Chapter 81- NEARING DAY

One day later

'I should have known that sooner or later you would betray me" Rhea told Avena, who stood in the center of her living room. For months Avena had refused to let Rhea in on the big secret and if it were not for Ricardo telling her the secret, she would never have known anything.

The more she spoke, it felt as though nothing she said had gotten through to Avena who had her hands crossed over her chest and was smiling. An action which only infuriated Rhea more. Looking at Avena, Rhea felt as though she wanted to strangle Avena. After all, Rhea had lost her one chance of having Leonardo to herself. She had thought that by working with Avena, she would get Leonardo but only for her to lose him in the end of it all.

'Rhea why are you so upset? I thought you said that you wanted to break up Leonardo and Aurora's marriage? They are over now, so why are you upset?"

'Because I wanted Leonardo to myself!" She yelled, so loud that her echoes filled the interior of her house as she yelled, nothing she did bothered Avena.

'Well perhaps you should have been clear about what you wanted, because I simply did my job. You wanted their marriage over and it is"

'Yes their marriage is over but you told me that you only wanted revenge but you had not told me that Aurora was pretending to be you this entire time. I had to find out through someone else! I don't think that is called doing your job"

'Look, you can throw a pity party all you like but at the end of the day I will be marrying him and not you. I simply came here to congratulate you on separating Leonardo and Aurora, I mean you did my job for me. In the meantime I have to leave, my wedding is in three days' time and its best that I get going" Avena turned around and began walking away from Rhea.

'I will make sure that Leonardo knows everything about you, I will tell him that it was you writing him all those letters threatening him" Rhea threatened Avena whom stopped in her tracks. She turned around and Rhea had expected to see fear on her face but Avena was smiling at her. Her smile was not that of a friend but that of a foe.

'You really think that I will let you hop along to Leonardo and tell him all that I had done? Come on, you must know that I am smarter than you"

'What are you doing?" Rhea asked as Avena violently walked towards her and before she could do anything more, Avena had grabbed her by her hair and slammed her head against the glass table repeatedly.

Using all her strength, Avena stopped only when she saw cracks and blood on the glass table. Pushing Rhea aside, Avena assessed her, realizing that Rhea was no longer breathing and that was enough to put her in a good mood. She would take out anyone who got in the way of her dreams.

'You see Rhea, if you had simply shut your mouth and all this would not have happened but then again, you were always wanted to be a smart mouth. Rest in peace" Avena told Rhea's lifeless body as she turned on her heel, stepped out the front door and shut the door behind her.

**
'I know that I do not deserve to ask you for anything at this point but I'm pleading with you, please tell me why it is that you lied to me for once? I just want to know the truth because it seems as though everyone close to me is lying to me" Leonardo asked his wife, his heart heavy and his mind foggy as everyone was telling him one thing or the other and the only thing he wanted was to know the truth.

For an entire day Leonardo had begged Signora Meta to see his wife and finally she had agreed. Leonardo had come all the way from his house to meet them at the guest house.

After having not seen his wife for an entire day and a half, Leonardo could not help but smile as he looked at the woman who was his wife. She was prettier than he imagined her to be, the swelling of her face was just another sign of a pregnancy. Clearing her throat, Signora Meta opted to leave the both Leonardo and Aurora to speak in the room, without saying a word, Aurora walked over to the window.

With her back facing Leonardo, Aurora did not want to see him at all, because all she saw when she looked him was that he was the man she was married to as well as the man that murdered her mother all those years ago.

'Say what you would like to say and leave!" Aurora told her husband. Her tone of voice filled with anger as she spoke to him rudely. Without showing it, Leonardo was truly inwardly hurt by Aurora's reaction, never has he imagined that his wife would be this angry at him. He had always known his wife as a sweet woman who cared for everyone and never getting angry at anyone.

'I know that the both of us have hurt each other really bad, but I promise you that I did not know that I killed your mother that day. I did not even know who your mother was at all. You have been married to me for seven months, do you think I will intentionally kill someone?" Leonardo asked his wife, looking at her dead in the eyes as though he were searching for answers that her words were not saying.

'Oh please! You might not have intentionally done it but you are still are a murderer and you know that you murdered my mother. You took my childhood away from me and your parents could do nothing but pay people off to make sure that their darling son did not have to pay for his crime. It is rich people such as yourself that are the reasons why we poor people suffer!" Aurora yelled at her husband as she clutched her dress as though she was about to take two pieces.

Leonardo shut his eyes as his wife continued scolding him, he knew that he deserved each and every thing coming out of her mouth. He could not imagine losing someone as close to him and yet here he was, he was responsible for taking his wife's mother away from her and had stolen her childhood.

'I know that all the sorry in the world could not make it all go away and if I could I would go back to the police station right now and tell them all that I had done"

'But will that bring back my mother? Exactly, I knew that you would not be able to answer because in reality no amount of sorry and you going to jail would bring her back. At the end of the day your family has money and mine does not" The hurt in her voice was evident and it hurt Leonardo to see his wife hurting like she was now.
Aurora tried walking away but Leonardo pulled her back gently until she was facing him.

'Why did you lie to me? Why did you switch places with Avena? I want to hear the truth from your mouth, at least grant me this one wish and if not for my sake then for the sake of our child" He pleaded with her, Aurora swallowed the lump in her voice and buried all her emotions. Although angry at her husband she could still not bare to see him hurt.

'I had no choice that family had given me a home when my mother had passed away and I felt that it was my duty to save their faces. Avena had run away with her lover and that left me to deal with the consequences, I did not want to be a bride to someone I did not know. What woman would want an arranged marriage?"

'Why did is she not back out of the wedding days ago, why on the day of the wedding day?"

'I do not know, all I know is that her parents told me that if I could convince her to get married to you I would finally get enough money from them to study medicine. All I've ever wanted was to be a doctor, to save people like my mother that could not be saved but unfortunately for me, she had not died of an illness but rather she was shot like an animal by my husband"

'Why should I believe you?"

'You can choose to believe me or you can choose to believe them, whichever one you believe I do not care" Although acting like she did not care what Leonardo thought, deep down he knew his wife very well and he knew that she did care. Leonardo let go of her arm and she walked out of the room, leaving him alone.

Realizing that something was not quite right, he followed Aurora and asked her to stop. Aurora turned around to face her husband and her face not hiding that she was quite irritated with him.

'What do you want this time?"

'I need to ask you something—or rather give you something" Leonardo reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out her locket, Aurora's eyes shorn bright as she set eyes on her mother's locket. Slowly she looked up at him and even thought he was speechless, Leonardo knew that she was indeed thankful as she took the locket from him.

'Did you ever open your locket to see what was inside?" He asked her. Aurora paused, looked at her husband and nodded a no.

'It was always rusted and I tried to open it many times but it refused to budge. I tried to open it once you got it fixed but— I guess I just forget" Looking at her facial expression Leonardo knew that she was indeed telling him the truth and he knew that whatever she would find inside the locker would shock her.

'Then I suggest you look inside" She stared at him suspiciously but proceeded to open the locket and as soon as she saw pictures inside, her eyes grew wider with shock.


The day of the wedding

He was once again getting married but this time, the feeling of happiness was nowhere near him because all he felt was unease. For several days he had watched both his mother and his soon-to-be mother-in-law plan the wedding with excitement in their voices, whereas Leonardo was uninterested.