PART 3
Lilia’s manicured hand froze mid-gesture, hovering just above the table as her eyes darted back and forth between my navy blazer, my corporate badge, and the quiet, elegant dining room around us. For a fraction of a second, she looked as though she were trying to solve a puzzle with missing pieces.
Then, slowly, the arrogance began to drain from her expression, replaced by a cold, sickening realization.
She looked at my face, tracing the lines she had looked past for years, and finally recognized the woman she had ordered out of her home just months ago.
“Marlene?” Lilia whispered, the word catching in her throat like a dry bone.
Across the table, David stood up so abruptly that his chair scraped harshly against the polished teak deck flooring, causing several nearby passengers to turn and stare.
His face had gone completely white, the color vanishing as if he had seen a ghost in broad daylight. His lips parted, but no sound came out.
The man who had coldly told me to pack my bags, the son who had demanded every penny of my savings as compensation for raising him, was suddenly standing face-to-face with the twenty-five percent owner of the cruise line he was currently sailing on.
“Mom?” David finally choked out, his voice cracking with a mixture of terror and utter disbelief. “What… what are you doing here?
How is this possible?”
