[Leo, see this photo? Look closely. The woman in this picture is a bad person. A total whore.]
[She wants to steal your daddy away from me. If she succeeds, the three of us won’t be able to stay together anymore. Leo, if you ever see this bad woman, you have to hate her. Be mean to her, and don’t ever give her a nice face.]
[If you don’t listen to me, I won’t love you anymore. Then nobody will love Leo, and you’ll become an unwanted orphan.]
The recording cut off.
Leo looked up, tear tracks staining his face, his eyes filled with pure confusion and hurt. “Aunt Sofia, that’s exactly what you said! I helped you get rid of the bad woman, so why aren’t you praising me?”
The entire venue felt like someone had hit the mute button.
My mother’s face was as pale as a sheet of paper, her lips trembling violently without a single word coming out. My father’s fists clenched and unclenched repeatedly, his eyes darting between Leo and Sofia as if he had been slapped across the face.
Luca’s brow was twisted in a savage knot. His hand was still resting on Sofia’s shoulder, but his fingertips were shaking. His Adam’s apple bobbed several times, but he couldn’t squeeze out a word.
Finally, the guests completely boiled over.
“Oh my god… that recording… The horrible things that child said were all taught by her?”
“Teaching a kid to call his own mother a whore? And threatening him that nobody would love him? That is sick!”
“So whose kid is it really? He calls the bride ‘Aunt Sofia’ and the groom ‘Daddy’. Then the real mother must be…”
Everyone’s gaze shifted back to me.
I remained kneeling on the floor, red wine still dripping from my clothes. I was completely soaked, looking like a hedgehog that had been stripped of its quills, exposing the bloody flesh underneath.
Leo was still throwing a fit, clinging to Sofia’s leg. “Aunt Sofia, say something! Say something! Do you really not love me anymore?”
“Didn’t you just tell me that if I yelled at this bad woman, you’d buy me the biggest Transformer toy?”
Sofia’s face had gone completely translucent. Her mouth opened and closed, opened and closed, until she finally managed to choke out a tearful, “Leo… stop… stop talking…”
But Leo wouldn’t listen. He cried even harder. “I want to say it! Everything I said is true! Aunt Sofia is a liar! You said if I was good, everyone would love me. But now nobody is talking! Nobody loves me!”
As he sobbed, he pointed a finger directly at me. “It’s all your fault! You bad woman! Why did you have to come? If you didn’t show up, Aunt Sofia would still love me!”
I looked at him, staring at that little face that looked so much like mine, yet so much like Luca’s. My heart felt like it was being squeezed by an invisible hand, crushed piece by piece.
“Leo…” my voice was so hoarse it was barely a whisper. “I’m your mother…”
Leo glared at me with pure hatred, burying his face back into Sofia’s leg. “I don’t have a mother! You’re not my mom! My mom is…”
He suddenly looked up at Sofia, his eyes a mix of innocence and cruelty. “Aunt Sofia, you’re my mommy, right? Didn’t you say before that if I was good, you’d be my mommy?”