Chapter 818
She could sense her grandmother’s reluctance to let her go. To put it bluntly, she knew Leyla didn’t have much time left in this world, considering her age.
She understood that Leyla would want to spend her remaining time close to her.
Leyla smiled softly as she patted Eileen’s hand.
“Sweetheart, I’m not going anywhere. I’m too set in my ways here. Just visit me when you can. Now, off you go.”
Knowing there was a long journey ahead and the hour was late, Eileen had no choice but to leave.
She brought Dolores back with her. The sky was darkening, stretching its cloak over the vast plain before them.
Dolores gazed out of the window, her face blank.
“I’ve spent so many years in Onaland before; I’m not used to living here,” she said.
“It’s no surprise,” Eileen sniffled, nodding. “I’m not used to living here either. The weather, the food—it’s all too different.” If Bryan hadn’t been cooking for her every day, she would have lost so much weight here.
“But I’ve grown accustomed to life without Julio,” Dolores said, her head lowered. “His sudden reappearance has turned my world upside down. I want to leave now.”
The truth about Gianna and Conroy’s affair was still hidden from Leyla. Therefore, to prove Kinsey’s ‘loyalty,’ Dolores still had a part to play here.
Leaving was not an option for her now.
Mⱺɍɇ Ʉρȡąţɇş ĩŋ ɢąłņøνɇłş.çøɱ
With one hand resting on the car door, Eileen sent Bryan an update when she stopped the car at a red light. She then turned to Dolores and said,
“Your relationship with Julio is a tangled web. No matter where you go, he’ll find a way to follow.”
Dolores pressed her lips together for a moment before asking,
“So what does he want?”
The words Julio had spoken in the CSI that night about wanting her to give him a child still echoed in her mind.
But she knew they were words born of anger, not meant to be taken to heart.
“I didn’t walk away because I didn’t believe he could be that cold. I wanted to help him. I didn’t want to use my child as a bargaining chip, and I didn’t want to marry him just because we had slept together before. To him, I am nothing but a manipulative gold-digger…” Dolores spoke with a mix of bitterness and disappointment.
She realized now that she had been wrong from the beginning. When Julio had told her to leave, she should have packed up and left, disregarding the help he had given her for years. Her mistake had been that she had a heart.
“You and Julio are worlds apart in how you see things, so it’s hard to say who’s right and who’s wrong. But every step you take now is a path paved by your past,” Eileen remarked. The light flickered green, and Eileen twisted the key in the ignition, bringing the engine to life. With a steady press on the accelerator, she drove straight toward the city.
By the time they reached home, it was already past eleven, and the night had swallowed the world in darkness.