Chapter Twenty-three

Cecilia

The tears burned my eyes as I allowed them to flow unobstructed.

I cried for Matthew.

I cried for my parents.

I cried for me and the loss of the life I knew.

I cried for what I’d suffered and what my kidnapping had done to me.

It wasn’t only my injuries or humiliation. Those men had brought to life a darker side of the world I’d successfully ignored. Yes, I read books and news articles. I’d known my whole life that there was a darker side to my family’s business. I was surrounded by men who killed before dinner. I didn’t know the details. I was spared, sheltered, and protected.

I was.

Until I wasn’t.

In the captivity of those men, they ripped back the veil, exposing the dangerous underbelly of a world I never before truly accepted existed.

In doing so, they forever cast a shadow on my existence.