My Enemy’s Daughter

AMELIA LEAL

I look at my sleeping mother, still not believing in the latest events. I check if she’s really sleeping, kiss the top of her head and leave the room with a heavy mind. I close my eyes, drawing air into my lungs and then letting it out. An escape, that’s all I need.

” Hey.” I open my eyes, facing Peter very close, he is serious and his gaze is hard.

I close my expression, ignore his presence and walk straight in, not caring about his protest as I turn my back on him.

” We need to talk.” He says, holding my arm, forcing me to stop the steps.

“We have nothing to talk about. I growl harshly, fighting her grip. He doesn’t release me, on the contrary, he squeezes harder.

“We do, you know we do. Please Amelia. She says in a softer tone. His free hand touches my waist and pulls us closer.

I turn up my nose and lock my gaze with his, not letting myself be intimidated.

“Spit out what you want.” I say, hating having him touch me. He sighs, lowers his gaze to the ground, and loosens his grip. He remains steady, still staring down at him.

He fucked up, not me. I have nothing to be ashamed of.

” I’m sorry.” he whispers, looking embarrassed at the same time as frustrated. I remain silent and he looks back at me.

He scratches the back of his neck, disconcerted.

“Good heavens, Amelia. I don’t even know what came over me, okay? You need to understand.” Snort, still not saying anything.

What does he want? For me to say it’s okay that he tried to kiss me?

That we can act normally as if nothing happened? No, definitely not.

In another time I would have loved to have your mouth on mine, feel your touch and have your caresses. But something has changed, my sister is pregnant and now she has…

I let out a frustrated sigh, realizing that my subconscious had put him in the situation without my realizing it.

Now there’s Henrico .

“You tried to kiss me even though my sister was pregnant.” I snarl, not sympathizing with her contrite expression.

I liked him when Aurora and him started a relationship, everyone knew that. I was a silly teenager, but I was sure of my feelings and now, observing with more maturity, Peter also knew what I felt and always acted naturally, never gave me hope, butit never scared me away either, as if seeing him with my sister on a daily basis didn’t hurt me.

I accepted, learned to deal with and live with the fact that he wasn’t mine, so why the hell is he trying to relive it now?

“I thought you did.” he says, sounding more like a loose thought than a confession.

I click my tongue, feeling my blood suddenly boil.

“Did you think I wanted to kiss my sister’s husband?” Did you think that after all these years of chasing you around like a little bitch I was finally ready to receive my award? snort, looking disgustedly at him.

His expression changes to something somber and he smirks at me, his gaze moving down and up my body.

“No use pretending, we’re both adults now and I know you’ve always wanted to.” He takes a step towards me, ending the distance between us, I put a hand between us, preventing his chest from touching mine.

“I want you to stay away from me.” A smile shapes his lips and he runs his tongue across his bottom lip, bringing his left hand to my face.

“I don’t think you want that.” she says, using a sensual, velvety, lust”filled tone.

My stomach turns and my skin burns where he touches it.

“Oh, there you are.” My sister’s high”pitched voice makes him pull away abruptly.

“Has your father arrived?” Say, cynical. Walking up to Aurora in firm steps and hugging her round waist from pregnancy.

My stepsister’s eyes stray from her husband to me, she squints and holds them steady.

” He wants to talk to you.” He says, returning Peter’s hug without taking his eyes off mine.

The whole scene makes me want to throw up, so I turn away and assume she’s talking to her husband.

“With you too, little sister.” The cutting and mocking tone does not go unnoticed, I sigh and turn back to them.

Okay, I can handle it.

I walk past them without saying anything, even though I feel their gazes burning into me.

Okay, if Augusto Leal wants to talk to me it means there’s another bomb about to explode and there’s no way to avoid it. I arrive at his office in a few minutes and I don’t knock or wait for him to tell me to come in, I just open the door and settle in the armchair.

” Daddy” I say, watching him pour himself a glass of whiskey.

He’s been drinking a lot lately.

“Is your mother sleeping?” Ask, still on your back.

“Yes, she took some tranquilizers.” I declare, wondering at the tranquility in her tone.This is property © of NôvelDrama.Org.

” Good.” That’s all he says, before Aurora and Peter enter the office smiling and holding hands.

I brace myself for some retaliation from Aurora, assuming a rigid posture as I try to ignore them both. No one says anything, although I’m using a lot of self”control not to throw up all my breakfast.

” Well, I gathered the family to inform them of the latest news, since in a few hours we will be targets of gossip. Today, Ezequiel was found dead next to the body of a young woman, everything indicates that she is a corner prostitute, but your mother was the first to arrive at the scene and we will need to support her.”

” She is not my mom.” Aurora protests.

I frown.

” Woman? What woman? You hadn’t mentioned a woman earlier today” I get excited, taking Mom’s pains by instinct.

Dad looks at me sternly and arches one of his eyebrows. back off a little

“Sorry I didn’t have time to give you a full report, Amelia. She was busy trying to get her mother out of a crime scene.

“Getting Mom off…” Pause, parsing her words. “I’m confused.” I confess.

“Ezequiel committed suicide, but the woman had a bullet in the middle of her chest, indicating that she was murdered. Both had large amounts of drugs in their bodies, not just one type.” My head is throbbing processing the information Peter, not my father, is giving me right now.

I turn my face to him and look confused.

How could he know so much information if I didn’t even know?

“I can’t understand, him and my mother…” I start to speak, but I’m interrupted by the crash of Dad’s fist hitting the wood of the table.

“His mother and he didn’t have anything, Amelia understand?” They framed her, forged photos and forced an involvement that did not exist.

What? Do not.

I stare at him in disbelief.

“She loved him, you know. She was going to ask for a divorce and be with him” I say, remembering the conversation we had about Ezequiel.

” Not. The woman they found dead with him was the same one in the photos, someone who knew about his mother’s past with that guy wanted to force a situation to harm me, to end our marriage.” I frown, not understanding what he’s getting at.

Mom and Ezequiel did have an affair, the photos weren’t forged, she herself admitted.

“This is the best way, Amelia. It is not yet known who killed the girl, it could have been Ezequiel himself or someone else, the best thing is that neither the police nor the media know that her mother was the first at the scene of the crime.” Peter speaks, bringing chills to my body.

” I …”

“You have to accept that version of the story, Amelia. Your mother had a past with Ezequiel, but it ended before she married me and when the media found out, she forged a whole scenario to affect me. This could even have been done by an enemy, don’t you think? Can you think of anyone, hmm? The innuendo in his voice makes it clear who he is talking to and my chest tightens.”

Henrico .

“Someone could have killed that woman to harm your mother and, to top it off, harm me.” Just imagine the news, the governor’s wife catches a lover with another woman and kills them both.

“You said he committed suicide.” I feel my head throbbing.

“You know how the media is, darling.” He shrugs, coming to stand beside me and taking my hand.

“Someone wants to harm us, Amelia. I need her help to convince her mother to adopt this version of the story, let’s act like the tight”knit family we are, I’ll be glad she was with me all night and everything will be fine.

“She won’t accept it, if someone killed Ezequiel, my mother will be the first to want to find out who’s guilty.” He snorts irritably and lets go of my hand.

“You don’t see the gravity of this, do you?” Yell. ” We are public people, the media is sensationalist and makes success based on the misfortune of others, they will destroy your mother and end my career, is this what you want?” Her voice comes out hard, cutting. I force saliva down my throat and it rips down, having trouble getting down.

“Perhaps they will. Mom didn’t do anything, she always shows up doing volunteer work and if Ezequiel and this girl were really a drug user couple, who murdered the girl was probably a drug dealer.” I try to persuade Dad, presenting a point of view that I believe is convincing.

“The media has pictures, one way or another your mother will be summoned to the police station and become a suspect, but you can save her if you want.”

He says, coming back to my side, lifting my chin to face him.

I frown.

“Like?” I murmur.

” Convince her to say exactly what Dad tells her, order her to deny her involvement with that Ezequiel. She has not given any response so far about the photos, so convince her to deny the alleged involvement. Dad will be the perfect alibi. ” Author intervenes, taking the speech.

“Then I’m going to send you both out of the country, just until things cool down. Your mother needs you, honey. Can I count on your help?” His words come out sweet, but I feel the bitter in my mouth. He notices my indecision, so he comes over and kisses my hair in a fatherly gesture.

” We have many enemies, they will try in every way to attack us, princess. Make no mistake, my enemies are your enemies.” she says, implying once again that Henrico is behind this whole thing, that he’s using me.

Tears fill my eyes, but I fight not to let them fall. I feel alone once again, deceived, left out.

Would he use me? It makes no sense. I felt it in the touch, in the words, in the look. But, someone did, Mom could be arrested and charged for a crime she didn’t commit.

” Yea.” It’s all I can say, thinking not about me, but her, the person I love most in life.