the same man who claimed to love me more than anything, our father. The same man who claimed to be building everything for me, yet seemed to have a different perspective on things. Seemed to be playing a game that I did not put in consideration.

Giovanni, my father, had spoken it so calmly. So matter-of-factly. As if it was just another chess move in his grand design. As if her existence didn’t rip open something inside of me that I hadn’t even realized was fragile. A certain contentment that I had that I did not think about until today, until he spoke