I pursued him.
If he truly wants me, he has to come after me. Woo me. And there is no way in hell I am going to make that easy.
But that is something for future Ava to deal with. After a large cup of coffee. Maybe two. Right now, I am more interested in the note addressed to me in my mother’s handwriting. Licking my lips, I pull the paper out of my pocket and unfold it.
Mo Réalta,
If you are reading this then my time has come, my precious little star.
I don’t want you to be sad.
Death is nothing to fear or mourn but something to rejoice and cherish.
You are ten now, my heart.
I don’t have much time. They are coming for me, and our time together will soon end.
I love you. I want you to know that. Because what I am about to tell you may very well break your heart as it did mine so many years ago.
There are dark forces at work, my star, that I hope will never taint your sweet, gentle soul.
When I was eighteen, I was taken by a man named Elias Ward who works for a devil.
A man with two faces.
I don’t notice at first. The changes were so subtle that I barely saw what was right in front of me.
Until one day I did.
You will never meet your grandfather, God rest his soul, for the man who wears his face is nothing but a lie.
A con.
One that has been going on far longer than I could have ever anticipated.
Oh, my star.
I escaped the man who took me, and I ran back to your father. The love of my life.
Unfortunately, I was ill-advised and later betrayed.
But I didn’t figure this out until several months later.
Elias stole me again and I am resigned to my fate until one day I found out about my little miracle.
Mo Réalta.
It became life or death. If Elias ever found out about you, he would have forced me to end the pregnancy.
With some help, I escaped again.
I went back to your father, but he had already moved on.
With the one who betrayed me.
She is not who she appears to be, my heart.
Over the years I struggled to find out how she was involved, and I think I finally found it.