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Short filmTranscript
00:00After my husband, the mob boss, exiled me to a desolate upstate villa to cool off for three whole years,
00:06I was finally allowed to come home.
00:08Welcome back, Enya. Back to this gorgeous Brooklyn prison.
00:12I became the perfect wife, praised by everyone in this old Italian neighborhood of Brooklyn.
00:18I even voluntarily brought that woman, Cecilia, into the house to help him fill his duties.
00:23Who knew my obedience would pick him up and help him off even more?
00:26I've tried my damn hardest not to talk to other women, Enya.
00:31How long are you gonna keep up this fucking obedient act?
00:34Mom, we were wrong. We won't call you an old prune anymore.
00:38We don't want that Cecilia living here. Please stop. You're scaring us.
00:42Mom, don't do this to us.
00:45I'm not putting on an act.
00:47My tone was calm, like the frozen Hudson River, and I silently cleaned up the living room Centino had trashed.
00:53Just like my family, always maintaining the facade that nothing was possible.
00:58You punishing me? For exiling you back then?
01:03You're overthinking it, Centino. I just... don't care anymore.
01:08My words caught him off guard. Before he could figure out how to deal with me, a knock came at
01:13the door.
01:14We both knew it was Cecilia.
01:16Enya, I... I... I think I should just go...
01:19Come in. Your room is ready.
01:21Cecilia shuffled in hesitantly, her eyes darting to Centino before quickly looking down.
01:27The damsel in tress routine.
01:29Over a decade, and the lines and expressions haven't changed a bit.
01:32And my husband, he always falls for it.
01:35Protecting the weak is the cornerstone of his twisted sense of honor.
01:43And the lines and expressions haven't changed a bit.
01:46And my husband, he always falls for it.
01:49Protecting the weak is the cornerstone.
01:50Mom, if you're really over it, then kick this woman out.
01:53Gianna and I don't like her.
01:54Mommy, I don't want the clothes and toys she buys anymore.
01:57We won't make you angry again.
01:59My gaze swept over this pair of ungrateful wolves I carried for 10 months on her.
02:04Who once wounded me with words and coldness.
02:07No anger. No sorrow.
02:08Just a complete sense of detachment and scrutiny.
02:12Luca, Gianna, it's not safe for a woman like Cecilia to live outside.
02:16Besides, her husband died for the Marino family.
02:19We owe her this.
02:21Centino, help Cecilia take her luggage to the east guest room.
02:24It's the best one.
02:25Close to your study too.
02:26He didn't take the bag.
02:28His gaze was like a searchlight.
02:30A scalpel.
02:31Scanning every inch of my skin.
02:32Trying to find a crack in the facade.
02:35A hint of jealousy.
02:36A spark of anger.
02:37Even a sliver of sarcasm.
02:39But he found nothing.
02:40Only a cold, bottomless stillness.
02:43Anya.
02:43I know I fucked up.
02:45I brought you back too.
02:46Just tell me.
02:47What will it take for you to turn the page?
02:49I looked at him.
02:50This man I've been entangled with for half my life.
02:52We grew up in the same Italian neighborhood.
02:54He's three years older.
02:55Used to be my protector.
02:57The year I was 17.
02:58He took my first kiss under that old oak tree by the river.
03:01Swore he'd marry me once he took over the family.
03:04Later.
03:05He really did take over the family business.
03:07Kept that promise.
03:08But he also really did ruin me.
03:10Centino.
03:11I'm just doing the right thing.
03:13With her living here.
03:14Everyone can rest easy.
03:16Maybe truly provoked by me.
03:18Centino roughly shoved my hand away and grabbed Cecilia's back.
03:21The motion was so violent it threw me off balance.
03:24I fell hard into the wreckage of the glass coffee table.
03:27A sharp, stinging pain shot through my nerves instantly.
03:30Centino panicked, dropped the bag, and rushed over to help me out.
03:34I flinched, almost instinctively, avoiding his touch.
03:38The motion froze him in place, as if he'd been slapped.
03:43You hate me that much.
03:45So much my touch feels filthy to you.
03:52You hate me that much.
03:54So much my touch feels filthy to you.
03:57Talk!
03:57Anya!
03:58Look at me!
03:59Tell me you still hate me!
04:01I didn't scream.
04:02I didn't cry.
04:03Just slowly, firmly,
04:05pried his fingers open,
04:07took a step back,
04:08putting a full meter between us.
04:12You should go take care of Cecilia.
04:14She can't stand the sight of blood.
04:16Looks like she's about to...
04:17faint.
04:19Fine.
04:20Since you're so damn magnanimous,
04:22you move to the guest room.
04:25Cecilia takes the master bedroom.
04:27Makes it easier for me to look after her.
04:30Santino's face turned thunderous.
04:31He helped the still-triggling Calilia up,
04:33almost dragging her out of the living room.
04:35Only after their footsteps faded down the hall
04:37did Luca and Gianna approach.
04:39Their faces held no concern for my injury.
04:41Only accusation of blame.
04:43Dad swallowed his pride to bring you back.
04:45Even tried keeping his distance from that woman on his own.
04:47Why do you have to keep pushing?
04:48Do you want to tear this family apart?
04:50Is that what you want?
04:51Why?
04:51Why?
04:52I wanted to ask why, too.
04:53Why did I have to endure all this?
04:55Why did home become this?
04:57Santino got involved with Cecilia right after I gave birth to Luca,
05:01while I was still recovering.
05:02At first, I could brainwash myself,
05:04say it was just an Italian man's code.
05:06Taking care of a brother's widow was about honor,
05:09until Gianna was in the house,
05:10and I saw them looking out in the back garden.
05:13That night, Santino put on a blood oath show for me,
05:16swearing with a switchblade cut to his chest
05:19that he was just drunk.
05:20But later, lipstick stains and shades that weren't mine
05:23kept appearing on his shirt collars.
05:26When the evidence of their affair was right there,
05:28I lost it.
05:28I raged.
05:29The result was a miscarriage.
05:31I lost our third child.
05:32I lay in a pool of my own blood,
05:34begging him to save our baby.
05:35He took Cecilia, who I'd accidentally pushed,
05:37would just scrape me into the emergency room instead.
05:40Santino, let's get a divorce.
05:41I just want the children and my parents' ashes.
05:46Divorce?
05:47Anya, you will pay for this stupid idea.
05:55Divorce?
05:55Anya, you will pay for this stupid idea.
05:59Soon, I was taken by Santino's men,
06:01shoved into a car,
06:02and delivered to that upstate convalescence villa with no signal.
06:06I stayed there for three years.
06:07A month ago, after being brought back,
06:09I searched the entire house while he was out.
06:12Those two brass urns holding my parents' ashes
06:14had vanished into thin air.
06:16My thoughts were interrupted by a sudden knock at the door.
06:19Cecilia says she doesn't want to live here for free.
06:22She wants to help share your duties.
06:24Hand over the household ledger
06:26and the weekly Inovellis to Cecilia.
06:29This was less about sharing duties
06:30and more about taking over the real authority of my position
06:33as wife in advance.
06:34I nodded, turned back into the room,
06:36took the metal box containing the ledger
06:38and several thick stacks of cash from a drawer
06:40and handed them to him.
06:41Anya, can't we just...
06:43It's late.
06:44I'm a bit tired.
06:45His gaze felt like it was trying to burn a hole through me
06:48to see if any trace of the familiar Anya
06:50from before remained inside.
06:52Ten seconds, long as a century.
06:54Finally, a low, frustrated,
06:55furious curse was forced from his throat.
06:57The aroma of garlic, tomatoes, basil,
07:00and simmered meatballs washed over me,
07:01smelling the scent that once met home to me.
07:03My stomach clenched violently in his chasm.
07:05During his three years upstate,
07:06he developed an erection.
07:07It wasn't a lack of food.
07:08I couldn't eat.
07:09The smell of any food would make me think
07:11of my mother's withered hand on her death then.
07:13My father had been gone for three years by then,
07:16and my mother was gravely ill.
07:18I worked day jobs for money,
07:19nursed her at night,
07:20became a skeleton myself.
07:22Anya, Mom is sorry.
07:24Leaving you alone in this den of wolves.
07:27Centino is busy fighting for territory then,
07:29only coming by for food and glances.
07:31He promised once he was in power
07:32he'd send Mom to the best private hospital.
07:34But on the day of his ascension celebration,
07:36my mother took her last breath.
07:38Anya, perfect timing.
07:39Come have some food with us.
07:41With an invitation like that,
07:42I really did feel like an outsider.
07:44I didn't turn and leave.
07:45Instead, I complied, took a seat,
07:47forced down the nausea, and ate the soup.
07:49A smile on my face, offering friendly praise.
07:51Watching the mood one by one,
07:53I kept on as if nothing happened,
07:55mechanically chewing and swallowing.
07:56Eat, Anya.
07:57You have to live.
07:58At least, until you get what you want,
08:00you must stay alive.
08:06Eat, Anya.
08:07You have to live.
08:08At least, until you get what you want,
08:10you must stay alive.
08:12The days dragged on,
08:13stagnant and unremarkable.
08:15I was like a bird trapped in a cage.
08:17My only obsession was finding my parents' ashes.
08:19I searched Cecilia's luggage over and over
08:22when she wasn't around.
08:23But those two urns,
08:24holding all my hopes,
08:25were nowhere to be found.
08:26I thought this despair would last forever,
08:29until my birthday.
08:30I cleared my schedule tonight,
08:31taking you to Vesuvio's,
08:33just the two of us.
08:34To breathe the sigh of relief.
08:35I just found it ironic.
08:36He thought one meal could erase all the pain,
08:38make me forget about my parents' whereabouts.
08:42Anya, do you still love me?
08:44I pretended not to hear,
08:46pretended not to see the darkness in his eyes.
08:48Love?
08:48It died the moment he hid my parents' ashes.
08:51After paying the bill,
08:52he didn't take me home.
08:54Instead,
08:54he drove down this road etched into my DNA.
08:57The very road where,
08:58at 17,
08:59I fell into his trap.
09:00Under the old oak trees,
09:01stood the three people I least wanted to see,
09:03holding the thing I've been searching for these three years.
09:06Those two heavy brass urns were my life,
09:08the last traces of my mom and dad.
09:10I shuffled forward,
09:11my vision riveted to those two urns.
09:13The names on them,
09:14Noah Evans,
09:15Marina Evans,
09:16each character a needle piercing my heart.
09:33Anya, back then,
09:34I nearly broke with the old man to keep these heathen things for you.
09:38I planned to give them back once you behaved.
09:41Just love me like you used to,
09:43and I'll give them back.
09:44Santiano Marino,
09:46my parents treated you like their own son.
09:48How could you do something so monstrous?
09:50Three years.
09:51He held my parents' ashes hostage for three whole years.
09:54I dreamed of them day and night,
09:56tossing and turning,
09:57while he used them as leverage against me.
10:00Mom,
10:00don't be ungrateful.
10:02Grandpa and grandma were
10:04complexed.
10:05If it weren't for dad,
10:06they'd have been tossed in a dumpster.
10:08Dad was protecting you.
10:10Bad mommy.
10:11I laughed until I cried.
10:13These were the children I risked my life to bring into the world.
10:15They didn't understand my pain,
10:17my longing for my parents.
10:18Instead,
10:19they sided with the one hurting me,
10:20pointing their fingers at me.
10:22Give them back.
10:22You still want a divorce?
10:24Still want to leave me?
10:25I looked at him and suddenly found it all utterly ridiculous.
10:28The biggest regret of my life was that godfaring heart.
10:30The moment my foolish gaze landed on him a second too long.
10:33That one look plunged me into an inescapable abyss,
10:36draining all my grief from love.
10:37Anya,
10:37I gave you a chance.
10:39You're the one throwing it away.
10:41Throw it.
10:42No!
10:44I fought like a wild animal.
10:46I couldn't let my parents' ashes fall into the cold river.
10:49That was their final resting place.
10:51I couldn't let him destroy it.
10:53But Centino's arms were like steel bombs.
10:55He held me fast,
10:56indifferent to my struggle.
10:57His voice cold as the grave.
10:59If your heart has no place for me,
11:00then hate me.
11:01Hate is better than being strangers.
11:02You will never get rid of me.
11:04I tasted blood,
11:05the flavor of despair.
11:06In that moment of slapped grip,
11:08I didn't run.
11:08My eyes were only for those two urns.
11:10So I could run into the river.
11:12Clutching my parents' ashes,
11:13I threw myself into the freezing river.
11:16The water was bone-killing,
11:17yet I felt free.
11:19Finally,
11:19I could be with them.
11:25Clutching my parents' ashes,
11:27I threw myself into the freezing river.
11:29The water was bone-killing,
11:30yet I felt free.
11:32Finally,
11:32I could be with them.
11:33I brought them the water.
11:34Through the haze,
11:35I saw him frozen in place.
11:37That high and mighty,
11:38in-control facade was completely gone.
11:40So,
11:40he could be afraid, too.
11:42Afraid of losing the person
11:44he'd always manipulated so freely.
11:46He lost it.
11:47Truly lost it.
11:47The head of the Marino family,
11:48always so concerned with propriety and control,
11:51now looked like a deranged unit,
11:52casting aside the dignity he cared so much about.
11:54Shed!
11:55Don't jump!
11:56The current's too strong!
11:57You'll die!
11:57Get off!
11:58That's your mother!
11:59Your mother!
12:00The rushing current swept me away,
12:02rapidly dragging me into the dark downstream.
12:04He couldn't catch anything,
12:05only grasping futilely at the cold water,
12:07like a lost child.
12:09Mommy!
12:10I could feel his regret,
12:11drowning him like a tide.
12:12But it's too late, Centino.
12:14Far too late.
12:14You're the one who pushed me into this icy river.
12:16You destroyed the last shred of hope between us.
12:19Cecilia panicked.
12:20She finally realized the magnitude of the disaster she'd helped create.
12:23She thought she was Centino's accomplice,
12:25securing her place.
12:26But she forgot.
12:27The moment I jumped,
12:28Centino's sanity shattered, too.
12:30He saw her.
12:30The murderous intent in his eyes.
12:32I'd never seen it in time.
12:33This of our dream had arrived.
12:35It was your idea.
12:37You brought the things.
12:38You pushed her to jump.
12:39You...
12:40You gave the order to throw them.
12:41I say jump, you jump.
12:43You've been waiting for this day, haven't you?
12:44Drifted in the water.
12:46Dismiss fading.
12:47All these years,
12:47he'd lied to himself in honor.
12:49Dismissed himself it was for my own good.
12:50The moment I jumped,
12:51he woke up.
12:52Completely insane.
12:53Her poor relatives in Sicily.
12:55This woman has disgraced the family.
12:57Exile her back there.
12:58Tell them the Marino family no longer protects her.
13:00Better fend for herself.
13:01In America,
13:01being exiled by the family.
13:03Stripped of all protection.
13:04It's worse than death for someone like her.
13:06Cecilia knew her fate.
13:07She screamed and begged desperately.
13:09But it was all futile.
13:14In America,
13:15being exiled by the family.
13:17Stripped of all protection.
13:18It's worse than death for someone like her.
13:20Cecilia knew her fate.
13:21She screamed and begged desperately.
13:23But it was all futile.
13:24For the next 48 hours,
13:26Centino didn't sleep a wink,
13:28eat a bite,
13:29or drink a drop.
13:30He was like a tireless madman.
13:33Leading Luca,
13:33and all his men,
13:35along the Hudson tributary.
13:38Searching inch by inch.
13:40Refusing to overlook any corner.
13:43The river water washed over him again and again.
13:46Icy and biting,
13:47washing over his already shattered soul.
13:50He finally understood,
13:51I hadn't come to my senses.
13:53I was truly dead inside.
13:55He used my parents' ashes as leverage against me.
13:58Never realizing they were my only reason to live.
14:01The sole thought that kept me going through three years of hell.
14:05Luca followed silently behind Centino.
14:09Not speaking,
14:10just searching over and over.
14:12He must have remembered his own cruel face during our arguments.
14:17Remembered blindly siding with Centino to blame me.
14:20That kind of regret
14:22was enough to make him want to slap himself to death.
14:26Janna stayed kneeling by the river.
14:29Clutching the scarf I knitted for her.
14:31Crying until her voice was hoarse.
14:34Crying until she was exhausted.
14:37She's young.
14:38Maybe she doesn't understand why her father's so-called protection
14:42ended up pushing her mother to her death.
14:46Mr. Marino,
14:48we've searched the entire downstream area.
14:51No sign of her.
14:53No sign of the brass urns you mentioned.
14:55Most likely swept into the dam further down
14:58or sunk into the riverbird silt.
15:01They're gone.
15:03Anya,
15:03I was wrong.
15:05Come back.
15:07I'll give you anything.
15:09Please.
15:11Please come back.
15:13The only reply was the relentless river,
15:15the howling wind.
15:17He had finally paid the cruelest price for his obsession
15:20and cruelty.
15:22Losing me.
15:23Losing me only obsession of his life.
15:30Losing me.
15:32Losing me only obsession of his life.
15:34He erected an unmarked headstone by the river.
15:38No name.
15:39Noah Pintat.
15:41Only perpetually fresh white roses before it.
15:44His belated penance.
15:46He stopped expanding the family's territory.
15:49Even voluntarily withdrew from several key operations.
15:54The edge of the mob boss was gone.
15:57Now,
15:57he drifted like a ghost by the riverbank daily.
16:01Replaying our past.
16:02Repeating his mistakes.
16:04No one dared mention my name in front of him.
16:08Afraid of provoking the man already consumed by regret.
16:12He meticulously sealed away everything I had ever used.
16:16Treasuring them like rare artifacts.
16:18They were the only traces of me he could hold onto.
16:22But what he didn't know was
16:23I hadn't died.
16:25The icy river didn't drown me.
16:28Instead,
16:29it awakened a primal will to survive deep in my bones.
16:32I clung to my parents' urns.
16:34Even as my lungs screamed for air.
16:37Even as the cold pierced me to the marrow.
16:40I wouldn't let go.
16:42I couldn't die.
16:44I had to live.
16:46To take mom and dad with me.
16:48I had to make Centino pay for everything he'd done.
16:53Hey!
16:54If you want to die,
16:55don't pick now!
16:56Just as my strength failed.
16:58As my consciousness blurred
17:00and I was about to give up.
17:02A rough,
17:04calloused hands suddenly seized the collier of my clothes
17:07with immense force.
17:08Dragging me upward.
17:10A hoarse,
17:11aged voice.
17:13Full of reproach.
17:15Sounded in my ear.
17:16I was dragged onto the bank.
17:18Gasping.
17:19Coughing violently
17:20until I expelled all the river water from my lungs.
17:23Finally catching my breath.
17:25The urns in my arms were safe.
17:28Mom and dad were still with me.
17:31I looked up,
17:32my blurry vision making out an aged figure standing before me.
17:36Backlit.
17:37Features unclear.
17:58The man who saved me was a refusible fisherman living in a cabin by the river.
18:03The place was small.
18:04Just a single room with a wood-burning stow middle and a worn-out army cot in the corner.
18:08It was a crude shelter in the wilderness,
18:10yet it made me feel a safety I had never known before.
18:14You're holding onto those hunks of metal tighter than your own life.
18:17Must be more important than living, huh?
18:19For their sake, you've got to stay alive.
18:26Mia of cheap coffee.
18:27That bitter taste to salt my senses made my eyes water,
18:31but it made me feel clearly that I was alive,
18:34that I could still feel pain.
18:36That night I held the urns and stayed awake until that cot.
18:39Elijah saved my life and the soul that had long been in tatters.
18:42I told myself,
18:43I cannot die, absolutely must not die.
18:52Elijah, I will repay you.
18:55I promise.
18:57Forget it.
18:58Staying alive is the best repayment you can give me.
19:03I hitched a ride to the next town.
19:05A 24-hour roadslide diner was hiring.
19:09The terms were tempting.
19:10Cash pay, no ID check.
19:12The owner was a loud, middle-aged woman.
19:15Seeing me bedraggled and desperate,
19:17she didn't ask questions.
19:19She just took me in.
19:20The work was brutal.
19:2312-hour days blisters on my feet.
19:25But my heart felt a strange, solid peace.
19:28Fee the first time I was living for myself.
19:35Fee the first time I was living for myself.
19:38What are those?
19:40My parents.
19:41I'm looking for a good place to lay them to rest.
19:44Oh, Anya.
19:46When we get paid,
19:47I'll take you to the wild woods by the edge of town.
19:49The view is beautiful.
19:50No one bothers you there.
19:52It's perfect.
19:53Three months later,
19:55Maria and I dug a deep hole
19:57under a maple tree deep in the woods.
19:59The wind bristled through the treetops,
20:01like a sigh from my parents.
20:03I knew, from this moment on,
20:06I finally made peace with my past.
20:08I started saving money like crazy.
20:10I knew waiting tables wasn't my future.
20:12Maria told me the community college had a high school equivalency program.
20:16I signed up immediately.
20:18I needed to study.
20:19To climb out of this mire.
20:20So I hid the books in my spare time.
20:23Occasionally, I'd catch bits of news from passing truckers.
20:25They said Santio Moreno had changed completely,
20:28grown terrifyingly grim.
20:30He'd exiled Cecilia,
20:31kept his two kids under lock and key.
20:33They also said he went to the riverbank every day,
20:35just staring at that unmarked stone.
20:37I listened.
20:38I listened, but my heart remained still as stagnant water.
20:41The man I once loved to the point of degration,
20:44and hated to the bone,
20:46was already far, far behind me.
20:51I was desperate to get my high school equivalency,
20:53to stand on my own feet.
20:55But reality doused me with cold water.
20:58I had no social security number,
21:00no ID.
21:01Anna Evans is a dead person.
21:03There's no place in this world for that name anymore.
21:05When Maria learned about my trouble,
21:08she took me to see her cousin,
21:09who worked at the legal aid center.
21:12I erased all traces of the mob.
21:14I portrayed myself only as a poor woman,
21:17long imprisoned and tormented by a controlling husband,
21:20forced to fake her own death to escape.
21:23Every word was my real pain,
21:25just told a different way.
21:26Maybe my story was too real.
21:28Maybe the lawyers at legal aid were moved by compassion.
21:31They didn't try to overturn the death certificate.
21:33Instead, they found a special protection clause
21:36for domestic violence victims,
21:37and decided to help me apply
21:38for a brand new set of identity documents.
21:40When I got that new social security card
21:42with the name Ella White on it,
21:44I sobbed like a child.
21:46I sobbed like a child.
21:48It wasn't just a card.
21:50It was proof of my rebirth.
21:52My hope to shed the past and live again.
21:59It wasn't just a card.
22:02It was proof of my rebirth.
22:04My hope to shed the past and live again.
22:07Exam day.
22:08My hands shook filling out the answer sheets.
22:11Every answer held my hope.
22:13Every stroke my resolve.
22:15Today, the results came.
22:17I passed the high school equivalency exam
22:19with a shockingly high score
22:21way above the admission line.
22:23In that moment,
22:24all the hardship and pain felt worth it.
22:26Holding the full scholarship letter
22:28from the city college,
22:29bearing my new name, Ella White,
22:30I ran like mad to the woods
22:32where my parents rest.
22:33I knelt before their grave under the maple tree
22:35and shouted,
22:36I did it!
22:36The wind whistled the leaves,
22:38a gentle reply.
22:39On my knees, tears fell,
22:40but my smile was brighter than ever.
22:42I visited Elijah,
22:43the old fisherman who saved my life.
22:45I slipped the $200 I'd saved into his coffee tin,
22:49all the thanks I could give for now.
22:51When I said goodbye,
22:52he told me he always knew I'd find my way.
22:55College life felt like a dream.
22:57I soaked up knowledge like a sponge,
23:00making up for lost time.
23:01No longer the trapped, broken Enya.
23:04I was Ella White living for myself.
23:06At a literary salon,
23:08I met Daniel Blake.
23:10Even with the scent of old books about him.
23:13Yet his eyes held an undeniable strength.
23:15I married him later.
23:17He knew my past,
23:18who I was,
23:19who I was hiding from.
23:20He didn't care.
23:21Pranis to protect and care for me.
23:23He gave me respect and safety I'd never known.
23:27And showed me what it truly means to be loved.
23:34He gave me respect and safety I'd never known.
23:38And showed me what it truly means to be loved.
23:41Soon after,
23:42our daughter Grace was born.
23:43She was a light that brightened all my days to come,
23:47making me finally understand.
23:49This quiet, ordinary peace.
23:51This is happiness.
23:52One summer,
23:54the three of us drove back to town to visit Elijah.
23:57Seeing him still hardy,
23:58watching our our daughter run on the grass before his cabin,
24:02my heart was at peace.
24:04This was the life I'd fought so hard for.
24:07Anna,
24:07there's a new Italian gallery in the city.
24:09They say it has the modernist works you like.
24:11Should we take a detour?
24:12I knew that gallery was far from the old neighborhood.
24:15A faint tremor passed through me.
24:17But seeing the hope in my daughter's eyes,
24:19in the strong,
24:20sheltering man beside me,
24:21I nodded.
24:22I thought I was strong enough now to face any ghost from the past.
24:26Smiling,
24:26I moved toward Grace,
24:27about to scoop her up,
24:28when from the corner of my eye,
24:30I saw a group approaching.
24:31My steps froze.
24:33My heart lurched.
24:34It was Santino,
24:35flanked by Lico and Diana.
24:37Santano looked years older,
24:39all his edge gone,
24:40leaving only wariness and numbness.
24:42Nothing left of the Marino family's once-feared leader.
24:45His eyes were hollow,
24:47as if his soul had long been zanned,
24:49probably dragged here by his kids for a change of scene.
24:51Time seemed to stop.
24:53His gaze drifted,
24:55then locked onto my face without warning.
24:57The numbness vanished,
24:59replaced by shock,
25:01wild joy,
25:02disbelief,
25:03all crashing together,
25:04threatening to drown him.
25:06Anna?
25:09Anna!
25:10You're alive!
25:11My God, you're alive!
25:18Anna?
25:21Anna!
25:23You're alive!
25:24My God, you're alive!
25:26Mom!
25:27Santino staggered back several steps,
25:30nearly falling before Luca and Gianna caught him.
25:33Stunned,
25:34he looked up into Daniel's icy,
25:36authoritative eyes.
25:37Step away from my wife, sir.
25:39I'm Prosecutor Daniel Blake.
25:41Harass my fan again,
25:43and you'll spend the rest of your life in Rikers Island.
25:46Daniel held me close,
25:48radiating a cold intensity.
25:49In that moment,
25:50I knew I would never be hurt again.
25:53Santino froze.
25:54He probably never imagined the woman he once controlled and hurt
25:58would now stand beside a man of such power.
26:01He stared at Daniel,
26:02then slowly at me.
26:04His eyes filled with a pitiful plea.
26:06I gently patted Daniel's hand,
26:09signaling him to ease up.
26:10I was no longer that timid,
26:12meek Enya who could be bullied.
26:14I was Ella White,
26:16secure enough to face this calmly.
26:18My eyes held no hatred,
26:20no anger,
26:22only a pity that cut him to the bone.
26:24Sir,
26:25Enya died in that river years ago.
26:28The person standing before you now is Ella White.
26:31No,
26:32Anya,
26:33it's me,
26:34Santino.
26:35I'm Santino.
26:37Mommy,
26:38who's this strange man?
26:40No one we know,
26:41sweetheart.
26:41It's getting late,
26:42let's go home.
26:44Behind me came the sound of his wrenching sobs,
26:47a belated,
26:48pitiful penance.
26:49But my steps never faltered.
26:51That painful past had long been washed clean by the cold river,
26:54and could no longer hold me.
26:56Elijah was right.
26:58Where there's life,
26:59there's hope.
27:00That river didn't drown me.
27:02It cleansed my shame and remade my life.
27:05I am Ella White,
27:06not Anya Marino.
27:07I live well now,
27:09Ming love,
27:10a daughter,
27:10a stable life,
27:11and a bright future.
27:12This year's long entanglement
27:13can finally come to a close.
27:15See you.
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