28. My child

"I'm sorry for being such a jerk, baby. I'm so sorry. I wanted to find you before, but your Dad, Armando, told me that you left on your own after you disowned him as your father. I lost all hope when Mom suddenly disappeared and..." Arik's voice completely broke, and he held me even tighter. "...and they found her dead in Aomori. The parts of her body were nowhere to be found. They only recovered a few things and one of her hands."

I gasped when I heard that. I quickly pulled away from him just to verify if he was telling the truth or not.

"W-what?" I managed to control my tears. "What do you mean, Arik? Her hand?"

Arik clenched his jaw while looking at me, his eyes still watery. He fixed my hair. "Yes, baby... She was dismembered. That's why I disappeared. I did everything I could to find out what happened, but until now, no one could tell us what happened and who did it." In an instant, his sad eyes turned into burning rage.