The Legend Mafia Slave

Ma

r of the truth I'd uncovered. Nicolas...my son, or at least, the one I had raised as my own. The truth had blindsided me, a revelation I'd chased for years but nev

s the living room, where Julianna and I had spent so many nights together, that I found myself pausing. Her absence lingered t

or Nicolas, for Julianna in those final months when illness had drained the light from her eyes. Mande ha

hat had bound her long past my wife's death. I felt a surge of anger and betrayal, but underneath it, a gnawing ache I couldn't shake. For years, I had raised Nicolas, poured everything

erent from any other. When she saw me standing in the doorway, her eyes flickered w

Tell me the truth. Tell me what Ju

ht she wouldn't answer, that she would take that vow to her grave, just as J

o protect you. She didn't want you to know the truth beca

ut I forced myself to stay still, to listen. "

But he was not yours by blood...she made me swear, in her final days, to keep that sec

me, trusting only Mande with the truth. My heart twisted, torn between grief for the woman I ha

Nicolas was not my blood, but he had been my son. I had shaped him, molded him to carry

eadier than I felt. "Thank you, Mande

this secret. The truth had come to light, but at what cost? And now I had to