“Would someone like to explain what the hell we just overheard?” Wren stated from the doorway. “Starting with who are you,” he added to Dean before turning to Luke, “and what Dani meant by being forced to marry you.”
“Dean Phillips, I’m Dani’s brother.”
“Her what?” Angela said in disbelief.
“No way,” Tyler added.
“Dani never mentioned a brother,” Joan said looking towards Luke.
“Don’t look at me,” he said.
“It’s truth time Dan-Dan,” Dean said wiping away the tears. “First I need you to tell me what the hell this all meant.”
“Go to hell Dean,” Dani said pushing him away from her as the anger won out and she held tightly onto it. It was better than the emptiness she’d felt since she woke up two days ago and knew it hadn’t been a bad dream. “I protected you for four years. I spent five birthdays alone, making sure you and Mona and the kids were safe, and you never once saw that this was all a lie,” she added pulling the IV out of her arm and discarding all the wires that tied her to the bed. “You never once looked or listened closely enough to know I was dying for you and now because of you my girls,myinnocent little girls are with that monster, and I swear to god I will kill you if anything happens to them.”
“Dan-Dan…”
“Shut up!” she shouted at him, tears slipping down her cheeks again. “I want you to leave, you’re not my brother anymore; you’renothingto me.”
“Dani, honey I know you’re hurting, and I’ll gladly do anything to stop that but it’s me Dan-Dan, your other half, we shared a womb for nine months.”
“And the two little angels who I carried in mine aren’t here. If you want to help, then find my daughters and get the hell out of my life.”
“That’s why I’m here, I’m here to make it better.”
“Make it better?Make it better!The only way to make any of this better is to go back five years…six preferably and never have met Mona, never have put me in the position you did. My god Dean! Did you really believe that Luke and I met and fell madly in love? This isn’t some fantasy. I covered for you so no one would come looking and I did it so well that Felix couldn’t find you all. I wasn’t going to stay but I had to replace the moneyyoustole somehow or else eventually Luke would come after you.”
“Dani,” Dean said staring at her.
“So, I took his money, put it into the company’s accounts and was about to run when Felix sent Chance to get me to tell them where you were. That’s after Luke threatened to turn me into the police.”
“What?” she heard the others gasp but she didn’t care.
“So, I did something I hate doing. I lied for you and then I lied and lied and lied! You want to know why we got married? Because it was the only way Luke could guarantee I wouldn’t come clean about how Chance died. It would keep the video from seeing the light of day and for almost three years, I was forced to hide the fact that I was dying for you. When you called me on our birthday last year, I was sitting in a tub wondering what would happen if I just gave up, if I let the world win and slid underneath the water.”
“Dani!” Dean gasped moving towards her.
“No, you don’t get to care. You knew that I’d lied when I said I fell down the stairs, youknewthat it was really some of Felix’s men who ambushed me to get me to tell them where you were, but you did nothing. Good old Dan-Dan won’t mind, right? Guess what…I did. I’ve never hated anyone before all of this started and now, I can’t stand the sight of you. I hate you for what you’ve done to me, for not bothering to know when I was lying because you’resupposedto know me.”
“Dani…honey…”
“Don’t honey me, don’t you get itDe-De, I destroyed my soul to keep you safe and nowmygirls are in danger. I couldn’t take it anymore that night and so I decided to end it. I couldn’t work up the strength to kill myself, so I made up more lies, turned you into grandpa and said Chance and Felix were after me because I’d dumped their drugs. I couldn’t admit that they were really after my darling brother who was stupid enough to marry Felix’s daughter!”
Dani stalked over to the wardrobe and pulled out the bag ignoring the pain she felt radiating throughout her body. She rummaged through until she found the clothes and pulled on the pants and top before tossing aside the hospital gown.
“Dani what are you doing?” Luke asked as she started to slip on her shoes.
“I’m getting my girls back,” she answered holding her side as the pain flashed through her. “Felix doesn’t care about Mona. He just wants one thing, well two really, but I don’t give a damned because I’d give him anything including you Dean to get my babies back. Give me the watch now.”
“The watch…what?” Dean asked. “What the hell Dani…” he added when she grabbed his hand roughly and pulled it off. He watched as she threw it across the room, and it hit the wall with a crack. “Dani…”
“Shut up Dean,” she raged bending down to pick it up despite the protest from her body. She pried off the broken glass and took out the hands and the background until she found it.
“What is that?” Tyler asked.
“A microchip, what Felix has been after for six years I’d say. Mona took the watch when she left, didn’t she? You told me she gave it to you because it’d been her grandfather’s and she wanted you to have it,” Dani asked Dean. “Thisis what’s screwed up my entire life; I couldn’t figure out why he’d need Sam to get it for him.”
“Sam…as in Sam the IT guy?” Luke asked.