Chapter 174
Chapter 174:
I managed a bitter smile as I lowered my gaze. We were back at the mall, seated in a quiet restaurant. I had carried this secret for so long that it had become a weight I couldn’t shake. No one in California knew. Only Rian, my friend from university, knew the story. Mrs. Kelley’s hand rested over mine on the table.
“I can be like a mother to you, Sophia. I know part of your story about your parents, but you’ve never told me this part. You can tell me anything p>
Mrs. Sonia Kelley had been one of my students in the Zumba classes I taught. We met two years earlier, and she became one of my most loyal clients, always sending friends and colleagues to my studio. She filled a space my own mother once held and understood every sacrifice I made for my career. She even helped sponsor us whenever we competed in international dance competitions.
I looked at her and let out a long, exhausted sigh. Then I began to speak about that dark chapter of my life in Bologna, Italy.
“Félix De Luca was my ex-fiancé. I was only eighteen when my father’s company fell into a financial crisis, and he had no idea how to recover. Then, one day, he came to me and told me I was already engaged to a man named Félix De Luca. I didn’t even know him. I asked why, and he told me it was for my note future p>
“And then, one afternoon, I overheard my father speaking with a guest in the living room. They were talking about the money the man had transferred into my father’s account. My father said I needed to start preparing for the wedding, and to make sure his son and I grew closer, they had bought the empty house a few blocks away from ours p>
“When I met Félix, I sensed something off in the way he looked at me. He watched me in a way that gave me goosebumps. I tried to tell my father what I’d noticed, but he ignored me and said Félix was a good man who would be the perfect husband for me. I didn’t believe him, so I asked my cousin to help me investigate Félix. That’s when we discovered he had a degree in computer science, and what shocked me most was learning he had been using and selling drugs p>
“Did you tell your father?” she asked, her face pale with shock.
“Yes. I even showed him everything we found, but he yelled at me and said it was all fake news p>
“Fake news? But it’s not fake if you have proof p>
“Yes, I told him that, but he still wouldn’t listen. He went ahead and signed the contract anyway p>
𝖠𝗱𝖽𝗶cti𝘷е 𝗇о𝘃𝗲𝘭𝘴 on