HIS GREATEST BETRAYAL

Chapter 27

JANE'S POV

Ferracco stopped before me and removed his dark sunglasses. He stared down at me , a smile tracing his cruel , sensual mouth. I lifted up my head and glared at me with gravel eyes.

"It's been a long time , Jane," he said with a smirk.

My trembling hands clutched my skirt tightly at my sides. My hands were itching to slap off that stupid smirk on his unpleasant face. But l restrained myself for the sake of Elena. I didn't want to cause a scene in front of my daughter.

My eyes wandered to my daughter's smiling face and my insides quivered in relief. I crouched down to her level and gathered her into my arms as my maternal instinct kicked in. The scent of her bubble bath tickled my nostrils and a sob escaped my lips.

Closing my eyes , l sent a mental prayer to God. At least Ferracco had not stolen my daughter and whisked her to a God knows where island. I felt Elena squirming in my arms and l realised that l had been holding her too tight.

"Mom , l can't breath," she managed to say out against my chest.

"I am sorry," l said as l released her.

I looked at her face again and l felt anger rise inside me.

"How can you just leave with a stranger! Do you know how worried l was?," l shouted at her in a stern voice.

Elena usually burst into tears whenever l shouted at her like that but she surprised me by widening her smile.

"He is not a stranger. He is my dad," she said in a happy voice.

My entire body stiffened at her words. I looked up at Ferracco , my heart racing madly. He flashed me a wicked grin conforming my worst nightmare. I sucked in my breath feeling as if a heavy blow has been delivered to my face.

He had successfully managed to rob me of my little girl!

I glared at him with so much hatred and despise. In my entire life , l had never hated anyone with so much intensity and passion as l hated him. Staring at his unapologetic face , l couldn't believe that at one point in my life , he had been a centre of my universe.

Elena's little hands tugged at my shirt sleeve,jolting me out of my thoughts. The smile on her face collapsed to be replaced by a sad look.

"Pliz mummy , forgive him. Dad says he is sorry for going away from us. He says he was busy making more money so that he would return someday and take us to live a decent life."

My mouth flew open in disbelief. My angry eyes moved back to Ferracco. I couldn't believe the lies he had fed my daughter in a span of three hours.

"He showed me your wedding photos," she added in a gleeful voice.

I was so surprised to hear that he had kept our wedding photos all these years. As of me , I had burned everything that slightly reminded me of him over the years. The only thing l couldn't rid of was my daughter.

To me , she was my only link to sanity. The sole and ultimate reason for my survival!

I wondered why Ferracco had kept the photos all these years.

"Mummy ,please forgive Daddy," Elena pleaded with me with that small,cute pout on her face which she knew always worked on me.

My daughter was one little manipulator. At the thought , a smile crept on my face. When she looks at me like that with those beautiful doe eyes , l always finds it hard to resist her.