Her eyes immediately watered, feeling the pain from my past even though she hardly knew me. “I’m so sorry…”
I looked away, unable to handle her compassion.
“He’s eight?” she whispered, her voice cracking slightly.
“Yes. I missed three years of his life while I was a prisoner. I’m supposed to get him back soon.”
“You haven’t seen him yet?” she whispered.
“No. But when Carter gets back, my son will be living with us.”
“That’s terrible, Mia…”
It was easy to feel sorry for myself, but since I was so happy to be free, it didn’t make sense to feel anything less than joy. It would be an insult to the time I lost. “It was the worst time of my life, obviously. But instead of letting that define me, I’ve moved forward. My son and I will have a good life together. I’ll raise him to be a good man, someone who would never hurt a woman. And we’ll be happy.”
“That’s a very good attitude,” she whispered. “I admire it.”
“Thank you.”
“My son plays into this story, doesn’t he?”
I didn’t say anything, not wanting to betray him. After what he’d done for me, I couldn’t throw him under the bus. I was loyal to him, would take a bullet for him.
Mrs. Barsetti watched me with twinkling brown eyes, not offended by my silence. “I thought it was strange that he had a maid when he’d never seemed interested in having one before. And the fact that you have a son who will be living there, I also thought was peculiar. I don’t want to put you in a position you don’t want to be in. But if my son is helping you…” Her eyes watered again, the tears growing so thick, they slid down her cheeks. “I would be so proud of him.”
Watching her eyes tear up made mine do the same. I did my best to keep my emotions in check, refusing to cry in front of anyone but Carter.
She cleared her throat. “Carter doesn’t know anything about my past. We agreed to keep it from him, from both of our children. I’ll share it with you now, but if the time comes, I want to be the one to tell him this story. The purpose in me telling you is…so you understand that you aren’t alone. That there is hope…and there is a happy life to be lived.”
I nodded, agreeing to keep her story a secret from Carter.
“My story is nearly identical to yours,” she said quietly. “I’d just graduated college when I took a trip to Greece with a friend. We got in the wrong taxi, and that’s when we were taken. We were bought by the same monster, and to get me to cooperate, he threatened to hurt my friend. I was his prisoner for a while… It seemed like a lifetime. I was so young, and that made it so much worse. Cane was doing business with my captor. That was how we met. The second I looked at him, I knew he was different. He wasn’t a clean-cut man without a dark past, but he was nothing like the monsters that surrounded me. He may have bad intentions sometimes, but he has a heart of gold. They made a deal for some weapons…and I became collateral. Cane took me home for a month…and in that time, we fell in love. The rest of the story doesn’t matter. But in the end, Cane saved me. He freed me from that monster by killing him. We married shortly afterward and lived very happy lives.”
I listened to her heartbreaking story that mirrored my own, and I was appalled by what I’d heard. Why was something like this so common? Common enough that two women had almost the exact same story? It was disgusting. “I’m glad Cane killed him.”
She wiped away a single tear that had fallen. “Me too. He’s a good man…the best.”
“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
“All of that pain fades over time. I never think about it anymore. This is the first time I’ve thought about it in years…because I saw the scars. I have similar ones.”
“I’m so sorry.” I suffered so much, and it hurt to know that Carter’s mother went through the same thing. “I’ll keep your secret. But I think you should tell Carter eventually. It will hurt him a lot, but he’ll admire you even more than he does now. He always speaks so highly of you…and now I know why.”
“He does?” she whispered, a smile spreading across her lips.
“Of course.”
“He’s tough like his father, but also sweet like his father. I’ve considered telling him, but I wanted to wait until the right time. Pearl told her daughter about her past, and it seemed to bring them closer together.”
I didn’t ask what that past was, assuming it was none of my business. “I told Carter I was afraid my son would hate me…or not remember me. He told me my son will be proud of me, for surviving something like that. So, I suspect that will be Carter’s reaction when you tell him.”