The moment she entered her room, guided by her mother, the first thing that came into her mind was the word ‘no’. It’s pink everywhere. The curtains are pink, the bedsheets are pink, even the closets are pink!
She never knew she has this much affinity to that color that the thought of it now sends bolts of cringe into her body. It’s too tacky for her own liking now.
“This is your room, Devon. I made sure to preserve this for this exact moment. I know you will return to mommy. My mother’s instincts told me so.”
Melena sat beside her on the bed and just stared at her face. “What happened, Devon? How did you… how did you manage that crash? All of us believed you were dead so we stopped the search and rescue operation.”
Was there really any one conducted for her? Based on her father’s personality, he wouldn’t waste his precious resources for his only daughter.
“Can’t we talk about that for now, m-mom?” she refused averting her question.
How would she know when she can’t remember anything prior to her life as Ava? For that, she employed her skills she learned when she was a waitress, it’s deception through an innocent face. She’s keeping the act using her limited memory of her life.
“Of course, of course. Silly me. Forgive your mother.” She cupped her face longingly. “I miss you. I miss you so much every day of my life since you were gone. Like your father and brothers, I hated you too for marrying Daemon and abandoning our family.”
Wait, she had brothers? Daemon didn’t inform me of that.
Picking up both of her hands and taking them inside her palms, she asked her earnestly, “Were you happy with him? Did he harm you in any way?”
“No, he didn’t do any of that. In fact, Daemon is very loving of me.”
Okay, that’s a big big lie but she needs to put up a face. She can’t let her mother know that her own husband aimed a gun at her face once or else she will for sure question her choice of men, not that she remembered everything though. Being dictated upon is her most disliked trait.
Maybe Daemon had done so much worse in the past, that she didn’t know any way of knowing without her memories working properly.
Melena looked relieved. “Good. He did the right thing. I thought…”
She stopped there and sighed repeatedly before hugging her again. She had no choice but to hug back to show that she missed her too.
As her days of being back as Devon Farrows gone by, she was pushed into the life that not only bored her but also emptied the hell out of her. If she felt like a prisoner at Daemon’s hand, then this situation in her own home is by far a mile worse than her previous situation. There’s no change. She still can’t go out without guards and no phone calls and cell phones.
In short, her life is being surveyed in every aspect that she found to be duper suffocating. She’s not a fish in an aquarium for goodness sake!
And the worst of all, she didn’t recover a single memory since coming home. Daemon has a reason for warning her not to tell anyone in her family about her real condition. Her family is more cunning and dangerous than Daemon. She met her brother, Titus, who instead of being happy to see her alive, said on her face that she was a disgrace to their family and she shouldn’t have come back, that she’s better off dead.
“Was he waiting for my call?” she once mumbled in her sleep upon recalling her last conversation with Daemon in his car.
“Maybe not. He’ll be busy with Maddy.”
“Devon, can I ask something from you?”
She looked up from the book she’s reading in the balcony of her room to see her mother in her signature elegant attire.
“What is it?”
She would have added the word mom next to her sentence but she felt awkward and uncomfortable saying it.
She gently closed the book and put it on her lap. “Can you please be a good girl to your father this time? Say yes to him if he asks you to do something, please. Can you do that? For me, Devon.”
Bewildered, she chose to act dumb with her to gather some new information. “I can’t promise. Do you have any idea what he would want me to do?”
Melena’s brows furrowed in wonder. Devon must know what she is talking about. “You know what your father wants from the very start but you defied him so your relationship became sour. You’re the daughter. If there’s someone who should take the first step into reconciliation, it should be you. Do it to make amends to him.”
“What is it?” Devon asked again when shadows of a particular memory played in her head.
Her mother eyed her suspiciously. “You don’t remember?”
“Ma’am Devon, your father is looking for you at his office.”
Devon could have kissed Sandra in happiness for coming at the perfect time. If she continued the conversation with her mother, then it’ll only be a matter of time for her to discover that she’s not the ‘old Devon’.
“Joffrey still wants you.” That’s the first words Gestoni gave to his daughter when she entered the room. “Prove to our family Devon that you’re not a traitor, that you’re not working with our enemy. Marry Joffrey. If you do that, then I’ll give you your due as one of my heirs.”
She? Marrying that old geezer she’s very adamant not to marry in her memory?! Not in a billion years! That idea still creep her.
“But I’m married to Daemon,” she reasoned out.
“Then file for a divorce,” he said sternly as if she came out with the lamest excuse ever after being caught red-handed.
“I’ll think about it.”
“Don’t take your time. I don’t wait for women to make decisions. Get out.”
Devon nodded and went out with seething teeth. “It’s so fucking hard to live as a woman in a mafia’s family. What do they take me for? A thing they can discard? A goods they can exchange? I can’t believe this!”
She stopped in her tracks when a memory crossed her mind that only made her more pissed than she already is. “Devon, why are you letting them treat you like trash?”