Page 22 of Poison Aches

One, my life—healthy or not—has always been a threat for many, which meant my mother’s paranoia for my safety was hundred fucking percent warranted.

And two, they are the only ones whose loyalty I don’t have to question.

After all, this is the first time I’ve seen them in over a year since they went out to look for my missing mother.

“Sir,” Kai speaks, looking at me.

“How did it go?”

“We found nothing from all the funeral parlors and cemeteries. We personally checked all the unidentified persons reported in hospitals both private and government, big and small, and we also checked in the underworld. There’s radio silence about Don Daphne.”

Don Daphne…that’s what they called my mother, these two. Because by birthright, she was the firstborn, but much to Grandfather’s continued stress, she also happened to be ashe.

“Is that all?”

“We hunted down the trail of the men who came after you that night, all of them have been eliminated.”

Just as I figured.

My uncles would never leave loose threads…but unfortunately for them, their sister has always been several steps and levels ahead of their barbaric thinking.

“Your uncle Emilio is petitioning against your position as heir,” Ty speaks up for the first time which catches my attention.

Protesting the position of an heir is not a small thing, at least in our Family.

“What’s he standing on?”

“Your health.”

Crap!

Just the one thing my mother feared would one day happen.

Mom was always careful whenever we had Family dinners, meetings, and all that crap that brought the Eastons under one roof a few times in a year.

She was always alert, but she never cowered, nor did she bother showing anyone her fear.

In my memories, she always held her head high.

She was graceful, beautiful, powerful but kind.

She had the ability and power to order the death of a rival with just a nod. The whole Outfit might’ve been wary of her, but they sure as hell respected her.

She was such a fearless woman…until she learned about my fucking condition.

I remember the way she made me promise never to let the secret of my illness be known, especially to Grandfather.

“Everything collapses the day they find out. Tell no one. Promise me!”

There was a lot of chaos, charged by an undercurrent of conspiracy and hostility that I couldn’t see until it was too late.

But now, I see where it all started; the time where Daphne Isabella Easton went above and beyond to fight for my life.

The woman dared to defy reality, biology, medicine, science, everything…she went against it all and dared to keep me alive, and all for what? For her to be gone instead?

Everything started going wrong when she found out how fucking sick and cursed I was.

The anxiety.

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